88

OPINIONOPINION

Mountain Views-News Saturday, January 17, 2026

STUART TOLCHIN PUT THE LIGHTS ON 

THE HIGH COST OF FREE SPEECH

MOUNTAIN 
VIEWS 
NEWS

OP ED: SIERRA MADRE SIDEWALKS


Over the past few weeks, I have attempted to bring an increased awareness 
exposing the public safety hazards that plague our neglected and failing 
sidewalks and streets. The number of people that have contacted me explaining 
the injuries and broken bones from trip-and-falls was way greater 
than I imagined. 

One accident even required surgery with metal implants placed in a man’s 
leg that was broken due to a fall. Regarding the legal liability of sidewalk 
trip-and-fall injuries, it is important to realize that the City is responsible 
for injuries where the vertical displacement (vertical change in height) in 
sidewalk trip-hazards is 1/2 “ or greater. Both ADA and OSHA requirements 
consider a vertical change in level between 1/4” - 1/2” inch a tripping 
hazard. 

The good news is that Sierra Madre is not a city filled with residents 
that keep ambulance-chasing lawyers on speed-dial. The liability payouts 
would be astronomical. If 1/2” or more is the legal threshold, Sierra 
Madre’s sidewalks are potentially legal and financial landmines ripe for 
injuries and potential litigation. 

What I find extremely concerning is that City Hall and our elected councilmembers 
continually fail to fund our public works department sufficiently 
to repair and maintain safe sidewalks. 

Last March, 2025, I reached out to the then City Manager and the then 
Director of Public Woks, (neither of which are currently employed in the 
City) expressing my concerns after learning of trip-and-fall accidents that 
resulted in broken bones. 

Shortly after, on April 2, 2025, a discussion item was placed on the April 8, 
2025’s city council agenda titled, SUBJECT: CONTINUATION OF SIDEWALK 
PROGRAM-IMPLEMENTATION OF ZONES 1 & 3 (FY 2024-
2025) ……Copies of the report can be obtained on the City’s website at 
https:// www.sierramadreca.gov/common/pages/GetFile.ashx? key=XxQ9AZ3q. 


After reading and rereading the staff report several times I was amazed 
at the level of gaslighting and, rather frankly, the dishonesty contained in 
that report. 

Whether the report was designed to mislead the city councilmembers or 
the public at large is uncertain. Regardless, the staff report basically was 
patting staff on the back stating that they have done a stellar job and that 
the sidewalks are safe.

 The abridged version of that staff report explains the four year $240,000 
contract that was awarded to a contractor to eliminate sidewalk trip-and-
fall hazards throughout the entire city. The actual work to be performed 
was to take place during the f irst three years and the fourth year was to 
provide an inspection and status update of the condition of the sidewalks. 

The FY 2025-2026 concludes the fourth year but we have yet to be given 
that status report. As I have mentioned before in other posts, it would be 
a masterpiece of understatement to say that our sidewalks are dangerous 
with trip hazards throughout the entire city. But when one reads the staff 
report, it claims otherwise. 

Actually, on Page 2 of the report it reads that this $240,000 contract was 
“ensuring that by the end of the cycle all parts of the City receive needed 
repairs or upgrades.” 

Considering all work cycles have been completed, ask yourself if all parts 
of the City received the needed repairs or upgrades. It would be suspiciously 
and blatantly dishonest to make that claim. Perhaps the biggest 
gaslit and dishonest claim in the staff report can be found on Page 4 and it 
reads that as of summer last year that there is a “…nearly 100% reduction 
in known tripping hazards on City sidewalks.) Take a stroll on almost any 
street in Sierra Madre and you realize that nothing could be further from 
the truth. 

Page 4 proves itself to be the mother-load of governmental gaslighting. 
Claims that read, “ …early indications from those completed zones [2 and 
4] are very positive.” However just look at the condition of North Baldwin 
in these zones and the truth reveals a much different story. 

In those zones, the sidewalk in front of the Episcopal Church is nothing 
short of dangerous. Or diagonally across the street from St. Rita’s Church 
on the northwest corner where a senior citizen with a walker would be at 
an extreme risk. 

The gaslighting becomes even more outrageous on Page 4 when it makes 
the claim that this program “…will ensure that Sierra Madre’s sidewalks 
remain safe and accessible for years to come” or even that “implementing 
Zone 1 and 3 repairs this year is the capstone of the City’s four-year sidewalk 
safety initiative, reinforcing our commitment to public safety, fiscal 
prudence, and thoughtful infrastructure stewardship.” I’m just surprised 
that the City Councilmembers bought into it. 

