The two local reps think the state legislature should take over running the University of California system.
The S-Nooze had the story this weekend.
Lawmakers move to take more control over UC system
By Dan Abendschein, Staff Writer
Posted: 05/30/2009 07:06:15 AM PDT
Two San Gabriel Valley lawmakers are backing a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would strip University of California trustees of much of their policymaking power.
"We've tried to bring accountability to the system, but every time we've approved legislation, the UCs have ignored it," said state Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Ca ada Flintridge, who is supporting the proposal.
Also supporting it is state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, whose district includes Azusa, Baldwin Park, Covina, Duarte, El Monte, Industry, Irwindale, La Puente, Monterey Park, Rosemead, South San Gabriel and West Covina.
Several unions and student groups also are behind the proposal to give lawmakers more control over UC policy decisions, including how it spends its budget. Now, lawmakers allocate the UC budget, but the board of trustees oversees how the money is used and controls other policies at UC's 10 campuses.
UC spokesman Peter King said the board of trustees opposes the bill, which was introduced this past week. The proposed amendment must still be approved by two-thirds of the Legislature, then be approved by voters in a future election.
"We think it is absurd," King said. "You're talking about a Legislature with permanent political paralysis and a $25 billion budget deficit."
There's more but the last line from the UC spokesdude says it all.
Who would ever think it's a good idea to give power to the morons in the legislature? Oh, yeah. The morons in the legislature.
D.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Whose side is this guy on?
Can't we find aregular Pasadena citizen to represent us on the MWD Board?
Tim Brick who's s'posed to represent Pasadena on the Municipal Water District Board doesn't do SHIT for us in Pasadena, but he sure loves the MWD bureaucracy.
Does this read like a company dude defending the company line, or what?
Did Timothy support the call to cut union contracts at MWD? Did Timothy ever vote to stop rate hikes? Did Timothy camp in the San Gabriels with Yakkin' Larry or Rick (Sure I'm Ethical) Cole? Is this guy screwing us sideways or standing up?
From the S-Nooze:
Tim Brick: Era of cheap water is over
By Timothy F. Brick
Posted: 05/23/2009 07:04:30 AM PDT
For the first time in 18 years, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California will not deliver full supplies of imported water to its 26 member agencies in our six-county service area, including the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District.
Our supplies are down after three below-average years of rainfall and tightening environmental restrictions for our supplies from Northern California delivered to us through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. And our costs are up, primarily from coping with the problems in the Delta, such as paying to find replacement water at high market prices.
Our situation is hardly unique. Climate change and environmental challenges are driving fundamental changes to water planning throughout the arid Southwest. Overall, we will be using less water and paying more for it along the way. The era of cheap water is coming to an end.
What is achievable for Southern California, however, is a reliable, sustainable and reasonably priced water supply. This means investing now in our future, while watching closely the bottom line along the way.
The main reason for increased cost is the Delta, where we get more than half of Metropolitan's water; our other imported source is the Colorado River. Metropolitan's job is to import these supplies and distribute them to our member agencies. Some, like Upper San Gabriel and the city of Pasadena, have groundwater supplies of their own. The goal is to plan for a
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future as a region and deal with times of shortage in as fair and equitable a way as possible.
The Delta, where the rivers from the western Sierra merge before heading toward San Francisco Bay, is a fragile and deteriorating ecosystem. As fish populations decrease, court rulings and new regulations have restricted the movement of water supplies that move across the Delta.
The only way to create a reliable water system in the Delta is to help restore and stabilize the ecosystem and to reduce conflicts between the movement of water supplies and the natural tidal patterns of the estuary. This will cost in the billions of dollars. Planning costs alone will exceed $100 million. But to say no to investing in the Delta's future and that of a more reliable water supply is simply not an option. The environment and California's economy depend on it.
Metropolitan is looking more and more to local sources to create a diverse, reliable water system. Efforts by Metropolitan and our member agencies are under way to conserve more water, including increased water recycling programs and expanding the desalination of seawater. But these programs cost money.
Metropolitan's board has deferred nearly a quarter-billion dollars in needed capital projects while reducing annual spending by more than $70 million on initiatives that are not absolutely essential. But, of course, all ongoing projects and facilities needed to deliver safe, reliable water are fully funded.
Metropolitan doesn't tell local water districts how to charge for water. Sophisticated tiered structures exist that can save money for those who conserve. That said, for a typical Southern California consumer, water costs about three pennies for 10 gallons of some of the world's safest tap water. It's a bargain. So are the investments to ensure your tap never runs dry and that Southern California has a sustainable, reliable water system for today ... and tomorrow.
Timothy F. Brick is chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. He represents the city of Pasadena.
The real lie is thelast line. This guy doesn't represent me, he represents the MWD unions and H20crats.
D.
Tim Brick who's s'posed to represent Pasadena on the Municipal Water District Board doesn't do SHIT for us in Pasadena, but he sure loves the MWD bureaucracy.
Does this read like a company dude defending the company line, or what?
Did Timothy support the call to cut union contracts at MWD? Did Timothy ever vote to stop rate hikes? Did Timothy camp in the San Gabriels with Yakkin' Larry or Rick (Sure I'm Ethical) Cole? Is this guy screwing us sideways or standing up?
From the S-Nooze:
Tim Brick: Era of cheap water is over
By Timothy F. Brick
Posted: 05/23/2009 07:04:30 AM PDT
For the first time in 18 years, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California will not deliver full supplies of imported water to its 26 member agencies in our six-county service area, including the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District.
Our supplies are down after three below-average years of rainfall and tightening environmental restrictions for our supplies from Northern California delivered to us through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. And our costs are up, primarily from coping with the problems in the Delta, such as paying to find replacement water at high market prices.
