STOP SIGN (continued from page 1)

satisfy standard all-way stop warrants.

 City officials said the City Attorney advised that additional legal review was appropriate before the council took final 
action, prompting the matter to be continued to the May 12 meeting.

 Following the March meeting, the City Attorney completed a review of governmental immunity considerations tied 
to the proposed stop signs. The review concluded that the City Council has discretionary authority to install traffic 
control measures even when a traffic study does not specifically recommend them.

 The legal analysis stated that authorizing the all-way stop would be legally permissible and would not automatically 
create liability for the city. However, officials cautioned that some governmental immunity defenses could be more 
limited if a future claim were to challenge the installation decision.

 Because of that possibility, the legal review advised that the council’s decision should be supported by documented 
site-specific policy and safety considerations.

Those considerations include the intersection’s proximity to Sierra Madre Middle School, the existing marked 
pedestrian crossing, documented school-area foot traffic, the reported collision history, anecdotal neighborhood 
concerns, and the council’s broader emphasis on proactive measures for pedestrian and student safety.

City staff then recommended that the council authorize the installation of an all-way stop control at the intersection.

 Officials said the action supports the city’s Strategic Plan Objective 2.4, which focuses on developing and 
implementing a Safe Streets Initiative to improve traffic flow and management throughout Sierra Madre.

 The proposal is also exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act’s “common 
sense” exemption because officials determined the project would have no possibility of causing a significant 
environmental impact.

According to the staff report, the recommendation carries no additional fiscal impact. Funding for fabrication and 
installation of the stop signs and related traffic control materials is already included within the existing Fiscal Year 
2025-26 Public Works operating budget.

 City Council unanimously authorized the four-way stop with a motion, but it wasn’t determined when residents 
may see the installation of the control to the intersection. 


33

Saturday, May 23, 2026

THE SECOND AFTER THE POSE

Dirk Bolle has been watching Sierra Madre 
for almost half a century. He has the photographs 
to prove it. 

By Elizabeth Converse

Dirk Bolle was born at Sierra Madre Community Hospital, delivered 
by Dr. Norman F. Johnson, the family doctor. He grew 
up on Laurel Avenue, then the family made what he calls “the 
big move” — over to Baldwin and Highland. He went to Sierra 
Madre School until the Sylmar earthquake, then to Field, then 
to a small Quaker school in Temple City, then to Eliot, then to 
PHS, then a stint at PCC. The geography of an ordinary local 
childhood, rendered in the names of streets and schools that 
residents of a certain age still know by heart.

He has lived in Arcadia, Glendora, Arcadia again, and now 
Eagle Rock, where he works full-time as the IT manager at a 
nonprofit. But Sierra Madre is the town he comes home to. 
Most days, after work, he drives up from the flatlands to walk 
— two miles at midday in Eagle Rock, four more in the evening 
here. He carries a camera. Sometimes a Canon mirrorless, often 
just his phone set to a black-and-white filter. He has been 
doing this so steadily, for so long, that the town has come to 
depend on him.

Without ever quite meaning to, Dirk Bolle has 
become Sierra Madre’s unofficial visual historian.

 He started taking pictures at twelve or 
thirteen, with film cameras whose whereabouts 
he can no longer trace. He has never taken a 
photography class. He is self-taught — which, he 
points out, is also how he learned to do IT work. 
“When I got hired, they said, we’re going to need 
you to work with the computers. I thought, okay, 
I guess I’ll learn.” Necessity, he says, is the mother 
of invention.

 The transition from amateur to town 
fixture happened the way many things in Sierra 
Madre happen — incrementally, by word of 
mouth. He was already posting black-and-whites 
on Facebook on the weekends, the hour when, 
as he puts it, “the sidewalks roll up.” Carol Canterbury 
messaged him and asked if he’d come 
photograph the Wisteria Festival. He said sure. 
Then the city’s 9/11 commemoration. 
Then Mary Hoffman’s openings at Baldwin Avenue 
Gallery, where he first walked in and offered 
to help her with her Mac. Then Xrstine Franco 
at LMF Gallery, the trail race, and behind the 
scenes at the Rose Parade float barns, where he 
photographs Cal Poly students assembling floats 
and the catered events thrown by clients flying in 
from places like Louisiana.

Q. You’ve described two different kinds of shooting. 
The events, and the walks. Can you describe 
the difference?

A. The events — the trail race, the parade, Pride — that’s run-and-gun. You’re on the move. Click, click, click. Oh, that 
was a good one. You just take a whole bunch. But the weekends, when I walk around town with the phone, that’s an 
experience of seeing. I’ve probably seen all of it before. I’m walking around to see if I can see it any differently.

