| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Breaking News:Inside
this Week: Calendar: Sierra Madre: Pasadena – Altadena: Arcadia: Monrovia – Duarte: Education & Youth: Food & Drink: Healthy Lifestyles: The Good Life: Just for Best Friends: Arts & Entertainment: The World Around Us: Business News & Trends: Opinion: Columnists: Recent Issues: |
SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2015 VOLUME 9 NO. 12 CALIFORNIA’S WATER CRISIS DRAWS EXPERTS AND SOLUTIONS Rotary and City of Sierra Madre host WaterDay 2015 based on mandatory 30% water cuts WHAT A BIRTHDAY PRESENT! Laurie Cooper Chosen As Sierra Madre’s Older American Of The Year On Her 97th Birthday The City of Sierra Madre, home to 30% mandatory water reduction welcomes leading water experts, Southern California residents, low water irrigation consultants, and State representatives to WaterDay2015 www. waterday2015.org on Saturday March 21st. The WaterDay 2015 event brings together world class speakers, renown landscape architects, star musicians, a celebrated game show host, children’s activities, educational booths with interactive activities and invaluable information about water usage. The day’s activities include hands on workshops, a water treatment plant tour, live music, over 100 water saving tips, water colors, and some of the best food trucks in LA. This free event, sponsored by the City of Sierra Madre and the Sierra Madre Rotary Club, promises to be one of the most important community events of the year held in City Hall and Memorial Park. 9:00 Welcome at the Band shell 232 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. Sierra Madre, CA 91024 9:15 A PANEL OF EXPERTS ON CALIFORNIA’S WATER CRISIS - City Chambers, City Hall. Keynote speaker and Panel Moderator: Dr. Jay Famiglietti, Senior Water Scientist, NASA JPL, Professor of Earth System Science, UC Irvine Accompanying Famiglietti is a dynamic panel with each speaker giving a short presentation, followed by an engaging panel discussion and a Q & A. Panelists: Bettina Boxall, Pulitzer Prize Winning Water and Environmental Reporter, Los Angeles Times Tim Brick, Managing Director, Arroyo Seco Foundation, Former Board Chairman for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Fran Spivy-Weber, Vice-Chair, State Water Resources Control Board Molly Peterson, Environmental Reporter, Environment Correspondent, So Cal Public Radio 1:30 Afternoon Session: water issues, planning, and conservation facing our local community. Afternoon Keynote: Thomas Love, PE of the San Gabriel Valley Water District, Topic: Long term sustainability of the San Gabriel Valley water resources and Southern California's water supply. Bruce Inman, Director of the Sierra Madre Public Works; Sierra Madre- specific water topics, including water rights, water sources, status of conservation efforts, turf rebate program, and current city water conservation regulations. More Kelley Hanna with Water Wise Now; Irrigation solutions and greater water efficiencies. The day’s final speakers feature landscape architects, designers, and arborists talking on drought resistant landscaping featuring: 2:30 The Theodore Payne Foundation; Lisa Novick, California Native Gardens 3:00 The Arboretum; Frank McDonough, Indoor/Outdoor Vegetable Gardens 3:30 Armstrong and Walker; Anna Armstrong, Commercial Landscape Design 4:00 FormLA. , Cassy Aoyagi, Esthetic and Sustainable Garden Design 11:40 Students from schools throughout the area will have their entries to the Youth Water Conservation Competition displayed in the park and will be presenting their projects. In the band shell 12:00 and 1:00 PREMIER LIVE MUSIC BY SMITTY AND SON. 12:30 GAME SHOW, ‘Water Wizards’, with game show host Dave Ruprecht, the game show host for Supermarket Sweeps for 15 years, Audience contestants have a chance to win prizes. Final contestants will close our day. CHILDREN’S ACTIVITIES will be held throughout the day, with satellite displays and activities from JPL, a fun-filled presentation on water by with the San Gabriel Valley Water District at 10am and 2pm, watercolor painting, Sculpturing, animated videos, the Water Wise Owl and more. For more information and volunteer opportunities, visit www. waterday2015.org and save the date in Sierra Madre. SMEAC nominates Laurie Cooper for the Older "Sierra Madre" American of the Year, 2015. Using the hard earned but much appreciated G I Bill, Laurie and husband Dick came to Sierra Madre in the late 1940's and built one of the first homes in the new tract at Laurel & Canon. From that moment on Laurie assumed active participation in her new community and has never stopped. At the age of 96, Laurie is one of SMEAC's earliest members and a leader and active participant throughout the organization's 45- year history. Notably active in the creation and continual stewardship of Bailey Canyon Wilderness Park and a volunteer docent for SMEAC's Natu re Awareness program in the schools, she also served as president for a 12-year term! Laurie's commitment to environmental issues and action sustained SMEAC's other brainchild - the first volunteer recycling center for the City of Sierra Madre before curbside recycling was enforced. With Laurie at the helm our little homegrown recycling center reached an effectiveness unsu rpassed in all of Southern California, bringing to the City of Sierra Madre the Los Angeles Regional Agency's Chevron Award of