Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, October 23, 2021

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Mountain Views-News Saturday, October 23, 2021 

WALKING SIERRA MADRE - The Social Side 

 by Deanne Davis

LAST CHANCE TO COMMENT ON DRAFT GENERAL PLAN

The City recently released the Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Report 
(SEIR) prepared by Jane Warner Associates 
to amend our General Plan to accommodate 
the State’s mandate to come 
up with 208 potential sites to build ‘our 
share’ of new housing units in the next 
eight years. It was intended to show 
the Impacts of all potential development 
including the "Meadows” (Monastery) 
project. 

The City Council will vote on October 
26 to accept the Final SEIR which 
contains several sections of concern including the religious overlay zone, transportation and safety 
element. 

Religious Overlay Zone: State legislation now allows affordable housing to be developed on congregational 
land and established ‘Religious Housing Overlay Zones’. In order to meet our 208 housing 
unit goal, City churches were asked to consider building ‘affordable housing’ units in their parking lots. 
Four sites were included in the plan: St. Rita, United Methodist, Old North and Bethany Church. This 
resulted in a total of 121 units, over half of ‘our share’. It has now come to light that these churches are 
not on board with this plan and do not want housing built in their parking lots. St. Rita was subsequently 
removed and the Monastery excluded because it didn't want to build affordable housing. 

Transportation: This section of the SEIR did find impacts and clearly set requirements as required 
for mitigating them as follows: ‘Each site will be required to meet the vehicular and bicycle parking 
requirement of the City and access to/from each site would be required to meet the design standards 
with respect to location, width, and sight distance’. Both of those mitigation measures were problematic 
for the Monastery Project. The Developer has acknowledged that it does not meet the City's 
Bicycle requirements and has no plans to widen Carter Avenue to make it safe for emergency vehicles 
and two-way traffic. In response, the section that would require access to meet City design standards 
was omitted from the mitigation plan and instead of meeting the bicycle requirements, a financial 
contribution was substituted. 

Fire Safety Element: The SEIR wisely included a very important safety element objective that states: 
‘Avoid expanding development into undeveloped areas in Very High Fire Severity Zones.’ It was 
changed by staff who proposed replacing it with: ‘Avoid construction of new development on land 
currently unimproved and abutted by natural open space areas in Very High Fire Severity Zones’ This 
wording replaces a key important Safety Element with one that does not apply to any property in Sierra 
Madre as well as disregarding the years of expertise and experience that the consultant was paid for in 
this critical area. 

 

To learn more about these three key issues that will affect all of us, we urge you to attend the City Council 
meeting on October 26th at 5:30pm to ask questions and express the concerns you have about these 
critical changes. If you are unable to attend, send in your comments and questions to PublicComment@
CityofSierraMadre.com by 3:00PM on the 26th. 


“RUN LIKE IT’S THE LAST CALL AT THE BUC!”

I love that. Just love it! Sign carried 
at the Trail Race last Saturday. Once 
again, the winners finished in times 
that are beyond belief fast:

Michael Eastburn from Porter 
Ranch – 1:03:15

Jacob Singleton from Glendora 
– 1:03:32

Dominic Grossman from Wrightwood 
– 1:12:34

Laura Escamillo from Chino was 
the first woman – 1:21:49

These speeds just boggle the mind, 
don’t they! My picture today is of a 
Trail Race event most of you weren’t 
even aware of. My friend and high 
school classmate from South Pasadena 
High School about a million 
years ago, Tom O’Hara, is a member 
of the Foothill Flyers Running Club. 
Every year, Tom and a bunch of 
guys from Sierra Madre Search and 
Rescue and L.A. Sheriff’s Temple Station Ham Watch are observers at various check points along 
the race course. These check point folks report via ham radio the passing time of the first 3 male 
and first 3 female runners as well as keep track of the last runners and any that might experience 
difficulty.

They are there to see slip and falls, dehydrated runners or anyone who might need first aid from 
Sierra Madre Search and Rescue. Why are these ham radio guys so vital? Cell phones often don’t 
work in the mountains so ham radio is often the primary means of communications on events such 
as the Mt. Wilson Trail Race. These people have been check point watchers for many years and are 
a vital part of the Race. 

