Alice Sarkisian Wessen

Recent bear activity in our neighborhood: bear scat on our front lawn is bigger than my chihuahua! I think even he is shocked. http://www.alicewessen.com/photos/bear_evidence/

New Bear Carts offer better protection. Steel hinges on sides and metal clips on three sides

Large bear in my backyard. Friday morning March 29th, around 1:35AM

Prime Time for PANSTARRS Comet Viewing this Week

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/scitech/display.cfm?ST_ID=2538

       
       
       
   
Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS as seen from Mount Dale, Western Australia. The lights on the distant horizon are from the city of Armadale, which is southeast of Perth. Image credit: Astronomy Education Services/Gingin Observatory

Lincoln Avenue Water Project

From: Breakwell, Graham -FS 

Sent: Friday, February 01, 2013 1:24 PM

 Subject: Lincoln Avenue Water Company Project
 
Dear Interested Party,
 
Please find attached:
i) Signed Decision Letter;
ii) Finding of No Significant Impact and Decision Notice; and
iii) Environmental Assessment.
 
You may wish to read first i) which outlines the process for review and then ii) which summarizes the Environmental Mitigation measures.
 
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
 
Graham
 
Graham Breakwell
 
Special Uses Administration
Los Angeles River Ranger District
USDA Forest Service
12371 N. Little Tujunga Canyon Road
San Fernando
CA 91342
 
Email address: grahambreakwell@fs.fed.us
Tel: (818)-899-1900 ext. 243


Download LAWC FONSI-DN authorized

Download 12-11-2012 LAWC_EA_Final_Jan_12

Download LincolnAveSignedDecisionLetter

Courtesy Altadena Blog
Please share

http://www.altadenablog.com/2013/01/budget-cuts-hurt-altadenas-sheriff-station.html

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Budget cuts hurt Altadena's sheriff station
by Timothy Rutt

Cuts in the Sheriff's Department budget are putting the squeeze on Altadena's sheriff station.
Altadena Sheriff Capt. John S. Benedict said that Altadena still has full patrol coverage, but at the cost of shifting detectives, lieutenants, and community relations officers -- and the captain himself -- into patrol cars.
Sheriff Lee Baca clashed with the county Board of Supervisors last week over charges that he was, according to the LA Times, "ignoring the needs of unincorporated parts of the county in favor of cities that contract with his department for police services." Due to budget constraints, the Sheriff's Department has cut deputy overtime.
The LA Times reports that the sheriff's department, with a budget of $2.8 billion, had its budget cut by the supervisors by $128 million in 2010, $96 million in 2011 and $140 million in 2012.
A county audit released this week showed that deputies in unincorporated parts of the county took a minute longer to respond to emergency calls in unincorporated parts of the county than from contract cities. The sheriff's department contracts for police services in more than 40 cities in LA County that do not maintain their own police force. The contracts specify a minimum level of enforcement. Baca's critics are saying that he is hewing to these contracts at the cost of reducing services to unincorporated county areas.
In unincorporated Altadena, Benedict said that they've maintained having three patrol vehicles per shift, but without overtime, it means that higher ranking officers or officers with other duties now have to pull patrol at least one day a week. "Not only my detectives, but my lieutenants, community relations officers, deputy administrators, sergeants -- even the captain," Benedict said.
What this means is that some other tasks will feel the pain, Benedict said -- detectives will have one less day a week to investigate crimes, and community relations officers will have one less day a week to work on graffiti abatement and other quality-of-life issues.
"We're looking at creative ways to maximize resources is what it comes down to -- but it won't be easy", Benedict said.

Benedict said that the manpower is so stretched, there's not much left. "We're not talking about vacations, sickness, or if a deputy is injured on duty," Benedict said. "I don't even have time to think of that right now."

Some Things Are Too Toxic To Trash!
Residents are encouraged to bring unwanted Household Hazardous Waste and Electronic Waste (HHW/E-Waste) items to the County mobile collection events for safe and proper disposal free of charge.

