GENERAL PLAN TOWN HALL MEETING: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2010 2-4 p.m. YOUTH ACTIVITY CENTER - SIERRA MADRE 611 E. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 13, 2010

VOLUME 4 NO. 45

Council Moves Toward 
Water Rate Increase 

A Salute To The Brave

Sierra Madre residents honor Veterans

 After another lengthy discussion between the Sierra Madre City Council, 
residents and city staff, Mayor Joe Mosca, after a 4 - 1 vote, instructed staff 
to prepare the Ordnance for a water rate increase for first reading. Council 
members Walsh, Buchanan, Moran and Mosca voted in favor of moving 
forward. Councilmember Mary Ann MacGillivray voted against the rate 
hike, indicating that while she understood the need for the increase, she 
wanted the city to go through the Proposition 218 process again. 

 At the last council meeting, the City Manager was instructed to bring back 
several options for the council could consider for the implementation of 
the much needed water rate hike. This was done after opponents of the 
rate increase failed to gather enough protests to block the action via Prop 
218, and after weeks of public meetings and hearings where the council 
and city staff attempted to address some of the concerns of opponents to 
the rate increase.

 Residents who are opposed to the hike have, over the last few months, 
been primarily concerned with the tiered structure and the financial 
impact on rate payers. There has also been much discussion on the bonds, 
which were intitiated years ago; the management of the water fund; the 
need for any increase and alternatives to the rate hike such as purchasing 
water from the City of Arcadia a recommendation from real estate 
investor Earl Richey or not paying the interest on the bond debt, someting 
that resident Faye Angus suggested to the council on Tuesday. 

 The staff report provided three options for the council to consider. 
Option I provided for five years of equal increases with the bond covenant 
satisfied at the end of the five year period. That option would implement 
the rate increase exactly as it was introduced originally including a tiered 
rate structure. 

Option 2 provided for five years of equal increases with the bond covenant 
satisfied in year three. 

Option 3 - which the majority of the council supports, provides for five 
years of equal increases with the bond covenant met in two. 

The bottom line for rate payers is that if the council adopts Option 3, 
the increase will be less than the approximate $8 per month originally 
calculated. 

 

 The final figures will be presented to the council at the first meeting in 
December.

S. Henderson/MVNews


The annual Veteran’s Day memorial service was held in Memorial Park on Saturday. World War II Veteran Buddy 
Switzer takes a moment to give the audience an overview of veterans in general and the VFW in particular. Above, he 
points to a photo of Sierra Madre’s Fourth of July parade more than a decade ago. Switzer also reminded the crowd 
of the contributions of longtime Sierra Madre resident veteran John Grijalva who is no longer with us. Grijalva and 
Switzer were the driving forces behind erecting the Veteran’s Wall, among other things. Sierra Madre Police Chief, 
Marilyn Diaz was the keynote speaker. Photo by Dean Lee

Presenting Sierra Madre’s

2011 Princesses

Madeline Pirrone and Yasmine Ibrahim were chosen to be the 
2011 Princesses for the Sierra Madre Rose Float Association. 
The announcement of their selection took place Sunday evening, 
November 7, at the Masonic Hall in Sierra Madre.

Madeline is in 11th grade at Pasadena High School. Yasmine is in 11th 
grade at Alverno High School. Both have sisters who were princesses 
last year for the Association. Madeline’s sister, Filomena, and 
Yasmine’s sister, Bassant, took part in the coronation ceremony along 
with Tiffany Tripucko, who was the third princess on the 2010 Sierra 
Madre royal court. The fourth princess of that court, Tracy Sullivan, 
was not able to return from college to participate in the ceremony.

Madeline is active in water polo at PHS and Yasmine is active in 
student government at Alverno. Both have better that 3.0 grade 
averages and are active in other organizations. They are looking 
forward to their year as princesses and riding on the Sierra Madre 
float, Sueños de California, in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses 
Parade on New Year’s Day.


GENERAL PLAN TOWN 
HALL MEETING: 

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2010 
2-4 p.m. 

YOUTH ACTIVITY CENTER - 
SIERRA MADRE 

611 E. Sierra Madre Blvd., 

Sierra Madre

JAPANESE GARDEN CLUB MEETS

Sierra Madre Middle School student service club - The Green Thumb Crew

Story and Photo by Lina Johnson

The Japanese Garden Club, a 
service club for Sierra Madre 
Middle school had their first 
meeting on Monday November 
8th at 1:00 pm.The meeting was 
well attended by students from 
the school eager to learn and 
participate in the cultivation 
and maintenance of the 
extraordinary garden located on 
the school grounds just below the 
lunch tables. 

 The original friendship garden 
was built as a gesture of goodwill 
in 1931 by first generation 
Japanese parents of about two 
dozen students of the middle 
school. During World War 
II the garden was vandalized 
and destroyed when anti-
Japanese sentiment was virulent 
. Many Japanese Americans 
including the fathers who had 
built the garden were placed in 
concentration camps.

The entire garden including the pond 
and bridge were unrecognizable for 
many years,hidden under layers of 
dirt, weeds and trash. 

 In 1995, two sixth grade students 
of SMMS in Helen Ponterelli’s class 
decided to 

rebuild the garden .There motivation 
came from an article written in 
the Los Angeles Times.The article 
revealed information about the 
Japanese Garden existing on the 
school grounds and the fact that 
the garden was now reduced to 
ruins.It was this article and a visit 
to Assumption church as part of an 
introduction into “Learning from 
the Past” that sparked a fire in two 
students, Natalie Sandoval and Alex 
Johnstone.Their enthusiasm and 
determination to rebuild the garden 
spread through the sixth grade class 
and to adult volunteers, especially 
Sierra Madre Community resident 
Lew Wantanabe. Wantanabe worked 
tirelessly as a volunteer on the project 
assisting the children to re-design 
and re-construct the garden to it’s 
original state.

 Complete restoration of the garden 
took about one year to finish and 
included many hours of physical 
labor and extensive fundraising.The 
students in Helen Ponterelli’s 6th 
grade class were not discouraged 
by the amount of 
money or work that it 
took to revitalize the 
“Goodwill Garden” 
.For them the project 
was a humanitarian 
expression of 
correcting the wrongs 
committed in the 
past.

 The garden now 
exists as a symbol of 
hope for acceptance 
and peace in the 
world .The students in 
Sierra Madre Middle 
School Japanese 
Garden Service Club 
have taken on the 
responsibility and 
challenge of keeping 
the garden in pristine 

condition. They will 
sign up to visit it 
once or twice a week 
to pull weeds, care 
for plants or rake the 
Zen garden.Through their continued 
efforts the Japanese friendship 
garden will flourish so that visitors 
can experience the joy 

that this little garden brings.

Donations to help maintain 
the Goodwill Garden/Japanese 
Garden Service Club can be sent 
to Sierra Madre Middle School at 
141 W.Highland Avenue,Sierra 
Madre,91024


Inside This Week...

CALENDAR Page 2 

SIERRA MADRE Page 3

PASADENA/ALTADENA

 Page 4

ARCADIA Page 5

MONROVIA/DUARTE

 Page 6

FEATURES

Education & Youth Page 8

Good Food & Drink Page 9

 Peter Dills....Table For Two

Legals Page 10

Left Turn/Right Turn Page 11

Opinion Page 12

The World Around Us Page 13

The Good Life Page 14

Homes & Property Page 14

SPORTS Page 15

 Bobby Eldridge - On The Course

 FYI Page 15 


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