Our situation is hardly unique. Climate change and environmental challenges are driving fundamental changes to water planning throughout the arid Southwest. Overall, we will be using less water and paying more for it along the way. The era of cheap water is coming to an end.
What is achievable for Southern California, however, is a reliable, sustainable and reasonably priced water supply. This means investing now in our future, while watching closely the bottom line along the way.
The main reason for increased cost is the Delta, where we get more than half of Metropolitan's water; our other imported source is the Colorado River. Metropolitan's job is to import these supplies and distribute them to our member agencies. Some, like Upper San Gabriel and the city of Pasadena, have groundwater supplies of their own. The goal is to plan for a
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future as a region and deal with times of shortage in as fair and equitable a way as possible.
The Delta, where the rivers from the western Sierra merge before heading toward San Francisco Bay, is a fragile and deteriorating ecosystem. As fish populations decrease, court rulings and new regulations have restricted the movement of water supplies that move across the Delta.
The only way to create a reliable water system in the Delta is to help restore and stabilize the ecosystem and to reduce conflicts between the movement of water supplies and the natural tidal patterns of the estuary. This will cost in the billions of dollars. Planning costs alone will exceed $100 million. But to say no to investing in the Delta's future and that of a more reliable water supply is simply not an option. The environment and California's economy depend on it.
Metropolitan is looking more and more to local sources to create a diverse, reliable water system. Efforts by Metropolitan and our member agencies are under way to conserve more water, including increased water recycling programs and expanding the desalination of seawater. But these programs cost money.
Metropolitan's board has deferred nearly a quarter-billion dollars in needed capital projects while reducing annual spending by more than $70 million on initiatives that are not absolutely essential. But, of course, all ongoing projects and facilities needed to deliver safe, reliable water are fully funded.
Metropolitan doesn't tell local water districts how to charge for water. Sophisticated tiered structures exist that can save money for those who conserve. That said, for a typical Southern California consumer, water costs about three pennies for 10 gallons of some of the world's safest tap water. It's a bargain. So are the investments to ensure your tap never runs dry and that Southern California has a sustainable, reliable water system for today ... and tomorrow.
Timothy F. Brick is chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. He represents the city of Pasadena.
The real lie is thelast line. This guy doesn't represent me, he represents the MWD unions and H20crats.
D.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Memorial Day - Remember Those Who Served
Today we all should remember every soldier, sailor, Marine or pilot who died serving the United States.
My Dad was a captain in the Marines in the late 1950s. He doesn't talk about it much. Probably because he was between the wars, and there's not that much to tell. But he's got his uniform put away somewhere and still carries himself like a military man.
I am very proud he served and called this morning to thank him for it.
All our vets deserve the same from those of us who didn't need to serve to protect our country.
Thanks Dad. I love you.
D.
My Dad was a captain in the Marines in the late 1950s. He doesn't talk about it much. Probably because he was between the wars, and there's not that much to tell. But he's got his uniform put away somewhere and still carries himself like a military man.
I am very proud he served and called this morning to thank him for it.
All our vets deserve the same from those of us who didn't need to serve to protect our country.
Thanks Dad. I love you.
D.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Yakking Larry gets a smackdown
Pasadena Public Works Director calls Larry Wilson an insulting liar:
Thanks Larry for stickin' up for your bitching biddies and the La Canada horse riders who use Pasadena land for their private playground. Who pays for that? Oh yeah, I do.
I'm mailing Martin Pastucha two bucks for a good cup of coffee to thank him for standing up to the S-Nooze's Public Editor, er bully and his post-menopausal cheerleaders.
Mike
Letters to the editor: Hahamongna plans
Posted: 05/18/2009 04:40:11 PM PDT
A May 15 column in the Pasadena Star-News by Public Editor Larry Wilson states that the city "is quietly at work to bring back the spectre of a 1,200-car parking garage and a 50-foot-wide road through what is supposed to be the pristine Hahamongna Watershed Park."
He goes on to state, "Some in City Hall apparently thought that they could just slip this back in without anyone noticing."
The first statement is inaccurate and the second statement is insulting.
When Pasadena purchased 30 acres in 2005 from Metropolitan Water District adjacent to Hahamongna Watershed Park, it became necessary to incorporate this annex acreage into the park's master plan to propose the intended land uses and corresponding improvements.
A city-owned parking lot outside of the annex area is leased by Jet Propulsion Laboratory from Monday to Friday. The environmental impact report (EIR) for the original - and now adopted - Arroyo Seco Master Plan evaluated several options for a parking structure within the park; one option was at the lot leased by JPL. However, this option was never formally recommended and was not included in the final plan adopted by the City Council in 2003.
The planning process for the annex began in 2006. Early options included extending the park road through the annex site to access this lot for weekend use by park users. The City Council asked staff to evaluate the impacts of such an option in the environmental study when the plan returned to them for adoption. After strong opposition from the public and the Hahamongna Watershed Park Advisory Committee, the option of a road was not included among the recommendations in the current draft plan. There is also no mention of a parking garage in the current recommendations.
There are parking spaces in the annex area that have been there for decades in conjunction with buildings leased by the U.S. Forest Service. The USFS is no longer a tenant and the buildings are now proposed in the annex plan as an environmental education center.
Fifty-four additional parking spaces are recommended throughout the annex to support other proposed uses such as a public equestrian center.
Since the annex site will not allow for a large number of cars, creative solutions will have to be sought for parking, especially during large events; in those cases, visitors may be asked to park off-site and be shuttled to the area.
The annex is a beautiful, oak-filled woodland that deserves to be protected. The master plan takes this into consideration and is a model of sustainability.
The final draft of the annex plan can be found by going to www.cityofpasadena.net and clicking on Hahamongna Annex under "Hot Topics." The plan was reviewed by the Hahamongna Watershed Park Advisory Committee with a recommendation to City Council last Tuesday after four hours of public testimony and review. The plan will be reviewed by the Environmental Advisory Commission, Planning Commission and Design Commission before going to the City Council in July.
