Mountain Views News          Saturday, February 25, 2012

4


Mountain Views-News Saturday, February 25, 2012 


Artnight Set for March 9

RUSNAK TO 
RUN FOR 
ASSEMBLY

 The city’s spring ArtNight will 
feature paint-spewing army 
ducks, Japanese folding screens, 
satiric and seditious animated 
video shorts, pop-up galleries 
and teen- scene music and art 
workshops. The event, set for 
Friday, March 9, is free.

 From 6 to 10 p.m. a dozen 
cultural venues will open their 
doors and the city of Pasadena 
will provide free shuttle service 
at each location. Walking is 
also an option as many of the 
venues are clustered downtown. 
To join a bicycling group visit 
www.cicle.org. For easy treats 
at modest prices, trendy food 
trucks will appear at a handful 
of venues. 

 While entry to each location 
is free, many of the host 
venues will also offer special 
discounts on merchandise or 
memberships with proof of 
Metro ridership, including 10 
percent off store merchandise 
at the Pasadena Museum of 
California Art or 10 percent 
off the price of exhibition 
catalogues at the Armory 
Center for the Arts. Other 
venues will offer additional 
discounts on memberships. 

 ArtNight is a twice-yearly 
event made possible through 
ongoing partnership among 
many cultural institutions and 
the Cultural Affairs Division 
of the city of Pasadena and is 
sponsored by the Pasadena Arts 
and Culture Commission. For 
more information call (626) 
744-7887. For accessibility and 
alternative formats call (626) 
744-7062. Para español visite 
www.artnightpasadena.org. 

 
In an unforeseen move, local 
auto dealership executive 
Victoria Rusnak threw her 
hat in the ring, announcing 
her intent to run for the 41st 
state Assembly District seat. 
According to reports, she filed 
papers to run last week. 

 “For any non-politician 
to decide to run for elected 
office today requires careful 
evaluation of several factors...
the personal fortitude to enter 
into a political campaign, the 
passion and commitment to 
tackle the tough issues facing 
our communities and lastly, 
the experience and knowledge 
required to make a difference,” 
Rusnak said.

 In a letter on 
rusnakforassembly.com she 
went on to say,

 “After careful evaluation 
and consultation with 
many community leaders, 
I have decided to offer our 
communities an alternative to 
the failed political approaches 
of the past.

 As a businesswoman 
supervising a local family-
owned business with over 700 
employees, I know firsthand 
the struggles and hurdles of 
running a business and where 
we need to streamline red-
tape and bureaucracy. I am the 
only proven job creator in this 
campaign.

 As a former environmental 
lawyer, I have fought hard 
to protect our natural 
environment. I will continue 
this personal commitment 
in Sacramento working with 
all sides for innovative and 
practical solutions & policies.

 As both a parent and 
community leader in 
education, I am determined 
to support and reform our 
educational system. One 
out of four K-12 students 
in California is not English 
proficient and half qualify for 
free or reduced price meals. 
We have made improvements 
in test scores but we have a 
long way to go. I will work to 
increase education funding, 
give more authority to teachers 
and local school districts and 
support magnet schools and 
career programs.”

Leaders Offer Solutions to PCC Cuts

By Dean Lee

 Pasadena City College 
President Dr. Mark Rocha made 
a passionate plea Wednesday 
night for students to work 
together with the school after 
days of protests triggered by 
course cuts that left many 
students scrabbling to find open 
classes the first day of the spring 
semester.

 “These cuts, 46 sections on 
2,300 sections are serious,” 
Rocha said during a packed 
board of trustee meeting. “But 
it’s not the world coming to an 
end. There are people out there, 
who are not in college, and 
hearing this would think, I’m 
not coming.”

 Rocha said he was worried that 
they were sending a message the 
school was closed for business, 
“it is not,” he said. 

