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 
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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

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GOOD LIFE

 Pg. B3

BUSINESS NEWS 

 Pg. B4

THE WORLD AROUND 
US Pg. B5

OPINION Pg. B6

LETTERS TO EDITOR

LEGAL NOTICES 

 Pg. B7