Martin Pastucha
Director of Public Works
City of Pasadena
Editor's note: I stand by my column in its entirety. While the road through Hahamongna and parking garage originally proposed by city staff were removed from the Watershed Master Plan in response to public outcry, a 50-foot-wide "greenway" right-of-way remains, along with the environmental analysis for a road to the JPL West Arroyo parking lot referred to as "an extension of the main park access road" (p. 3-19). Experts say that means the city would not be required to do environmental review for the road in future. Same with the garage: While it was removed from the final EIR, it mysteriously remains in three of the mitigation measures in the Initial Study. - Larry Wilson, public editor.
I'm mailing Martin Pastucha two bucks for a good cup of coffee to thank him for standing up to the S-Nooze's Public Editor, er bully and his post-menopausal cheerleaders.
Mike
Voter Smackdown! Governator=SMACK! Karen Bass: POW!
Tuesday was Smackdown by Voters day. Down went all the propositions but the one that cuts legislator pay when they screw up and can't pass the budget.
Get the message Portantino? Liu? Bass? Steinberg? Garamendi? Schwarenegger?
Damn the vote really slapped the idiots who've let California become the national punch line.
About time.
D.
Get the message Portantino? Liu? Bass? Steinberg? Garamendi? Schwarenegger?
Damn the vote really slapped the idiots who've let California become the national punch line.
About time.
D.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Council Blow by Blow for 5/18/09 Tornek's first real meeting, and he missed it!
Sorry for the posting delay. I was in Phoenix on business until Friday.
We got trees lite, raising trash costs, cell towers and a sewer management plan, that's gotta have something to do with Council discussions. Cheap shot's out here ya gotta take it, right?
Startin' off they gotta wait for everybody to get there. Gordo's gone, and so's Tornek. I'm guessin' we gotta start playin' Where's Terry? Guy gets elected nad disappears before he can make a meeting. So who's not gettin' represented here?
Mr. Dallas the old dude who works for the city does the pledge.
SWEAR IN HADERLEIN on the retirement board. I'm guessin' they decide who gets paid how much when they retire, and ignore what it costs me and you.
PUBLIC WORKS WEEK certificate goes to Martin Pastusha from Public Works. Neat how that works, huh?
CROSSING GUARD AT JEFFERSON SCHOOL gets recognized as crossing guard of the year. Good job!
PUBLIC COMMENT: Mayor's cuttn' 'em off at 20 minutes. Bill Watkins talks about bein' sober for years and wnts to help. Dude's talkin' who knows about what. Wacko night at the mike. Nelson's back and organizing meetings to discuss green items and ordinances the council is passing and the leaflet ordinance. Belinda Richards talks about Cleveland Elementary who want no city park on the school grounds. Good to have kid haters of all colors. AND SHE'S GOT A PETITION! Rose Robinson says there's lots of drug activity at the school and people block her driveway. And she says it will be a hotbed of bacteria and everybody will get stuff like swine flu. SERIOUSLY, she said that and she's from THE Robinson family. She runs a day care there, so she couldn't want anybody to interfere with her business, right? Something like kids playing in a schoolyard. AND she wants speed bumps and crossing guards. ComeON! You gotta be shittin' me, right? Marcia Seacord thanks Robinson, McAustin and Madison for organizing emergency training for citizens. Another neighbors hates kids at Cleveland. He says there'll be traffic 24/7. Wayne Lusvardi complains about Raymond Basin water.
Madison wants to close the meeting for Walter Shatford the PCC guy who died.
CONSENT CALENDAR: They're paying people more, and spending $1 million on stuff without talking about it.
TREES LITE: Leftover street plans are on this time. They dealt with the tough stuff, now who's left to get hosed on this one? Staff tree huggin' babe says they looked at all the stuff again and made up a score card for trees. They're gonna look at 'em all again and go over it again and have lotsa public meetings so Crystal Balvin and the biddies can bitch a lot. Haderlein says hurry up and get this done so nobody else hasta go through Playhouse hell. McAustin wants to know about public outreach. Pastusha says they're going back to the same people as before pretty much. Holden wants to know if the U-FUCK has a hearing and if they like the plan it's good to go. Bogaard asks about taking out healthy trees and it told it stays the same. They're buyin' whatever is bin' sold.
BUDGET CAPITAL PROJECTS: They're gonna talk about what gets done sometime, but not now. Holden says there's questions about the budget and public safety and cuts to Arts service.
WE ALL GOTTA PAY FOR STREET SWEEPING NOW: surprise. City's going broke and we all gotta pay more for stuff. They need like $750K and we all gotta pay $.79 more every month. Ok. It's SEVENTY NINE CENTS A MONTH, so that's not soooo bad, but everything's goin' up with it. They got 7 protest letters.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Mr. Renter asks where Tornek went. Bogaard says he's on vacation with his family. Renter doesn't like the daytime parking rules and complains everything costs more money. Tornek's not there, but Sid Tyler shows up to bitch about rate increases and says we oughta do more to have less trash. How come that didn't happen when he was on the council. Man voted for all the increases like everybody else. Guess if it's gonnna cost more than a buck, Tyler was for it. Glenda Owens says northwest Pasadena can't get trash picked up. Surprise, they pass it with a little butt kiss in Tyler's direction.\
WATER PENALTIES ORDINANCE: They made some "format" changes but we're all gonna have to start washing our cars in the dead of night and letting the grass die. Wacko Nancy Nelson's confused about all this and so am I. She wants a public meeting before it gets passed. Bogaard gets testy with the blonde wacko. McAustin says they're trying to encourage people to use water wisely not criminalize water use. McAustin and Madison are gonna have a water saving face off. They're gonna have water audits and see who saves most water.