Recognition of Excellence in Environmental Stewardship as early as 1985 when recycling was still a new concept. Not only did this award bring acclaim, it also brought the city significant savings in its efforts to meet government required refuse diversion. Laurie has spent countless hours speaking with thoughtf ul precision to the City Council, City Commissions, and other community groups on behalf of issues she felt impacted the health, beauty, and responsible operation of our community. She is a stalwart proponent of collaboration between citizen groups and city government and is a true role model epitomizing what makes a caring, responsible, and ACTIVE citizen. She is also a lifelong member of the League of Women Voters and through this organization has hoped to promote educated citizen participation in the voting process so crucial to democratic governing. She still hosts monthly meetings and encourages all people to learn, listen, speak carefully, and work together for mutual solutions. Laurie has been committed to community service her entire adult life. Photo by Jacquie Pergola SENIOR MASTER PLAN TOWN HALL The City of Sierra Madre and the Senior Master Plan Committee are in the process of updating the Senior Master Plan. The initial stages of the update will focus on two Town Hall meetings to gain feedback from our older adult population. Participation in these Town Hall meetings is an excellent way to provide your input and help shape the future needs of the older adult community. The next Town Hall meeting is on Saturday, March 21, 2015 at 11:00am. The meeting is at the Hart Park House, located at 222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, CA 91024. All are welcome. For more info please contact the Community Services Department at 626-355-7135 Inside this week: WHAT LIES AHEAD MAYOR DISCUSSES SIERRA MADRE’S MOST CRITICAL CHALLENGES (excerpt from The State Of The City) CALENDAR Pg. 2 The three main challenges that we face as a City are (1) our continued water quality and source of water; (2) development-related pressures, and (3) our budget going forward. (1) Water quality and our water source – We have heard from many of you over the past year about the lacking quality of water that we now have since we started importing our water. There is no doubt about that – we were used to drinking the best water in the county from our taps, and now people are finding themselves running to the store, buying expensive filters,and signing up for Arrowhead and Sparkletts accounts for their drinking water. I assure you that we are making progress, with the help of our staff and our hired Water Expert. As many of you have probably witnessed, the discoloration has largely subsided, and we are working expeditiously to eliminate it altogether. However, the only real way to solve the problem is to get back to relying on our own acquifer for our water. We need to stop importing water: it’s not only more expensive, but it is just not what we’re used to drinking. And the only way we will be able to do that is with continued conservation, which is why your efforts are so important. Sierra Madre is tied to our water source historically – it really is engrained in our DNA, from the very beginning of this town with Lucky Baldwin and Nathaniel Carter. Therefore, we are going to continue to aggressively approach this issue, and won’t stop until we’re back drinking Sierra Madre water. (2) Development/Land Use – We have taken important steps with the recent demolition moratorium to show that we are serious about preserving this town. We are not some of our neighboring cities - we will not allow our beautiful homes which represent the visual fabric and history of this community fall victim to overdevelopment. While we will continue to respective property rights, we also want to ensure that we are doing everything we can to protect our historic homes. Our soon-to-be passed revised demolition ordinance is an important first step in that process, but we will also be considering changes to our R-1 zoning codes, which the planning commission has been wrestling with diligently for months. The enactment of the revised General Plan will help as well. Essentially, we will be deciding how best to protect this community from overdevelopment through the use of smart, sensible zoning codes that will ultimately protect our historic homes. While this is popular with some, it is unpopular with others. I respect and understand both perspectives. However, what we do as a council is not always popular – being popular is not necessarily our job, and I hope we never make decisions based on whether we will be loved or liked for such decisions. What we are doing, and will continue to do, is make the right and prudent decisions for the community as a whole as your fiduciaries. The goal is simply to keep Sierra Madre, Sierra Madre – that is, to ensure that, long after we’re gone, the next generations get to continue to enjoy this little piece of heaven that we call home. That starts with our planning. (3) Budget - Finally, and most importantly, our budget is the largest and most important challenge we will face in the upcoming year. We are all aware that, starting in July of this year, our Utility Users Tax will decrease from 10% to 8%, and in July 2016, it will decrease to 6%. That will have a material impact on our budget and our ability to deliver services to this community – there