For more information visit www.CleanLA.com or call 1 888-CleanLA.
If you reside in the City of Los Angeles, please visit City of Los Angeles website for information on permanent collection centers and mobile collection events near you.
Please feel free to forward this information to friends and family.
Everyone deserves a toxic free home!

Altadena HHW/E-Waste Collection Event 3/16/2013,
9:00 AM -3:00PM

L.A. County Department of Public Works, Fleet Maintenance Yard,
252 West Mountain View Avenue,
Altadena, 91001

Bear Proof Trash Cans in Altadena

For those who live in my neck of the woods (northwest Altadena).

Our neighborhood, off of Chaney Trail has been getting slammed by bears getting into our trash. Since we are a buffer community, what happens in our area often carries down further south in Altadena.

Please know, that:

"under the Altadena and Kinneloa Mesa residential franchises, free bear proof containers are made available for situations like this." 

If you have Altadena neighbors who are getting their trash regularly hit upon due to bears, please contact Athens.

Bears in the trash is bad for the public and its bad for the bears. We do not want to habituate the bears to eating trash.

Athens:

http://www.athensservices.com/contactus.asp

Athens Services
14048 E. Valley Blvd., City of Industry, CA 91746

Office Hours: 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM (Monday-Friday)
7:00 AM to 12:00 Noon (Saturday)
Telephone: (888) 336-6100

 

 

California is redrawing the boundaries of California’s Congressional, Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization electoral districts

On the redistricting process

From the FAQs at http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/:

Every 10 years, after the federal census, California must redraw the boundaries of its Congressional, State Senate, State Assembly, and State Board of Equalization districts, to reflect the new population data. Now those lines will be drawn by the Commission. 

California voters authorized the creation of the Commission when they passed the Voters First Act, which appeared as Proposition 11 on the November 2008 general election ballot. Under the Act, the Commission is charged with drawing the boundaries of California’s Congressional, Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization electoral districts.

Districts shall not be drawn to favor or discriminate against an incumbent, candidate, or political party.

========

 

Alice notes:  As prescribed by law, there are five registered Democrats, five registered Republicans and four who are affiliated with neither major party.They are a highly educated bunch and come from every corner of California. Among its members are two law school professors, two land-use planners, the retired director of the U.S. Census Bureau, a retired engineer, an architect, a chiropractor, a bookstore owner, and a stay-at-home mom with a master's degree in community planning. I think what Ms. Robinson may be concerned with and hope for is that Altadena and Pasadena be viewed as a "Community of Interest" and therefore be together rather than as part of the Foothill communities. (See definition below)

  

Whatever you think, it may be worthwhile to think a few moments about the impact and have your voice heard. Or you may think the initial redistricting job was rather well done.

The commission will consider public input, issue revised maps on July 12 and then enter a final stage of internal review before submitting final maps to the secretary of state on Aug. 15.

What is a community of interest?

A. The California Constitution defines a community of interest as:

A community of interest is a contiguous population which shares common social and economic interests that should be included within a single district for purposes of its effective and fair representation. Examples of such shared interests are those common to an urban area, a rural area, an industrial area, or an agricultural area, and those common to areas in which the people share similar living standards, use the same transportation facilities, have similar work opportunities, or have access to the same media of communication relevant to the election process. Communities of interest shall not include relationships with political parties, I ncumbents, or political candidates.

-Section 2(d)(4) of Article XXI of the California Constitution

---

From: Alice Sarkisian Wessen 
To: 
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 3:57 PM
Subject: Proposed Assembly Districts split Altadena away from Pasadena , placing Altadena in a "Foothill" district

FYI and available for cross post

Every 10 years, after the federal census, California must redraw the boundaries of its Congressional, State Senate, State Assembly, and State Board of Equalization districts, to reflect the new population data. Now those lines will be drawn by the Commission. 

California voters authorized the creation of the Commission when they passed the Voters First Act, which appeared as Proposition 11 on the November 2008 general election ballot. Under the Act, the Commission is charged with drawing the boundaries of California’s Congressional, Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization electoral districts.

Districts shall not be drawn to favor or discriminate against an incumbent, candidate, or political party.