SEWER SYSTEM PLAN: The shit's still gonna flow ok. They're gonna manage the sewer system. This is gonna cost us somehow, I can feel it.
PUSD AND PASADENA POLICE AGREEMENT: PPD is gonna patrol middle schools, too. Vicino says it's not gonna cost any more, but tehy'll change how officers patrol so they can be on middle school at some time. Madison says it's really important. "As a former federal prosecutor... " he didn't say it this time. Stunned silnce from all in the hall.
IMPROVEMENTS IN FRONT OF PEOPLE'S HOUSES: If it costs less than $75K the city manager's gonna be able to do a contract.
COUNCIL PALS ON COMMISSIONS: Tornek's quit his commission posts. Other pals get back where they were before.
ORDINANCES: Zoning change for Pasadena Christian School gets passed. Park fees can be used at Robinson Park. Marengo Ave gets a landmark district.
WIRELESS ANTENNAS: The tin foil hats are coming back. There's not a lot they can do about where they're allowed to go. AT&T sent a stop this letter. Tim Miller from T-Mobile has issues. Miriam Kwan doesn't like the lease agreement part and wants to know why they are changing it. Raymond Kwan wants to see the old stuff with the new stuff to see what's changed. Joan Chin says something I can't understand. June Takinouchi's not much better but says protect homeowners. Wacko Nancy Nelson wants freedom of information info. Mary Dee Romney raises the "A" word - Altrio. She says the ordinance makes no sense and will favor lobbyists.
Seems there's a moratorium in pace that's ending and if they don't do anything there's gonna be a rush to put in towers without the rules in place. So after a lot of talkin' about all sorts of changes they just pass it anyway and will change it later on.
PUBLIC COMMENT REDUX: June Takinouchi says vote no on the propositions and cut expenses instead of raising water cost. Joan Chen wants the Cleveland School people to be paid attention to. Laronda Heartfield is back again, too. She says the meetings aren't comedy but she likes to come and watch anyway. Raymond Kwan
No meeting on Monday, so we can't have three Tornek meetings missed until the next week. And if there's no meeting there's no way they can raise my taxes next week.
This one was a dog. Not much happened that makes any difference. We got tax and water increases in the next coupla weeks.
I'm done.
D.
We got trees lite, raising trash costs, cell towers and a sewer management plan, that's gotta have something to do with Council discussions. Cheap shot's out here ya gotta take it, right?
Startin' off they gotta wait for everybody to get there. Gordo's gone, and so's Tornek. I'm guessin' we gotta start playin' Where's Terry? Guy gets elected nad disappears before he can make a meeting. So who's not gettin' represented here?
Mr. Dallas the old dude who works for the city does the pledge.
SWEAR IN HADERLEIN on the retirement board. I'm guessin' they decide who gets paid how much when they retire, and ignore what it costs me and you.
PUBLIC WORKS WEEK certificate goes to Martin Pastusha from Public Works. Neat how that works, huh?
CROSSING GUARD AT JEFFERSON SCHOOL gets recognized as crossing guard of the year. Good job!
PUBLIC COMMENT: Mayor's cuttn' 'em off at 20 minutes. Bill Watkins talks about bein' sober for years and wnts to help. Dude's talkin' who knows about what. Wacko night at the mike. Nelson's back and organizing meetings to discuss green items and ordinances the council is passing and the leaflet ordinance. Belinda Richards talks about Cleveland Elementary who want no city park on the school grounds. Good to have kid haters of all colors. AND SHE'S GOT A PETITION! Rose Robinson says there's lots of drug activity at the school and people block her driveway. And she says it will be a hotbed of bacteria and everybody will get stuff like swine flu. SERIOUSLY, she said that and she's from THE Robinson family. She runs a day care there, so she couldn't want anybody to interfere with her business, right? Something like kids playing in a schoolyard. AND she wants speed bumps and crossing guards. ComeON! You gotta be shittin' me, right? Marcia Seacord thanks Robinson, McAustin and Madison for organizing emergency training for citizens. Another neighbors hates kids at Cleveland. He says there'll be traffic 24/7. Wayne Lusvardi complains about Raymond Basin water.
Madison wants to close the meeting for Walter Shatford the PCC guy who died.
CONSENT CALENDAR: They're paying people more, and spending $1 million on stuff without talking about it.
TREES LITE: Leftover street plans are on this time. They dealt with the tough stuff, now who's left to get hosed on this one? Staff tree huggin' babe says they looked at all the stuff again and made up a score card for trees. They're gonna look at 'em all again and go over it again and have lotsa public meetings so Crystal Balvin and the biddies can bitch a lot. Haderlein says hurry up and get this done so nobody else hasta go through Playhouse hell. McAustin wants to know about public outreach. Pastusha says they're going back to the same people as before pretty much. Holden wants to know if the U-FUCK has a hearing and if they like the plan it's good to go. Bogaard asks about taking out healthy trees and it told it stays the same. They're buyin' whatever is bin' sold.
BUDGET CAPITAL PROJECTS: They're gonna talk about what gets done sometime, but not now. Holden says there's questions about the budget and public safety and cuts to Arts service.
