Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, December 8, 2018

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Mountain View News Saturday, December 8, 2018 

Holden Joins Proposed 
Increase for Affordable 
Housing and Infrastructure

Pasadena Tournament

of Roses New Sip & Savor

710 Tunnel

cont. from page 1

 Assemblymember Chris 
Holden will introduce 
legislation Wednesday to 
remove the 710 North Project 
Area between Interstate 210 
and Interstate 10 from the 
California State Freeway 
and Expressway code. The 
legislation, also became 
public Monday, and came 
just days after the California 
Department of Transportation 
(Caltrans) did not identify 
the freeway tunnel as the 
preferred alternative in its 
Final Environmental Impact 
Report/Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIR/EIS) for the 
SR 710 North Project Area 
accoring to Holden.

 “Fixing our state’s highway 
code to reflect the new reality is 
the logical next step to bury the 
tunnel idea once and for all,” 

 A new end-of-year celebration 
debuts with the Pasadena 
Tournament of Roses SIP & 
SAVOR. On the event menu is 
an impressive array of offerings 
for all ages from many of 
Southern California’s favorite 
eateries and culinary brands, 
along with wines and craft 
brews from throughout the 
Golden State, plus an exciting 
line-up of entertainment and 
up-close viewing of Rose 
Parade® float decorating.

 The event takes over the 
Rosemont Pavilion/Jackie 
Robinson Memorial Field near 
the Rose Bowl Stadium in 
Pasadena from December 28-
30 (Hours: 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 
p.m.). Various ticket prices and 
packages are available, ranging 
from general admission of $15 
to a deluxe VIP package of 
$150, and can be purchased in-
person at the event or online at 
sipandsavorpasadena.com.

 As part of the Pasadena 
Tournament of Roses SIP & 
SAVOR experience, guests can 
visit the Rosemont Pavilion, a 
workshop of color, imagination, 
and ingenuity. Inside guests 
will see hundreds of skilled 
volunteers painstakingly hand-
applying millions of florals 
to incredibly designed Rose 
Parade floats. With wide-eyed 
wonder, guests can personally 
witness the parade floats slowly 
taking shape.

 “Our entire team is immensely 
proud to partner with the 
Tournament of Roses to take 
the Rose Parade experience 
to a whole new level,” states 
Craig Bugajski, CEO of Artistic 
Entertainment Services 
(AES) “As the producers of 
SIP & SAVOR, it’s a terrific 
opportunity for us to take 
an iconic event like the Rose 
Parade and build upon the 
success of this historic brand 
with this new and exciting 
event.”

 One of the main attractions 
of the event is the Sports Bar 
hosted by Firestone-Walker 
Brewing Company from Paso 
Robles, CA. Here adult sports 
fans won’t miss any action via 
six large screen TV monitors, 
while they enjoy a great line-up 
of finely crafted beers from the 
Firestone-Walker Brewery.

 The Pasadena Tournament of 
Roses SIP & SAVOR is also a 
destination for guests seeking 
great music and entertainment. 
The event boasts a great line-
up of entertainment options 
for the whole family. The main 
stage will play host to a variety 
of bands ranging from classic 
80s, hip-swinging rockabilly, 
top hits of today, plus 
daytime performances by the 
GRAMMY® Award-winning, 
Mariachi Divas.

 “We’re very enthusiastic about 
this new way of extending 
the fun, excitement, and 
anticipation of the Rose Parade 
for locals and out-of-town 
guests alike,” states David Eads, 
Executive Director and CEO of 
the Pasadena Tournament of 
Roses. “Guests will get the best 
of both worlds as they get an 
up-close and intimate look at 
our beautiful Rose Parade floats 
and then enjoy the great food, 
family fun, and entertainment 
of our new event offering.”

 At Jackie Robinson 
Memorial Field, Adjacent 
to The Rose Bowl Stadium 
in Dec. 28, 29 and 30

 Assemblymember Holden 
Monday joined lawmakers 
to author and introduce 
legislation, Assembly Bill 11, 
that would increase funding 
for affordable housing and 
infrastructure production in 
California. AB 11 allows cities 
and counties to create agencies 
that would use tax increment 
financing to fund affordable 
housing and infrastructure 
projects. The bill takes a similar 
approach to the tax increment 
financing structure used by the 
former redevelopment agencies 
(RDAs) that were dissolved 
because of budget constraints 
cause by the Great Recession. 

