Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, December 23, 2023

6

ALTADENA - SOUTH PASADENA - SAN MARINO

Mountain View News Saturday, December 23, 2023 

Winners of Congressional 
Annual App Challenge

Copper Wire Theft Suspects 
Arrested in East Pasadena

San Marino Upcoming 
Events & Programming


Upcoming Facility Closures

December 24-25, 2023: All Facilities

December 26, 2023: All Facilities except Crowell Public 
Library

December 31, 2023: All Facilities

January 1, 2024: All Facilities

January 2, 2024: All Facilities except Crowell Public Library

SMFD Holiday Drive with Santa Claus

Ho, ho, ho! At 9 AM December 25th, Monday, the San 
Marino Fire Department will be assisting the North Pole 
Fire Department in transporting their most influential 
resident, Santa Claus, around town.

Don your most festive jammies, warm up the cocoa, and 
prepare to give Santa a hearty San Marino welcome! Listen 
for sleigh bells and sirens as Santa makes his rounds. Check 
out the map for details about Santa's route!

Holiday Tree Collection Schedule

Athens Services will be providing their annual Holiday 
tree curbside collection, beginning on Tuesday, December 
26, 2023 through Friday, January 12. Follow these steps to 
properly recycle your holiday tree:

1. Remove all ornaments, tinsel, lights, and the tree stand

2. Cut tree in half if over six feet tall

3. Place curbside on your regularly scheduled trash day

 If your tree is flocked or artificial, it is considered trash and 
will need to be disposed of by requesting a bulky-item pick-
up. Residents can report any issues to Athens by visiting 
their website or calling (888) 336-6100.

Holiday Parking Information

 Overnight parking passes will not be required for vehicles 
starting the evening of Saturday, December 16, through the 
morning of Friday, January 5th. For more information on 
overnight parking, please contact the Police Department at 
(626) 300-0720.

Sandbag Self-Fill Location

 Rain is here! The Parks and Public Works Department 
is providing a sandbag self-fill location in the Stoneman 
parking lot (1560 Pasqualito Drive) that is available to 
residents. Sand and bags are available at the location, and 
residents are welcome to fill up to six bags to help protect 
their homes. A limited supply of additional bags is also 
available in the Public Works yard at City Hall and can be 
picked up by appointment if necessary. PLEASE do not take 
the shovels from the fill station.

 For any questions, please get in touch with the Parks and 
Public Works Department at 626-300-0765 or publicworks@
cityofsanmarino.org.

Holiday Fire Safety Tips

 Home and fire safety is a year round project; however, for 
many Fire Departments the holiday season is the busiest 
time of year. Cooking with family and decorating homes 
and businesses are long-standing traditions; unfortunately, 
these same activities may increase your chances of a serious 
fire. Following these few simple fire safety tips can keep 
kitchen equipment, electric lights, candles, and the ever-
popular Christmas tree from creating a tragedy. Have a fire 
safe holiday season.

Check to make sure your smoke alarms are working

Do not overload electrical outlets

Use battery-operated candles, avoid any open flames

Check decorations for a certification label

Keep combustibles at least three feet away from heat sources

Never leave a source of fire or heat on unattended

Never use charcoal or gasoline-fueled devices indoors

Water your tree daily

Turn off, unplug and extinguish all decorations when leaving 
the house or going to sleep

Stay in the kitchen when cooking

Close your doors when sleeping

Make sure that the flue and chimney is clean before lighting 
a fire in your fireplace. Use a fire screen to prevent embers 
from escaping. Make sure all embers are fully extinguished 
before going to bed.

Drink responsibly and never drink and drive

Find more Holiday Fire Safety tips on the City’s website. Home 
fire inspections are available upon request by contacting the 
San Marino Fire Department at (626) 300-0735.

Winter Community Services Guide

 Check out the latest Community Services Guide to see 
Winter offerings Registration has begun for residents and 
will open on December 27 for non-residents.

 


 Judy Chu announced 
Tuesday the winners of the 
2023 Congressional App 
Challenge for middle and 
high school students in the 
West San Gabriel Valley. 
This annual computer 
science competition, 
hosted by the U.S. House of 
Representatives, encourages 
students to learn how to code 
and inspires them to pursue 
careers in STEM (Science, 
Technology, Engineering and 
Math) fields.

 A record 46 apps were 
submitted to this year’s 
competition. The winner, 
Qinzhi (Louis) Li of Arcadia 
High School, submitted 
an app “QuickQuill” 
designed to edit STEM-
related documents so that 
users can write and edit 
mathematical equations 
quickly and efficiently. The 
app will greatly help with 
taking notes, creating tests, 
or writing scientific papers. 