 Rocha said cuts were in 
response to a $2.8 million 
decrease in funding, from 
Sacramento, to the college 
announced just weeks before 
the start of classes. He cautioned 
that more cuts were coming next 
year, although did not say if the 
school had plans to nix Summer 
or Winter intercessions, a move 
implemented by other nearby 
colleges such as Glendale. 

 He called on students to rally 
Sacramento and support a 
proposed fall campaign around 
an initiative to tax oil to fund 
education, “You want to do 
something practical to save 
your sections, we need to work 
together.” 

 During the four hour 
meeting, many students and 
faculty blamed the schools 
leaders for mismanagement 
including the firing of over 20 
longtime instructors teaching in 
retirement. 

 Jane Hallinger, English 
instructor and former president 
of the PCC Academic Senate 
said the cuts and layoffs were a 
failure to plan.

 “We have been told over and 
over by the state and pundits 
this was coming,” she said “two 
years ago we should have been 
planning in a proactive status 
rather than a reactive status that 
we face now.”

 She said they have an obligation 
to protect student’s future by 
budgeting, “For the year after 
and the year after that.”

 Hallinger also criticized the 
school’s choice to hire five vice 
presidents something Rocha 
had defended.

 “All of the money that would 
be saved from the retired faculty 
that was fired would not pay for 
one vice president,” she said.

 Although Rocha did say the 
vice presidents were necessary 
he also said that they were 
looking at reorganization of 
management, “Everything is on 
the table,” he said.

 Students chanted and called 
for Rocha to step down singling 
out his $1 million, four year 
contract with the school. 
Towards the end of the meeting 
he announced plans to create a 
“graduation fund,” to stop future 
high demand classes from being 
cut.

 As part of an eight step 
“graduation fund” process, 
Rocha said the first would be to 
shut the school down completely 
for a week during spring break 
saving the school $25,000 in 
utilities and operating costs. He 
also said he would personally 
forgo a weeks pay, and donate 
the $4,300 to the newly created 
fund. 

 Other steps include the 
executive committee each giving 
up two days pay, “This will ad 
approximately another $8,000” 
Rocha said. He also called on 
all managers and classified 
supervisors donate one day’s 
pay. 

 The school also has planed, 
this spring, a new 12 week 
intersession adding classes for 
those students affected by cuts.

 

Spitzer Finds 
Buckyballs 
in Space

 
Astronomers using data 
from NASA’s Spitzer Space 
Telescope have, for the first 
time, discovered buckyballs 
in a solid form in space. 
Prior to this discovery, the 
microscopic carbon spheres 
had been found only in gas 
form in the cosmos.

 Formally named 
buckministerfullerene, 
buckyballs are named after 
their resemblance to the 
late architect Buckminster 
Fuller’s geodesic domes. They 
are made up of 60 carbon 
molecules arranged into a 
hollow sphere, like a soccer 
ball. Their unusual structure 
makes them ideal candidates 
for electrical and chemical 
applications on Earth, 
including superconducting 
materials, medicines, water 
purification and armor.

 “This exciting result 
suggests that buckyballs are 
even more widespread in 
space than the earlier Spitzer 
results showed,” said Mike 
Werner, project scientist 
for Spitzer at NASA’s Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory in 
Pasadena, Calif. “They may 
be an important form of 
carbon, an essential building 
block for life, throughout the 
cosmos.”

 Buckyballs have been found 
on Earth in various forms. 
They form as a gas from 
burning candles and exist 
as solids in certain types of 
rock, such as the mineral 
shungite found in Russia, 
and fulgurite, a glassy rock 
from Colorado that forms 
when lightning strikes the 
ground. In a test tube, the 
solids take on the form of 
dark, brown “goo.”

