Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, June 10, 2023

7

ALTADENA - SOUTH PASADENA - SAN MARINO

Mountain Views-News Saturday, June 10, 2023 

Pasadena City Council 
Votes to Add City Fees

San Marino Upcoming 
Events & Programming

Steve Lopez to Discuss Latest 
Book ‘Independence Day’

 Four-time Pulitzer Prize 
finalist and longtime Los 
Angeles Times columnist Steve 
Lopez will discuss his most 
recent book “Independence 
Day: What I Learned About 
Retirement from Some Who’ve 
Done It and Some Who Never 
Will” Wednesday, June 21, at 
2 p.m. at the Pasadena Senior 
Center, 85 E. Holly St. A book 
signing will follow. 

 As he grappled with his 
own decision of whether to 
retire in his 60s after a long and 
rewarding career in journalism, 
Lopez used his reporter skills 
while researching and writing 
“Independence Day” to look 
inward as well as interview 
famous people and average 
Americans to collect a variety 
of perspectives about retirement 
decisions. 

 He spoke to Mel Brooks, still 
working at 96, and Norman 
Lear who, at 100 years of age, 
vows to keep working until 
the very end, as well as people 
who have retired by choice and 
reinvented themselves outside 
the constraints of work and 
those who would like to retire 
but can’t because of financial 
issues. 

 A member of the Pasadena 
Senior Center, Lopez has written 
several other books, including 
“The Soloist: A Lost Dream, 
an Unlikely Friendship and the 
Redemptive Power of Music” 
published in 2008 about his 
relationship with a sometimes 
homeless schizophrenic who 
attended The Juilliard School. 
It was made into a 2009 film 
titled “The Soloist” that starred 
Robert Downey Jr. as Lopez and 
Jamie Foxx as Ayers. 

To register or for more 
information, visit: 
pasadenaseniorcenter.org and 
click on Activities & Events, 
then Special Events or call 626-
795-4331. 


Huntington Nurses Health Screening

Wednesday, June 14 from 10:00 – 11:30 AM, Barth Community 
Room

 The Huntington Nurses offer free blood pressure and glucose 
screenings. Please plan to fast 2 hours prior to having glucose 
checked. These blood pressure and glucose evaluations can lead to 
prevention and early detection of the “silent killer” diseases such 
as hypertension, heart disease, and diabetes. Health screenings 
will be held every second Wednesday of the month. Registration 
is not required.

Health and Wellness Talk: Yoga

Wednesday, June 14 at 2 PM, Barth Community Room

 From breathing deeply and moving your muscles to building 
your wellbeing and resilience, the benefits of yoga encompass 
both mind and body. Yoga focuses your attention on your body’s 
abilities at the present moment without judging yourself. Come 
learn about how yoga can help reduce stress while also increasing 
strength, balance, and chronic pain from popular yoga instructor, 
Joyce Shuman! Registration is not required.

Chinese Club

Thursday, June 15 at 10:30 AM, Barth Community Room

 In the spirit of cultural exchange and appreciation of diversity, 
educational development, and community service, the Chinese 
Club of San Marino holds monthly lectures and workshops. 
Registration is required.

Feed the Bees

Thursday, June 15 at 1 PM, Barth Community Room

 What can you do to save the bees? Kids ages 3-11 are invited 
to learn about simple steps they can take to help our favorite 
pollinators thrive, and will receive a DIY kit to plant their own 
bee-friendly plant. Registration is recommended.

'Frozen Yogurt with a Cop' on Saturday, June 17

 Join SMPD on Saturday, June 17, for Frozen Yogurt with a Cop! 
The event will take place from 1 PM - 4 PM at Swirlz Soft Serve 
Parlor (2136 Huntington Drive). Come enjoy frozen yogurt and 
have the opportunity to meet and chat with your local police 
officers!

Town Hall Meeting on June 22: Pet and Coyote Safety

 Join us for the next Town Hall on Thursday, June 22, at 6 PM! We 
will discuss best practices to address pet safety and coyote-related 
issues. This meeting will take place on Zoom from 6 PM - 7 PM. 
Learn more at www.CityofSanMarino.org/TownHall.

Photo Contest - Submissions due June 30

 Attention all photographers! Share what makes you love our 
City and submit your favorite photo of San Marino to the 2023 
San Marino Photo Contest. Submissions will be accepted until 
Friday, June 30, 2023. For entry details, visit: CityofSanMarino.
org/PhotoContest. 

Neighborhood Watch Group Recap

 On May 25, San Marino Police Department's Neighborhood 
Watch group held a meeting hosted by Public Safety Vice Chair 
Charles Martinson for a 4-block area that makes up the South East 
San Marino Neighborhood Watch community. Approximately 
40 residents attended along with City Council Member Tony 
Chou, Police Chief Incontro, Police Commander Tebbetts, Officer 
Sandoval, and Firefighter/Paramedicss Jimenez and Martinez. 
Residents were provided an overview of neighborhood watch 
programs and current public safety efforts by the Police and Fire 
Departments.

