p6, v16.35 — Pasadena – Altadena

Pasadena – Altadena

Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, August 27, 2022

MVNews this week: Page 6

Mountain View News Saturday, August 27, 2022

Labor Day
Closures &
Reminders

County Sheriff’s Air Rescue
Saves Hiker and his Dog

Pasadena residents and
businesses are reminded
that City Hall and many
City services will be
closed on Monday, Sept.
5, in observance of Labor
Day. Specific closures
and exceptions are noted
below.

Trash and recycling
services will be postponed
by one day. Monday pickup
will occur on Tuesday;
Tuesday pickup on
Wednesday; Wednesday
pickup on Thursday;
Thursday pickup on
Friday; and Friday pickup
on Saturday. There will be
no bulky item pickups on
Saturday or Monday.

The Citizen Service
Center will be closed
Monday, Sept. 5, and will
resume regular hours on
Tuesday, Sept. 6.

Pasadena residents and
businesses experiencing
power emergencies should
call Pasadena Water and
Power (PWP) at (626) 744-
4673. For water-related
emergencies, call (626)
744-4138. PWP’s regular
Customer Call Center will
be closed for the holiday,
but customers can access
their accounts and pay bills
online at www.PWPweb.
com or by calling (626)
744-4005.

The City’s Municipal
Services Payment Center
and Parking Office will
be closed on Labor Day.
All parking meters not
posted as “No Parking”
will be free and time
limits will not be enforced.
Violations for overnight
parking, red curb parking,
“No Parking” zones, and
blocking fire hydrants will
continue to be enforced.
Regular enforcement
resumes Tuesday, Sept. 6.
The Permit Center will be
closed on Labor Day but
will reopen on Tuesday,
Sept. 6, at 8 a.m. Online
permitting services are
available 24/7 at www.
cityofpasadena.net/
PermitCenterOnline.

Pasadena Transit bus
service and Dial-A-Ride
transportation will not
operate on Labor Day.
Normal service will resume
on Tuesday, Sept. 6.

All Pasadena Public
Libraries will be closed
on Sunday and Monday,
Sept. 4 and 5, and will
return to regular schedules
on Tuesday, Sept. 6. All
recreation and community
centers operated by the
City’s Parks, Recreation
and Community Services
Department will be closed
on Labor Day, but all parks
will be open for picnics,
fun and play. No site
reservations are accepted
for the holiday.

Pasadena Police and Fire
Departments will continue
to be staffed for all patrol,
jail, fire, paramedic and
other emergency services.
For life-threatening
emergencies, always
dial 9-1-1. If you see
something, say something.
Report suspicious activity
to Pasadena Police
Department at (626) 744-
4241.

The Los Angeles County
Sheriff’s Department’s
Emergency Services Detail,
also known as Air Rescue
5, rescued a hiker and his
beloved dog earlier this
month after the hiker was
unable to traverse the trail in
the Mount Wilson area.

On August 8, at
approximately 1:30 pm, Air
Rescue 5 received a call for
service regarding a hiker
and his dog who both fell
200 feet over the side of the
trail near Mount Wilson.

The Air 5 crew responded
to the area of the call and
located Dave Santonil and
his dog Bubba, who were
approximately 200 feet
over the side of the Mount
Wilson Trail. Santonil and
Bubba were standing on
a small shelf of soil that
protruded from the vertical
mountainside and had
a very steep drop. Based
on Santonil and Bubba’s
difficult position, Air Rescue
5 assessed the situation and
devised a rescue plan.

The Air Rescue pilots
maneuvered the aircraft in
the canyon and placed it
where the helicopter’s rotors
would not blow Santonil
and Bubba from their fragile
position. With the assistance
of his partners, Deputy
Belleville using rappelling
equipment was lowered
from the helicopter to where
Santonil and Bubba were.
He managed to secure the
two and hoisted them up
into safety.

“There are dangers in the
trails. We have the nation’s
largest county, and we
have the nation’s largest
playground right next to the
largest population. So, the
mixture of those two leads
the crew of Air Rescue 5
to be very busy during the
summer months, during the
winter months and pretty
much all year long.” Sheriff
Villanueva stated during the
press conference.

LASD’s Air Rescue five
motto is “Saving Lives
Priority One.”

LASD continues to remind
hikers of the dangers of
hiking alone and with pets.
Have a hiking plan and tell
someone your plan. Visit
LASD.org for more hiking
tips at: lasd.org/hiking-tips.

City Sues Sheraton for Unpaid Hotel Tax

City officials announced
Monday that Pasadena has
received $497,000 to resolve
claims in the bankruptcy of
Urban Commons Cordova
A, LLC, one of the former
operators of the Sheraton
Pasadena Hotel located at the
Convention Center.

According to officials,
Urban Commons took
hundreds of thousands
of dollars in transient
occupancy tax and tourism
business improvement
district assessment monies
without turning the monies
over to the City on a monthly
basis, as required by law.

In proceedings unrelated
to Pasadena earlier in Urban
Commons’ bankruptcy case,
the bankruptcy judge found
two of Urban Commons’
former principals to be
“fraudsters.”

