Mountain Views News          Saturday, July 18, 2015

Mountain Views-News Saturday, July 18, 2015 
Walking Sierra Madre…The Social Side

by Deanne Davis 


WINNERS OF THE FOURTH OF JULY GAMES 


 The Sierra Madre Civic Club again hosted theFourth of July games in Sierra Vista Park. On 
that relatively cool Fourth of July afternoonboth participants and spectators had funcompeting and cheering each other on.
All involved were winners. However, in the 
races those who went home with ribbons in 
the Bunny Hop (for ages 6 and under) wereNathaniel Howes and Lucas Young. In the 
three-legged race winners in the 16 and oldergroup were Mike and Patrick Neuman and 
Jamie and Kasey Derrick; ages 12-15 winnerswere Nisi Nugent and Alex Gourdikian, Aaronand Jake Young, and Jake and Gavin Eckstrom;
ages 7-11 winners were Jane Neuman andHarper Malone, Leilani Widjaja and AbbyKunch and Aspen Castillo and Jackson Young;
winners in the ages 6 and under group wereIsla Castillo and Lucas Young, Josie Malone 
and Desi Desmond, and Brendan and Aiden 
Mahoney. The wheelbarrow race was won byJane and Michael Neuman in the 12 and over 
age group; ages 7-11 winners were Aspen andMakena Castillo, Lucas and Jackson Young,
and Eric and Conrad Heder. Ages 6 and underwinners were Doug and Camilla Heder andMiles Burk. 

In addition to the races, there were other 
contests that tested the participants’ skill andluck and which elicited much cheering andlaughter. The shoe toss saw Michael Neuman, 

Patrick Neuman, and Andrew Tovar winners 
in the ages 16 and over category; winners inthe 12-15 age group were Gavin Eckstrom 
and Olivia Heder; ages 7-11 winners were KyleNeuman and Harper Malone; and winners6 and under were Jack Bev, Andre Fishman, 
and Lukas Young. The egg toss was open to allage groups and first place went to Ryan Haagand Anjolina Alcorn. Three partnerships tiedfor second place; they were Gloria Giersbachand Trent Talling, Nova Howland and OliviaBehegan, and Erica Cimino and Alexa Peterson.
The water balloon toss, also open to all ages,
was won by Ruth and Darren Oden; in secondplace were Ronni Flynn and Chris Peres; andtied for third place were Walter Roman andRose Bennett and Nova Howland and Olivia 
Behegan.

Co-chairs of the games Sharon Murphy andDarlene Traxler would like to thank all who 
helped coordinate the events, judge the events,
and pass out ribbons. But most of all they’dlike to thank all who participated and all whocheered the contestants on – you made the jobfun. 

The Sierra Madre Civic Club is a civic and 
philanthropic organization that meets the 
second Thursday of every month at 7:30 PM inthe Hart Park House. Hosting the Fourth ofJuly games is just one of our many fun activities.
Join us to see how you can become involved. 

Elaine Holmgren during Happy Hour at Sierra Madre’s Kensington Senior Living. 


