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SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2011

VOLUME 5 NO. 21

4th of July Grand Marshal Announced

Protecting Our Property

City Council To Consider Transferring Property from CRA

By Susan Henderson

In recent years the question has 
been asked, “Who Owns City Hall?”. 
While the motivation behind the 
question may have been to find out if 
city properties were mortgaged to the 
hilt, the inquiry lead to the discovery 
that in fact titles to four parcels of 
city property should actually have 
been changed from the Community 
Redevelopment Agency (CRA) in 
1988. This issue has escalated in 
importance given the State’s current 
desire to dismantle CRA’s.

As a result, at Tuesdays city council 
meeting, the council will be asked 
to consider transferring title of city 
property held by the CRA to the City 
of Sierra Madre.

In the report submitted to the 
council by staff, the properties (7 
parcels), are listed as:

 City Hall/Public Safety Facility - 4 
parcels and

 186 W. Highland, a Portion of the 
Mariposa Parking Lot and Portions of 
70-84 Esperanza.

According to the report, in 1972, the 
CRA issued Public Safety Facility Lease 
Revenue Bonds and City Hall Facility 
Lease Revenue Bonds which provided 
the funds for construction of City Hall 
and the Police and Fire Departments 
facilities. Title for the properties 
were held in the name of the issuing 
agency, the Sierra Madre Community 
Redevelopment Agency. The bond 
documents included a provision that 
called for title to the properties to be 
transferred back to the city when the 
bonds and other costs were paid in fill.

 In 1988, Tax Increment Bonds were 
issued that paid off the 1972 bonds in 
full. At that time, title should have 
reverted back to the City of Sierra 
Madre but were not. It is that omission 
that the council is being asked to 
correct on Tuesday. In addition staff 
recommends that three other parcels 
(Highland, Mariposa and Esperanza), 
transfer title from the CRA to the City 
of Sierra Madre.

By correcting the 1988 oversight, 
and transferring title from the CRA to 
the city, Sierra Madre will avoid having 
assets taken by the state should the 
CRA be eliminated.

Also on the council agenda on 
Tuesday (partial list) are recognition 
of Older American Of The Year Pat 
Alcorn; Recognition of Sierra Madre’s 
Hometown Hero John Shear (http://
mtnviewsnews.com/v05/htm/n12/
index.htm), and Fees for Summer 
Aquatic Programs.

Sierra Madre City Council meets the 
2nd and 4th Tuesdays, 6:30 pm at City 
Hall 232 W. Sierra Madre Blvd.


By Bill Coburn

The 4th of July Committee 
announced today that they have 
named Sierra Madre School’s retiring 
principal Gayle Bluemel to be the 
Grand Marshal of the 2011 4th of July, 
and in the same press release, they 
announced they have responded to a 
large groundswell of support for John 
Shear by creating a new designation, 
“Hometown Hero.” Shear is a 
longtime Sierra Madre resident who 
captured the imagination of people 
worldwide earlier this year when he, 
at age 90, threw himself in front of a 
runaway horse at Santa Anita Park to 
protect a young child that was in its 
path, suffering extensive injuries that 
required lengthy hospitalization and 
time off work.

Bluemel, who began teaching at 
Sierra Madre School in 1990, served 
for a time as vice-principal under Ty 
Gaffney, before replacing Gaffney 
in 2006 upon his retirement. She 
recently announced that she will retire 
effective June 30, 2011. According to 
the Committee’s press release, “Under 
Ms. Bluemel’s leadership as principal, 
Sierra Madre School’s academic 
performance has consistently been 
in the elite of all California schools, 
earning it the California Business for 
Education Excellence Honor Roll 
award in 2009.”

According to Committee Chairman 
Matt Bosse “The Grand Marshal is a 
person’s whose efforts over a long 
period of time have been beneficial 
to the community of Sierra Madre. 
The title of Grand Marshal is intended 
to honor a person’s volume of work, 
dedication and overall enhancements 
to our city.” Using that definition, 
Bluemel certainly qualifies. However, 
the 4th of July Committee chose to 
also honor Mr. Shear for his heroism, 
selecting him to be the Parade’s 
Hometown Hero, a new designation. 
According to the Committee’s press 
release, the Hometown Hero will not 
necessarily be an annual parade entry; 
the Hometown Hero designation 
will be reserved for people that 
commit acts of courage and honor 
that go above and beyond serving the 
community-at-large.