 “Cities have struggled since 
they lost redevelopment 
as a tool to energize 
depressed communities,” 
said Assemblymember Chris 
Holden. “This landmark 
legislation will pave the way for 
cities to aggressively respond to 
the growing housing crisis.”

 Redevelopment agencies were 
originally created decades 
ago as a way to address blight 
and fund massive “urban 
renewal” initiatives, but they 
eventually became a key source 
of financing for affordable 
housing developments. At 
the time of their elimination, 
RDAs were required to spend 
$1 billion annually to fund 
affordable housing. Since that 
time, California’s housing 
and homelessness crises have 
reached unprecedented levels. 
While the state has passed 
some new affordable housing 
financing measures and tax 
increment funding tools, none 
of them are as robust as RDAs 
were.

 The process of dissolving RDAs 
in 2011 exposed egregious and 
often bizarre abuses of how the 
agencies spent the funding. 
To ensure funding generated 
through new agencies is not 
vulnerable to the same types 
of frivolous uses, AB 11 puts 
a number of safeguards in 
place, including strong anti-
displacement policies, detailed 
record-keeping requirements, 
independent annual audits, 
and harsh financial penalties 
for record-keeping or audit 
violations.

 Under AB 11, agencies 
will have some of the same 
goals of funding housing 
and infrastructure projects 
as RDAs, but this new bill 
prioritizes affordable housing 
and sustainable growth.

 New financing agencies will 
have to be approved by the 
Strategic Growth Council to 
ensure any plans are in line 
with California’s greenhouse 
gas reduction goals. Agencies 
will be required to set aside 
30 percent of funding for the 
creation, improvement, and 
rehabilitation of affordable 
housing. The amount that state 
would invest in agencies will be 
capped and monitored by the 
State Controller.

 “I’m proud to be a part of 
this effort to tackle California’s 
affordable housing needs,” said 
Holden.

 A diverse coalition of lawmakers 
are joint authors of AB 11, 
including Assemblymembers 
David Chiu (D-San Francisco), 
Cecilia Aguiar-Curry 
(D-Winters), Richard Bloom 
(D-Santa Monica), Rob Bonta 
(D-Oakland), Eduardo Garcia 
(D-Coachella), Todd Gloria 
(D-San Diego), Chris Holden 
(D-Pasadena), Jacqui Irwin 
(D-Thousand Oaks), Kevin 
Mullin (D-San Mateo), Miguel 
Santiago (D-Los Angeles), Phil 
Ting (D-San Francisco), and 
Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland).


Pasadena Federal Credit Union 
Chooses New President/CEO

 The Chairman of the Board 
of Pasadena Federal Credit 
Union (Pasadena FCU), 
Rich Haluschak, announced 
Wednesday the selection 
of Christopher O’Malley as 
President/CEO following 
the retirement of Ron Berry 
after 30 years of service in 
various roles to the member/
owners of Pasadena FCU 
(PFCU) and the San Gabriel 
Valley communities it 
serves. The announcement 
comes as the Credit 
Union nears completion 
of modernization efforts 
over the past two years that 
position PFCU to become 
the premiere Credit Union 
in Pasadena and the SGV. 
Mr. Haluschak conveyed the 
excitement the Board feels 
about the knowledge and 
skills Mr. O’Malley brings to 
the Credit Union. 

 A Southern California 
native, Mr. O’Malley has 25 
years of experience in the 
financial services industry. 
He has most recently 
served the members and 
staff of $1Billion iQ Credit 
Union, headquartered in 
Vancouver, WA as both 
SVP of Retail Delivery and 
Chief Information Officer. 
Previously, he held Senior 
Leadership roles at Altura 
Credit Union, Citibank, 
Wachovia and Zion’s Bank.

 Pasadena FCU shares are 
federally insured to at least 
$250,000 and backed by 
the full faith and credit of 
the National Credit Union 
Administration, a U.S. 
Government Agency. 

 Chipa (A469091) is a 
beautiful 7-year-old cat 
with soft green eyes. She 
is gentle and eager to meet 
new people. Chipa will 
let you know how she is 
feeling through her purring 
and appreciates human 
affection. She enjoys relaxing 
throughout the day and 
would be the purrfect pet to 
cuddle with. Come meet her 
at the Neely Cat Center at the 
Pasadena Humane Society & 
SPCA. 

 The adoption fee for cats 
is $75. All cats are spayed 
or neutered, microchipped, 
and vaccinated before being 
adopted. 

