Anthony Adams Is a Funny Guy
Scary picture, eh? It’s Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia and the SacBee was running a caption contest to see who could come up with best piece of one-line hilarity. An FC legislator, Anthony Adams, submitted this gem:
Also, thanks to Assemblyman Anthony Adams, who wrote, “I was just trying to kiss Nunez good-bye!”
Good times. Good times.
By Centinel. May 9, 2008, 1:19 pm | Tags: Main Page, That's Entertainment, Arcadia | 1 Comment »
Vandals in Azusa/Glendora Call Attention to Cop’s AWESOME Name
Yes, dozens of cars had their windows shot out, but guess the name of the cop who is answering press questions for Glendora…
[sweet name after the jump]
By Centinel. May 9, 2008, 12:20 pm | Tags: Main Page, Cops and Robbers, Azusa, Glendora | 1 Comment »
Speaking of Huff and Mountjoy
The San Francisco Chronicle includes the contest among those that we can blame on term limits:
Term limits have turned some former political allies into campaign foes as voters prepare to select nominees for 100 seats in the California Legislature.
In a half dozen races on the June 3 primary ballot, former lawmakers are trying to revive political careers that were at least temporarily interrupted by term limits.
Standing in their way are sitting lawmakers from their political party who are either running for re-election or trying to extend their terms by moving to the other house.
It’s enough to break your heart. Seriously, though, how competitive is this race? I thought Huff was crushing Mountjoy in fundraising. Anyone know?
By Centinel. May 9, 2008, 12:18 pm | Tags: Main Page, Government, San Dimas | No Comments »
Allen Wilson Loves Bob Huff (And That’s Totally Cool With Me)
I’m curious: does Allen Wilson really dig Assemblyman Bob Huff (who is running for Margett’s State Senate seat) or what? We’ve already seen that he’s a fan:
Assemblyman Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar), candidate for State Senate, held a Grand Opening of a new campaign headquarters in the heart of beautiful downtown San Dimas on Bonita Avenue.
In previous campaigns, Bob Huff’s campaign office for City Council and Assembly has always been in his hometown of Diamond Bar. However, the headquarters in San Dimas is just perfect (not too far from Diamond Bar), because it makes feel like you are at home with family and friends.
Then, Wilson praised Huff’s mailers.
Two mailers from the Bob Huff for State Senate Campaign hit the mailboxes today, including my mailbox here in Diamond Bar.
One mailer illustrates Huff being “A Conservative you can count on to fight: Illegal Immigration, Higher Taxes and Government Waste.”
Another mailer points out strong endorsements from broad Los Angeles County leaders such as Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Don Knabe, Senator Bob Margett and Assemblyman Anthony Adams.
Both are very well laid out and classy mailers.
And then I saw this letter in the SGVT:
By Centinel. May 9, 2008, 12:14 pm | Tags: Main Page, Government, San Dimas | No Comments »
On Mark Leon’s Passing
Aaron Proctor has a news/obit piece on Mark Leon in the PW:
Former City Council candidate and city Planning and Transportation Commission member Mark A. Leon died Friday due to complications from a liver condition stemming from a transplant he had undergone some years ago. He was 47.
Leon, who leaves behind a wife, two sons and a daughter, was perhaps best known for running a spirited underdog campaign against a handful of candidates for the Pasadena City Council’s vacant District 1 seat in March 2007, now occupied by Councilwoman Jacque Robinson.
More here.
By Centinel. May 9, 2008, 12:00 pm | Tags: Main Page, Pasadena | 1 Comment »
The Souvenirs of Mt. Lowe at Pasadena History Museum
Jeanette Bovard at the Pasadena Museum of History alerted us to an interesting exhibit:
Your readers might be interested in the exhibition currently on display at the Pasadena Museum of History — “Mount Lowe: Souvenirs from the Incline Railway.” It runs through July — here’s a link to the info http://www.pasadenahistory.org/thingstosee/MountLowe.html
More info about MOTA Day (Museums of the Arroyo) after the jump…
By Centinel. May 9, 2008, 11:19 am | Tags: Main Page, Historical Society, Pasadena | 1 Comment »
The Proctor Is In: The Doctor Is In
The Aaron Proctor Interview Series continues with Pasadena health director, Dr. Takashi Wada - the first time a Doctor has been interviewed in the Series:
The Proc: I heard a rumor that you once went down to Central America and beat the crap out of some rebel forces. Did they loosely base the “Delta Force” movies on you?
TW: The rumor is false. I was not in Central America beating the crap out of some rebel forces … I was WITH the rebel forces! Remember, I’m a supposed Che Guevarra styled leftist bozo.
