PASADENA EDITION

 SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2019 


VOLUME 13 NO. 2

Wooten Gets 
14 Years for 
Embezzlement

Pasadena Mayor Tornek 
to GIve State of the City

 
Former Pasadena 
Department of Public Works 
Employee Danny Wooten 
was sentenced yesterday to 14 
years in prison. He was also 
ordered to pay back almost 
$3.7 million in restitution —
more then the $3.5 million he 
was convicted, in November, 
of steeling.

 Tyrone Collins, a co-
defendant, was given seven 
years for his roll in the 
embezzlement. 

 Both men had been taken 
into custody immediately 
after being found guilty by a 
jury November 6. 

 Deputy District 
Attorney Bjorn Dodd 
said in November, “Jurors 
deliberated for about three 
days before finding Wooten 
guilty of 53 counts, including 
embezzlement, conflict of 
interest and misappropriation 
of public funds. Codefendant 
Tyrone Collins was 
convicted of 20 counts, 
including embezzlement and 
misappropriation of public 
funds.” 

 Wooten was a management 
analyst for the city.

 Between 2004 and March 
2014, Wooten created false 
invoices for the underground 
utility program and stole 
roughly $3.5 million.

 He funneled some of the 
stolen money to Collins, who 
owns Collins Electric, the 
prosecutor said.

 Wooten also created bank 
accounts purporting to 
represent two religious 
organizations. However, he

was the only person on the 
account, the prosecutor said.

 The scheme was discovered 
in 2014 when the city ordered 
an audit.



 Pasadena Mayor Terry 
Tornek is set to present the 
annual State of the City 
Address Thursday night 
at Pasadena High School. 
Doors will open at 6:30p.m. 
The program will take place 
from 7p.m.- 8p.m. officials 
said.

 Tornek will provide 
financial information about 
the city, as well as several 
other important updates.

 In keeping with the theme 
of his last two State of the 
City, reports suggest he will 
again talk about Measure 
I and Measure J passed by 
voters in November. Tornek, 
last year, used the speech to 
make a case of the need of 
Measure I, enacting a 0.75 
percent sales tax to fund 
general city services and 
Measure J that allocated 
.6 percent of new sales tax 
revenue to the general fund 
and .3 percent to public 
schools.

 Tornek is expected to give 
an update on the funds and 
suggest where he thinks the 
city is headed with funding. 
He is also expected to talk 
about Senate Bill 35, that 
“requires a city or county to 
adopt a general plan for land 
use development within its 
boundaries that includes, 
among other things, a 
housing element.” 

 Tornek and the city have 
been opposed to the bill over 
local control issues.

 Pasadena High School is 
located 2925 E Sierra Madre 
Blvd. For more information 
visit: cityofpasadena.net/
event/state-of-the-city-2019.

Centers to Replace Polling Places in 2020

 During a jam-packed meeting 
Thursday, local residents were 
asked for input on new radical 
changes to the current voting 
system that does away with 
local polling places in 2020 in 
favor of county based regional 
vote centers and replaces 
ballot marking devices with 
“electronic polbooks” that use 
a combination of a touchscreen 
and a voter’s personal 
smartphone.

 There will be far less vote centers 
compared to polling places, 
with some low population cities 
having none. Common Cause 
Public Outreach Coordinator 
Kiyana Asemanfar said there 
would be about 1,000 vote 
centers throughout Los Angeles 
County. According to the Los 
Angeles County Registrar-
Recorder/County Clerk’s office 
there were around 4,000 poling 
places in 2018. 

 Asemanfar said ideal locations 
for the centers included, 
“libraries, Starbucks and other 
chain restaurants, shopping 
malls, big box stores, local parks, 
schools and churches. She said 
the purpose of the meeting was 
to see where voters wanted vote 
centers. One attendee said “You 
better not put them in Walmart.”

 Pasadena City Clerk Mark 
Jomsky said the city would 
also review the sites within 
Pasadena. 

 “The county is going to be 
administering the election so 
they will be choosing the sites.” 
He said. “We will as a city give 
input into it but there won’t be 
any council action on any of the 
vote center sites.”

 Jomsky also said that because 
of changes from local Measures 
AA and BB, “this changes all city 
council and local PUSD board 
elections to even years, so all 
the races will be on the county 
ballot starting in 2020.”

 Jomsky explained what is 
changing is where people vote.

 “They’re going to go from 
smaller neighborhood sites to 
these bigger voting centers, 
there will be fewer but each 
one will still allow anyone from 
any part of LA County to go 
to a center to vote. So let’s say 
you live in Pasadena but work 
in downtown Los Angeles 
and a vote center is located 
near your work, you can cast 
your Pasadena ballot at the 
downtown location.”

 He said the idea is to make 
voting more flexible, each 
center will be open 11 days, 10 
before, and election day. Jomsky 
also said he will no longer be 
involved in counting ballots 
during elections, a long standing 
tradition among city clerks. 

 Asemanfar said every proposed 
center location will be reviewed 
for room size, parking, public 
transit, ADA accessibility, 
hours of operation and internet 
capacity among other things. 