Additionally, in that meeting, the City Manager made the comment that 
the contractor, “…did an extraordinary job…”, which in my opinion gave 
his approval of the gaslighting in the staff report. To the public at large, ask 
yourself, “Were these supposed sidewalk repairs satisfactory and was the 
staff report accurate and what you expected when you paid $240,000 of 
your tax money?” 

Do you honestly believe that nearly 100% of the trip hazards were removed 
or were you duped into believing so? And there is a bit more to the story. 
At the meeting when this was staff report was presented, I approached the 
councilmembers and used my 3 minutes of allocated time to address the 
inaccuracies in the report. 

In order to validate my point and concerns, I invited all five councilmembers 
to spend 15 minutes to meet me on Baldwin and walk one block from 
Laurel to Grandview and show them how poorly the contractor did, how 
there was no inspection of their work, how inaccurate the staff report was, 
and for them to actually see for themselves the hazardous trip hazards that 
still existed. 

A time was set but none of them showed. Several months later, one of the 
councilmembers approached me and said he eventually went and looked 
at that section on North Baldwin. He agreed that the hazards still remained 
and that it would be repaired. As of today, months later, nothing has been 
done and the hazards still remain, neglected. 

Until the council directs the city staff to provide them with a Public Works 
budget that sufficiently funds the necessary funding requirements to keep 
our sidewalks, streets, and other infrastructures safe, maintained, and repaired, 
injuries will continue to plague the City. 

Our City budget needs to consider and realize that much of the work our 
Public Works’ boots-on the-ground crews perform is as critical to public 
safety as is the Fire Department’s and the Police Department’s. 

It’s time for our elected officials and City staff to take a more honest and 
responsible look at our failing infrastructures and report it honestly, openly, 
and accurately to the public and fund it appropriately. Sierra Madre 
deserves nothing less.

Glenn Lambdin, Sierra Madre

 “Her death is 
a tragedy, regardless 
of her 
partisan affiliations, 
ideological 
beliefs, 
or who pulled 
the trigger. A 
woman got 
shot in the 
face.” – Tucker 
Carlson on the killing of Renee Good (Yes, 
Tucker Carlson)

On January 3, we had the capture of Nicolas 
Maduro in Venezuela to kick off the new year, 
with the expectation it would dominate headlines 
for at least several days. But just four days 
later, barely a week into the new year, we had the 
killing of Renee Good by ICE in Minneapolis.

 And now headlines are focused not so much on 
the killing itself but on the administration’s response 
to it. There wasn’t the usual offering of 
condolences and urging calm pending results of 
an investigation. A commenter, identifying herself 
as having a background in domestic abuse, 
described it instead as sickeningly similar to attempts 
at blaming the victim as responsible for 
whatever led the abuser to hit her.

 Within hours of the shooting, President Trump 
called victim Renee Good’s widow Becca “obviously, 
a professional agitator”. As for Good 
herself, she “violently, willfully and viciously ran 
over the ICE Officer”. Nothing showed Good 
having run over anybody, nor any intent other 
than to leave. Her last words to the officer were, 
“That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” The first 
words of the officer after killing her were, “F*cking 
B*tch”.

 Officers prevented anyone from providing 
medical aid to Good – including a bystander 
who identified himself as a doctor. Before EMS 
arrived, ICE officers, including alleged shooter 
Jonathan Ross, had scampered into their SUV 
and fled – altering the crime scene in the process. 
And when the ambulance did get there, it 
was further delayed by abandoned ICE vehicles 
left behind.

 For Vice President JD Vance, Renee Good was 
a “deranged leftist”. Whatever lying there was, 
he blamed “you people in the media”. With no 
evidence, he claimed “she was trying to ram 
this guy with her car”. Vance characterized the 
actions not of the armed, masked thugs in our 
streets but rather those of Renee Good as “classic 
terrorism”. And then, following the routine of 
abuser blaming the victim, he called it “a tragedy 
of her own making”.

 DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, barely a couple 
hours after the shooting, accused Renee Good 
of having “engaged in domestic terrorism”. DHS 
spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, prior to any 
investigation, repeated that Good “weaponized 
her vehicle in an attempt to kill or cause bodily 
harm to federal law enforcement”. (Illinois Gov. 
JB Pritzker has called McLaughlin a “pathological 
liar”.) When Jake Tapper on CNN asked 
Noem why she didn’t wait for an investigation 
before making these claims, she answered, “Everything 
that I’ve said has been proven to be factual 
and the truth” - perhaps her biggest lie of all. 

 Other lies were meant not just to establish a 
narrative for the killing of Renee Good, but to 
set a foundation allowing masked, armed gangs 
to operate in our neighborhoods with impunity 
– states and localities barred from holding them 
accountable for whatever unlawful acts. It’s laying 
the groundwork for the police state Stephen 
Miller salivates over.

