Mountain Views News          Saturday, March 23, 2013

6

AROUND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

Mountain Views-News Saturday, March 23, 2013 

“What’s Going On?” 

News and Views from Joan Schmidt

THE ORIGIN OF ST. BALDRICK 
DAY AND RAISING MONEY 
FOR YOUNG CANCER VICTIMS

THE FUTURE OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Public Forum April 4, 2013

“Affordable Housing After the Redevelopment Era: What Now?” will be the topic of a free public 
forum April 4, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters Pasadena Area, the 
event will be at the Women’s City Club, 160 N. Oakland Ave., Pasadena. 

A panel of professionals with expertise in housing will look at the current stagnated state of affordable 
housing in the region since Gov. Jerry Brown pulled the plug on 400 redevelopment agencies 
last year. It also will address prospects for the future. Included will be how League members and 
the public at large can help support efforts to preserve and develop affordable housing through a 
proposed Homes and Jobs Act and a $5 million-a-year fund for affordable-housing.

Here is the lineup of panelists: 

Anne Lanier Marquit, Public Counsel’s community development attorney, will discuss how California 
got into its redevelopment quagmire, what the 2013 Homes and Jobs Act can do and how the 
$5-million fund works. 

William Huang, director of the Pasadena Housing Department, will talk about how Pasadena is coping 
with a 93-percent loss in fund for affordable housing.

Joseph Carreras, housing director of the Southern California Association of Governments, will discuss 
demographics and housing patterns in the region. 

As the luncheon speaker, Michelle White, director of Affordable Housing Services in Pasadena, will 
discuss opportunities to advocate for preservation and creation of affordable housing. 

The program is free and open to the public. Lunch is available by reservation and costs $20, including 
tax and tip. The number to call for reservations is 626-798-0965. 

 
A few years ago, I read 
about firemen and 
policemen having their 
heads shaved to earn 
money. Last year I read an 
article by Anissa Rivera 
in the Pasadena Star 
News about her son and 
other students from Holy 
Angels having their heads 
shaved in a fundraiser 
for young cancer victims. Both times I was very 
impressed.

 This year the event was going to be held at 
Matt Denny’s in Arcadia. It was the Arcadia Fire 
Department in charge and also some Arcadia 
Policemen were going to participate. I planned 
to attend, but was really surprised to learn my 
former sixth grader from Annunciation, Matthew 
Brayton, now a freshman at Bishop Amat, was 
going to participate and had raised $5000! 

 I attended the event, and his whole family was 
there, his parents Janeen and Matt, sisters Emma 
& Bella, Grandma Peg Maile and Aunt Patty 
Wright! I also was sitting by the stage, waiting 
for the event and met Anissa Rivera with her 
two sons and daughter, “Cheeky” who is quite 
beautiful. Her older son and youths from Holy 
Angels School including Joseph Adams, son of 
Rick and Carol raised $10,000! Many years ago, 
Deputy Rick Adams was part of the COPS Team 
Programs that really improved county areas, so it 
was a great surprise to see him.

 How and where did this wonderful program 
begin? In Manhattan, in 1999, Tim Kenny issued 
a challenge to colleagues John Bender and Enda 
McDonnell. “How would you give back in return 
for your own good fortune in business? Enda’s 
thick head of hair gave John the big idea of 
shaving their heads for donations to raise funds 
for kids with cancer.

 On March 17, 2000, the annual reinsurance 
industry’s annual St. Patrick’s Day party at Jim 
Brady’s pub in Manhattan became the first St. 
Baldrick event. The goal of shaving 17 heads 
and raising $17,000 turned into 19 bald heads 
and $104,000, which was donated to fund the 
research of the Children’s Oncology Group.

 The second event in 2001 raised $140,000. 
John and Enda then planned to expand the 
fundraiser past the reinsurance industry. After 
9/11 the founders lost hundreds of friends and 
colleagues, but their dedication to this project 
did not stop. By 2002, there were now 37 head-
shaving events and now $1 Million had been 
raised. In 2003, firefighters, policemen and the 
military-not only US bases, but also in Germany 
and Iraq- began to take part. In 2004, the St. 
Baldrick Foundation was created. In 2012, 30 
million was raised and recently the 100 million 
mark has been reached in research grant money. 
It is so amazing that one man wanted to give back 
and, from his gratitude, such a great program 
began.


EARTH HOUR: 

MILLIONS PREPARE 
TO SWITCH OFF THE 
LIGHTS

Thousands of cities and towns across the world, 
including major landmarks, to turn off lights to 
show concern for the environment

Earth Hour is here again, and WWF is calling on 
hundreds of millions of people in thousands of 
cities and towns around the world to switch off 
their lights for an hour at 8.30pm local time on 
Saturday 23 March to show their concern for the 
environment.

 Last year saw the lights go out in homes and 
businesses in more than 6,950 cities and towns. 
The campaign even went into space when astronauts 
reduced power on the International Space 
Station. This year, more than 150 countries and 
territories are expected to participate, with Palestine, 
Tunisia, Galapagos, Suriname, French Guyana, 
St Helena and Rwanda joining the movement 
for the first time.

 In the United States, New York city landmarks 
taking place include Times Square, the Rockefeller 
centre and the Empire State Building. The 
bright lights of the Las Vegas strip will also go 
dark for the hour, as well as Los Angeles airport 
and Niagara Falls. Pasadena City Hall will also 
go dark for an hour.

 Across the world, the Sydney opera house and 
Harbour bridge, Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur, 
Singapore's Marina Bay Sands, Tokyo tower, 
Taipei 101, the Bird's Nest in Beijing, the Gateway 
of India, the world's tallest building the Burj 
Khalifa, the Ancient Citadel of Erbil in Kurdistan, 
Table Mountain, the Bosphorus Bridge, the Eiffel 
Tower, the Brandenburg Gate, the UK Houses 
of Parliament, and Buckingham palace also will 
be lights out for an hour. . Landmarks switching 
their lights off for the first time for Earth Hour 
this year include Copenhagen's Little Mermaid 
statue and Florence's Statue of David.

 At the global media launch for Earth Hour 2013 
in Singapore last month, CEO and co-founder, 
Andy Ridley, highlighted the grassroots nature of 
the movement:

 "People from all walks of life, from all nations 
around the world, are the lifeblood of the Earth 
Hour interconnected global community. They 
have proven time and time again that if you believe 
in something strongly enough, you can 
achieve amazing things. These stories aren't 
unique, this is happening all over the world."

Earth Hour has its share of critics, who say it 
symbolises environmentalism as living in the 
dark. Author George Marshall wrote in 2009:

 "Asking people to sit in the dark plays very well 
to a widely held prejudice that 'the greens' want 
us all to go back to living in caves."

 This year, Prof Bjorn Lomborg, a prominent 
critic of the economic cost of dealing with climate 
change, has warned the gesture will do little 
to help the planet and gives people the wrong impression 
about how to address climate issues:

"Global warming is a real problem, but Earth 
Hour is not the answer. Taken to its logical conclusion, 
if switching the lights off for one hour is 
a good idea, why not for all the other 8,759 hours 
of the year?

 Some energy experts have also said that Earth 
Hour could result in an increase in carbon emissions 
and place great strain on electricity grids. 
Fossil-fuelled power stations could be required to 
fire up quickly when everyone turns their lights 
back on, "rendering all good intentions useless at 
a flick of a switch".

But WWF maintains Earth Hour is not about 
saving energy but raising awareness. Part of this 
year's campaign is "I Will If You Will" – where 
you can pledge to take action beyond Earth Hour 
and get your friends, family and colleagues involved. 
WWF also wants to spread the word using 
social media.