 For more information, or to 
suggest a center location visit 
lavote.net 

Holden Asks for Nominations 
for Women of Distinction

New York 
Drive 
Roadway 
Project

 
Los Angeles County 
Public Works will start 
the commencement of the 
New York Drive Roadway 
Improvement Project. 
Sully-Miller Contracting 
Company will begin Phase 1 
construction along New York 
Drive between Altadena Drive 
and Allen Avenue on Monday. 
Phase 1 construction will last 
approximately five months 
starting with construction 
on the north side of New 
York Drive, progressing from 
Altadena Drive to Allen 
Avenue. When work on 
the north side is complete, 
construction will shift to the 
south side of the street and 
continue in a similar manner.

 Work to be Completed: 
Construction and
reconstruction of curbs, 
gutters, and sidewalks; 
replacement of guardrail, and 
reconstruction of the roadway.

Where: New York Drive 
between Altadena Drive and 
Allen Avenue.

Working Hours: Weekdays 
between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.

 New York Drive will be closed 
to non-local traffic

Local traffic and driveway 
access will be maintained

Detour signage has been 
installed to direct traffic

Parking may be restricted. 
Temporary “NO PARKING” 
signs may be posted along the 
construction route at least 1 
day prior to the arrival of the 
work crew.

 For more information call: 
(833) ALT-NYDR (258-6937) 
Twitter:@NYDriveAltadena 

www.AltadenaNewYorkDr.
com Email: NewYorkDr@
ArellanoAssociates.com

 For immediate assistance 
during non-working hours call 
dispatch at: 626-458-HELP 
(458-4357). *Persons who are 
hearing-impaired and require 
assistance may dial the 

California Relay Service at 
7-1-1.

PUSD Statement on Open 
Enrollment Technical Issues

 We’re excited to 
offer a great mix 
of school choices 
to our community 
through 2019-2020 
Open Enrollment/
School Choice. 
Online applications 
for students who live 
within the district’s 
attendance boundaries, 
as well as children 
of PUSD employees, 
will be accepted 
through February 1, at 
openenrollment.info. 
Selection is by random 
lottery and is not based 
on when an application 
is submitted.

 In the early hours of 
the application period, 
which began today, our 
site had some technical 
issues that have 
now been resolved. 
Applications submitted 
January 10, 2019 
between midnight and 
9:30 a.m. were not 
recorded in the system. 
If you submitted an 
application during 
these hours and did not 
receive a confirmation 
number, you will 
have to re-submit 
your application at 
openenrollment.info 
before the Feb. 1, 2019 
deadline. We apologize 
for any inconvenience. 
Resubmitting does 
not affect placement, since 
selection is by random 
lottery. 

 While all students who live 
within PUSD boundaries 
are assured placement in 
their neighborhood school, 
the district’s annual Open 
Enrollment-School Choice 
offers families an opportunity 
to apply to themed, magnet, 
or specialized schools 
and programs outside the 
boundaries of their school of 
residence.

 Through Pasadena Unified’s 
Open Enrollment/School 
Choice, you can apply 
to attend dual language 
immersion, magnet schools, 
International Baccalaureate, 
College & Career Academies 
and more!

 If you have questions or 
would like to to speak to 
someone, please contact the 
Office of Enrollment at 626-
396-3639.


CALENDAR Pg. 2

Women of Distinction 2017

 For 30 years, in recognition of 
Women’s History Month, the 
State Legislature has honored 
the achievements of women 
throughout California during 
the annual Woman of the Year 
celebration. Chris Holden said 
he invites you to nominate 
a woman who you believe 
should be honored for her 
positive contributions in our 
community. 

 “Last year, I had the honor to 
name Dr. Marina Khubesrian 
as the 41st Assembly District 
Woman of the Year. At our 
Annual Spring District Office 
Open House, we collectively 
recognized a woman of 
distinction from each city in 
our district.” 

 He also said to send your 
nominations by January 30 
for the district’s 2019 Woman 
of the Year and Women of 
Distinction. 

 The district’s Woman of the 
Year will be invited to the 
State Capitol to be introduced 
on the Assembly Floor and 
be given a special resolution 
honoring her contributions to 
the community and the state. 
The Women of Distinction, 
and Woman of the Year, will 
be recognized at our Annual 
Spring Open House (date to be 
announced). 

Categories include but not 
limited to: 

Arts 

Business 

Community Service 

Education 

Health Services 

Military 

Science and Technology

Sports

Under 30 

Nomination forms are available 
a41.asmdc.org. 

MORE PASADENA NEWS

 Pg. 3

SAN MARINO/SO. PAS

Pg. 4

SIERRA MADRE Pg. 5

ARCADIA Pg. 6

MONROVIA 

EDUCATION/YOUTH

Pg. 7

FOOD & DRINK Pg. 8

THE GOOD LIFE Pg. 9

WORLD AROUND US 

 Pg. 10

 BEST FRIENDS Pg. 11


SECTION B: 

AROUND SAN GABRIEL 
VALLEYB1

THE ARTS B2

BUSINESS NEWS

B3

OPINIONB4

LEGAL NOTICES B5


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