Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, May 16, 2020

3


Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 16, 2020 

CITY ANNOUNCES SMALL BUSINESS GRANT PROGRAM AS 
PART OF THE “SIERRA MADRE CARES INITITATIVE”

Note: The Small Business Grant Program is contingent on Noticing Requirements and Final Approval 
from Los Angeles County Development Authority

Sierra Madre Cares is an initiative designed to provide assistance to Sierra Madre residents and business 
owners during the current COVID-19 pandemic. As part of that initiative, and in an effort to 
assist Sierra Madre small businesses, the City of Sierra Madre is announcing a small business grant 
program.

 The City is endeavoring to provide financial assistance to Sierra Madre small businesses adversely 
affected by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and County, State and Federal “Stay at Home” orders. 
Utilizing $140,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds, the City will make 
grants of up to $10,000 available for qualifying Sierra Madre businesses.

“Every little bit helps! We are doing everything we can to help our downtown businesses survive the 
COVID-19 pandemic. This grant, along with the tremendous outpouring of support by Sierra Madreans 
for our local business will get them through this crisis. Sierra Madre Cares!”, said Mayor John 
Capoccia.

 City officials met with members of the Sierra Madre Chamber of Commerce to create the Small Business 
Grant Program as a way to help sustain local Sierra Madre businesses. Chamber President Luther 
Tsinoglou said, “We are working together to help our business community as much as possible. We are 
hopeful that the Grant Program will provide some much needed relief.”

 Applications for the grant and the program’s guidelines and requirements will be available next week 
on the City’s website at www.cityofsierramadre.com, once the City receives final approval from the Los 
Angeles County Development Authority. Applications will be accepted through May 27, 2020.

 If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Management Analyst James Carlson at jcarlson@
cityofsierramadre.com or 626-355-7135.

WALKING SIERRA MADRE - The Social Side 

 by Deanne Davis

“Has anyone tried unplugging 2020, waiting ten seconds and plugging it back in?”

“Remember how we used to eat birthday cake after someone had blown on it?”

“Turns out my top three hobbies are bars, restaurants and nonessential businesses.”

“Apparently this year is being written by Stephen King.”

“2020 is a unique Leap Year; it has 29 days in February, 300 days in March and 

five years in April.”

OK, enough quarantine humor. 

All these goodies have rolled by me on Facebook but that’s not all I’ve been seeing on 
Facebook. A number of Sierra Madreans are excellent photographers, especially Lawrence 
Taylor. Today’s picture was taken by him of our Hotel Shirley and a view up Baldwin. 
Lawrence calls himself a visual storyteller and he really is exactly that. Today he caught 
the sprinklers in Memorial Park “making rainbows” and created an exquisite photo from 
something as simple as water spraying over the lawn. He has posted several great pictures 
of our Sierra Madre Playhouse, the St. Rita’s church tower, the bell tower at Christ Church 
among others. He’s a great photographer and I’m hoping to have more to say about him 
in the weeks to come.

Robert Gjerde and several others have put up pictures and videos of bears casually 
wandering around town. Sharon Pevsner posts beautiful sunrises from various trails 
where she is to be found many early mornings. Dirk Bolle posted a picture of a plant 
wending its way up a signpost, “Determination” he labeled it. Lisa Cardella of Ixora 
Florists posts pictures of amazing flower arrangements and the occasional goat, duck or 
chicken.

Speaking of creatures, my friends, Pam and Mike Kemp had to remove an ash tree 
which had been in their backyard forever, giving shade and just generally adding to the 
quality of their lives. To quote Pam, “There was an interesting occurrence when they 
were removing the tree last Monday. As they began to work, a raccoon scurried out of 
one of the hollowed areas on the upper part of the main trunk undoubtedly disturbed by 
the chain saw noise. Then when they finally got down to that area a few hours later they 
found 3 young babies. They removed them, cut out that section and laid it on its side 
(near the fence where the mother had dashed over in the morning) and put the babies 
back in the log. They just slept all day despite the noise. We were hoping that the mother 
would come back in the night and when we checked Tuesday morning, sure enough they 
were gone. Hopefully, she searched Monday and found a safe new home for them.”

Yes, friends and neighbors, Facebook is a rich resource for pictures from folks around 
town. All of which show us what a beautiful place Sierra Madre is. Our own personal 
mountains are breathtaking every day and the gardens all over town have never been 
more beautiful. In short, take a walk and then take a look at Facebook for great pictures.

We’re all trying to support our local restaurants by ordering takeout and let’s continue to 
do that. My current feeling is something along the lines of: If someone else cooked it, I 
know it will be delicious.