Chu issued the following 
statement:

 “I was thrilled to host my 
5th Annual Congressional 
App Challenge Competition 
and highlight the increasing 
importance of STEM 
education in our country. 
STEM grows more valuable 
for our nation’s youth, 
and the powerful skills 
gained from coding and 
programming will ensure 
that our nation remains at 
the forefront of technological 
progress and advancements. 
All our submissions came 
from talented young coders 
who worked collaboratively 
to fix problems facing 
the world. I’m proud 
of all our winners and 
everyone who participated 
in the competition. 
Congratulations to each one 
of them!”

List of Winners:

First Place: QuickQuill by 
Qinzhi (Louis) Li 

Second Place: (pictured)
Factorial! by Daniel Miao 
and Junyu Liu

Third Place: Allergy Alert by 
Daniel Hacobian

Fourth Place: speechHub_ 
by Christine Xu, Gwendolyn 
Culbert, and Amishi 
Mahadev 

Honorable Mention: 
EasyReader by Alex Zhou 
and Darren Ma 

Honorable Mention: News 
Map by Daniel Kahdian 

Honorable Mention: Fruitful 
by Alexa Chang and Brett 
Chang

Honorable Mention: Red-
11 by Drexel Ngo and Alina 
Ramos

 The winners were chosen by 
a panel of expert judges from 
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory 
and Caltech, who made 
their decisions based on 
the app’s purpose, concept, 
technicality, creativity, and 
design. The winning app, 
QuickQuill, will be displayed 
on the Congressional App 
Challenge Website and on a 
digital display in the Capitol 
Building. 

 

 The City of Pasadena has 
experienced a high number 
of copper wire thefts from 
underground electrical 
boxes recently, with ten in 
November and an additional 
four thus far in December. 

 On Monday, December 
11, Pasadena Police officers 
responded to a citizen 
report of two male subjects 
tampering with a city-owned 
underground electrical 
box in the 1800 block of E. 
Corson St. Officers located 
the two males, as well as a 
female accomplice, next to an 
underground electrical box. 
The subjects had removed 
the box cover and cut wires 
inside the box. A search 
of their vehicle revealed 
additional copper wire, 
tools, and other evidence 
related to the crime. The two 
male suspects admitted they 
intended to steal the copper 
wire. 

 Pasadena Police detectives 
responded and took over the 
investigation. 

 The three arrested suspects 
are: Candido Benitez, Jr. 
(Male Hispanic, 27 years 
old, Los Angeles resident) 
Javier Soto (Male Hispanic, 
43 years old, homeless) 
Lizbet Echeverria (Female 
Hispanic, 31 years old, North 
Hollywood resident) 

 On Wednesday, December 
13, detectives presented 
the case to the Los Angeles 
County District Attorney’s 
office, who declined to file 
charges. The case on all 
three suspects will instead 
be presented to the Pasadena 
City Prosecutor’s office 
for misdemeanor filing 
consideration. 

 Anyone with information 
about copper wire theft 
cases is encouraged to call 
the Pasadena Police at 
(626)- 744-4241 or report 
information anonymously by 
contacting “Crime Stoppers” 
at (800) 222-TIPS (8477)

Poetry Writing Workshop

 The South Pasadena Public 
Library invites adults to join 
a series of poetry writing 
workshops led by award-
winning author and South 
Pasadena Poet Laureate Ron 
Koertge on January 24, April 
24, August 14, and October 
16 from 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm 
in the South Pasadena Public 
Library Community Room 
at 1115 El Centro Street, 
South Pasadena, California. 
Registration is required; 
visit: southpasadenaca.gov/
register to make a reservation.


Shoppers Lane Electric 
Vehicle Charging Depot

 The Pasadena Fire 
Department has partnered 
with the ABC-7/Spark of Love 
Toy Drive since its inception 
31 years ago. It is one of the 
highlights of serving the 
Pasadena community each 
year. We are thankful for the 
commitment to partnership 
that our Pasadena businesses 
and individuals have shown 
over the many years! Because 
of your consistency, literally 
hundreds of children in 
Pasadena are able to receive 
lots of holiday cheer through 
your donations! We are 
confident that this year will 
be no different.

 They accept New, Unused, 
Unwrapped Toys and 
Sporting Equipment

They accept gift cards!