WE ALL GOTTA PAY FOR STREET SWEEPING NOW: surprise. City's going broke and we all gotta pay more for stuff. They need like $750K and we all gotta pay $.79 more every month. Ok. It's SEVENTY NINE CENTS A MONTH, so that's not soooo bad, but everything's goin' up with it. They got 7 protest letters.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Mr. Renter asks where Tornek went. Bogaard says he's on vacation with his family. Renter doesn't like the daytime parking rules and complains everything costs more money. Tornek's not there, but Sid Tyler shows up to bitch about rate increases and says we oughta do more to have less trash. How come that didn't happen when he was on the council. Man voted for all the increases like everybody else. Guess if it's gonnna cost more than a buck, Tyler was for it. Glenda Owens says northwest Pasadena can't get trash picked up. Surprise, they pass it with a little butt kiss in Tyler's direction.\
WATER PENALTIES ORDINANCE: They made some "format" changes but we're all gonna have to start washing our cars in the dead of night and letting the grass die. Wacko Nancy Nelson's confused about all this and so am I. She wants a public meeting before it gets passed. Bogaard gets testy with the blonde wacko. McAustin says they're trying to encourage people to use water wisely not criminalize water use. McAustin and Madison are gonna have a water saving face off. They're gonna have water audits and see who saves most water.
SEWER SYSTEM PLAN: The shit's still gonna flow ok. They're gonna manage the sewer system. This is gonna cost us somehow, I can feel it.
PUSD AND PASADENA POLICE AGREEMENT: PPD is gonna patrol middle schools, too. Vicino says it's not gonna cost any more, but tehy'll change how officers patrol so they can be on middle school at some time. Madison says it's really important. "As a former federal prosecutor... " he didn't say it this time. Stunned silnce from all in the hall.
IMPROVEMENTS IN FRONT OF PEOPLE'S HOUSES: If it costs less than $75K the city manager's gonna be able to do a contract.
COUNCIL PALS ON COMMISSIONS: Tornek's quit his commission posts. Other pals get back where they were before.
ORDINANCES: Zoning change for Pasadena Christian School gets passed. Park fees can be used at Robinson Park. Marengo Ave gets a landmark district.
WIRELESS ANTENNAS: The tin foil hats are coming back. There's not a lot they can do about where they're allowed to go. AT&T sent a stop this letter. Tim Miller from T-Mobile has issues. Miriam Kwan doesn't like the lease agreement part and wants to know why they are changing it. Raymond Kwan wants to see the old stuff with the new stuff to see what's changed. Joan Chin says something I can't understand. June Takinouchi's not much better but says protect homeowners. Wacko Nancy Nelson wants freedom of information info. Mary Dee Romney raises the "A" word - Altrio. She says the ordinance makes no sense and will favor lobbyists.
Seems there's a moratorium in pace that's ending and if they don't do anything there's gonna be a rush to put in towers without the rules in place. So after a lot of talkin' about all sorts of changes they just pass it anyway and will change it later on.
PUBLIC COMMENT REDUX: June Takinouchi says vote no on the propositions and cut expenses instead of raising water cost. Joan Chen wants the Cleveland School people to be paid attention to. Laronda Heartfield is back again, too. She says the meetings aren't comedy but she likes to come and watch anyway. Raymond Kwan
No meeting on Monday, so we can't have three Tornek meetings missed until the next week. And if there's no meeting there's no way they can raise my taxes next week.
This one was a dog. Not much happened that makes any difference. We got tax and water increases in the next coupla weeks.
I'm done.
D.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Council Blow by Blow for 5/11-09 Featuring the lightweights, errrr. school board members on the undercard
Joint meeting with the Board of Education.
Prognostication: Lots of talk, self congratulations, mutual ass kissing. No actions taken. Nothing changes. Kids still drop out in droves for lives on the streets and bangin' in my 'hood. Leroy Barnes a PUSD kid? Ya think?
'Nuff of my prefight rant.
THEY'RE OFF:
The badger and the beanpole are runnin' the meeting. It's way hard to hear on the internet broadcast so I might miss a buncha stuff. Ain't I the lucky one?
Selinske intros the new people who get to talk about themselves. Tornek isn't there but Bogaard introduces him for himself. The guy moved here to be planning director in the 80s. Great job dude, that's when we had the no growth initiative and all the fights over unstoppable development. new school boarders Ramon Miramontes is an educrat who's only lived here for 8 years and lives near Devil's Gate. Elizabeth Pomroy teaches at PCC and looks like another inbred British royal.
FORMER ACTING CHIEF CHRISTOPHER VACINO TALKS ABOUT POLICE INTERNS and thanks PCC for making it happen. The interns introduce themselves. Their all high schoolers and seem like good kids. Interns don't cost anything so it's really good. Phelps asks about a public service academy and gets told by Diaz that's not in the cards. Honoitz triss to wrest some cash away from the city for more interns in other departments.
REPORT ON BUDGETS: Finance director Andy Green does the report. City's $8.2 million in the hole next year. Health Department's screwed. He says the Obama stimulus isn't gonna fix the problems. Fire and Polie retirements are haunting city finances. And nobody's sure how fucked we 're gonna be after the state gets through with their budget cluster fuck, I mean deliberations. PUSD guy John Papalardo says their cutting $12.5 million by reducing catergorical programs and expect to get screwed by the state budget, too.
Public comment: Karen Taylor from Right Girl says give us money to help girls be creative. Trevor Bryant from Altadena says PUSD is doing better and needs help and wants the City to pay for public schools. Emily Stork from ACT says vote for the propositions. Micelle Miner says pay for public school. Ruth Milky says look out for public health and put money in schools. Debra Repp says give us money. Rev. Paul Sawyer wants the city to pay for a commission to look at Altadena, Pasadena and other places because of violence and wants community policing. He wants to coddle criminals and not arrest gangster druggies. ACLU's here folks. Dawn Keefe wants to get money for schools too. Somebody got these folks all to turn out. ACTer John Fermin says vote yes on the proposition and the city should combat gang violence and give money directly to support the schools. You gotta be shitting me right? They got 20% dropouts according to the S-Nooze and I gotta put my kids in private school but my taxes oughta go to PUSD even more than now? Wake these assholes up somebody please! Funny how all the PUSD beggars are white folks, not the people who get stuck in the shitty schools 'cause they got no place else to go. One woman complains about how teachers are failing 2/3 of their calss and somebody oughta stick up for the kids.