 Neighborhood watch is a self-help crime prevention program 
operated by the citizens in our community. The purpose is to 
create an alert neighborhood by teaching simple crime prevention 
measures and providing both specific and general information 
regarding crime trends in our community.

 If you are interested in forming a Neighborhood Watch group or 
would like more information, go to our website.

Fire Department Recent Happenings

 On June 1, Engine 91 was dispatched to assist SMPD at the 500 
block of Huntington Drive. Upon investigation, Engine 91 found 
a vacant, damaged single family home that has been occupied 
by transients. Water in the house had been left on and flooded 
the basement. Engine 91 crew shut off water at the street, gas 
and secured all access points with wood and screws. Edison was 
contacted to have the electrical meter locked out. Due to damage to 
the home and potential for mold and mosquitos, the Community 
Development Department has red tagged the building.

 On Monday, June 5 the San Marino Fire Department participated 
in the county-wide Sidewalk CPR Day. Firefighters set up a 
mobile classroom and provided residents with hands-only CPR 
instruction while they waited for their coffee. Thank you to 
Starbucks and Apsara Coffee for hosting our event.

 
The Pasadena City Council 
is voted Monday to add 
new fees to the Fiscal Year 
2024 General Fee Schedule, 
including, new Electric 
Vehicle Charging Equipment 
fees, new Food Facility 
Categories and a new Parks 
Maintenance Worker Fee 
among others. They are also 
voted to revise 16 existing 
fees and remove a dozen 
unused fees.

 The changes are expected 
to increase revenues 
in the general fund by 
approximately $874,000 and 
in other funds by $230,600 
city staff said.

 According to City Manager 
Miguel Marquez, if adopted, 
the new fees would include:

• Electric Vehicle Charging 
Equipment: to ensure 
compliance and safety 
related to installing electric 
vehicle charging equipment. 
Four new fees will segment 
the various types; single 
family homes; multi-family 
dwelling; commercial and 
fast charges, induction 
chargers. 

• New Food Facility 
Category: Compact 
Mobile Food Operation. 
A CMFO is a mobile food 
facility that operates from 
an individual or from a 
pushcart, stand, display, 
pedal-driven cart, wagon, 
showcase, rack, or other non-
motorized conveyance. The 
Environmental Health fees 
proposed are for CMFO’s 
that sell prepackaged food 
and those that conduct 
limited food preparation. 

• Parked while Selling - 
Prohibited Fee: to cite mobile 
food preparation units that 
are parked while selling and 
in violation of the time limits. 
The citation amount is equal 
to the fine for commercial 
vehicles parked in a 
residential neighborhood. 

 • Parks Maintenance Worker 
Fee: to cover cost of Parks 
Maintenance Workers 
PMW) assigned to park 
reservations/special events to 
maintain cleanliness of park 
and/or park restrooms. The 
new fee will pass on the costs 
of the PMW to the customer. 
• Parking Garage Keycard 
Activation Fee: to cover the 
cost of purchasing keycards 
and the staff costs associated 
with activating the keycards.

• QuantiFERON (QFT) Gold 
Blood Testing Fee: to cover 
the cost of the blood test for 
TB screening - draw fees, 
reports, provider’s review 
time, nurse processing, 
education, and registration. 

 According to city staff, the 
Pasadena Municipal Code 
states that the amount of any 
fee established by resolution 
of the city council shall not 
exceed the cost incurred 
by the city in providing the 
service, use, action, or item 
for which the fee is charged.

 Some fees will become 
effective starting July.

 For more information visit: 
cityofpasadena.net.

NASA Gives a Name to 
Spot It Studies on Mars

 
NASA’s Perseverance rover 
is currently investigating rock 
outcrops alongside the rim 
of Mars’ Belva Crater. Some 
2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) 
away, NASA’s Curiosity rover 
recently drilled a sample at a 
location called “Ubajara.” The 
crater bears an official name; the 
drill location is identified by a 
nickname, hence the quotation 
marks.

 Both names are among 
thousands applied by NASA 
missions not just to craters and 
hills, but also to every boulder, 
pebble, and rock surface they 
study.

 “The No. 1 reason we pick 
all these names is to help the 
team keep track of what they’re 
finding each day,” said Ashwin 
Vasavada, the Curiosity mission’s 
project scientist at NASA’s 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 
Southern California. “Later on, 
we can refer to the many hills 
and rocks by name as we discuss 
them and eventually document 
our discoveries.”

 Just how scientists come up 
with the identifiers has evolved 
since the early days, 25 years 
ago, when they used cartoon 
character names. Here’s a closer 
look.

Official Names

 The difference between an 
official name on Mars and an 
unofficial one is seemingly 
simple: Official monikers 
have been approved by a body 
of scientists known as the 
International Astronomical 
Union (IAU). The IAU sets 
standards for naming planetary 
features and logs the names 
in the Gazetteer of Planetary 
Nomenclature.

 For example, craters larger 
than 37 miles (60 kilometers) 
are named for famous scientists 
or science-fiction authors; 
smaller craters are named after 
towns with populations of less 
than 100,000 people. Jezero 
Crater, which Perseverance has 
been exploring, shares the name 
from a Bosnian town; Belva, 
an impact crater within Jezero, 
is named after a West Virginia 
town that is, in turn, named 
after Belva Lockwood, the 
suffragist who ran for president 
in 1884 and 1888.