 The day after the shooting, FBI Director Kash 
Patel announced his agency would have sole 
control over the investigation; banning local 
police from interviewing witnesses and any cooperation 
with state investigators. Secretary 
Noem claimed state authorities “don’t have any 
jurisdiction”. Fordham law professor John Pfaff 
called that “openly lying”, contradicted by the 
FBI’s own website. Former federal prosecutor 
Ken White says the Trump Administration’s 
position is that their agents can “kill people and 
that state and city have no jurisdiction to inquire 
about it”.

 Vance lied again when he claimed ICE agents 
enjoy “absolute immunity”, a claim repeated by 
Stephen Miller. It’s a claim Minneapolis Mayor 
Jacob Frey calls “pretty bizarre . . . That’s not true 
in any law school in America”. Norman Ornstein 
warns, “The notion expressed by Trump, Vance 
and Noem that there is absolute immunity for a 
cold-blooded murder if it’s carried out by one of 
their agents is the final straw. If we do not turn 
this around, we are done as a free society and a 
decent country.”

 Renee’s widow Becca Good issued a statement; 
“On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support 
our neighbors. We had whistles. They had 
guns. We were raising our son to believe that no 
matter where you come from or what you look 
like, all of us deserve compassion and kindness. 
Renee lived this belief every day.”

 Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis volunteered 
to work on the investigation into the killing 
of Renee Good on their own time. But the 
Justice Department told them there would be no 
charges pursued against ICE officers. Instead, 
they were to pursue charges against Becca Good. 
Four senior officials in the Justice Department’s 
Civil Rights Division and six from the Minneapolis 
U.S. Attorney’s office then resigned.

This story should dominate headlines through 
the midterms. But now, Trump tells CBS News 
anchor Tony Dokoupil, “you’ll perhaps be very 
happy” with actions the U.S. will be taking in 
Iran. Stephen Miller assures, “Nobody’s going 
to fight the United States militarily over Greenland”. 
For whatever reason, ICE is detaining 
members of the Oglala Sioux. And still those 
Epstein files.

We’re barely at mid-January. It’s going to be a 
long year. 

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR 
Susan Henderson

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR

Dean Lee 
SALES

Patricia Colonello 
626-355-2737 
626-818-2698

WEBMASTER 
John Aveny 

DISTRIBUTION 
Peter Lamendola

CONTRIBUTORS

Lori A. Harris 
Michele Kidd 
Stuart Tolchin 

Harvey Hyde 

Audrey Swanson 
Meghan Malooley 

Mary Lou Caldwell 

Kevin McGuire 

Chris Leclerc 

Dinah Chong 

Watkins Howard 
Hays Paul Carpenter Kim 
Clymer-Kelley Christopher 
Nyerges Peter Dills Rich 
Johnson Rev. James Snyder 
Katie Hopkins Deanne Davis 
Despina Arouzman Jeff 
Brown Marc Garlett Keely 
Toten Dan Golden Rebecca 
Wright Hail Hamilton Joan 
Schmidt LaQuetta Shamblee

Mountain Views News 
has been adjudicated as 
a newspaper of General 
Circulation for the County 
of Los Angeles in Court 
Case number GS004724: 
for the City of Sierra 
Madre; in Court Case 
GS005940 and for the 
City of Monrovia in Court 
Case No. GS006989 and 
is published every Saturday 
at 80 W. Sierra Madre

HOWARD Hays As I See It

“Her death is a tragedy, regardless of her partisan affiliations, ideological beliefs, or who 
pulled the trigger. A woman got shot in the face.” – Tucker Carlson on the killing of Renee 
Good (Yes, Tucker Carlson)

On January 3, we had the capture of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela to kick off the new year, 
with the expectation it would dominate headlines for at least several days. But just four 
days later, barely a week into the new year, we had the killing of Renee Good by ICE in 
Minneapolis.

And now headlines are focused not so much on the killing itself but on the administration’s 
response to it. There wasn’t the usual offering of condolences and urging calm pending 
results of an investigation. A commenter, identifying herself as having a background 
in domestic abuse, described it instead as sickeningly similar to attempts at blaming the 
victim as responsible for whatever led the abuser to hit her.

Within hours of the shooting, President Trump called victim Renee Good’s widow Becca 
“obviously, a professional agitator”. As for Good herself, she “violently, willfully and viciously 
ran over the ICE Officer”. Nothing showed Good having run over anybody, nor 
any intent other than to leave. Her last words to the officer were, “That’s fine, dude. I’m not 
mad at you.” The first words of the officer after killing her were, “F*cking B*tch”.