- AP
By Aaron Proctor. May 9, 2008, 10:51 am | Tags: Main Page, Pasadena | 3 Comments »
Surprise, Pomona Has a Budget Deficit
Look, I don’t consider myself a journalist. But I do contribute a lot to this site and try to stay as informed as you would expect of an above-average politically-interested citizen. Every day, I read through dozens, if not hundreds of articles to find things interesting to the Foothill Cities and share them. And then, occasionally, I read an article that informs me, not only does Pomona have a budget deficit, but it used to be bigger. That means I completely missed it first time around. Shame on me. But it also makes me wonder: if I don’t know it, and I invest a couple hours a day minimum in this kind of news, how many people in Pomona actually know? From the Daily Bulletin:
Next year’s city budget shortfall has been reduced from $10.4million to $3.6million, but it comes at the cost of at least 35 jobs. The city may need to tap into its reserve to close the remaining gap.
In a recent update on the development of the city’s 2008-09 preliminary budget, City Finance Director Paula Chamberlain explained the gap was narrowed through a variety of reductions that include the elimination of 25 vacant positions and another 10 that are filled.
The city’s general fund preliminary budget estimates revenue will be $93.6million and expenses $97.2million.
Of course, I’m not sure why I’m surprised that a city with Norma Torres at the helm should be running a deficit (snide alert!).
By Centinel. May 9, 2008, 7:27 am | Tags: Main Page, City Council, Pomona | 2 Comments »
Friday Linkfest: 10 Reasons to Remember
There’s a million things I’d love to write about. Sadly, the sun goes down (and comes up) much too quickly. So, here’s 9 (count ‘em, 9!) links you really should take a look at…
By Centinel. May 9, 2008, 6:55 am | Tags: (Re)Development, City Council, Government, Main Page, Education, Pasadena, Claremont, Monrovia, La Verne, Arcadia, Sierra Madre | 4 Comments »
The Affordable Housing Bunny Hops Into Pasadena
Joe Piasecki tugs at the heartstrings at the beginning of his piece about Prop. 98 and I had to count to ten to avoid banging my head against the wall:
Not far from the 61 new luxury condominiums built recently behind the historic Friend Paper Co. building in Old Pasadena, a tiny homeless woman sleeps inside a tattered, empty suitcase.
All that sticks out is an arm, a shoulder and her head, which she covers with a blue floral cloth — whether out of shame or fear of being identified she wouldn’t say, ignoring questions.
Next to her is a dirt mound where Ambassador College’s former east campus was demolished to make way for even more high-end housing. The Westgate Pasadena Project will give rise to an impressive mix of 820 condos, townhomes and apartments, but not all of these will be out of reach to people who might otherwise end up like the woman living in a suitcase.
In order to comply with Pasadena’s inclusionary zoning ordinance, developer Sares-Regis is setting aside 85 apartments as affordable housing for low-income residents and paying additional city fees toward generating even more subsidized homes. The Friend Paper Co. project chose to pay more than $1.2 million into the city’s affordable housing creation trust fund in lieu of selling nine condos below market rate, according to Kermit Mahan, who works in the city’s housing division.
But whether any of that housing reaches local people who need it, say affordable housing activists, depends on the results of the June 3 state primary election.
Proposition 98 aims to restrict government’s ability to use eminent domain to seize property, but would also make all forms of rent control — including the city’s inclusionary zoning ordinance — illegal in California and threaten other renter protections, they warn.
The contrast of a luxury development being built beside a homeless woman’s camp is a striking one. In fact, I saw that selfsame woman when I was driving past the area yesterday and remarked to my wife on the lady’s lamentable condition. However, I did not respond to her plight by thinking, “Without rent control, she would be homeless.” Why? Because we have rent control, and she’s still homeless.
More importantly, Piasecki is dodging the real issue in this article: does rent control work? I don’t mean that as some evil capitalist; I mean that as advocate of the poor, as someone who has spent a lot of hours in soup kitchens, and as someone who, in my younger days, definitely worried about the cost of an apartment in Pasadena (though things weren’t as expensive as they are now). I mean: is rent control the best way to help poorer people have a place to live?
It’s not a theoretical question. We should be able to quantify how much money the city charges in fees to subsidize “affordable housing,” how many “affordable housing units” are made available, and what the average income is of the folks living in those units. Then, we should compare that to the effects that rent control has on the rest of the market: how much more do non-rent controlled apartments cost as a result of rent control? We should be able to compare those numbers side by side and say either, “Wow, rent control is amazing and really helps poor people” or “Hmm, rent control actually helps a really small number of people, and raises prices for everyone else.”