City of Sierra Madre 
ORDINANCE NO. 1366-U 
AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SIERRA 
MADRE, CALIFORNIA RESCINDING AN INTERIM MORATORIUM ORDINANCE 
PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 65858 ON THE DEMOLITION, IN 
PART OR IN WHOLE, OF SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES AND DUPLEXES CONSTRUCTED 
PRIOR TO A DESIGNATED DATE 
WHEREAS, the City of Sierra Madre, which was incorporated over 107 years ago, is proud of its eclectic 
mixofresidentialarchitecturalstylesreflectedinitsexistingneighborhoods,predominatedbythenaturalterrainandmountain view, which lend to its character as the “village of the foothills;” and WHEREAS, this existing housing 
stock—some examples of which have been deemed a historic resource and many of which may be considered potential 
historic resources—help to create the identify and atmosphere of community, and the City actively encourages historic 
preservation through the use of Mills Act contracts; and WHEREAS, the historic and potentially historic quality and 
character of Sierra Madre’s neighborhoods directly contributes to a healthy and safe life for residents, who walk, 
congregate, play and want to live in neighborhoods that have character and history; and WHEREAS, given the concern 
that a development trend in the San Gabriel Valley of demolishing existing older homes, regardless of the homes 
potentialhistoricvalueinfavorofnewconstructionwhichoftendoesnotreflectthecharacteroftheneighborhoodor the community, on January 27, 2015, the City Council adopted Urgency Ordinance No. 1360-U, a temporary 
moratorium on demolition of residential structures, pursuant to the authority and procedures under Government Code 
Section 65858; and WHEREAS, on February 24, 2015, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 1362-U, extending the 
demolition moratorium for an additional six months, until August 24, 2015,unless earlier rescinded; and WHEREAS, 
the City Council has updated the provisions of its development and zoning code to implement new zoning and 
development requirements and conditions of approval to enhance protection of its potential and historic resources, such 
as revisions to Chapter 17.82 regarding historic preservation and Chapter 15.04 regarding building code and permit 
requirements, thus accomplishing the purpose of the temporary moratorium on demolition; and WHEREAS, until the 
existing moratorium expires on August 24, 2015 or is rescinded earlier by action of the City Council, the new zoning 
and development requirements regulating demolition and construction of replacement structures cannot be uniformly 
implemented. 
NOW THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SIERRA MADRE FURTHER FINDS that the 
purpose of the demolition moratorium has been accomplished through the adoption of revised development and zoning 
codes updating regulations for the demolition and construction of replacement structures and that it is necessary for the 
protection of the public safety, health and welfare to immediately rescind the existing demolition moratorium in order to 
enable the uniform use of the updated demolition and related regulations, in order to ensure well-planned development 
of properties in the City; and 
THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SIERRA MADRE DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS 
Section 1. Urgency Ordinance No. 1362-U Extending an Interim Moratorium Ordinance Pursuant to 
Government Code Section 65858 on the Demolition, in Part or in Whole, of Single-Family Homes and Duplexes 
Constructed Prior to a Designated Date and Declaring the Urgency Thereof is hereby rescinded in its entirety. 
Section 2. CEQA Finding.TheCityCouncilherebyfindsthatitcanbeseenwithcertaintythatthereisnopossibilitytheadoptionofthisOrdinance,andthedecisiontorescindthemoratoriumhereby,mayhaveasignificanteffect on the environment, because the adopted development and zoning standards impose greater limitations on 
development in the City, and protect the aesthetic character of Sierra Madre, thereby serving to reduce potential 
significantadverseenvironmentalimpacts.TheadoptionofthisordinanceisthereforeexemptfromCaliforniaEnvironmental Quality Act review pursuant to Title 14, Section 15061(b)(3) of the California Code of Regulations. 
Section 3. Severability. Should any provision of this Ordinance, or its application to any person, parcel or 
circumstance, be determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unlawful, unenforceable or otherwise void, 
that determination shall have no effect on any other provision of this Ordinance or the application of this Ordinance 
to any other person, parcel or circumstance and, to that end, the provisions hereof are severable. 
Section 4. Effective Date. This Ordinance is adopted by a 4/5 vote of the Sierra Madre City Council, shall 
take effect immediately upon its adoption as provided by Government Code Section 36937 and 65858. 
Section 5. Certification.The City Clerk shall certify to the passage and adoption of this Ordinance and shall 
cause the same to be published or posted according to law. 
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED, this 14th day of July, 2015 by the following vote: 
AYES: Mayor John Capoccia, Mayor Pro Tem Gene Goss, Council Members Rachelle Arizmendi, Denise Delmar, 
and John Harabedian 
“The society which scorns excellence in plumbing 
as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in 
philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have 
neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither 
its pipes nor its theories will hold water.” 

John W. Gardner 

“Plumbing is usually boring.” 

Alex Berenson

 Plumbing really is boring until something goes 
wrong with it. Then the last thing you need is a 
philosopher! You need a plumber and you need him 
right now! We have all had moments in our lives as 
homeowners when something plumbing related has 
gone seriously and/or dangerously awry. Recently, 
our kitchen sink backed up and refused to drain 
that nasty collection of egg shells, orange peels, and 
goodness (actually, goodness had nothing to do with 
it!) knows what else. I plunged and plunged but all 
it did was spit back at me...yes, I did plug the other 
sink... all to no avail. My plumbing expert, John, 
and I took a trip to OSH to buy Liquid Plumber’s 
most lethal concoctions...a complete waste of about 
$15.00! Yes, I’d tried baking soda and vinegar. Nada! 
John took the elbow pipe off... let me just say it got 
uglier from there.

So, we called Mike. We’ve been calling Mike and 
his brother, Jim, for years for various projects, i.e., 
a new bathroom, redesign a closet, figure out why 
the downstairs shower didn’t work, what was wrong 
with the main sprinkler valve, and now, the kitchen 
was totally out of order. Mike arrived, said the clog 
was in the wall between the sink on this side and the 
washing machine on that side, and, of course, almost 
impossible to get to. And ugly stuff!!! Oh my word! 
Our house was built in 1916 and what was clogging 
that pipe probably started building up then! OK, 
maybe not, but it was yucky and Mike fixed it all.

