March 17, 2013March 17, 2013• 
Sierra 
Madre Wistaria Festival 
•• 
Sierra 
Madre Wistaria Festival 
•
www.wistariafestival.com


VOLUME 7 NO 8

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2013


A New Vine Comes To Life:

VILLAGE VINE ONLINE - SIERRA 
MADRE’S INTERNET RADIO 

STATION LAUNCHED

MAYOR DELIVERS STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS

By Bill Coburn

The City hosted its 3rd Annual State of the City event on 
Tuesday in the Sierra Madre Room at the Rec Center. Mayor 
Nancy Walsh emceed the evening, introducing 3rd graders 
from Sierra Madre School who performed several songs 
from their recent spotlight assembly led by former principal 
Gayle Bluemel and their teachers, Girl Scout Troops 8471 
and 13,731 from St. Rita, who presented colors as they have 
every year since the City first started doing the State of the 
City event, and then Mayor Josh Moran.

Mayor Moran began by noting that like former Mayors 
Mosca and Buchanan before him at the previous SOTC 
events, he was able to report that the City is still operating 
on a balanced budget, thanks in part to a staff reorganization 
that is projected to save the City a quarter of a million 
dollars annually, thanks to City staff not receiving their Cost 
of Living Adjustment increases for the third year in a row, 
thanks to the PD and the City reaching an agreement that 
did not call for raises for personnel, and thanks to a lot of 
cuts in every department. And unfortunately, the future 
looks like more of the same.

Noting that General Fund revenue, which pays for things like 
first responders, Library and Recreation services, streets and 
sidewalks, and administrative costs amounted to $8,263,000, 
the Mayor added that the bulk of the funding for that (53%) 
comes from property taxes 31% comes from the Utility User 
Tax (UUT), and the remainder from sales, tax, franchise 
fees, business licenses and other fees. Unfortunately, only 22 
cents on the dollar comes back to the City from the property 
taxes Sierra Madreans pay, and while trend of costs since the 
recession has been an annual 2-5% year over year increase 
in cost, property taxes over the last five years have increased 
only 3% total. According to the figures cited by the City, this 
negative ratio of revenue 
to expenses projects to a 
$300,000 shortfall for FY 
2013-2014, and $400,000 
shortfall for FY 2014-2015. 
If the UUT sunsets, which 
it will unless it is put back 
on the ballot and voters 
choose to extend it, the 
projections show a $1.1 
million deficit in FY 2015-
2016 and $1.7 million 
shortfall in FY 2016-2017.

On the plus side, at the 
beginning of this year’s 
budget cycle, the City 
did still have $4,860,000 
in reserves, and the 
projections show that at the 
end of this year’s budget 
cycle on June 30th, there 
will be a $78,000 surplus. 

Mayor Moran also briefly 
discussed the Water Fund, 
noting that “we have a 
huge hole literally and 
figuratively, in the water department. Right now we’re 
operating at a deficit to the tune of about a half a million 
dollars.” He said that the City has a rate study underway to 
look at the cost of covering not only the expense of pumping 
and delivering the water, but also the capital expenses 
involved with the water dept., which he said pumped nearly 
a billion gallons of water last year.

The Mayor pointed out that cuts have been so extensive that 
“we are at a point where expenditure reductions truly equal 
a reduction in services.”

But a good part of the evening was spent celebrating the 
accomplishments of the City. He noted that the Library has 
more registered borrowers than there are people in the City, 
with more than 11,000. Community Services had more than 
6,000 participants at the 4th of July festivities, and served 
more than 9,000 meals to seniors. Public Works repaired 
more than 12,000 sq. feet of sidewalks, curbs and gutters, 
cleaned more than 159,000 feet of sewer lines, replaced 
more than 2,000 sq. ft. of asphalt, and pumped 950,000 
gallons of water. The Police Department responded to 
14,000 calls for service and made more than 400 arrests, and 
while burglaries had increased, there were zero robberies. 
The Fire Dept. made more than 1900 inspections, and the 
FD and the paramedics responded to nearly 900 calls, nearly 
80% of which were medical calls. He recognized the General 
Plan Update Steering Committee for their hard work and 
being close to completing the General Plan update. The 
City’s technology has been updated, and now people can 
pay for their water bills and parking citations online, they 
can purchase overnight parking passes online, or download 
agenda packets for the City Council meetings. Grants have 
been received to help pay for not only replacement of trees 
destroyed in the 2011 windstorm, but also to create a Tree 
Master Plan.

