Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, March 28, 2020

5


Mountain Views-News Saturday, March 28, 2020 

COVID-19 
Cases Rise 
in Pasadena


Chief Bertral Washington 
Announces Retirement

 
The City of Pasadena Public 
Health Department, this 
week (PPHD) confirmed 
four additional cases of 
novel coronavirus disease 
(COVID-19) in Pasadena 
residents. These cases are 
likely due to community 
transmission. Only one case 
has been hospitalized. The 
total number of confirmed 
COVID-19 cases in Pasadena 
is 10. Due to patient 
confidentiality, no other 
information on confirmed 
cases will be provided.

 PPHD is following up 
directly with those who have 
had close contact with these 
individuals and may be at 
risk for COVID-19 infection. 
Close contacts are monitored 
for signs and symptoms of 
illness and are quarantined.

 Last week, the Safer at Home 
Order was issued to slow 
the spread of COVID-19 
and protect the Pasadena 
community. Individuals can 
take everyday actions to 
protect the community and 
preserve local healthcare 
resources including:

 Do not have non-essential 
gatherings with anyone 
outside of your immediate 
family (living with you). 
Essential gatherings include 
medical visits and purchasing 
food.

 If you are sick, isolate 
yourself from others in your 
home and call your doctor 
to determine what care you 
need.

 If available, consider using 
telemedicine to speak with 
a healthcare provider, rather 
than visiting the emergency 
room or urgent care.

 Stay at least 6 feet away 
from other people when on 
essential outings, such as 
grocery shopping or riding 
public transit to an essential 
job.

Continue strict personal 
hand hygiene and cleaning of 
surfaces.

 If you have recently returned 
from an area with ongoing 
COVID-19 infections, follow 
public health guidance and 
monitor your health. Call 
your healthcare providers 
and inform them about your 
travel history if you need care.

 For the latest information on 
COVID-19, visit https://www.
cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-
ncov/index.html.

By Dean Lee

 In a letter to the Pasadena 
Fire Department this week, 
Pasadena Fire Chief Bertral 
Washington (pictured above 
speaking) announced plans 
for retirement —a move 
that came less than two 
months after City Manager 
Steve Mermell reassigned 
him to the city manager’s 
office working on a Wireless 
Emergency Alert system 
amid having a clash with 
members of the Pasadena 
Firefighters Association.

 Washington’s last day with 
the city is April 10. 

 “After 25 years in the fire 
service and over five at 
[Pasadena Fire Department] 
PFD, I want you to know I 
will be retiring from the city 
next month,” he said in the 
letter. “I am very grateful 
to have served as your fire 
chief, on the shoulders of 
many great men and women 
ahead of us. PFD is one of the 
best fire departments in the 
world and this will continue 
as you remain focused on 
continuous improvement 
and holding true to your 
core values.

 Washington’s letter 
goes on with some of his 
accomplishments. 

 “Recently, the passage of 
Measure I, giving Pasadena 
funding to renovate and 
rebuild multiple fire stations, 
and the Pasadena Outreach 
Response Team (PORT) are 
two of the achievements 
I deeply admire,” he said. 
“Seeing those capital 
improvement projects 
through, as well as growing 
PORT, will have a huge 
impact on your well-being 
and will impact the state 
of Pasadena homelessness 
significantly.”

 The letter fails to mention 
him being reassigned. 
Washington does encourage 
the department to move 
forward.

 “The people of Pasadena 
support you tremendously 
and they deserve only the 
best that any fire department 
can deliver,” he said. “In 
order to deliver the best 
service possible, you must 
support one another, 
encourage each other to 
be their best and hold one 
another accountable when 
anything less materializes.”

 In February, Vice Mayor 
Tyron Hampton and 
Councilmember John 
Kennedy both said they were 
troubled by Washington’s 
reassignment. 

 “So because a small group 
of minority individuals 
who work within the fire 
department have decided 
that they have had issues 
with the fire chief, for our 
city manager to decide to 
reassign him, is extremely 
disappointing,” Hampton 
said at the time. 

 Hampton also publicly 
stated that he considers 
Washington’s retirement a 
“push-out.”

 Washington did said that he 
plans to stay in Pasadena and 
looks forward to continuing 
service in the community.

Council to Reject All YWCA Project Bids

 The Pasadena city council 
is set Monday afternoon 
to reject all bids for the 
YWCA Structural Shoring 
Project after a number of 
issues including that some 
bids exceeded the engineer’s 
estimates and that none of 
the bidders were local to 
Pasadena. 

 According to the city staff 
report, in a detailed review 
of the bid proposals for 79 
North Marengo Avenue, 
“it was determined that the 
unit bid prices significantly 
exceeded the engineer’s 
estimate and further 
investigation to determine 
whether certain items of 
work may be eliminated in 
order to meet the budget 
available is warranted.”

 “Public Works will 
advertise updated plans and 
specifications for competitive 
bidding selection within two 
weeks of rejection of the 
previous bids by [approval 
Monday] the city council. 
The project will advertise for 
three weeks and public works 
will return to city council in 
six weeks for contract award. 
The delay in installing the 
structural shoring will not 
have a detrimental effect on 
the building.”

 The Structural Shoring 
Project bids include labor and 
material services to design, 
furnish, and install structural 
shoring to remain in place at 
various locations to support 
the structure of the existing 
building formerly known as 
the YWCA. 

 According to the city staff, 
2.423 notices were given 
to prospective bidders. Bid 
packages were obtained by 
43 vendor, two bids were 
received and publicly opened 
on February 27.