Antonovich 
Criticizes 
Control of 
Cell Towers

Tournament Names 
Flinn Executive Director

 


The Pasadena Tournament of 
Roses announced today that 
William Flinn will assume 
the role of executive director, 
effective March 1. Flinn 
has been serving as both 
interim executive director 
and chief operating officer 
since September 2011. As 
executive director, Flinn will 
be administratively responsible 
for leading the professional 
staff and supporting the 
association’s leadership and the 
935 volunteers in planning and 
staging the world-renowned 
Rose Parade presented by 
Honda and Rose Bowl Game 
presented by VIZIO. 

 “Bill Flinn has demonstrated 
a unique combination 
of historical perspective, 
innovation, relationship 
building and commitment to 
excellence that we value,” said 
Tournament of Roses President 
and Chairman of the Board 
Sally M. Bixby. “We are excited 
to work together as we plan for 
the future.”

 Joining the Tournament of 
Roses staff as the director of 
public relations, Flinn served 
in various management 
positions before being named 
chief operating officer in 
1997. As COO, he has been 
responsible for overseeing 
the Tournament’s public and 
media relations, marketing, 
licensing, government relations, 
parade television broadcasting, 
membership services, 
procurement, and services to 
the Tournament’s corporate and 
civic participants. 

 “I am honored to have been 
asked to serve in this capacity 
and I am looking forward to 
continuing to work closely with 
our outstanding volunteers, 
staff members, game partners, 
parade participants and 
community leaders associated 
with the Tournament of 
Roses,” said Flinn. “I am 
energized by the spirit of our 
Tournament family and am 
eager to collectively build 
upon the heritage of the past 
124 years, while utilizing new 
and creative strategies that will 
carry these uniquely Pasadena 
New Year events forward to the 
benefit and interest of future 
generations.” 

 In addition to his work with 
the Tournament of Roses 
Association, Flinn has been an 
active volunteer with several 
community organizations. 
Most recently, he is the 
Chairman of the Governance 
Council for Crestmont College 
and has served as the President 
and Chairman of the Board of 
Pasadena Christian Schools. 
Over the years he also has 
directed numerous choral and 
instrumental groups and is the 
conductor of The Salvation 
Army’s Pasadena Tabernacle 
Band.


Citizen 
Journalism 
Meet-up

 
Learn not just how to 
blog but how to report 
the news

 The Pasadena Community 
Network and this newspaper 
are holding a workshop on 
Citizen Journalism. 

 This group is the place where 
aspiring journalists can learn 
from trained professionals 
and support their local 
community by covering what’s 
really happening in their 
neighborhoods.

 We will put the news in your 
hands. Learn how to find 
the story, the tools needed to 
capture the story and the means 
to tell the story using the power 
of video, audio and print along 
with online social media The 
next meeting is Feb. 28 from 6 
p.m. to 8p.m. at the Pasadena 
Community Network - Studio 
G, 2057 N. Los Robles Ave.

 For more info call 626.794.8585 
or visit pasadenan.com.

Pet of 
the Week

 Supervisor Michael 
Antonovich criticized 
President Obama’s signing 
of a law that denies local 
governments’ right to reject 
applications to co-locate cell 
antennas in their communities 
– the second such action taken 
by the federal government 
recently. 

 “Once again, the federal 
government is meddling in 
local land use and preventing 
residents from voicing 
concerns over cell towers,” 
said Antonovich. “Without 
local control, cell carriers 
will be able to install in our 
communities without any 
public input.”

 This attack on local land-
use control, buried on page 
273 of the “Middle Class Tax 
Relief and Job Creation Act 
of 2011” bill reads “a State or 
local government may not 
deny, and shall approve, any 
eligible facilities request for 
a modification of an existing 
wireless tower or base station 
that does not substantially 
change the physical 
dimensions.”


Portantino Announces 
Audit Reform Measure

 

 In his continuing efforts to 
provide accountability in state 
government, Assemblymember 
Anthony Portantino this week 
introduced a bill to ensure 
transparency in legislative 
budgets and auditing.