I started writing a poem about the Corona virus and thought the first few lines would 
make you smile…

We’ve got those ol Corona virus blues!

Bein’ home on house arrest,

Don’t need to bother with shoes.

Monday - robe and slippers,

Tuesday – jammies…

Last week they were pretty clean.

Wednesday - shorts and a t-shirt,

You’ve had since 1993.

How long since you hit the shower?

As long as Right Guard’s got the power,

We don’t care!

Peanut butter’s our best friend, it never lets us down.

Spread it on bread or right outta the jar,

It turns that frown right upside down.

And on that note, I’ll just say, hang in there, God’s got this! Some sort of normal is going 
to happen and we’ll all get through this, covered with gratitude! Meanwhile, be kind, 
smile a lot, wash your hands and stay home. Be safe. You matter a lot.

My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis

Where you’ll find “Sunrises and Sunflowers Speak Hope”

And “A Tablespoon of Love, A Tablespoon of Laughter”

Take a look at both of these books, stuffed with hope and the

Occasional good recipe.

Blog: www.authordeanne.com

Follow me on Twitter, too! https://twitter.com/@playwrightdd


CITY OF SIERRA MADRE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT 

(CDBG-CV) 

SMALL BUSINESS GRANT PROGRAM – 5 DAY PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

The public is invited to review the City of Sierra Madre’s proposed Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) project 
which identifies projected use of funds for Small Business Assistance.

City of Sierra Madre

Small Business Grant Program

Proposed CDBG-CARES Act Funding Allocation: $141,280

This new project will assist Sierra Madre small businesses who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible 
Sierra Madre businesses must be independently owned and operated businesses with no more than 50 full time equivalent 
(FTE) employees, located at a commercial zoned or manufacture zoned property, and have a bona fide commercial storefront 
in the city limits of Sierra Madre. Businesses must have an active City of Sierra Madre Business License. Grant funds must 
be utilized to help retain the job of at least one low-moderate income employee per CDBG requirements. Grant recipients 
must certify that they will remain open, or if businesses closed or closes to reopen in a timely manner following the lifting 
or easing of COVID-19 restrictions, or shall be subject to repayment of grant. CDBG funds will be used to provide grants 
to small businesses who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program will award grant funds to qualifying 
Sierra Madre businesses, not to exceed $35,000, and based on the number and demonstrated need of qualifying applicants. 

Anyone wishing to comment should submit written comments by May 21, 2020 to:

James Carlson, Management Analyst, Administration Department, City of Sierra Madre, 232 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra 
Madre, CA 91024. If you have a comment or more information about this notice, please call James Carlson at (626) 355-7135 
or email at jcarlson@cityofsierramadre.com. 

For information on programs administered by the City of Sierra Madre, you may log on to our web site at www.
cityofsierramadre.com. For information on program administered by the Los Angeles County Development Authority 
(LACDA), you may log on to www.lacda.org.

Date Posted: May 16, 2020

Location(s) Notice Posted: Regular Posting sites (Library, City Hall, Website, Sierra Madre Mountain Views News)

SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING!

VANDALS DEFACE MT WILSON TRAIL!


This photo represents just one of many places along the trail that is being sprayed with grafitti along the 
Mt. Wilson Trail. If you have any idea who the vandal(s) are, or see them in action please contact the 
Sierra Madre Police Department 626-355-1414.


VINTAGE AND COLLECTIBLE BOOKS AT THE FRIENDS OF THE 
SIERRA MADRE LIBRARY BEST USED BOOK SALE

JUNE 6th Library Drive-Thru Book Sale

Friends of the Sierra Madre Library are changing the usual Best Used Book Sale format for June. 
There will be a “Drive-Thru Bag Sale” in the parking lot behind the library featuring $5.00 bags of 
genre books. This sale will be ONLY on SATURDAY, JUNE 6 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. in the 
parking lot behind the Sierra Madre Public Library, 440 West Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. 

Books will be bagged into large grocery bags under the subjects of: Mysteries, Thrillers, Contemporary 
Fiction, History, Contemporary Non-Fiction, Children’s, and Young Adult. Patrons may drive into 
the library parking lot to the storage bin and will be met by one of our helpful volunteers wearing 
a mask and gloves. Please specify which genre(s) you are interested in and purchase a bag for only 
$5.00!

The Drive-Thru Book Sale is sponsored by the Friends of the Sierra Madre Public Library. All proceeds 
will be used to support programs, services and acquisitions for the library. For more information, 
please visit us at our web site www.sierramadrelibraryfriends.org., our Facebook page; or call 626-
355-7186

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