Officials from the Metropolitan Water District, the City of Pasadena, and the City of Glendale recently traveled to Sacramento, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and the Central Valley to inspect dams, reservoirs, farms, and State and Federal Water Project infrastructure to learn about how water is delivered to Southern California and about challenges to that system. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is one of the world’s largest water agencies. From the Colorado River and from Northern California through the...
Featured Stories
Carmelita: The legacy of Pasadena’s horticultural haven
By Jenny Goodwin Research assistant, Pasadena Museum of History Early Pasadena thrived as an agricultural community, where settlers often cultivated beautiful gardens alongside their citrus groves. One of the first and most famous Pasadena gardens was the creation of Mrs. Jeanne Carr, wife of Dr. Ezra Carr, a distinguished physician and professor at the University of Wisconsin. The Carrs relocated from Wisconsin to Oakland in 1869, first visiting Pasadena in 1876. In 1877, they purchased a 42-acre plot along W....
PUSD board infrastructure vote clouds San Rafael’s future
By Mark Mastromatteo In a key Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) Board of Education vote on Sept. 7, the board agreed 6-1 to fund major infrastructure projects at Muir High School, and Madison and Longfellow elementary schools, totaling roughly $240 million. While up to $300 million may be available for future major PUSD school site projects from the recent bond measure, PUSD, according to sources, will not commit to additional projects of this scale for at least three years, until...
City continues to develop ‘objective’ planning standards
By Martin Potter Senior Planner, City of Pasadena In 2019, Senate Bill 330 (the Housing Crisis Act) became law. It specified that local jurisdictions shall not impose or enforce new design standards established after Jan. 1, 2020 for multi-family residential and mixed-use projects, unless the standards are objective. The State defines objective as “involving no personal or subjective judgement by a public official and being uniformly verifiable by reference to an external and uniform benchmark or criterion available and knowable...
Commission recommends ‘holistic’ approach for CIP
By Luis Rocha Planning Manager, City of Pasadena Every October Pasadena’s Department of Public Works prepares a Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for adoption as part of the City’s budget for each fiscal year. The program is intended to improve the City’s public infrastructure, which could include: City buildings and facilities Streets and streetscapes Street lighting Undergrounding electrical systems Transportation (roadway, intersections, pedestrian access, bicycling and local transit improvements) City parking facilities Sewers and storm drains Rose Bowl and Arroyo Seco...
City seeks feedback on new bridge-barrier options
By Dave Bise The City Department of Public Works hosted a community engagement webinar on August 29 to share new vertical barrier concepts in development for the Colorado Street Bridge barrier enhancement project. This is the second round of bridge barrier designs for the public to consider. The City had previously hired Donald MacDonald Architects to develop barrier design concepts. In the spring of 2021, the City installed full-scale mockup panels at two locations along the Colorado Street Bridge for...
City seeks ways to discourage coyotes from foraging in our neighborhoods
By Lee Wallace Coyotes and humans have co-existed in the Southwest for centuries. The Tohono O’odham (indigenous people of the Sonoran Desert) tell the story of how Coyote helped the Montezuma survive a global deluge intended to destroy all humanity. After the great flood, the Creator made a new humanity, and Coyote and Montezuma then taught the new people how to live. In the real world, however… Pasadena residents have reported 51 coyote sightings since Jan. 1. Curiously, this is...
Watch the 9/12/2023 District 6 Town Hall
Councilmember Steve Madison hosted a districtwide District 6 Town Hall on September 12, 2023, at the Huntington Medical Research Institute. City Manager Miguel Márquez and Police Chief Eugene Harris provided updates on their roles since starting within the last year, especially as their work relates to District 6. Councilmember Madison also provided updates on the 710 stub planning process, the disposition of the Caltrans houses, the Colorado Street Bridge barrier design concepts, the Avenue 64 roundabout, the Caltrans project on...
Watch the 710 Stub Bus Tour
If you missed the recent bus tour of the 710 stub as part of the Reconnecting Communities 710 Advisory Group meeting, you can watch Pasadena Media's coverage of the tour at the link below. We encourage all District 6 residents to learn about the history of the stub, stay up to date with the planning process, and make your voices heard as we embark on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to re-envision this portion of west Pasadena. Watch the tour at this...
New Preliminary Colorado Street Bridge Barrier Design Concepts
In case you missed it, click here to watch the recent virtual webinar about the four new preliminary Colorado Street Bridge barrier design concepts. Click here to view the Apexx Architecture presentation from the meeting. The concepts include Canted Webmesh, Vertical Cables, Metal Pickets, and Vertical Webmesh. After watching the video and reading the presentation, we encourage all District 6 residents to fill out and submit this survey about the concepts. This questionnaire will help Apexx and the City’s Department...