is no doubt about that. As you can see, we are projecting a deficit in 2016 of approximately $230,000, and a deficit in 2017 of $730,000. Those are large numbers -- $230,000 is almost our entire Community Services budget. $730,000 is essentially the size of our Library budget, or a substantial portion of our Fire Department. In other words, based on our projected loss of revenue, we are faced with very difficult choices. The reality is that, if we are unable to replace these lost UUT revenues, we will be forced to cut services substantially. You have heard this before; this is not new. We have already been forced to outsource the operation of our community pool, and the programs in our Youth Activity Center. But the time when we will likely lose something more substantial – whether that be our police department, our library, our fire department – is quickly approaching. The reality is that we will not be able to operate as a full-service city after losing over 12% of our General Fund budget. We have two basic choices – the first option is we, as a community, implement an acceptable revenue alternative – whether that be a UUT at 8 or 9%; a parcel tax to support our Library; or something else. We need residents to start thinking creatively and proposing ideas for this. We as a council will have our own ideas of course, but community buy-in is essential here. Or, the second option is we decide in the 6 months what is expendable, and begin implementing steps to outsource a department or cut programs until we have a balanced budget. The third alternative – to operate in a deficit and burn through our reserves, is frankly not an option that I am willing to consider. In order to facilitate this, we will begin in the next few months a series of town hall, community, and online meetings to discuss the budget and our path forward. My personal view, as your Mayor and as a resident, is that we find a workable solution on the revenue side so that we do not have to lose any of our precious services. For example, I would be in favor of discussing a UTT at a rate higher than 6% -- whether that be 7, 8, 9, or 10%. I would also be in favor of seeing this community rally around a Library parcel tax. I do not want to cut one of our departments – especially public safety. To me, the most important services we provide is keeping our residents safe, and as long as I’m on the City Council, I will not jeopardize that. We have had a movement that has arose in our town, spearheaded by the organization “Preserve Sierra Madre.” It is a movement that is founded on the idea that we should preserve this town that we love so much, an idea that has been alive and well for a long time. In fact, I believe everyone in this town wants to preserve Sierra Madre, and lives here because of that very reason. I applaud Preserve Sierra Madre’s efforts and anyone who supports what they’re doing. But I remind and challenge every person who supports their efforts to realize that preserving Sierra Madre goes well beyond protecting the physical structures within this City – it requires a commitment to preserve our way of life and the community that we have built over the past 107 years. I challenge each member of the community that comes to City Council meetings to implore us to preserve Sierra Madre by protecting our homes to come to our meetings to implore us to preserve Sierra Madre by protecting our services as well. The two go hand-in-hand – without Police officers protecting us from burglaries or firefighters protecting us from catastrophic injury what good is it living in a historic home with a view of hillsides? Without being able to provide our children or seniors with social outlets through our community centers and Library, what good is it to have a General Plan that supposedly protects our way of life. The people of Sierra Madre, more so than the homes or the hillsides themselves, are the backbone and fabric of this community. We cannot forget to protect them (us) and preserve the quality of life we have come to know and love. I am confident that, whatever happens, the team we have behind the dais and in City Hall will solve this problem working together. There is not a problem too big or complex that we as a Council cannot handle – nor a solution to that problem that our staff will not be able to implement. The buck will always stop with your City Council, and I would have it no other way. That is why you elected us – to make the tough decisions for you, which we will continue doing with your input. We will continue earning your trust with everything that we do. We will continue making you proud to live in Sierra Madre, our Village of the Foothills that is unlike any other. And we will continue to fight to preserve the quality of life that we have in this town. SIERRA MADRE NEWS Pg. 3 SIERRA MADRE NOTICES Pg. 4 PASADENA/ALTADENA Pg. 5 ARCADIA NEWS Pg. 6 MONROVIA/DUARTE Pg. 7 EDUCATION & YOUTH Pg. 8 FOOD & DRINK Peter Dills Pg. 9 BEST FRIENDS Pg. 10 HEALTHY LIVING Pg. 11 AROUND SGV Pg. B1 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Pg. B2 GOOD LIFE Pg. B3 BUSINESS NEWS Pg. B4 THE WORLD AROUND US Pg. B5 OPINION Pg. B6 LETTERS TO EDITOR LEGAL NOTICES Pg. B7 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Mountain Views News 80 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. #327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.604.4548 www.mtnviewsnews.com |