Please be aware that the California redistricting process is underway. You may wish to watch the process live here: 

June 28, 2011, Public Input Hearing  

http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/

 
View the Live Broadcast – 6PM to 9PM

=====

This memo below is from Councilperson Jacque Robinson of Pasadena, but is important re Altadena. If you have not heard, deadline for input is Tuesday, June 28. 

 

Proposed Assembly Districts split Altadena away from Pasadena , placing Altadena in a "Foothill" district

JACQUE ROBINSON | Councilmember, District 1

YOUR INPUT IS NEEDED ON THE REDISTRICTING PROCESS IN CA:

Pasadenans & Altadenans: I urge you to participate in the CA Redistricting Process currently underway. The proposed Assembly Districts split Altadena away from Pasadena , placing Altadena in a "Foothill" district that stretches out to Upland in San Bernardino County, and split South Pasadena in half. The proposed Congressional districts slice Pasadena in half, roughly along the 210 Freeway, with the southern half included in a district that goes from Arcadia down to La Habra Heights and then over to Diamond Bar, Whittier, and Chino Hills.

Please send an e-mail to the Citizens Reapportionment Commission at votersfirstact@crc.ca.gov (DEADLINE extended to June 28^th) urging them to keep our communities together asking them to keep the communities of Pasadena and Altadena together in all instances (Congressional, Assembly, and Senate).  Together, we are a community of interest that share significant social and economic interests such as churches, school district, generational families, and business/educational institutions.  We have a long tradition of being represented by a single representative and splitting Pasadena and the two cities between Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County boundaries is not in the best interest of our residents. 

*From the Commission E-Blast*

To give the public a greater opportunity to submit written testimony on its first round of draft maps, the California Citizens Redistricting Commission has extended the public comment deadline to Tuesday, June 28th.  The public can submit written testimony by e-mail to votersfirstact@crc.ca.gov, by fax to 916-651-5711, or by mail to:

 

Citizens Redistricting Commission

901 P Street, Suite 154A

Sacramento, CA 95814

The Commission needs to hear what the public thinks of the first Draft Maps.  

      Do you think the Commission understood your testimony about your community of interest?  Do you think the Commission did not have enough testimony about your community of interest?

      Do you have a suggestion that would make your district better reflect the interests of its residents, for example by moving the boundaries to include (or exclude) certain areas?

 

The Commission is eager to accept your supplemental attachments. The following file formats are supported: .pdf and .jpg. Files not submitted in this format will not be posted on the Public Comments page.

For more information on the Commission, go to http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/. 

  
 

JACQUE ROBINSON | Councilmember, District 1

City of Pasadena

100 N. Garfield Avenue | Pasadena | California | 91109

Phone 626-744-4444 | Fax 626-396-7300

jacquerobinson@cityofpasadena.net 

 

 ==============================

 

http://wedrawthelines.ca.gov/

What’s New

June 28, 2011, Public Input Hearing

 
View the Live Broadcast – 6PM to 9PM
 
The Citizens Redistricting Commission will be meeting on June 28 in Sacramento at the State Capitol in Room 4203 for a Public Input Hearing from 6PM to 9PM.

June 24, 2011, Last Call for Public Testimony before June 28th Deadline
The California Citizens Redistricting Commission is asking the public to submit public testimony on its first round of draft Congressional, legislative and Board of Equalization district maps by 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, June 28th. The public can submit written testimony by e-mail to votersfirstact@crc.ca.gov, or by fax to 916-651-5711.

June 10, 2011, Commission Votes 14-0 to Approve 1st Draft District Maps
With four 14-0 votes, the California Citizens Redistricting Commission has released its first round of draft maps for Congressional, State Assembly, State Senate and Board of Equalization districts.

The Commission is now soliciting public comment on the draft districts. Testimony can be submitted online to votersfirstact@crc.ca.gov, by mail to the Citizens Redistricting Commission, 901 P Street, Suite 154-A, Sacramento, CA 95814 or by FAX at 916-651-5711. The Commission will be holding 11 public input hearings in June on the draft maps. The hearing schedule and the draft maps can be found at the Commission’s website at www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov.