| ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Breaking News:Inside
this Week: Calendar: Sierra Madre: Pasadena – Altadena: Around The San Gabriel Valley: Food & Drink: Just for Best Friends: Arts & Entertainment: Healthy Lifestyles: The Good Life: Homes, Property & More: Opinion … Left/Right: SMTV 98 Programming: Legal Notices (6): Columnists: Recent Issues: |
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2014 VOLUME 8 NO. 7CELEBRATING A WONDERFUL LIFE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2014 VOLUME 8 NO. 7CELEBRATING A WONDERFUL LIFE TRASH AND BURN CAMPAIGN HEATS UP IN SIERRA MADRE By Susan Henderson Photo by Jacki Raymond THE PROS AND CONS MEASURE U - ELECTION COVERAGE On April 8, 2014, voters in Sierra Madre will go to the polls and select three people from a field of four to sit on the City Council. They will also vote on a local ballot measure to extend the city’s current User Utility Tax Ordinance. The Mountain Views News will provide our readers with comprehensive coverage of this election. Each week, as we have done in the past, we will profile the candidates and give each of the candidates the opportunity to introduce themselves to our readers by answering the following questions: 1. Why are you running for City Council? 2. What are you going to do for Sierra Madre? 3. How do you plan on accomplishing your goals? (All candidates are being asked to answer the same questions and their answers will be published unedited.) The paper will also review the pros and cons of the proposed User Utility Tax Ordinance. The schedule will be as follows: February 22nd The Pros and Cons of Measure UUT March 1st Candidate Denise Delmar March 8th Candidate Rachelle Arizmendi March 15th Candidate Noah Green March 22nd Candidate Eugene Goss March 29th Candidate Forum Review It is our sincere hope that each candidate will submit their answers so that we can share them with our readers. A separate letter has been sent to each candidate asking them to participate. In addition to the candidate spotlights, we will attempt to cover the various forums sponsored by local organizations. Where possible, the unedited video of these forums will be broadcast on the papers website. Our reporting on this election will be as fair and objective as possible. However, please keep in mind that our columnists are always free to share their opinions. Their opinions are their opinions and may or may not reflect the position of the paper. This is true in all things, not just this election. We will also provide for you the calendar of important dates regarding the election. It is our goal to do whatever we can to help you make an informed decision on April 8, 2014. Susan Henderson, Publisher and Editor On April 8th, voters in Sierra Madre will decide the fate of UTILITY USER’S TAX EXTENSION. THis article is presenting the language of the ballot measure and the language, Pro and Con, unedited, of the ballot To maintain City Services, such as Public Safety, Paramedic Extend the City’s current 10% Utility User Tax ata maximum of 10% for all utilities except water and sewer; Establish new sunset dates starting July 1, 2022; Extend the current 9% water and sewer tax until July 1, 2014 when it will reduce to 7%, and then 6% on July THE ARGUMENT AGAINST MEASURE UUT Vote NO on Measure UUT – The tax increase is not necessary to maintain current revenue or service levels in the City thanks to existing revenue increases already built in. Authors of this User Utility Tax (UUT) increase measure will tell that you more tax money is needed. This is clearly false given that the city finished the 2013-2013 fiscal year with over $870,000.00 in unassigned General Fund reserves. Property tax revenue (income) continues to increase. In the 6 months ending December 15, 2013, over 80 properties sold in Sierra Madre. Conservatively, the resulting estimated increase in property tax income will be an additional $50,000.00 per YEAR. Property tax income will also continue to increase as more homes sell for higher prices. Income from the current UUT Law continues to increase as utility bills continue to go up. With large water rate increases scheduled for February and July 2014,, the city will collect MORE monthly income at the (continued on page 5) On Sunday, more than 175 family and friends serenaded Sierra Madrean Gordon Caldwell in celebration of his 90th Birthday. The event was held at Alverno High School. Gordon who has a long history of ser- vice in Sierra Madre is shown above with his wife, Mary Lou Caldwell, children, grandchildren and great- grandchildren. You can view a video of the event and additional photos at www.sierramadrenews.net. Measure U - the statements. The Measure: and Library services, shall an Ordinance be adopted to: 1. 2. 3. 1, 2015? 