Q. How do you know when to take the picture?

A. You develop an eye for when to hit the button. And the ability to be where lightning is most likely to strike. You get a 
feel for where certain things are going to happen, and you make sure you’re there to catch it. When you’re photographing 
people, if they see a camera, they’ll pose. You wait for right after the pose. Those are the pictures that really jump 
out.

Q. Do you have a favorite kind of subject?

A. Things around town here. Architecture, churches — St. Rita’s, the Methodist trylon. You can walk through St. Rita’s 
all day and get different angles. Nature, flowers, light and dark. An old car parked on the street — I’ll walk around it and 
look at the angles, the chrome lettering, the way they wrote the name of the car in cursive.

 The work itself lives on Facebook, on his Smug Mug site at dirkbolle.com (also reachable as foothillimages.
com), and in the inboxes of the people who ask for it. Susan Henderson at this paper asks him to capture events. The 
galleries email. Friends with baby showers and small weddings call him in. Asked what he most wants people to know 
about his work, he hesitates. “Just that it captures unexpected things around town. Helps people remember what town 
used to be like. Especially if they don’t live in town anymore.”

 He says it the way people who do important work without naming it usually say things. As if the obvious 
doesn’t need stating. But the obvious does need stating. Sierra Madre is a town that takes seriously the question of what 
it is and what it was. The Wisteria Festival, the trail race, the storefronts of Baldwin and Sierra Madre Boulevard, the way 
light falls on a stop sign at the corner of Grandview and Adams — these things are continually being lost and continually 
being remembered. Dirk Bolle is one of the few people doing the remembering deliberately.

 This weekend he will be up at the trail race around six in the morning, one camera, one lens, twenty-four to 
two-forty millimeters, wide enough for the group, long enough for the close-up. He will catch the light when the light 
gets to where it was always going to be. And on some quiet evening soon, the rest of us will scroll through Facebook, 
and there it will be: the town we live in, photographed by someone who has been here all along.

“My goal is to capture things as they are…not try to create something that’s not there.”

Dirk Bolle’s photographs can be seen at dirkbolle.com and foothillimages.com, and on his Facebook page. Inquiries 
about event, architectural, or portrait photography can be sent through either site or via Facebook Messenger.


SIERRA MADRE LIBRARY FOUNDATION 
AWARDED $50,000 GRANT FROM THE 
PASADENA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

— The Sierra Madre Library Foundation is pleased to announce its project for 
“Empowering Community Through Technology: SMPL Community & Meeting 
Rooms Initiative,” was funded by a grant from the Pasadena Community Foundation 
(PCF). Every year, PCF’s Capital Grants Program awards two special $50,000 grants 
to organizations undergoing projects that are transformative both for their mission 
and the community.

This grant will ensure that the new Mary Tumilty Community Room and two 
small-group meeting spaces in the newly renovated Sierra Madre Public Library 
are equipped with modern, high-quality technology to provide flexible, inclusive 
environments for public use, making the library a more dynamic and accessible hub 
for connection and learning. 

“We are incredibly grateful to the Pasadena Community Foundation for their generous 
support,” said Rob Stockly, Chair of the Sierra Madre Library Foundation. “This 
funding allows us to equip our new community spaces with the tools needed to bring 
people together, expand access to information, and support meaningful engagement 
for residents of all ages. It represents a significant step forward in ensuring the new 
library will be a modern, welcoming, and well-equipped community destination. So 
much of what the Library does is about building and strengthening community. We 
couldn’t be more excited about the possibilities opened to us by PCF’s substantial 
grant.”

Grant-funded components include an ADA-compliant, height-adjustable lectern, 
technology for remote/web conferencing, large-format presentation display TVs 
and wall-mounting hardware, an assistive listening system for the hearing-impaired, 
wireless microphone system, a 16-speaker sound system, and installation and 
training. 

“This year’s Capital Grants carry extra weight. Our nonprofits showed up for this 
community after the Eaton Fire, and many of them are still showing up every day,” 
said Jeannine Bogaard, Director of Community Impact, Pasadena Community 
Foundation. “These grants invest in their ability to keep doing that. Strong facilities 
and reliable equipment are not glamorous, but they are what keeps the doors open. 
That matters now more than ever.”

The Sierra Madre Library Foundation continues to play a critical role in securing 
funding for furniture, fixture and equipment needs in the new building that exceed 
the scope of funding provided through city and state resources. 

