Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, November 5, 2016

B3

BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS

LETTERS & NOTICES

 Mountain Views News Saturday, November 5, 2016 

FAMILY MATTERS By Marc Garlett

City of Sierra Madre

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE

From: The City of Sierra Madre

Subject: MUNICIPAL CODE TEXT AMENDMENT 16-04 (MCTA 16-04) 

Applicant: City of Sierra Madre

Project Location: Properties in the City of Sierra Madre, County of Los Angeles, State of California

The City of Sierra Madre gives notice, pursuant to State of California law, that the Planning Commission will conduct 
a public hearing to consider recommending adoption of municipal code text amendments (MCTA) to Chapter 17.22–
Second Units. The purpose of the MCTA is to achieve compliance with Senate Bill No. 1069 (SB 1069), which expands 
a property owner or developer’s ability to build a second residential dwelling unit on their property and simultaneously 
restricts discretionary and regulatory authority over such development by introducing new development standards, 
including allowable floor area, garage conversion requirements, setback provisions, rental restrictions, fire sprinkler 
requirements, and utility connections. Following a Planning Commission recommendation for approval, the proposed 
text amendment will be forwarded to the City Council for their consideration. 

DATE AND TIME OF HEARING PLACE OF HEARING

City of Sierra Madre City of Sierra Madre

Planning Commission meeting City Council Chambers

Thursday, November 17, 2016 232 W. Sierra Madre Blvd.

(Hearing begins at 7:00 p.m.) Sierra Madre, CA 

All interested persons may attend this meeting and the Planning Commission will hear them with respect thereto.

ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: An Initial Study was prepared for the 2008-2014 Housing Element in accordance 
with the City’s guidelines implementing the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). This Initial Study was 
undertaken for the purpose of deciding whether the measures identified in the Housing Element to fulfill the City’s RHNA 
allocation may have a significant effect on the environment. On the basis of the Initial Study, City staff concluded that they 
will not have a significant effect on the environment, and a Negative Declaration was adopted by City Council on June 11, 
2013. The project also qualifies for a Statutory Exemption pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3), in that the City can say with 
certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment because 
adding the regulatory requirement of a conditional use permit in order to build a second story unit is not likely to result in 
additional construction beyond that already permissible.

APPEAL: A decision by the Planning Commission is subject to a 10-day appeal period to the City Council. If in the future 
anyone wishes to challenge the decision of the Planning Commission in court, one may be limited to raising the issues that 
were raised or presented in written correspondence delivered to the Planning Commission at, or before, the scheduled public 
hearing. For further information on this subject, please contact the Planning and Community Preservation Department at 
(626) 355-7138.


UPDATE YOUR ESTATE 
PLAN AFTER THESE 

LIFE EVENTS

Many estate plans are created and then quickly 
forgotten. While it’s important to update your plan 
periodically, after any of these seven life events, it 
becomes critical that you revise your plan as soon as 
possible.

 1. Marriage. Getting married is the joining of two 
lives together and your plan must address and account 
for your new legal status. Naming your spouse as a 
beneficiary on your insurance policies, updating your 
will, and including him or her in the planning of your 
estate are all important steps to take after marriage.

 2. Divorce. Divorce involves a lot of paperwork, and 
revising and updating your estate plan adds to that. 
But divorce reflects a change in your legal relationship, 
so you may want to reconsider what role, if any, your 
ex-spouse will have in your life and in your estate.

 3. Births and adoptions. Providing for the care and 
custody of your child in the event of your death or 
incapacity should be paramount in your estate plan. 
That means naming guardians for your new child, 
both long and short-term, is a must. You should also 
consider setting up a trust and naming your child as a 
beneficiary.

 4. Deaths. Having a loved one die is never easy. And 
when they were a part of your estate plan, their death 
should prompt a plan review sooner rather than later. 
You may need to name new beneficiaries, find a new 
Power of Attorney, update your health care proxy, or 
identify new guardians for your children. This should 
not be put on the backburner.

 5. Sickness. Becoming seriously ill causes many 
people to think about what they want at the end 
of their lives. You may need to draft an advanced 
directive, create an ethical will, or put any important 
funerary requests in writing.

 6. Moving. Moving to a different state can mean 
you are subject to different laws. Have a lawyer review 
your estate plan to ensure your documents will hold 
up in your new state. Some documents may need to be 
revised and you will certainly want to ensure any new 
real estate you acquire in your move is accounted for 
and properly funded to your plan.

 7. Asset Growth. More money means more 
problems but only if you don’t plan well. Revisiting 
your estate plan after experiencing a large gain in 
assets is essential to preserving and protecting those 
assets both now and after death.

 If you are anticipating or have recently experienced 
one of these major life events, a revision of your 
existing estate plan may be in order. Having your own 
personal family attorney can be invaluable in helping 
you review - and if necessary adjust - your estate plan 
to ensure your assets will be protected and your family 
will be provided for throughout the changes in your 
life. When you are ready to take that step, we’re here 
for you.

 Dedicated to your family’s health, wealth, and 
happiness,

 A local attorney and father, Marc Garlett is on a 
mission to help parents protect what they love most. 
His office is located at 49 S. Baldwin Ave., Ste. G, Sierra 
Madre, CA 91024. Schedule an appointment to sit down 
and talk about ensuring a legacy of love and financial 
security for your family by calling 626.587.3058 or visit 
www.GarlettLaw.com for more information.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor:

 This weekend I got my ballot filled out and posted. And I’m going to say this, because it’s too 
damned important not to... One of two people is going to become our president next week, Hillary 
Clinton or Donald Trump. 