“I am proud of Pasadena for
standing up to collect money
owed to its taxpayers, which
was wrongfully withheld,”
said Mayor Victor Gordo.
“The City has collected a
large multiple of what some
other creditors received from
Urban Commons.”

Pasadena’s lawsuit in
California court continues
against other operators of
the Sheraton Pasadena Hotel,
where the city is seeking the
remaining unpaid hotel tax,
interest and penalties Gordo
added.

According to previous
reports, the city sued Urban
Commons for over $850,000.
Urban Commons filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy in
early 2021 that also included
dozens of hotels across the
country owning more than
$500 million in total debt.

Photo by D. Lee/MVNews

Summer Speaker Series
Science and Technology

Library
Strategic
Planning
Open House

Members of the public
are encouraged to attend
a South Pasadena Library
strategic planning
community open house,
to be held in the Library
Community Room on
Tuesday, September 6,
from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00
p.m. The Library’s strategic
planning consultants
will share results from
the recent survey, which
was completed by more
than 400 people, and will
seek further input about
community needs and the
vision for the Library’s
future. During this
engaging session, attendees
will have opportunities
to provide feedback
through discussion,
comment cards, and vision
boards. The Community
Room is located at 1115
El Centro Street. For
more information visit:
southpasadenaca.gov.

AB 2723 Pet Theft Protection
Bill Heads to Gov. Newsom

Pasadena Heritage announced
a sampling of amazing
accomplishments and “firsts” in
its Uniquely Pasadena summer
lecture series, continuing with
part three, on Sunday.

From its founding to the
present day, the City of Pasadena
has drawn brilliant, talented
and innovative thinkers and
creators to live and work here.
Pasadena is the birthplace of
remarkable achievements and
innovative ideas in architecture,
transportation, entertainment,
food, science, technology and
more.

In Pasadena Heritage third and
final program they will look at
science and technology that is
unique to Pasadena. They will
have two special guest speakers
to share some exciting things
that have happened and are
happening in Pasadena.

The first speaker will be Dr.
Eun-Joo Ahn, an astrophysicist
and doctoral candidate, History
of Science, at UC Santa Barbara.
Through Zoom she is set to talk
about “Regional Development
and Mount Wilson Observatory
During the Early Twentieth
Century.”

Mount Wilson Observatory
was founded by astrophysicist
George Ellery Hale in 1904
with funding from the Carnegie
Institution of Washington.
It became one of the most
prominent astronomical
observatories during the first
half of the twentieth century,
whose astronomers contributed
to understanding the
characteristics of the sun and
the structure of our universe.
Regional development and
boosterism of Pasadena and
Southern California played a
significant role it its success
along with superb observation
conditions on the summit of
Mount Wilson. Learn how and
why Pasadena became home
to such an important scientific
structure!

The second speaker is Dr. Martin
Lo, a principal engineer of the
Mission Design & Navigation
Section of the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, California Institute
of Technology. D1r. Lo obtained
a BS from Caltech in 1975 and
a PhD from Cornell University
in 1981 in pure mathematics.
His work helped JPL win and
fly the Genesis Mission. He and
student Shane Ross discovered
that a network of invariant
manifolds popularly called the
“Interplanetary Superhighway”
connects the Solar System.
Martin has won numerous
awards for his work.

Martin will discuss his 30-
year career with JPL and how
“The Earth’s Neighborhood”
is a complex dynamical
regime. A mere difference of
50 m/s in the launch velocity
separates trajectories heading
to the Moon from trajectories
escaping Earth. Learn about the
mapping of the Interplanetary
Superhighway and how
theoretical and computational
infrastructure will allow us to
launch to all parts of the Solar
System. All of these discoveries
are happening in Pasadena’s
back yard!

Guests may attend in person or
virtually via Zoom.

Light refreshments for in-
person attendees.

For more information visit:
pasadenaheritage.org.

Assemblymember Chris
Holden’s bill AB 2723 - Animals:
microchips: theft passed the
Senate Floor Monday with
unanimous bipartisan support
and is headed to the Governor’s
desk.

“It’s a tragedy when your family
member/pet goes missing,
and this bill would prevent
bad actors of reclaiming pets
while their loved ones are still
searching for them,”

said Assemblymember Chris
Holden. “Many Californians
have welcomed animals into
their families, and we want
those pets to be safe.”

Existing law fails to ensure
that pets are returned to their
rightful owners. Currently,
when pets are microchipped by
organizations before adoption,
these organizations remain as
the primary contact registered
to the microchips, even after
adoption and even once
owners are registered to the
same microchips (as secondary
contacts).

AB 2723 would expand upon,
and clarify pet microchip
ownership with the intent to
alleviate legal confusion and
ambiguity for pet owners,
especially owners undergoing
improper pet reclamation, pet
theft, or pet loss. Specifically,
AB 2723 would prioritize
the contacting of owners in
instances of pet recovery by
encouraging that the pet owner
be listed as the microchip
primary contact, instead of pet
adoption organizations.

“We need pet ownership
to be clear since many have
invested both financially and
emotionally for the care of
their pets. This bill helps the
voiceless return home where
they belong,” said Holden.