 This will be the first city 
council meeting held by 
entirely by video conference/
teleconference after Governor 
Gavin Newsom issued an 
executive order allowing 
city’s to do so. The meeting 
will be held at 2 p.m. and 
livestreamed with captioning 
at: pasadenamedia.org, 
and at: cityofpasadena.net/
commissions/agendas. For 
public participation goto: 
cityofpasadena.net/city-
clerk/public-comment.

Note: this will be 
the first city council 
meeting held by 
entirely by video 
conference —
Pasadena city hall is 
closed to the public. 

Increasing 
COVID-19 
Scams

 Altadena residents are 
reminded of several fraud 
schemes designed to prey on 
the vulnerable in the midst of 
the COVID-19 public health 
crisis. Reports of malicious 
websites, email schemes, 
and suspicious links have 
come to the attention of 
law enforcement and public 
officials. 

 “Malicious actors can prey 
upon those that are distracted 
by the COVID-19 pandemic, 
and use it to their advantage,” 
stated Los Angeles County 
Chief Information Officer 
William Kehoe. “The public 
needs to be mindful and 
careful, and avoid websites, 
phishing emails, and scams 
that engage people through 
false information about the 
health crisis, and steal personal 
user information and data.” 

 Currently, there are several 
Coronavirus tracking and 
mapping sites that are actually 
malware websites. Online 
hackers may also send users 
emails from fraudulent 
accounts impersonating official 
websites and doctors, or 
offering medical supplies and 
services. 

 A trusted COVID-19 
mapping resource is the 
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus 
Global Map, which can be 
found at coronavirus.jhu.
edu. Additionally, there are 
several websites the County of 
Los Angeles recommends for 
information: 

County of Los Angeles:covid19.
lacounty.gov

County of Los Angeles Public 
Health: publichealth.lacounty.
gov 

California Department of 
Public Health: cdph.ca.gov

Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention: cdc.gov

 The following is a list of safety 
tips the public can follow:

Avoid online advertising offers 
related to COVID-19 

Decline door-to-door 
solicitations claiming 
COVID-19 fundraising 

Do not click on emails and 
attachments that you do not 
recognize

 If you believe you have been 
scammed, contact your bank 
immediately and report the 
information to local law 
enforcement. 

Million of Names Now 
Aboard NASA Mars Rover

 NASA’s “Send Your Name 
to Mars” campaign invited 
people around the world to 
submit their names to ride 
aboard the agency’s next 
rover to the Red Planet. 
Some 10,932,295 people 
did just that. The names 
were stenciled by electron 
beam onto three fingernail-
sized silicon chips, along 
with the essays of the 155 
finalists in NASA’s “Name 
the Rover” contest. The 
chips then were attached 
to an aluminum plate on 
NASA’s Perseverance Mars 
rover at Kennedy Space 
Center in Florida on March 
16. Scheduled to launch this 
summer, Perseverance will 
land at Jezero Crater on Feb. 
18, 2021.

 The three chips share 
space on the anodized plate 
with a laser-etched graphic 
depicting Earth and Mars 
joined by the star that 
gives light to both. While 
commemorating the rover 
that connects the two worlds, 
the simple illustration also 
pays tribute to the elegant 
line art of the plaques aboard 
the Pioneer spacecraft and 
golden records carried by 
Voyagers 1 and 2. Affixed 
to the center of the rover’s 
aft crossbeam, the plate will 
be visible to cameras on 
Perseverance’s mast.

 Currently, the coronavirus 
has not impacted the Mars 
Perseverance rover launch 
schedule. The installation 
was one of numerous recent 
activities performed by 
the Perseverance assembly, 
test and launch operations 
team. On March 21, the 
team began reconfiguring 
the rover so it can ride atop 
the Atlas V rocket. Steps 
included stowing the robotic 
arm, lowering and locking 
in place the remote sensing 
mast and high-gain antenna, 
and retracting its legs and 
wheels.

 The Perseverance rover is 
a robotic scientist weighing 
just under 2,300 pounds 
(1,043 kilograms). It will 
search for signs of past 
microbial life, characterize 
Mars’ climate and geology, 
collect samples for future 
return to Earth, and help 
pave the way for human 
exploration of the Red 
Planet.

 For more information goto: 
mars.nasa.gov/mars2020


Health Officials Call for 
More Blood Donations

LitFest 
Cancelled

 While we continue to combat the novel Coronavirus, officials are 
starting to see more major consequences of the outbreak come 
to light. The American Red Cross and health officials around the 
nation are calling on all healthy individuals to donate blood due 
to the threatening shortage they’re currently facing.

Make an Appointment with the Red Cross at: redcross.org/give-
blood.html.

 Local Huntington Hospital is also experiencing a severe blood 
shortage. They have created an offsite location for community 
blood donors at 800 S. Fairmount Avenue, Pasadena. The parking 
entrance is at 28 Bellefontaine Street, and parking will be validated. 
Blood donation hours are Monday – Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 
p.m. and Friday – 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

 For more about Huntington Hospital visit: huntingtonhospital.
org. 

 Under the recommendation 
of the CDC, the upcoming 
LitFest Pasadena, scheduled 
for May 16-17, is cancelled. 

 “As we move forward, 
organizers are discussing 
future programming as 
conditions subside.”

 LitFest Pasadena, the second 
largest literary festival in 
Southern California, was 
to hold its 9th annual free 
community event, featuring 
200 authors and 50 panels, 
workshops, readings and 
performances.

 The mission of LitFest 
Pasadena is to provide an 
opportunity for authors 
and community members 
to celebrate literature of all 
kinds, to instill a love of 
reading and writing, and to 
provide a public intersection 
of dialogue around the 
variety of topics and ideas 
that books inspire. LitFest 
Pasadena is produced by local 
nonprofit arts & education 
organization, Light Bringer 
Project.

 For more information visit: 
LitFestPasadena.org.


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