They do NOT accept clothing 
or shoes

They accept toys for boys and 
girls ages 0 – 17

Toys can be dropped off at 
any of our Pasadena Fire 
Stations or, if you’re a local 
Pasadena business that wants 
to support by having a Spark 
of Love toy drive, let us know 
how many boxes you need. 
We will also come to pick up 
the toys.

This year’s Toy drive ends 
today.

 For more information visit: 
cityofpasadena.net/fire/
spark-of-love

Fire Spark 

of Love 

Toy Drive

Ends Today

 
New electric vehicle (“EV”) 
charging stations are now 
available at Shoppers Lane 
near the corner of San 
Pasqual St. and South Mentor 
Ave. Following the success of 
the Marengo Charging Plaza, 
one of the nation’s largest 
fast-charging locations, and 
the Arroyo Electric Vehicle 
Charging Depot, Pasadena 
Water and Power (PWP) 
built the new Shopper’s Lane 
Charging Depot through 
a successful public-private 
partnership. It features 12 
Tesla V3 Superchargers, 
and eight PWP-branded 
Tritium 150-kW DC Fast-
Chargers. The depot provides 
destination charging for 
consumers, and additional 
options for residents and 
visitors seeking to extend 
electric range.

 PWP continues to expand 
transportation electrification 
infrastructure, and currently 
offers over 100 publicly 
accessible EV charging 
stations throughout the 
City. Robinson Park is 
under construction to add 
five DC Fast Chargers, 
and 20 Level 2 chargers. 
Victory Park is also under 
construction to add four DC 
Fast Chargers, and 21 Level 
2 chargers. Both projects are 
expected to be complete and 
operational in early 2024. 
Four new Level 2 chargers 
are currently operational 
at Playhouse Village Park 
with an expansion project 
of 20 additional Level 2 
chargers currently in the 
design process. A 37-charger 
expansion project at the Del 
Mar Station Garage is also 
operational.

PWP EV Rebate Changes 
Starting January

 PWP reminds customers 
that PWP rebates for 
new plug-in EVs will end 
December 31. This change 
is part of a planned program 
update consistent with 
regional utilities and state 
programs. Please note that 
the $250 rebate for qualifying 
used EVs will continue. 
Customers can receive an 
additional $250 bonus rebate 
if they purchase a used 
EV from a Pasadena auto 
dealer. An additional $1,000 
is available for customers 
currently participating in 
PWP’s income-qualifying 
programs.

 Eligible customers can also 
take advantage of upcoming 
changes to the Federal Tax 
Credit. Starting January 
2024, buyers can transfer the 
tax credit to the car dealer at 
the point of sale, which will 
reduce the vehicle’s up-front 
purchase price.

 Residential electric 
customers are also eligible 
for a $600 rebate when they 
install a qualifying “Wi-
Fi enabled” or “Internet 
Connected” EV charger 
at their home. Residential 
electric customers are eligible 
for a $200 rebate when they 
install a standard (Non-Wi-
Fi/ Non-Internet Connected) 
EV charger. Charger 
incentives are also available 
to commercial customers. If 
an electric panel upgrade is 
needed to add an EV charger 
in your home, PWP can help. 
A $1,000 rebate is available 
for a permitted panel 
upgrade if it coincides with 
an EV charger install with 
associated wiring circuit.

 Phasing out new EV 
rebates helps PWP expand 
opportunities to address 
barriers to EVs for low-
income residents, as well as 
additional benefits for city-
wide charging infrastructure. 
For more information about 
available incentives, EV 
charger types, and where to 
find charging stations, visit 
PWPweb.com/EV.

 PWP rebates for new 
plug-in EVs will end 
December 31. 


South 
Pasadena 
Restoration 
Concert

 The Friends of the South 
Pasadena Public Library 
are set January 28 to present 
a Restoration Concert 
featuring Susan Greenberg 
(flute), Michele Zukovsky 
(clarinet), and Pierre Tang 
(piano). The concert will be 
held at 4 p.m. in the historic 
Library Community Room 
at 1115 El Centro St. in 
South Pasadena. Tickets 
are available at the door for 
$25. 

 The Restoration Concerts 
Committee, a committee 
of the non-profit 
organization, The Friends 
of the South Pasadena 
Public Library, has a goal 
to bring world-class music 
at an affordable price to 
the concertgoers in South 
Pasadena and surrounding 
communities. As the name 
suggests, net proceeds from 
the concerts provide for 
restorations, enhancements 
and other benefits to the 
South Pasadena Library 
and Community Room.

 For more information go 
to: 

 friendsofsopaslibrary.org/
restoration-concerts. 

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