OK, the picture: Tom is at his check point spot along with Jon Pedder of Sierra Madre Search and 
Rescue who brought bacon and cooked it on a small camp stove. How could you not love someone 
like this! Anyway, Jon is sharing it with fellow SMSR teammates Danny Li and Lorin Bice, Maria 
Case, Tom, of course, and a few runners who stopped long enough to munch on a piece of bacon 
as they continued their race. 

Halloween is just a week away! I’m going to buy candy today and believe I’ll go wild, throw caution 
to the wind, and buy a bag of those little candy bars. This is dangerous as I really like those and, 
needless to say, I really don’t need to eat a whole bunch of little Milky Way bars. 

“Dear Great Pumpkin, I am looking forward to your arrival on Halloween night.

I hope you will bring me lots of presents.” Linus van Pelt

Even though Charles Schulz, creator of the immortal Peanuts has changed his residency to the 
heaven-side, his kids: Charlie Brown, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Sally and Linus still show up in our 
newspapers and various Peanuts TV show, which are always a delight. What would Fall be without 
Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown, promising this time she won’t yank it away at the last 
minute, leaving him flat on his back with all the air punched out of him. Or Linus sitting out in 
the pumpkin patch with Sally, Charlie Brown and Snoopy, convinced that if his is the most sincere 
pumpkin patch, the Great Pumpkin will rise up with his bag of toys and bestow gifts upon him. His 
friends are scornful and skeptical. We would be, too, I’m afraid. 

This is the perfect season, the perfect reason, to think upon Edgar Allan Poe, whose creepy poem, 
“The Raven,” needs to be remembered. A few excerpts guaranteed to produce goosebumps:

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—

Only this and nothing more.”

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—

For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—

Nameless here for evermore.

“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!

By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God we both adore—

Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,

It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore—

Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”

Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

“Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!” I shrieked, upstarting—

“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!

Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!

Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!

Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”

Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,

And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

Shall be lifted—nevermore!

Sunrises & Sunflowers Speak Hope” 

is a great gift for yourself or someone you love! 

Look for it on my book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis 

"A Tablespoon of Love, A Tablespoon of Laughter"

is also available there. 

Emma Gainsworth fans…the new one is almost ready to release on Kindle!


Check point duty for the FF Radio Club at the Mt. Wilson 
Trail race isn't so tough expecially if you are matched up 
with Jon Pedder of the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue. He 
brought bacon and cooked it up on a small camp stove. Besides 
sharing it with fellow SMSR teamates Danny Li and Lorin 
Bice, there was plenty for Maria Case, Tom O'Hara and a 
few runners who stopped long enough to grab a piece on the 
race course.


SIERRA MADRE POLICE BLOTTER

 October 10, 2021 to October 16, 2021 During this period the 
Sierra Madre Police Department responded to 140 calls for service. 


Stolen Vehicle 
On 10-10-21 at 11:30AM, unknown suspect(s) took the victim's 
unattended vehicle in the 400 block of W. Sierra Madre Blvd. without the victim's consent. 
The vehicle was recovered a few minutes later, found parked in a nearby residential area in 
the city of Pasadena. Case to Detectives 

Battery 
On 10-11-21, officers responded to the 00 block of W. Carter Ave. for a disturbance call. As 
officers contacted the resident, she became confrontational with officers. She proceeded to 
batter one of the officers and was arrested and taken to the Pasadena Jail for booking. Case 
to the DA’s office 

Theft from a Vehicle 
On 10-12-21, a resident reported that between 10-11-21 at 8:00PM and 10-12-21 at 
6:15AM, the catalytic converter was stolen from her vehicle parked in the 200 block of E. 
Highland Ave. by unknown person(s). 

A resident reported that sometime between 10-11-21 at 7:00PM and 10-12-21 at 
8:00PM, unknown person(s) entered her unlocked vehicle in the 00 block of E. Highland 
Ave., ransacked the interior and stole personal items. 

Residential Burglary 
A residential burglary occurred in the 200 block of E. Sierra Madre Blvd. on 10-12-21 
between the hours of 3:30PM and 10:00 PM. Unknown suspect(s) entered the residence by 
smashing a wood framed glass door and ransack the interior of the home. The loss is undetermined 
at this time. 
Cases to Detectives 

D.U.I.

On 10-16-21 at 2:08AM, a vehicle was stopped for a vehicle code violation. The driver was 
found to be impaired, under the influence of an alcoholic beverage and unable to safely operate 
a motor vehicle. The driver was arrested and transported to Pasadena Jail for booking. 

Case to the DA’s office 


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