Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, May 15, 2021

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Mountain View News Saturday, May 15, 2021 
CHRISTOPHER Nyerges 

CITY OF PASADENA PLANS TO FINALIZE PLANS FOR 
SUICIDE -PROOFING COLORADO STREET BRIDGE 

[Nyerges is an educator and author. His class schedule and books can be seen at www.
SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com] 

The City of Pasadena has spent about $160,000 for three samples of new proposed fencing 
that is now installed on the iconic Colorado Street bridge, available to be inspected 
by the interested public; depending on what style is ultimately chosen of three current 
de-signs, the total cost could be as much as $4+ million. 

In 2017, the City installed 10 foot tall chain link fences along the entire inside of the bridge in order to 
prevent suicides. That fencing was expected to be temporary, and there have been no suicides since then, 
though two attempted suicides were stopped last year. 
Interested parties can go to the bridge and examine sections of each of the three pro-posed designs, one of 
which will replace the chain link fencing. The City will be open for comments from citizens until May 31.
You can also see the 3 proposed designs here: https://www.cityofpasadena.net/public-works/wp-content/
uploads/sites/29/Colorado-Street-Bridge-Barrier-Mock-Up.pdf. 

As evidence that area residents 
have many opinions 
about the look and safety of 
the Colo-rado Street bridge, 
there have been many articles 
and radio programs devoted 
to this top-ic.
Larry Mantle of KPCC recently 
devoted an entire 
program to discuss the three 
fencing de-signs, with the 
challenge of balancing public 
safety with preserving the 
historical appear-ance of the 
bridge. 
Brad Hanson, president of 
the Pasadena Beautiful Foundation, 
has pointed out that 
net-ting has been used under 
other bridges where suicides 
have occurred, such as 
San Fran-cisco’s Golden Gate 
bridge. “The San Francisco 
Golden Gate model is a much better op-tion” than the current fencing of the Colorado Street bridge. “The 
nets do not disturb the view of the bridge,” says Hanson, and anecdotal comments suggest that nets do 
indeed deter jumpers.
KPCC Radio talkshow host Larry Mantle has suggested actually locking the Colorado Street bridge to all 
traffic during the night hours when presumably most suicides oc-cur. This would require some sort of 
gates, and personnel to open and close the gates each night and morning. 
Another option to thwart suicides is to hire staff or have volunteers who monitor the bridge 24 hours 
around the clock. One suggestion was to have a Pasadena police officer park there. The cost to benefit 
ratio of this one is so imbalanced that it is not seriously considered; plus, even with volunteers, this would 
be a hard-sell to get the volunteers to spend the night there, especially considering that the rate of suicide, 
historically, is less than one per year.
On some bridges, cameras were used to observe likely suicides. According to Isaac Haqq, former councilman 
in Pasadena, cameras and monitors could be installed to watch for likely suicides. Haqq points out that 
“Colorado Street bridge is not that long. No one jumps right away. They take their time and mill around.” 
Haqq believes that, if the bridge were watched this way, an officer or therapist could be dispatched immediately 
to the dis-traught person. 


DO A LOT OF SUICIDES OCCUR 
ON “SUICIDE BRIDGE”? 

The Colorado Street bridge is locally called “suicide 
bridge.” That’s because since it was built, about 
150 people have jumped to their deaths.
Colorado Street bridge was opened in 1913 so that 
people could get across the river of the Arroyo 
Seco, which would seasonally flood. From 1919 
(the first recorded suicide) through 1937, there 
have been 95 reported suicides. Fifty of those 
suicides occurred from 1933 through 1937 – the 
Depression era. Since then --from 1937 to the 
present, there have been 55 known suicides. That 
means that in the last 80+ years, there has been less 
than one suicide a year. 

Brad Hanson suggests a telephone hotline that you can 
pick up and call. Currently, there is a suicide hot line 
number that you can call, but no actual phone that you 
can pick up. For the record, the national suicide hot line 
number is 800-273-8255. When you call that number, 
they give you a Spanish option. Then, based on your area 
code, you are routed to a local dispatcher. This takes about 
a minute. When I called, they could not tell me whether or 
not anyone has ever called from Colorado Street bridge. 
They respond-ed “Thank you for reaching out to us at the 
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Unfortunately, due 
to our agreement to confidentiality with all of our callers, 
the Lifeline is not able to provide information about or records 
of any phone calls made to the hotline. We sincerely 
apologize for the inconvenience this may present.” 


PRETTY BLUE EYES! 

Lady Delacroix is a female Siamese 
mix, age 3, with the most 
gorgeous blue eyes. She was 
rescued with her two remaining 
kittens from a feral colony. 
She is so friendly and sweet 
that someone had to have 
abandoned her. This sweet 
mama deserves a good life and 
she is very com-fortable living as a pampered indoor cat at her 
foster home. She responds with meows when you talk to her 
and she loves to jump in your lap and cozily rest there. Will you 
adopt this sweet beauty and give her the life she deserves? See 
more pictures at www.lifelineforpets.org, the More Cats page. 


Call (626) 808-8557 for inquiries. 

Pet of the Week

 Nine-year-old Papa is multi-faceted 

– he loves people and gets so excitedaround other dogs, but he also has amellow side. He enjoys being outdoors,
but his calm demeanor is well-suited for 
an apartment. This well-rounded puphas been described by his foster parentas “sweet and well-behaved”. He’s also 
extremely photogenic – Papa has it all! 
The adoption fee for dogs is $150.
All dog adoptions include spay or 
neuter, microchip, and age-appropriate 
vaccines.

 New adopters will receive a 
complimentary health-and-wellness 
exam from VCA Animal Hospitals,
as well as a goody bag filled withinformation about how to care for your 
pet.

 
View photos of adoptable pets and schedule a virtual adoption appointment atpasadenahumane.org. Adoptions are by appointment only, and new adoptionappointments are available every day at 5:00 p.m. for the following day.

 Pets may not be available for adoption and cannot be held for potential adoptersby phone calls or email. 


FREE ANIMAL HOSPITAL NEEDS YOUR HELP! 

HeyO' Sierra Madre! How ya'll doing? 

Your lovely local 501c3 non-profit, Free Animal Doctor, could use some stuff if you have it 
and don't need it! Plus a volunteer! Here are the deets (as the kids say, the kids from 20 years 
ago): 

1) Towels. When we do Spay/Neuter clinics we put towels in every metal cage to make it more 
comfy. We also clean up with them. So if you have used towels you don't need, we need 'em!
They can be stained, frayed, even a small hole here or there, just as long as they are clean. Put 
them in a plastic trash bag, and drop them under the mailboxes at 70 E. Montecito Ave... we 
cannot get enough towels! Love 'em!! 
2) Portable canopies. Our big canopy got destroyed in the windstorm. We have a small one, 
but we could use one or two more. It's to shade our staff and clients when they come to the 
Spay/Neuter clinic and have to stand outside. Got one you don't use? We'll use it every weekend! 
Comment here and we'll connect. 
3) Wanna volunteer? We need help checking pets in on Sundays and Mondays. We have about 
20-25 people show up at about the same time, and we need to quickly process paperwork and 
get their pets safely into the clinic for surgery. 
It's 730am until about 930am on Sundays and Mondays at Gate 7 of Santa Anita, right off 
Baldwin before you get down to the mall. You don't have to volunteer every day, but a couple 
times a month minimum would be good. There is a minor bit of training involved, and you 
get much better at it with experience, so we are looking for a bit of a commitment if you wanna 
help. Let me know, again, comment and I will arrange for us to get in touch. THANKS!! 

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com