Officers prevented anyone from providing medical aid to Good – including a bystander 
who identified himself as a doctor. Before EMS arrived, ICE officers, including alleged 
shooter Jonathan Ross, had scampered into their SUV and fled – altering the crime scene 
in the process. And when the ambulance did get there, it was further delayed by abandoned 
ICE vehicles left behind.

For Vice President JD Vance, Renee Good was a “deranged leftist”. Whatever lying there 
was, he blamed “you people in the media”. With no evidence, he claimed “she was trying 
to ram this guy with her car”. Vance characterized the actions not of the armed, masked 
thugs in our streets but rather those of Renee Good as “classic terrorism”. And then, following 
the routine of abuser blaming the victim, he called it “a tragedy of her own making”.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, barely a couple hours after the shooting, accused Renee Good 
of having “engaged in domestic terrorism”. DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, prior 
to any investigation, repeated that Good “weaponized her vehicle in an attempt to kill or 
cause bodily harm to federal law enforcement”. (Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has called McLaughlin 
a “pathological liar”.) When Jake Tapper on CNN asked Noem why she didn’t 
wait for an investigation before making these claims, she answered, “Everything that I’ve 
said has been proven to be factual and the truth” - perhaps her biggest lie of all. 

Other lies were meant not just to establish a narrative for the killing of Renee Good, but to 
set a foundation allowing masked, armed gangs to operate in our neighborhoods with impunity 
– states and localities barred from holding them accountable for whatever unlawful 
acts. It’s laying the groundwork for the police state Stephen Miller salivates over.

The day after the shooting, FBI Director Kash Patel announced his agency would have 
sole control over the investigation; banning local police from interviewing witnesses and 
any cooperation with state investigators. Secretary Noem claimed state authorities “don’t 
have any jurisdiction”. Fordham law professor John Pfaff called that “openly lying”, contradicted 
by the FBI’s own website. Former federal prosecutor Ken White says the Trump 
Administration’s position is that their agents can “kill people and that state and city have 
no jurisdiction to inquire about it”.

Vance lied again when he claimed ICE agents enjoy “absolute immunity”, a claim repeated 
by Stephen Miller. It’s a claim Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey calls “pretty bizarre . . . That’s 
not true in any law school in America”. Norman Ornstein warns, “The notion expressed 
by Trump, Vance and Noem that there is absolute immunity for a cold-blooded murder if 
it’s carried out by one of their agents is the final straw. If we do not turn this around, we 
are done as a free society and a decent country.”

Renee’s widow Becca Good issued a statement; “On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped 
to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns. We were raising our son to 
believe that no matter where you come from or what you look like, all of us deserve compassion 
and kindness. Renee lived this belief every day.”

Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis volunteered to work on the investigation into the killing 
of Renee Good on their own time. But the Justice Department told them there would 
be no charges pursued against ICE officers. Instead, they were to pursue charges against 
Becca Good. Four senior officials in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and six 
from the Minneapolis U.S. Attorney’s office then resigned.

This story should dominate headlines through the midterms. But now, Trump tells CBS 
News anchor Tony Dokoupil, “you’ll perhaps be very happy” with actions the U.S. will be 
taking in Iran. Stephen Miller assures, “Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily 
over Greenland”. For whatever reason, ICE is detaining members of the Oglala Sioux. 
And still those Epstein files.

We’re barely at mid-January. It’s going to be a long year. 

Blvd., No. 327, Sierra 
Madre, California, 91024. 
All contents are copyrighted 
and may not be 
reproduced without the 
express written consent of 
the publisher. All rights 
reserved. All submissions 
to this newspaper become 
the property of the Mountain 
Views News and may 
be published in part or 
whole.

Opinions and views expressed 
by the writers 
printed in this paper do 
not necessarily express 
the views and opinions 
of the publisher or staff 
of the Mountain Views 
News.

Mountain Views News is 
wholly owned by Grace 
Lorraine Publications, 
and reserves the right to 
refuse publication of advertisements 
and other 
materials submitted for 
publication.

Letters to the editor and 
correspondence should 
be sent to:

Mountain Views News 
80 W. Sierra Madre Bl. 
#327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 
91024 Phone: 626-355-
2737 Fax: 626-609-
3285 email: mtnviewsnews@
aol.com


Mountain Views News 
Mission Statement

The traditions of 
community newspapers 
and the 
concerns of our readers 
are this newspaper’s 
top priorities. 
We support a prosperous 
community of 
wellinformed citizens. 
We hold in high regard 
the values of the 
exceptional quality of 
life in our community, 
including the magnificence 
of our natural 
resources. Integrity will 
be our guide.

Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024