 Donald Trump’s election to the presidency of the most powerful country in the world can only be 
disastrous in so many ways I don’t have the time or space to list them all. Of course, the last people he 
will be good for is the millions who will vote for him. The poor whites, disaffected rural citizens who 
look to him for change may be happy for a time; but their lot is not Mr. Trump’s concern, except for 
the value of their vote. The world outside of the U.S. will tremble; although those in power in Russia 
will grin and rub their hands in anticipation. A Pandora’s trunk full of blunders, missteps, threats, 
bad appointments (undoubtedly bad for the Supreme Court), bad legislation, largess for corporations, 
disaster for the social safety net, and a general sudden increase in the inequality of peoples, of race 
and income levels. And worse can and will come. 

 So, although, as most know, I was a supporter of Bernie Sanders, for whom I still have great 
admiration, I placed my vote for Hillary Clinton. Ms. Clinton may not be my ideal candidate, for 
many reasons, not least of which is the terrible price the African-American population has paid for 
her and her husband’s support of the war on drugs and increased minimum sentences, but, she is an 
experienced and seasoned politician and has held high office and done well by it. She is intelligent, 
can see the world as it really is and will act for the good as the country’s leader. She is not corrupt, even 
though she’s a pragmatist. She will make good appointments and will be likely to save the supreme 
court by strong appointments, even though they will be tempered by conservative legislators. Bernie 
Sanders will not win by write in. Gary Johnson, will not, and should not, win any more than a token 
percentage, and Jill Stein will get even less. 

 The choice is this, Donald or Hillary. I, for myself, will not be a part of getting Donald Trump elected 
if I can help it.

Eric Johnson


OPINION


JEFFERSON/ADAMS WAS THE 

CLINTON/TRUMP OF IT’S DAY

Politics are such a torment that I would advise everyone I love not to mix 
with them.

 Wait, that’s not me talking in 2016. That was Thomas Jefferson, writing 
to his daughter in 1800.

 In other words - if it makes us feel any better, if perspective can perchance 
calm our nerves - the 1800 presidential campaign was just as vicious 
as what what we’re seeing now.

 Incumbent President John Adams and his surrogates slimed Jefferson as a God-hater who, 
if elected, would close the churches and import French revolutionaries to wreak violent havoc 
upon the land and foment “the insurrection of the Negroes in the southern states.” Adams’ surrogates 
called Jefferson “an open infidel” who, if elected, “will be a center of contagion to the whole 
continent.”

 One pro-Adams tract (akin to a superPAC TV ad) warned the people of Delaware that “if Jefferson 
is elected, the morals which protect our lives from the knife of the assassin, which guard the 
chastity of our wives and daughters from seduction and violence, defend our property frm plunder 
and devaluation, and shield our religion from contempt and profanation, will be trampled upon 
and exploded.” If Jefferson is elected, Americans would become “more ferocious than savages, 
more bloody than tigers, more impious than demons.” And the top pro-Adams newspaper (the 
Fox News of its day) blared the slogan “JEFFERSON - AND NO GOD!!!”

 Jefferson finally gave up trying to fact-check his accusers: “It has been so impossible to contradict 
all the lies that I have determined to contradict none; for while I should engage with one, they 
would publish 20 new ones.”

 But Jefferson and his allies slimed Adams as a war-mongering dictator who wore “a mask for 
monarchy,” who, if re-elected, would whack the average citizen with higher and higher taxes in 
order to support a massive military buildup and thus burden “an enslaved and impoverished people.” 
Indeed, “the foundation for monarchy is already laid.” A vote for Adams was framed as a vote 
for “war and beggary.”

 Jefferson’s surrogates, in their mass-produced pamphlets (the social media of their day), also 
slimed Adams as a rank hypocrite, because even though Adams routinely denounced slavery, he 
still had three slaveholders in his Cabinet.

 Jefferson’s face is on a coin today, and Adams stars in an HBO series, but back in their day, voters 
basically saw that campaign as a choice between the lesser of two evils. (Which should sound familiar.) 
One disgruntled pro-Jefferson guy wrote, “Now I don’t know that John Adams is a hypocrite, 
or Jefferson a Deist” - a synynom for a God-hater - “yet supposing they are, I am of the opinion the 
last ought to be preferred to the first (because) a secret enemy is worse than an open one.”

 And even though Washington D.C. was a brand new city, people already hated its partisan fervor. 
One government official wrote, “No stranger can be here a day and converse with the proprietors 
without conceiving himself in the company of crazy people.”

 So. Do we all feel a lot better knowing that, as William Faulkner famously said, “The past is never 
dead, it’s not even past”? That America (then and presumably now) can survive even the most 
twisted lies and slanders?

Oh well. It was worth a try.

 Dick Polman is the national political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphia (newsworks.
org/polman) and a “Writer in Residence” at the University of Pennsylvania. Email him at 
dickpolman7@gmail.com.

Editors Note:

We apologize for the inadvertent placement of Michael Reagan’s headshot on Peter 
Funt’s column in last week’s edition.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com