The newly renovated Sierra Madre Public Library is opening June 6, 2026.


WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT SIERRA 
MADRE’S CLEAN POWER ALLIANCE 
AND PROGRAMS By Mandy Tzoc Rodriguez

If you’re in Sierra Madre or surrounding neighborhoods within the San Gabriel 
Valley, you’ve heard of the Clean Power Alliance (CPA) or have seen it on your 
Southern California Edison bill before. However, many don’t know what this 
program does, its costs and the benefits to the community. 

The Clean Power Alliance is a not-for-profit electricity provider that purchases 
clean energy from renewable sources such as wind turbines, solar panels and 
more. It’s distributed into SCE’s infrastructure providing clean, renewable 
power to communities. The CPA was established in 2017 by Los Angeles County 
in partnership with the cities of Rolling Hills Estates and South Pasadena as 
a California Joint Powers Authority (JPA). Since its establishment, CPA’s 
customers “have prevented more than 4.6 billion pounds of harmful greenhouse 
gas emissions.” The program serves more than three million residents and 
businesses across 38 communities in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. 

In October 2020, Sierra Madre became one of two cities to default their power 
use to 100% Green Power. As of February 2026, the Sierra Madre community 
has around 4,918 active participants using 100% Green Power.

“The burning of fossil fuels is still contributing to greenhouse gases and down 
the line, those are [going to] be health impacts, economic impacts that we’re 
trying to avoid,” says James Carlson, Senior Analyst for the City of Sierra Madre.

There are three tiers of clean power which customers can sign up for and will be 
serviced through their SCE bill. These options start at 40% clean energy (“Lean 
Power,”) mixing renewable and zero-carbon hydro power; then 50% clean energy 
(“Clean Power,”) utilizing renewable energy and zero-carbon hydroelectric 
while receiving a competitive price of green energy further reducing carbon 
emissions; and lastly at 100% renewable energy (“Green Power,”) using solely 
renewable energy and the choice of paying a small premium for emissions free 
electricity. Each tier has a different rate from low to high.

A main concern by residents is the cost of being a part of the program and how 
it affects their electricity bills. Sierra Madre residents using 100% Green Power 
do pay a bit higher compared to SCE customers. However, Carlson shares that 
“rates change two to three times per year,” where there are moments that SCE 
and CPA’s rates can fluctuate. There are times where SCE is priced affordably but 
there are also times where CPA’s rates are affordable too. 

"It's not 100% all the time as competitive as everybody would like it to be,” says 
Carlson, “but at the same time our customers are paying for this wholesale clean 
power and it’s the money that they pay is going to the JPA as opposed to a 
privately held entity like SCE is.” 

Carlson explains that a benefit of this is that the profit will come back to the 
cities that participate in the program instead of going to stakeholders. The CPA 
supports communities through customer funding programs that fortify critical 
infrastructure. The City of Sierra is going to participate in the “Power Ready,” 
program from Clean Power Alliance at no expense to the city in 6 weeks, around 
mid-June. 

Sierra Madre City Hall and the Public Safety Building (Police and Fire 
Departments) will be receiving solar powered emergency backup power. There 
will be roof improvements, solar powers installed and battery storage units that 
the city can use in the event of an emergency. This will be an additional backup 
generator to be used. The city is asking for the CPA to power the dispatch offices 
and key offices like the Fire and Police Chiefs, City Manager, etc. 

Furthermore, Sierra Madre is looking to participate in the Energized 
Communities program which will provide the city with electric vehicle 
infrastructure, such as charging stations at no cost. As well, there will be another 
“Power Ready,” program that the city is applying for the new library to have new 
solar power panels for emergencies and are looking at, “a very robust cooling 
center during heat emergencies.”

“It’s something we’re doing without being regulated to do, right? The state is not 
telling us we have to do it. We’re looking ahead, we’re looking at the future. We 
know where things are going, we’re trying to get ahead of where we’re [going to] 
be again both health wise and economically wise,” says Carlson.

If you’d like to learn more about the CPA program, please visit 
cleanpoweralliance.org for further information.

CORRECTION: At the final meeting the Pasadena Unified School District’s 
(PUSD) School Consolidation Advisory Committee for District Transformation and 
potential school consolidation for the 27-28 school year, reported in the May 16, 
2026 edition of the Mountain Views News, the name of PUSD Board Member Yarma 
Velasquez, who was a part of the communications was inadvertently omitted.