 New adopters will receive a 
complimentary health-and-
wellness exam from VCA 
Animal Hospitals, as well 
as a goody bag filled with 
information about how to 
care for your pet.

 View photos of adoptable 
pets at pasadenahumane.
org. Adoption hours are 11 
a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday; 9 a.m. 
to 5 p.m. Tuesday through 
Friday; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
Saturday.

 Pets may not be available 
for adoption and cannot be 
held for potential adopters 
by phone calls or email.

Pet of the 
Week


NASA’s Mars InSight Flexes 
Its Arm Ready for Lifting

 New images sent this week 
from NASA’s Mars InSight 
lander show its robotic arm is 
ready to do some lifting. 

 With a reach of nearly 6 feet 
(2 meters), the arm will be used 
to pick up science instruments 
from the lander’s deck, gently 
setting them on the Martian 
surface at Elysium Planitia, 
the lava plain where InSight 
touched down on Nov. 26.

 But first, the arm will use 
its Instrument Deployment 
Camera, located on its elbow, 
to take photos of the terrain 
in front of the lander. These 
images will help mission team 
members determine where 
to set InSight’s seismometer 
and heat flow probe — the 
only instruments ever to be 
robotically placed on the 
surface of another planet.

 “Today we can see the first 
glimpses of our workspace,” said 
Bruce Banerdt, the mission’s 
principal investigator at NASA’s 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 
Pasadena, California. “By early 
next week, we’ll be imaging it 
in finer detail and creating a 
full mosaic.”

 Another camera, called the 
Instrument Context Camera, 
is located under the lander’s 
deck. It will also offer views of 
the workspace, though the view 
won’t be as pretty.

 “We had a protective cover 
on the Instrument Context 
Camera, but somehow dust 
still managed to get onto the 
lens,” said Tom Hoffman of 
JPL, InSight’s project manager. 
“While this is unfortunate, it 
will not affect the role of the 
camera, which is to take images 
of the area in front of the lander 
where our instruments will 
eventually be placed.”

 
Placement is critical, and 
the team is proceeding with 
caution. Two to three months 
could go by before the 
instruments have been situated 
and calibrated.

 Over the past week and a half, 
mission engineers have been 
testing those instruments and 
spacecraft systems, ensuring 
they’re in working order. A 
couple instruments are even 
recording data: a drop in air 
pressure, possibly caused by a 
passing dust devil, was detected 
by the pressure sensor. This, 
along with a magnetometer and 
a set of wind and temperature 
sensors, are part of a package 
called the Auxiliary Payload 
Sensor Subsystem, which will 
collect meteorological data.

 More images from InSight’s 
arm were scheduled to come 
down this past weekend. 
However, imaging was 
momentarily interrupted, 
resuming the following day. 
During the first few weeks in 
its new home, InSight has been 
instructed to be extra careful, 
so anything unexpected will 
trigger what’s called a fault. 
Considered routine, it causes 
the spacecraft to stop what it 
is doing and ask for help from 
operators on the ground.

 “We did extensive testing 
on Earth. But we know that 
everything is a little different 
for the lander on Mars, so faults 
are not unusual,” Hoffman said. 
“They can delay operations, but 
we’re not in a rush. We want to 
be sure that each operation that 
we perform on Mars is safe, so 
we set our safety monitors to be 
fairly sensitive initially.”

 Spacecraft engineers had 
already factored extra time into 
their estimates for instrument 
deployment to account for 
likely delays caused by faults. 
The mission’s primary mission 
is scheduled for two Earth 
years, or one Mars year — 
plenty of time to gather data 
from the Red Planet’s surface.


Free Monthly Events at 
Pasadena Senior Center

 

 There is something for 
everyone in December at the 
Pasadena Senior Center, 85 
E. Holly St.

 You do not have to be a 
member to attend. Some 
events require advance 
reservations as 

noted. 

 Stay Connected with 
Social Media – Tuesdays 
and Thursdays to Dec. 27, 
from 9 to 11 a.m. Learn 
how to keep in touch with 
family and friends via 
email, Skype, Facebook and 
other forms of social media 
during a 30-minute, one-on-
one session with instructor 
Edison Samuel. You’ll choose 
which applications you want 
to learn. Bring a laptop or use 
one of the onsite computers. 
If you have an email address, 
bring it and your password. 
Sign up at the Welcome Desk 
or by calling 626-795-4331.