 More than 2,000 locations on 
Mars bear official names, but 
even more unofficial nicknames 
dot the Martian map.

Evolving Nicknames

 Early Mars missions sometimes 
took a whimsical route with 
nicknames, even using cartoon 
character names. “Yogi Rock,” 
“Casper,” and “Scooby-Doo” 
were among the unofficial 
names applied by the team 
behind NASA’s first rover, 
Sojourner, in the late 1990s.

 The philosophy changed with 
the Spirit and Opportunity 
rovers, whose teams started 
using more intentional names. 
For instance, the Opportunity 
team nicknamed a crater 
“Endurance” to honor the ship 
that carried explorer Ernest 
Shackleton’s ill-fated expedition 
to Antarctica. The names for 
the spots where Curiosity and 
Perseverance landed honor 
science-fiction writers Ray 
Bradbury and Octavia E. 
Butler, respectively. The InSight 
team named a rock that had 
been jostled by the lander’s 
retrorockets during touchdown 
“Rolling Stones Rock,” after the 
band. And the Curiosity team 
named a Martian hill after 
their colleague Rafael Navarro-
González, who died from 
COVID-19 complications.

Earth on Mars

 Despite occasional exceptions, 
the Curiosity and Perseverance 
missions stick to nicknames 
based on terrestrial locations. 
Before Curiosity landed in 
2012, the rover’s team created 
a geological map of the landing 
area. They started by drawing 
a grid, making squares, or 
quadrants, equivalent to about 
0.7 miles (1.2 kilometers) on 
each side. These quadrants 
would be themed around a site 
of geological significance on 
Earth.

 Then, as now, team members 
suggested ideas for themes 
based on sites where they have 
worked or that they have a 
personal connection to, and 
they informally discussed 
which would be the most 
interesting to include, keeping 
in mind that various names 
would be memorialized in 
future scientific papers. Once 
a theme is picked, hundreds of 
names fitting into that theme 
are compiled. That many are 
needed because the available 
names can dwindle quickly, 
given that Curiosity may stay in 
a quadrant for several months.

 For Curiosity’s latest quadrant, 
the rover’s team chose a theme 
named after Roraima, the 
northernmost state of Brazil, 
and for Mount Roraima, the 
highest peak in the Pacaraima 
Mountains, located near the 
border of Venezuela, Brazil, 
and Guyana. This marked the 
first South American quadrant 
theme. The sulfate-enriched 
region Curiosity is currently 
exploring, with its flat-
topped hills and steep slopes, 
reminded them of the “tabletop” 
mountains in the Pacaraima 
range.

 For Perseverance, scientists 
chose to go with national 
park themes. The rover is now 
exploring the Rocky Mountain 
quadrant and recently drilled 
into rocks at a location bearing 
the nickname of Rocky 
Mountain National Park’s 
“Powell Peak.”

Martian maps are full 
of monikers recognizing 
places on Earth, explorers, 
and even cartoon 
characters.

ALTADENA CRIME BLOTTER

 Between 1:00 PM and 4:30 PM 
– A vehicle burglary occurred 
in the area of Pinecrest Drive 
and Bowring Drive. Suspect(s) 
entered the vehicle by shattering 
the window. Stolen: pink/purple 
wallet and MacBook.

Tuesday, May 30th

 Between 7:58 AM and 6:15 PM 
– A vehicle vandalism occurred 
in the 800 block of Mendocino 
Street. Damage: shattered 
window.

Thursday, June 1st

12:16 PM – A petty theft 
occurred in the 1700 block of E. 
Altadena Drive. Stolen: black/
orange Echo leaf blower.

2:10 PM – An assault with a 
deadly weapon occurred in the 
70 block of Mountain View 
Street. Suspect was taken into 
custody.

 Between 5:30 PM and 7:30 
PM – A grand theft from a 
locker occurred in the 2100 
block of N. Lincoln Avenue. 
Stolen: orange/brown backpack 
containing personal documents 
and currency.

8:58 PM – A vehicle was 
reported stolen from the 800 
block of Calaveras Street. 
Vehicle described as a silver 
2007 Audi A8. *Vehicle was 
recovered by Pasadena PD.


Museum of 
History 'Happy 
Birthday 
Pasadena' 
Free Event

 
Join the Pasadena Museum 
of History as they wish 
Pasadena a 137th Happy 
Birthday Sunday, June 11. 
As part of Community Free 
Day, visit the exhibition 
Community Stitches: Quilt 
Designs & Stories and peek 
inside the Finnish Folk Art 
Museum. Kids of all ages 
can join Art 2 Go’s craft 
workshop to create Barn 
Block Quilt Patterns using 
simple squares and triangles 
to make geometric quilt 
designs.

 The event runs from noon 
to 5 p.m.

 The Pasadena Museum of 
History is located at 470 W 
Walnut Street.

 For more information 
vist:pasadenahistory.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