The 2011 4th of July Festivities 
will begin with a Community Picnic 
on Saturday, July 2, 2011 in Sierra 
Vista Park. From 3– 8 pm there will 
be swimming, picnics, a home-run-
derby and much more. The celebration 
will continue on July 3rd in Memorial 
Park from 5-10 pm with the traditional 
“Bubblewrap Fireworks”, beer garden, 
food booths and a performance by 
Mercy and the Merkettes. The 4th of 
July will start off with a bang and the 
new 5K Firecracker Fun Run. The run 
will begin at 7:00 pm in Kersting Court 
and run a loop along the parade route. 
The traditional hometown parade will 
begin at 10 am and will be followed by 
activities in Memorial Park.

Anyone interested in registering to 
participate in the 5K Firecracker Fun 
Run or in the 4th of July Parade can do 
so online at www.cityofsierramadre.
com/onlineregistration. For more 
information on all of the 4th of July 
Festivities, please call 626.355.5278.

Gayle Bluemel

Photo courtesy of Bill Coburn


Schedule of Events

6:00AM

Pick Up Race Numbers in Kersting Court

 

7:20AM

Pre-Race Instruction

 

7:30AM

Race Start

 

7:45AM

Kids’ Mile Fun Run Race Start

 

8:30AM

First Runner Comes Down from Mountain

 

9:00AM

Beer Garden Opens

 

10:30AM

Awards Ceremony

12:30PM

Race officially over

1:00PM

Beer garden closes

Alverno Students Focus on a Single Topic for Senior Projects

Interest in academic pursuits typically flags during 
the Spring of Senior year in high schools across the 
country. Alverno High School created a way to pique 
their seniors’ quest for knowledge, while polishing 
their presentation skills before college, according to 
Cynthia Cales, Senior English teacher at the school.

Candace Siegle, Director of Admissions, 
commented, “This is an enormous undertaking, as the 
girls have to learn how to do something completely 
new and document the process. In the past we’ve had 
girls learn how to design furniture, build a pond in 
the back yard, teach young elementary kids how to 
cheerlead, train a seeing eye puppy, learn to box, and 
delve into the secrets of the credit card. 

This (day) is the presentation of all their hard work. 
The current class is very creative so I am looking 
forward to seeing what they have done.”

Alverno’s seniors did exhibit a wide range of 
creativity in their presentations, which included belly 
dancing study by a Lebanese student, shadowing an 
equine veterinarian, dressmaking, hoofing horses 
and their foot care, LAPD cadet program study, Sea 
World’s “in the water” dolphin study program, ethnic 
cooking classes and much more . 

A few solidified their commitment to a course of 
study in college. Others figured out, through the 
focused research on the topic, that it was NOT an area 
they wanted to pursue.

A team of teachers and alumni came in to evaluate 
the young women’s projects, and awarded prizes after 
the program yesterday. 

Wendy M. Finch-Burk, Director of Development 
and Alumnae Relations, announced the winners 
today: 1st Place ($150) went to Kelly Shunn for her 
Green Peace: The Campus Garden, where she re-
landscaped a corner of the school with succulent 
vegetation, including agave and flax. 

2nd Place ($100) was awarded to Ashley Zika, for 
her “Dreaming Couture: Every Dress Has a Story” 
project. 3rd Place ($75) winner was Christina Lopez 
for “The Life of a Teenage Mother” and 4th Place 
($50) went to Regina Cabrera for her “50 Golden 
Years” project which featured the first five decades of 
Alverno High School.

Siegle reflected, “This fits in so nicely with our 
mission; to empower each young woman to be exactly 
the person she wants to be. It’s also fun and creative!”


Inside This Edition...

CALENDAR Page 2 

Sierra Madre News Page 3

Pasadena/Altadena Page 4

Arcadia Page 5

Monrovia/Duarte Page 6

Education & Youth Page 7

Good Food & Drink Page 8

Arts & Entertainment Page 9

Legals Page 10

Left/Right Page 11

Opinion Page 12

The World Around Us Page 13

 The Good Life Page 14

Homes & Property Page 15

 FYI Page 16

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