An economist would tell you, in a heartbeat, that the latter is true. Price controls have long been debunked by theorists of all persuasions. As Wikipedia, source of all knowledge of everything tells us:
Most economists believe that a ceiling on rents reduces the quality and quantity of housing available.[5] This view is based on analysis of empirical evidence as well as the understanding generated by theoretical models.[6] Even such liberal economists as Paul Krugman have cited rent regulation as a case of “economic stupidity” which despite its good intentions leads to the creation of less housing, raises prices, and increases urban blight.[7]
To reiterate: I have no reason to dislike rent control other than the fact that I like the idea of people being able to get housing at the most affordable price they can. If rent control is hurting folks on the margin, as I suspect it is, then we need to come up with other solutions to the problems that it purports to solve (i.e. rapacious slumlords, etc.). The fact is, we need to grapple with the facts of rent control, not the good intentions that are behind it. Good intentions do no equal a good idea. And Piasecki is failing as a journalist by limiting the story to rhetorical extremism that ideologues use rather than a discussion of the merits of a piece of public policy.
By Centinel. May 8, 2008, 5:46 pm | Tags: Main Page, Media, Pasadena | 11 Comments »
Give. Me. A. Break.
To all the peeps out there complaining about the IP address issue, let me make something very, very clear. An IP address is like caller ID. If you don’t like the fact that when you leave a comment from certain networks, you leave a trace (unless, like most of us, you comment from a large service provider), don’t comment. If you don’t have a line that is privately listed and you don’t want someone to know your number, don’t call anyone on it. No one is taking away your right to privacy because you left your IP address in an email you sent or a comment you made, just as no one is taking away your right to privacy because you called someone and they have caller ID. If you want to remain anonymous online, you have to comment from home on a large service provider like Verizon.
That being said, we have done what we could in the past on a case by case basis to prevent the abuse of this ability, and we have consistently bent over backwards (beyond the bounds of what we are legally obligated to do) to protect privacy and moderate (the best we can) those of you who have no sense of decency.
It is somewhat interesting that someone was commenting about the police in Monrovia from a certain office that a councilman also works at. But at the end of the day, all that happened was that a commenter left their IP address from an office and Parry reported it. You can infer whatever you want from those facts: let the good times roll. On the one hand, people shouldn’t be maintaining that Councilman Adams actually typed any of those comments: there isn’t sufficient evidence. On the other hand, Adams and his defenders shouldn’t be too upset either, since Parry isn’t saying it was Adams. If anything, Adams should be upset that some dufus was using the office computers to say outlandish things.
Sheesh. Good times, good times…
By Publius. May 8, 2008, 4:42 pm | Tags: Main Page, Monrovia, What Are We Doing Here? | 14 Comments »
My Feet Are Burning
DSC_6390, originally uploaded by photoman217.
Dunno how I missed this, but is the ground on fire? Yikes.
By Centinel. May 8, 2008, 3:25 pm | Tags: Main Page, Pasadena, Sierra Madre | 3 Comments »
Great Scott: Scott Becomes Chancellor
According to the SacBee:
At least one termed-out senator has landed his next job. Sen. Jack Scott, the chair of the Senate Education Committee, has been named the next chancellor of California’s community college system.
The Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges announced a unanimous vote Thursday to name Scott, 74, the 14th chancellor of 109-college system.
Will PCC get more state pork?
By Centinel. May 8, 2008, 3:16 pm | Tags: Main Page, Education, Pasadena | 4 Comments »
California Redistricting Plan, Surprise, No Shoe-In
Some folks may be shocked to learn that there are vested interests who will be bitterly opposed to redistricting reform. That would be the people who currently have the job:
The latest attempt to take redistricting out of the hands of lawmakers was a ballot initiative sponsored by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005. That measure was squarely defeated after congressional Democrats, led by then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, raised millions to knock back the measure.
Now Schwarzenegger is back with another redistricting initiative for the November ballot.
The new proposal, which is co-sponsored by good government groups such as California Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, would turn the job of drawing legislative districts over to an independent commission. Legislators would still be in charge of drawing districts for members of Congress.
The California Legislature is strongly Democratic, so, presumably, Democrats in Sacramento would help protect the interests of congressional Democrats. But there have been rivalries in the past between legislators and members of Congress who occupy the seats they covet. And advocates of the Schwarzenegger-backed proposal say that while the plan is not perfect, it eliminates the most egregious conflicts of interest: allowing legislators to draw their own district lines.
An FC legislator is at the heart of the redistricting debate:
And many sitting members of Congress face political peril if the redistricting rules are changed. Among them are congressional lions in both parties. Democratic Rep. Howard Berman’s San Fernando Valley district has become increasingly Latino, and either Berman or Los Angeles Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman could see their seat disappear in a redraw.
On the Republican side, Rep. David Dreier has fended off increasing Democratic registration in his district over the past several years and faces an unsure political future when his Southern California district lines are changed.
Hmm, will redistricting reform tranquilize congressional lions?
By Centinel. May 8, 2008, 3:08 pm | Tags: Main Page, Government | No Comments »
Mountain Lion Meets Accidental End
By Centinel. May 8, 2008, 2:47 pm | Tags: Main Page, La Verne | 1 Comment »