Honowitz whines about schools losing money and wants to grab some city cash through capital projects and wants us to pay for artificial turf at schools and move district educrats into city offices. Uh uh? Miramontes talks about the Muir kid who got shot and he's harrangueing the city about how the schools suck. Not about how they are failing the kids, like every one of hte Rose City kids who don't graduate. Robinson sticks up for the city. Nobody says maybe PUSD oughta do a better f*ing job teaching and graduating kids. Harrison talks about doing business different but let's see that for a while before anybody throws more $$$ down the PUSD rathole. At least he says lket's not ask for money and do other things. Madison says we need to fix the schools. Renatta the Hutt likes Fermin and mutters on about being born in January and says she knows the city is making cuts and can't see the city having extra money. Pomeroy talks about proverbs and really makes me glad I didn't vote for her even if she was the only one running. Couldn't we find a real person to run for school board instead of these people. The council's bizarre sometimes but the school board are a pack of fools with no clue that THEIR JOB is to educate kids, not whine abut how they got no money and want it from everybody else. I gotta wonder how many of those people aksing for city money work for PUSD somehow. Holden asks if they have a finance committee and gets told no there's a citizen budget committee probly made up of all those consultants on the payroll over there. Holden talks about dropout rates and people choosing private school because public schools suck. He talks about cultural and classroom issues PUSD needs to fix. Honowitz says they can talk about dress codes and drop out rates but tries to say they need to concentrate on what they are doing together and completely blows off the dropout stuff and PUSD sucking for most of the kids in high school. Diaz says they need to pay attention to good progress they made and should reprioritize their projects for the next year. Bogaard wants an aggressive look at every opportunity.
TRUANCY REPORT: Michelle Bonnerise says they're catching truants and it's workin'. Lawyer Connie Orosso and John Zomorra from PUSD give the report that says it's helping with attendance at school. Zomorra talks about what goes on and it sounds good to me. Keeping kids in school is better. Now about Rose City graduate rates? Wack job Virginia Hoge talks about how people in the community think PUSD sucks and she hates us bloggers and the S-Nooze and Weakly. Then she bitches about how people can post about S-Nooze stories without being censored. She wants people and the newspapers censored. Miss Heartfield loves God and says kids don't go to school because they're not interested in school anymore.
INTERNSHIP PROGRAMS: Pattsy Lane reports they got some PUSD kids as lifeguards. Starting this summer PCC is funding an intern program for 15 interns. They're gonna also do 287 summer youth jobs that the city pays for and maybe some more from stimulus money from Obama. Some of those jobs are with private businesses too. Affordable Housing Bunny Jill Shuck says they should do Youth Build where kids learn building skills and get a diploma. Then she pimps second units so kids can get experience f*cking up my neighborhood. Good idea if you want even more people north of the freeway jamming into already too crowded areas. Pomeroy says something like we need to know wny kids drop out and how to keep them in school. Duh!
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: We have earthquakes and fires and they're gonna work together so there's plenty to keep kids safe and fed if there's an emergency. They're gonna work together on this. Makes sense, we all oughta be sure kids in schools are safe if there's an emergency.
POST FIGHT WRAP UP: The lightweights are lightweights. Nothin' got done really, but I guess nobody got hurt either so that's not so bad as it coulda been.
Virginia Hoge rears her head at the meeting and wants to shut up people who don't agree with her. I could hope his bosses duck tape Larry Wilson's mouth shut and get rid of his computer so I never have to see his name in the S-Nooze again, but I'm not about censoring anybody. man, the woman's weirder in person and nutsier, too.
Maybe Tornek will miss the rest of the meeting's too so his rich white folks only got Bogaard, Madison, Haderlein and McAustin representin' 'em.
I'm done without callin' nobody an ignorant whore or a scum suckin' politico scammer!
D.
Back to gettin' my pocket picked next week.
Prognostication: Lots of talk, self congratulations, mutual ass kissing. No actions taken. Nothing changes. Kids still drop out in droves for lives on the streets and bangin' in my 'hood. Leroy Barnes a PUSD kid? Ya think?
'Nuff of my prefight rant.
THEY'RE OFF:
The badger and the beanpole are runnin' the meeting. It's way hard to hear on the internet broadcast so I might miss a buncha stuff. Ain't I the lucky one?
Selinske intros the new people who get to talk about themselves. Tornek isn't there but Bogaard introduces him for himself. The guy moved here to be planning director in the 80s. Great job dude, that's when we had the no growth initiative and all the fights over unstoppable development. new school boarders Ramon Miramontes is an educrat who's only lived here for 8 years and lives near Devil's Gate. Elizabeth Pomroy teaches at PCC and looks like another inbred British royal.
FORMER ACTING CHIEF CHRISTOPHER VACINO TALKS ABOUT POLICE INTERNS and thanks PCC for making it happen. The interns introduce themselves. Their all high schoolers and seem like good kids. Interns don't cost anything so it's really good. Phelps asks about a public service academy and gets told by Diaz that's not in the cards. Honoitz triss to wrest some cash away from the city for more interns in other departments.
REPORT ON BUDGETS: Finance director Andy Green does the report. City's $8.2 million in the hole next year. Health Department's screwed. He says the Obama stimulus isn't gonna fix the problems. Fire and Polie retirements are haunting city finances. And nobody's sure how fucked we 're gonna be after the state gets through with their budget cluster fuck, I mean deliberations. PUSD guy John Papalardo says their cutting $12.5 million by reducing catergorical programs and expect to get screwed by the state budget, too.