 AB 1887 calls on the State 
Controller to conduct a 
comprehensive and systematic 
audit of the state Legislature’s 
finances for a period of two 
years (2012-13 and 2013-14). 
In following years, the Joint 
Rules Committee would hire 
an independent contractor to 
perform the audits but under 
guidelines set by the Controller. 
Under current law, the Joint 
Rules Committee chooses the 
auditor and sets the parameters 
for the audit. And, the 
Assembly does not even follow 
its own rules by not doing 
annual performance audits.

 AB 1887 requires that the 
Assembly and Senate return any 
unused funds to the General 
Fund at the end of the legislative 
year. Those surplus monies 
would then be earmarked, 
subject to allocation by the 
Legislature, for the Student Aid 
Commission for use in the Cal 
Grant program.

 AB 1887 provides that line 
item monies allocated to the 
Senate and Assembly cannot 
be diverted to other agencies or 
programs unless such diversion 
is approved by a vote of the 
legislature and the signature of 
the Governor

 “It’s time to bring in an 
independent agency to allow 
for much-needed transparency 
and accountability in the 
Legislature,” explained 
Assemblymember Portantino. 
“This bill will require complete 
disclosure of the expenditure of 
monies allocated to both house 
of the Legislature in the annual 
budget. And at the end of the 
year, any surplus goes to help 
maintain Cal Grants for needy 
college students. Accountability 
and preparing our next work 
force should be top priorities of 
the Legislature.”

 During the 2011-12 fiscal year, 
the State Assembly and State 
Senate were allocated more 
than a quarter-billion-dollars 
to run the state Legislature 
($109,350,000 Senate and 
$146,716,000 Assembly). 
Existing state law allows these 
funds to carry over from one 
year to the next where they 
remain in the Senate and 
Assembly Operating Fund. The 
Assembly has been transferring 
15% of its total appropriation 
to various state agencies - $52 
million over the past three 
years.

 Leah is an 11-month-old 
black and white pit bull 
mix. She loves to play with 
her toys and go for walks. 

 Leah’s adoption fee is $120, 
which includes her spay 
surgery, a microchip, the first 
set of vaccinations, as well 
as a free follow-up health 
check at a participating vet. 
New adopters will receive 
complimentary health and 
wellness exam from VCA 
Animal Hospitals. Ask an 
adoptions counselor for 
more information during 
your visit.

 Call the Pasadena 
Humane Society & SPCA at 
626.792.7151 to ask about 
A301193 or visit at 361 S. 
Raymond Ave. in Pasadena. 
Adoption hours are 11-4 
Sunday, 9-5 Tuesday –
Friday, 9-4 Saturday. 
Directions and photos of all 
pets can be found at www.
pasadenahumane.org.

Legislators Asked to Pay for Vanity Plates

 

 Assemblymember Anthony 
Portantino this week introduced 
AB 2068 to require legislators 
that have distinctive legislative 
license plates on their personal 
cars to pay the same fees that 
almost everyone else does for 
personalized license plates.

 “I was shocked, but not 
surprised to see that legislators 
would carve out a special 
situation for themselves and 
I’m determined to put an end 
to the practice,” commented 
Portantino.

Under existing law, current and 
retired legislators can ask DMV 
for a license plate that designates 
them as a state legislator or 
retired state legislator. The cost 
of these plates is $12 on issuance, 
and no additional or annual fees 
are paid with subsequent yearly 
registration. The Department of 
Motor Vehicles has stated that 
there are 750 of these legislative 
license plates that have been 
issued in California. In contrast, 
average Californians, retired 
police and fire included, pay $50 
upon issuance and $35 per year 
thereafter.

 “Why should current and 
former legislators get special 
treatment for the issuance of 
license plates? It makes no sense 
for former and sitting legislators 
to be treated any differently than 
everyone else,” Portantino said.

 Portantino did not drive a state 
purchased district car, does not 
use an Assembly plate and has 
no plans to receive one upon 
retirement.

 AB 2068 will be heard in 
the Assembly Transportation 
Committee in about six weeks.

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com