Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, July 17, 2021

B5 Mountain View News Saturday, July 3, 2021LETTERS/NOTICES and MORE! B5 Mountain View News Saturday, July 3, 2021LETTERS/NOTICES and MORE! 
TO THE RESIDENTS OF SIERRA MADRE, 


It has been a great pleasure to serve this exceptional community as your City 
Manager. Over the past four years I have gotten to meet, work, collaborate, and 
laugh with so many of you. When I moved here from Colorado with my wife, 
our daughter was only six weeks old. We were coming to a new city, in a new 
state, for a new job, and we didn’t know anyone. As a first time father, and still 
trying to figure out exactly what that meant, the transition could have been 
overwhelming. But that’s not really how it goes in Sierra Madre. This village immediately 
embraced me and my family and made us feel at home. Everywhere 
we went, people would greet us with smiles and they made sure to welcome 
us to town. The comfort of knowing we lived in a friendly and caring community 
meant the world to me, and helped ease the stress of everything that was 
happening. 

My first weekend in Sierra Madre was the Wistaria Festival, and by attending, I 
was able to immediately learn many of the things that make our town wonderful. 
Perhaps it is fitting, that the last event I will attend as City Manager will be 
our 4th of July parade. Of all the things my daughter has done here, from attending 
school at Bethany, to the many programs and books at the Library, running 
rampant through Memorial Park, horse rides and sledding at the Winter 
Festival, and walks to see Blaze the pig, her favorite is the 4th of July parade. It 
is part of our annual tradition to go down Sunnyside and say “hi” to everyone 
before the parade starts. We then walk down the Boulevard to wave to the cars 
and celebrate with our friends. I am happy that this tradition can be extended 
one last time. 

As I leave to accept a similar position in Los Altos, I am proud of all that we have 
accomplished during my time here. Sierra Madre is the premiere community 
in the San Gabriel Valley and the best place to live in Southern California. The 
community endures and remains special—and will continue to do so, because of 
the way all of us love this little village. I am happy to have been a small part of a 
great town and I look forward to watching Sierra Madre as it continues to thrive. 

I will forever be thankful to the City Council for trusting me to lead the government 
as City Manager and I am grateful for all of the residents that allowed me 
to serve them. The employees in Sierra Madre are the most committed and hardest 
working in the State. I feel very fortunate that I can count so many as friends. 
It is with sincere and deep gratitude that I say goodbye to Sierra Madre, but I also 
understand, as many people have learned before me, Sierra Madre remains in 
the heart of the people who have been fortunate enough to call this place home. 
Even if it was only home for a short time. 

My last day of regular office hours will be Friday, July 9th. I will remain in town 
the following week and will continue to wind down projects, work with the interim 
City Manager, and be available to the City Council and City Attorney, 
until Friday, July 16th, which will be my last day of employment. After this date 
I will, of course, remain available for anything that is needed and I will continue 
to support the interim City Manager, and do all that I can to ensure a smooth 
transition. 

Respectfully,
Gabriel L. Engeland 

METRO MICRO NIGHTMARE 

Dear Editor, 

Metro has eliminated bus service to Sierra Madre. A report from this user’s 
perspective. 

I rely on the bus and light rail. And have certainly observed the decline in ridership. 
The concept of MetroMicro may be good in some form (one of these vans 
can carry 6 or 8 people), and I believe it could work if it was a regularly scheduled 
service that covered the gap that 268 and 487 left. Friday afternoon I waited 
two hours for a Micro that I had reserved at the Sierra Madre Villa Station, it 
never showed up. 

How does this work with the ADA? A disability is why I don’t drive.I know another 
local woman, older than I, who rode the 268 to work on lower Michillinda. 
Last time I saw her she said that she would probably have to walk now. And there 
are quite a few people who come to work in Sierra Ma-dre, without driving. 

I know that making transit more difficult to use won’t improve ridership. Public 
transit should function for the public. And LA is challenging because it is a low 
density large area. I wrote to our City Council, and I hope they will work on it. 

Renée Cossutta 

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