Public comment: Karen Taylor from Right Girl says give us money to help girls be creative. Trevor Bryant from Altadena says PUSD is doing better and needs help and wants the City to pay for public schools. Emily Stork from ACT says vote for the propositions. Micelle Miner says pay for public school. Ruth Milky says look out for public health and put money in schools. Debra Repp says give us money. Rev. Paul Sawyer wants the city to pay for a commission to look at Altadena, Pasadena and other places because of violence and wants community policing. He wants to coddle criminals and not arrest gangster druggies. ACLU's here folks. Dawn Keefe wants to get money for schools too. Somebody got these folks all to turn out. ACTer John Fermin says vote yes on the proposition and the city should combat gang violence and give money directly to support the schools. You gotta be shitting me right? They got 20% dropouts according to the S-Nooze and I gotta put my kids in private school but my taxes oughta go to PUSD even more than now? Wake these assholes up somebody please! Funny how all the PUSD beggars are white folks, not the people who get stuck in the shitty schools 'cause they got no place else to go. One woman complains about how teachers are failing 2/3 of their calss and somebody oughta stick up for the kids.
Honowitz whines about schools losing money and wants to grab some city cash through capital projects and wants us to pay for artificial turf at schools and move district educrats into city offices. Uh uh? Miramontes talks about the Muir kid who got shot and he's harrangueing the city about how the schools suck. Not about how they are failing the kids, like every one of hte Rose City kids who don't graduate. Robinson sticks up for the city. Nobody says maybe PUSD oughta do a better f*ing job teaching and graduating kids. Harrison talks about doing business different but let's see that for a while before anybody throws more $$$ down the PUSD rathole. At least he says lket's not ask for money and do other things. Madison says we need to fix the schools. Renatta the Hutt likes Fermin and mutters on about being born in January and says she knows the city is making cuts and can't see the city having extra money. Pomeroy talks about proverbs and really makes me glad I didn't vote for her even if she was the only one running. Couldn't we find a real person to run for school board instead of these people. The council's bizarre sometimes but the school board are a pack of fools with no clue that THEIR JOB is to educate kids, not whine abut how they got no money and want it from everybody else. I gotta wonder how many of those people aksing for city money work for PUSD somehow. Holden asks if they have a finance committee and gets told no there's a citizen budget committee probly made up of all those consultants on the payroll over there. Holden talks about dropout rates and people choosing private school because public schools suck. He talks about cultural and classroom issues PUSD needs to fix. Honowitz says they can talk about dress codes and drop out rates but tries to say they need to concentrate on what they are doing together and completely blows off the dropout stuff and PUSD sucking for most of the kids in high school. Diaz says they need to pay attention to good progress they made and should reprioritize their projects for the next year. Bogaard wants an aggressive look at every opportunity.
TRUANCY REPORT: Michelle Bonnerise says they're catching truants and it's workin'. Lawyer Connie Orosso and John Zomorra from PUSD give the report that says it's helping with attendance at school. Zomorra talks about what goes on and it sounds good to me. Keeping kids in school is better. Now about Rose City graduate rates? Wack job Virginia Hoge talks about how people in the community think PUSD sucks and she hates us bloggers and the S-Nooze and Weakly. Then she bitches about how people can post about S-Nooze stories without being censored. She wants people and the newspapers censored. Miss Heartfield loves God and says kids don't go to school because they're not interested in school anymore.
INTERNSHIP PROGRAMS: Pattsy Lane reports they got some PUSD kids as lifeguards. Starting this summer PCC is funding an intern program for 15 interns. They're gonna also do 287 summer youth jobs that the city pays for and maybe some more from stimulus money from Obama. Some of those jobs are with private businesses too. Affordable Housing Bunny Jill Shuck says they should do Youth Build where kids learn building skills and get a diploma. Then she pimps second units so kids can get experience f*cking up my neighborhood. Good idea if you want even more people north of the freeway jamming into already too crowded areas. Pomeroy says something like we need to know wny kids drop out and how to keep them in school. Duh!
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS: We have earthquakes and fires and they're gonna work together so there's plenty to keep kids safe and fed if there's an emergency. They're gonna work together on this. Makes sense, we all oughta be sure kids in schools are safe if there's an emergency.
POST FIGHT WRAP UP: The lightweights are lightweights. Nothin' got done really, but I guess nobody got hurt either so that's not so bad as it coulda been.
Virginia Hoge rears her head at the meeting and wants to shut up people who don't agree with her. I could hope his bosses duck tape Larry Wilson's mouth shut and get rid of his computer so I never have to see his name in the S-Nooze again, but I'm not about censoring anybody. man, the woman's weirder in person and nutsier, too.
Maybe Tornek will miss the rest of the meeting's too so his rich white folks only got Bogaard, Madison, Haderlein and McAustin representin' 'em.
I'm done without callin' nobody an ignorant whore or a scum suckin' politico scammer!
D.
Back to gettin' my pocket picked next week.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Council Blow-by-Blow for 5-4-09 the reorganization
Tyler's out. Tornek's in.
Tornek suggests the only black republican in the SG Valley to do the invocation. Reverend Turner from New Revelations Church is the Clarence Thomas of Pasadena. Tyler gets Paul Daily to lead the pledge. The clerk tells us what we know. Gordo and Holden got re-elected and Tornek's replacing Tyler.
No back pats, Council introduces friends and family who are there. Gordo's packed the house. Holden jokes that his family takes up the whole row.
BE NICE TO TYLER TIME:
Adam Cater from Portantino gives Tyler a certificate. Beck lauds Tyler for being a purse watchdog, but I guess missed all the calls for tree consultants and the votes to spend money. Madison gives Tyler a green eyeshade. Haderlein gives Sid a photo of the Playhouse District. Tyler says something about the trees, but we can't hear it on TV.