You’re saying, “And we care, why?” OK, brace 
yourselves! And if the following awful story happens 
anywhere around your yard, be ready for pain in 
the pocketbook! We noticed the other day that we 
had this fabulous green patch in our otherwise dead 
backyard lawn. We thought about it sort of casually 
then really started to think about it! There should be 
no green! I stepped on it and it was like stepping into 
a marsh! We were horrified! 

What did we do? We called Mike! He appeared late 
afternoon, dug a hole about 4’ deep and 4’ wide which 
exposed a broken galvanized pipe, probably installed 
a hundred years ago. He capped it so no more water 
was leaking out. Remember those pictures last week 
of the broken water main at Vermont and Melrose in 
Los Angeles? Ours wasn’t quite that bad, but it was 
close. 

Mike and his son, Matt, spent most of Saturday 
digging trenches, through the rose bed, under a 
concrete walkway, and eventually all the way to the 
garage. A mile of PVC pipe and we’re in business 
again. You’re saying, “And we care, why?” Because, 
dear friends and neighbors, we have been bending 
over backwards to conserve water every way 
conceivable. Our showers are over in seconds, teeth 
are brushed dry, toilets... you know... if it’s yellow... 
Watering is three minutes here and three minutes 
there and we’re putting in more succulents. Just like 
you are. Then disaster strikes and we lose more water 
in a week than we’ve saved all year. Needless to say, 
we’ve lost our status as H20Heroes completely and 
will be viewing our next water bill with shock and 
horror. 

Have to end on a good note, though, and here it 
is... we got to attend Happy Hour at the Kensington 
last week to visit Elaine Holmgren, our son-in-law, 
Chuck’s, mother. Elaine is a delightful woman of 
94 who has done much in her lifetime and has great 
stories to tell of her grandparents, parents, and her 
own exciting and productive life. Happy Hour at the 
Kensington, btw, starts around 4:00. Great pianists 
played the baby grand on two different days, then 
a guitarist who sang. There was a warm feeling of 
conviviality and happiness as the residents and 
guests were served the cocktail of their choice and 
hors d’oeuvres. I know several Sierra Madreans who 
have family members there. I was going to put in a 
picture of our incredibly expensive broken pipe, but I 
think I’ll put Elaine in instead! Lets all hope we look 
as great as she does when we’re 94! Cheers! 

My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis 
Blog: www.authordeanne.com

 “Tablespoon of Love, Tablespoon of Laughter” is 
available there… 
An excellent graduation gift, by the way!


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 

SIERRA MADRE POLICE BLOTTER 


During the week of Sunday, July 5th, to Sunday, July 
13th, the Sierra Madre Police Department responded 
to approximately 253 calls for service. 

Tuesday, July 7thAt 12:24 pm, Sierra Madre Police responded to the 200Block of West Sierra Blvd regarding a vehicle tamperingreport. Upon arrival, Officers were informed by thevictim that someone had scratched the left side of his 
car. The victim stated that he had parked his vehiclein the area at around 7:30 am, then when he returned 
to his vehicle at around 11:15 am he discovered the 
scratch on the left side of his vehicle. This case has been 
forwarded to the Detective Bureau. 

Wednesday, July 8thAt 9:48 am, Sierra Madre Police responded to the 600 
Block of Ramona Avenue regarding a theft report. 
The victim informed Officers that the day before, his 
sheds were intact and all his property was accounted 
for. The following morning, he noticed the door to 
one of his sheds were open. He entered his shed and 

discovered property missing. Officers discovered 
one of the shed’s door handles had been broken and 
was hanging from its original position. This case has 
been forwarded to the Detective Bureau. 

At 9:40 pm, Officers responded to the 70 Block of 
Ross Place regarding a residential burglary. Upon 
arrival, Officers were informed by the victim that 
he had arrived home to discover his side door wide 
open and his home ransacked. The victim stated 
he had left his home at around 6:10 pm, locked and 
secured. When he arrived home later and pulled into 
his garage, he noticed his tools and other items had 
been moved and placed on the floor. Upon entering, 
he discovered his several rooms had been ransacked. 
Officers concluded the suspect(s) gained access 
through the garage side door, located the victim’s 
tools and used them to open a small restroom window 
to gain access to the home. Once inside the suspect(s) 
located the victim’s firearms and ammunition and 
left the residence with them. At this time, nothing 
else has been reported missing. This case has been 
forwarded to the Detective Bureau.