Also listed as accomplishments were keeping the pool 
open year round through a public/private partnership 
with Waterworks, the new Police MOU, the completion of 
the remodeled Children’s room in the Library, updating 
the City Hall and PD entries to be ADA compliant and 
the resurfacing of several streets in town, with more to 
come. He said we can anticipate replenishment of the East 
Raymond Basin water supply, the rebuilding of well 3 and 
the replacement of the Chlorine Analyzer, as well as the 
connection to the Metropolitan Water District pipeline for 
emergency use. The paramedics will be replacing the City’s 
cardiac defibrillators to help keep residents safe, businesses 
will soon be able to purchase or pay for their business 
licenses online, and Phase III street improvements.

He closed by saying that it’s been an honor to serve as Mayor 
for the last ten months, and adding that he looked forward 
to the upcoming discussions with City staff and the City 
Council to find the balance for our beloved City of Sierra 
Madre.

Excerpts of the Annual Report on Page 4 


Above: Mayor Josh Moran delivers a serious, yet upbeat 
State of the City to a packed house on Tuesday evening. 
Quote of the evening, “One hundred year old houses are 
quaint. One hundred year old pipes, ain’t”, in reference to 
the state of some of the cities key water pipelines. 

 

Below, the audience is captivated by 3rd Graders from Sierra 
Madre Elementary School. 

 Photos by S. Henderson/MVNews

Tina Salvatore and Carol Canterbury who broadcast Canterbury Tales 
each week, were on hand at the State of the City address for a live 
transmission. If you missed the event, you can go to www.villagevine.
org and hear the re-broadcast

 Earlier this month, a new institution 
was introduced to the community. The 
successor to Radio Fishbowl, a local 
internet radio station that has been in 
operation for a little over a year, VILLAGE 
VINE ONLINE was launched at 
T. Boyles Sports Bar to a full house of 
supporters.

 The station, which offers 24/7 radio 
programming, can be accessed anywhere 
there is an internet connection, 
including desktop computers, smart 
phones and tablets. In addition to a 
wide range of music for listeners, there 
are several thought provoking, entertaining 
shows. (See calendar on page 
two).

 Live Broadcasts are also a part of the 
VVO experience. At the State of the 
City address this week, broadcasters 
Tina Salvatore and Carol Canterbury 
were on hand to broadcast the festivities 
to those unable to attend. 

 The station is owned by the Jim Moran 
Community Radio Foundation, 
Inc., a non profit agency named in 
honor of Moran who was the creator 
of Radio Fishbowl. Gene Goss is the 
Chairman of the Corporation and 
serves as its CEO and Jeff Rudisill is 
the interim General Manager.

 To access the station, simply go to:

villagevine.org. There you can listen 
to live broadcasts or access the archives 
and listen to programming that 
you may have missed.

PSA’s

If you have a public service announcement 
for a non-profit organization or 
civic event, the station can webcast 
the announcement. VVO also has 
the ability to professionally produce 
announcements. 

For more information, go to www.villagevine.
org and click on “Contact Us”



SIERRA MADRE & THE PUSD: Beginning March 2nd, 
the Mountain Views News will begin a series on the recent events 
involving the SM City Council, Sierra Madre Residents, Sierra 
Madre School Parents and The PUSD.

School/City Work Plan Approved 
By Council, PUSD by Dean Lee

 
Touting what officials called a plan to strengthen ties and align resources 
between the city of Pasadena and the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) 
to improve students’ education was approved Tuesday night during the annual 
joint meeting of the Board of Education and the City Council.

 “Tonight we’ve taken some important steps in aligning PUSD and the City into 
a progressive ‘community schools’ program to help us work together to achieve 
stronger results for our students,” Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard said. “The plan 
will be a living document that brings the City, the District, parents, teachers 
and community together to demonstrate how our joint efforts are producing 
accountable results.” Continued on page 5

SPECIAL SIERRA MADRE REPORTS......................Page 4

This Week’s Highlights: 

Calendar Page 2

Sierra Madre News Page 3-4

Pasadena/Altadena Page 5

Around San Gabriel Valley Page 6

Looking Up Page 6

Arcadia Page 7

Monrovia/Duarte Page 7

Education and Youth Page 8

Good Food & Drink Page 9

Best Friends Page 10 

Arts/Health Page 11

The Good Life Page 12

Homes & Property Page 13

Left Turn/Right Turn Page 14 

Opinion Page 15

Business Today Page 16 

Legal Notices Page 17-21

FYI Page 22

AROUND SG Valley

SIERRA MADRE NEWS

5

3

Get Ready For The Wistaria Festival

ARCADIA NEWS

6

PASADENA/ALTADENA

5

MONROVIA/DUARTE

7

Cal Tech President To Step Down