4. YES or NO Inside this week: SIERRA MADRE Calendar Page 2 Sierra Madre News Page 3 PASADENA/ALTADENA Two Murders - Two Days Pg. 4 AROUND SGV Pg. 5 Peter Dills Savor The Flavor Shops Again Pg. 6 Prohibitive Pet Care Costs Pg. 7 THE ARTS Pg. 8 HEALTHY LIFESTYLES Pg. 9 THE GOOD LIFE Pg. 10 Savvy SeniorSenior Happenings BUSINESS NEWS Pg. 11 HOMES & PROPERTY WORLD AROUND US Pg. 12 LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN/OPINION Pg. 13 SMTV CHANNEL 98 Pg. 14 LEGAL NOTICES Pg. 16-21 FYI Pg. 22 Sierra Madre is a town known for its diversity of opinions and often high level of emotions during political campaigns. Sierra Madre attracted what most have called unwanted attention to this town and have had some rather colorful descriptions assigned to us by outside media outlets. With the final weeks of the Municipal election fast approaching, it appears the “Wistaria Hysteria” has dropped to a new low. Earlier this week, resident John Crawford, who is responsible for the controversial Tattler blog in Sierra Madre, posted personal pictures of city council candidate Noah Green and proceeded to use them to declare Green unelectable. The photos are from the Greens 2011 vacation, which according to Green and his wife Melanie, were taken shortly after their marriage. “When we took those, we just got married.” “We were in a happy, playful phase.” “We were both on vacation and having fun. “This is very frustrating”, are quotes from Mrs. Green published in Wednesday’s Pasadena Star News. If the pictures were to be rated by “today’s standards they would not be rated X, R or possibly not even PG”, said one industry professional who looked at Crawford’s blog. What has elicited the most critical response is the manner in which they were obtained and posted. Crawford states that the photos were sent to him by a blog reader. They were initially posted on Melanie Green’s private Facebook page and, because she identified (or tagged) her husband, they appeared on Green’s Facebook page, which is public. Allegedly, they were then sent to Crawford. In any event, neither Noah nor Melanie Green authorized the publishing of the photos on the blog. In this day and age, social media sites are considered as personal as the old-fashioned family album with the expectation that only invited family and friends will share the photos. Nevertheless, “none of the photos depict anything illegal, perverse or immoral”, said another viewer who spoke with the Mountain Views News. In the Star News article, the author reports that the blog post had generated “more than 100 comments.” However, based on Crawford’s admitted use of the internet activity known as ‘Trolling’, the actual number of comments about the pictures is questionable. In January 2013, Crawford, using pen name, Sir Eric Maundry, sent the following message to Councilman Chris Koerber regarding the Community Redevelopment Agency Successor Committee: Said Crawford, “Here is this week’s troll strategy”, revealing how he manipulates the comments on his blog. When a site is ‘trolled’, comments are posted either anonymously or with names that otherwise conceal the identity of the person posting. The comments are designed to generate heated discussions (in the case of the referenced troll, hateful discussions) and lead others posting on the site to believe that they are chatting with another reader. In fact, most trolling is done by, or with the approval of the moderator. In Crawford’s email regarding his‘troll of the week’, the comment is: “when are we going to go over to thatdump he lives in on Baldwin withtorches, tar and feathers…” (See copy of complete message on page 5). It is believed that the troll is referringto the home of Former Sierra Madre Mayor Bart Doyle, the only memberof the CRA successor committee that lives on North Baldwin, and a frequentobject of personal attacks by Crawfordon the blog. The Mountain Views News discovered this information in May, 2013 while researching a story onBob Matheson, the resident convicted of possession of child pornography inCanada. Described as an internet practice which, according to Paul Gill of About.com, “ … is the anti-social act of causing interpersonal conflict and shock-value controversy online. Named for the wicked troll creatures of children’s tales, trolling is purposely sowing hatred, bigotry, racism, misogyny, or just simple bickering between others. Trolls themselves are emotionally-immature users who thrive in any environment where they are allowed to make public comments, like blog sites, news sites, discussion forums, and game chat.” Wikipedia notes that media attention in recent years has equatedtrolling with online harassment. For example, (continued on page 5) WANT YOUR LOCAL NEWS AS IT HAPPENS? Follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/ mountainviewsnews or Twitter @mtnviewsnews or check in at www.mtnviewsnews.com for the latest breaking news! Read The Paper Online At: www.mtnviewsnews.com | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Mountain Views News 80 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. #327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.604.4548 www.mtnviewsnews.com |