 Screening Mimis Film 
Discussion Club – Tuesday, 
Dec. 18, at 1:30 p.m. 
Diehard film fans are invited 
to watch a movie the first 
and third Tuesday of every 
month, preceded by a 
presentation about the film’s 
hidden history and followed 
by lively discussion. Dec. 
18: The Red Violin (1998, 
R) starring Carlo Cecchi 
and Samuel L. Jackson. A 
perfect red-colored violin 
inspires passion, making its 
way through three centuries, 
several owners and many 
countries, and eventually 
ending up at an auction 
where it may find a new 
owner.

 Friday Movie Matinees – 
Fridays, Dec. 14, 21 and 28, 
at 1 p.m. Everyone enjoys 
watching movies and the 
pleasures they bring. Dec. 
14: The Preacher’s Wife 
(1996, PG) starring Whitney 
Houston and Denzel 
Washington. As a preacher’s 
struggles to keep his church 
afloat during hard economic 
times begins to take a toll on 
his marriage, an angel is sent 
to help him out. Dec. 21: The 
Night They Saved Christmas 
(1984, NR) starring Jaclyn 
Smith and Art Carney. 
A woman and her three 
children help Santa save his 
toy factory at the North Pole 
from being destroyed due to 
nearby oil drilling. Dec. 28: 
Crazy Rich Asians (2018, 
PG-13) starring Constance 
Wu and Henry Golding. 
An Asian American New 
Yorker is apprehensive 
about meeting her longtime 
boyfriend’s family when 
she accompanies him to 
his best friend’s wedding in 
Singapore.

 Improvisation for Lifeskills 
PLAYshop – Fridays, Dec. 7 
and Jan. 11, from 10 a.m. to 
noon. Tap into your natural, 
creative talents while 
enhancing your health and 
well-being. This series will 
focus on improv techniques, 
theater games and creative 
drama to increase your 
spontaneity, memory, focus 
and interactive social and 
communication skills in 
a fun, playful and creative 
environment. Sign up at the 
Welcome Desk or by calling 
626-795-4331. Presented 
by Trisha Jauchler, founder 
and director of On Bright 
Wings and Theatre on the 
Threshold. 

 Tree Trimming Party and 
Holiday Treats – Monday, 
Dec. 10, from 8:30 11 a.m. 
Help decorate the Pasadena 
Senior Center’s Christmas 
tree while enjoying holiday 
music. There will be free 
coffee, hot cocoa and festive 
treats at the Coffee Bar.

 For more information visit 
www.pasadenaseniorcenter.
org or call 626-795-4331. 

 Healthy Holiday Snacks 
– Thursday, Dec. 13, at 10 
a.m. Get ready to entertain 
this holiday season with 
yummy, guilt-free snacks. A 
live demonstration will help 
you learn how to succeed. 
Presented by Anthem Blue 
Cross.

 The Pasadena Senior 
Center is an independent, 
donor-supported nonprofit 
organization that offers 
recreational, educational, 
wellness and social services 
to people ages 50 and older.

ALTADENA CRIME BLOTTER

Tuesday, November 27th

8:29 AM – A vehicle was 
reported stolen from the 
2500 block of N. Lake 
Avenue. Vehicle described 
as a white 1999 Ford F250. 

9:00 PM – A commercial 
vandalism occurred in the 
700 block of E. Calaveras 
Street. Damage: shattered 
windows.

Thursday, November 29th

9:58 PM – Byron Hale, 54 
years old of Altadena was 
arrested in the 300 block 
of E. Poppyfields Drive for 
being under the influence of 
a controlled substance.

Friday, November 30th

8:30 AM – A residential 
burglary occurred in the 
400 block of W. Poppyfields 
Drive. Suspects entered 
the residence via unknown 
means. Stolen: blue leather 
purse, black multi colored 
wallet, credit cards, and 
currency.

Saturday, December 1st

11:00 AM – A grand theft 
of landscaping equipment 
occurred in the 2600 block 
of Vischer Place. Stolen: 
orange Echo leaf blower and 
orange Stihl hedge trimmer.

11:28 AM – A petty theft 
occurred in the 2300 block 
of N. Altadena Drive. Stolen: 
red air compressor, gray nail 
gun, and an orange cordless 
drill.

3:55 PM – A domestic 
violence incident occurred 
in the 1700 block of Sinaloa 
Avenue. Suspect was taken 
into custody. 


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