Tyler's pretty funny and thanks everybody. He's been at it twelve years, and he's a good ole dude, that's for sure. He's an old white guy who represented hte old white part of town pretty good and leaves being warmly thought of.
ADJOURN THE OLD COUNCIL SANS TYLER AND COME BACK TO SWEAR IN THE NEW GUY
Tornek intros his family.Holden talks about how long he's been on the council. Gordo thanks his constituents. Tornek gets lauded by Bogaard who endorsed him.
VICE MAYOR ELECTION:
Haderlein's been it for two years. He gets a clock for time served. McAustin nominates Gordo 'cause it's his turn. He's a hometown boy and milks it a bit. It's his turn, so he oughta take it. Bogaard says they've got a lot ahead of them and he's proud to be part of it.
They're done in an hour. Not much fanfare for Tyler, but I guess he burned up some good will with the tree bullshit.
Next week we get to see Tornek in action. Hold your lunch folks.
D.
Tornek suggests the only black republican in the SG Valley to do the invocation. Reverend Turner from New Revelations Church is the Clarence Thomas of Pasadena. Tyler gets Paul Daily to lead the pledge. The clerk tells us what we know. Gordo and Holden got re-elected and Tornek's replacing Tyler.
No back pats, Council introduces friends and family who are there. Gordo's packed the house. Holden jokes that his family takes up the whole row.
BE NICE TO TYLER TIME:
Adam Cater from Portantino gives Tyler a certificate. Beck lauds Tyler for being a purse watchdog, but I guess missed all the calls for tree consultants and the votes to spend money. Madison gives Tyler a green eyeshade. Haderlein gives Sid a photo of the Playhouse District. Tyler says something about the trees, but we can't hear it on TV.
Tyler's pretty funny and thanks everybody. He's been at it twelve years, and he's a good ole dude, that's for sure. He's an old white guy who represented hte old white part of town pretty good and leaves being warmly thought of.
ADJOURN THE OLD COUNCIL SANS TYLER AND COME BACK TO SWEAR IN THE NEW GUY
Tornek intros his family.Holden talks about how long he's been on the council. Gordo thanks his constituents. Tornek gets lauded by Bogaard who endorsed him.
VICE MAYOR ELECTION:
Haderlein's been it for two years. He gets a clock for time served. McAustin nominates Gordo 'cause it's his turn. He's a hometown boy and milks it a bit. It's his turn, so he oughta take it. Bogaard says they've got a lot ahead of them and he's proud to be part of it.
They're done in an hour. Not much fanfare for Tyler, but I guess he burned up some good will with the tree bullshit.
Next week we get to see Tornek in action. Hold your lunch folks.
D.
Monday, May 4, 2009
It's Tyler's Last Day, Gimme a T for Tornek Sets His Butt in Tyler's Seat.
Tyler goes out after tonight's meeting. He was a decent guy who took all Proctor's silliness in stride and leaves with a pretty good image intact. If it wasn't for the tree crap over the past three months, he'd be almost spotless.
Maybe the new guy won't be so crazy over trees, but no way he's gonna give a shit 'bout any of us folks north o' the 210. I hear the biddies are having a dildo party to celebrate Tornek gettin' sworn in.
Jobs? Who gives a f+ck? Not my city council. We're all about trees and cell phone antenna. Tornek ain't gonna be no better. Probly worse.
Time will tell. I'n takin' bets about how many meetings it'll take before Tornek does a f+ck you Northwest Pasadena.
D.
Maybe the new guy won't be so crazy over trees, but no way he's gonna give a shit 'bout any of us folks north o' the 210. I hear the biddies are having a dildo party to celebrate Tornek gettin' sworn in.
Jobs? Who gives a f+ck? Not my city council. We're all about trees and cell phone antenna. Tornek ain't gonna be no better. Probly worse.
Time will tell. I'n takin' bets about how many meetings it'll take before Tornek does a f+ck you Northwest Pasadena.
D.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Wilson Trolls for Allies: Gets No Takers Among the Under 75 Set
Today Larry Wilson whines about no young people caring about the trees on Colorado Blvd. but misses the whole point: it wasn't important to people who really care about global warming.
The ones who really care are out doing something to make a real difference.
These days limousine liberals have been replaced with Prius driving enviro-poseurs. People who try to paint their cause with an enviro-brush. Won't work Larry. Here's a clue for you: Larry and the biddies can bitch all you want, but 30 trees make absolutely no difference to any environment. Not the local one and sure not the global one.
Nobody under the age of 75 bought into the enviro-argument? And Larry's surprised about that?
Maybe these biddies and their mouthpiece oughta think about how damaging they are to real chances to make a change when they cheapen the efforts of people who are making a difference by co-opting the global warming argument for their little petty power grab?
Who's really hurting the global warming cause?
Not the kids who are doing real things to make the earth cleaner. Maybe it's Larry and the biddies who trivialize the issue by tagging their tree crusade as a global warming issue.
Click for Wilson's navel-gazer from last weekend:
D.
The ones who really care are out doing something to make a real difference.
These days limousine liberals have been replaced with Prius driving enviro-poseurs. People who try to paint their cause with an enviro-brush. Won't work Larry. Here's a clue for you: Larry and the biddies can bitch all you want, but 30 trees make absolutely no difference to any environment. Not the local one and sure not the global one.
Nobody under the age of 75 bought into the enviro-argument? And Larry's surprised about that?
Maybe these biddies and their mouthpiece oughta think about how damaging they are to real chances to make a change when they cheapen the efforts of people who are making a difference by co-opting the global warming argument for their little petty power grab?
Who's really hurting the global warming cause?
Not the kids who are doing real things to make the earth cleaner. Maybe it's Larry and the biddies who trivialize the issue by tagging their tree crusade as a global warming issue.
Click for Wilson's navel-gazer from last weekend:
D.
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