by Reggie Wilkins
I got up this morning at about 5 or so.
The house was completely silent and the sky was Altadena dark. My goal was to use this particular alarm clock consequence of a 10 year old realizing he needed mom to remove a sleeping cat from his foot to mine the night sky. To bring into focus an image the ringed planet, that old god of time, abundance and wealth we call Saturn:
Saturnius Mons was seen as a god of generation, dissolution, plenty, wealth, agriculture, periodical renewal and liberation. Under Saturn's rule, humans enjoyed the spontaneous bounty of the earth without labor in a state of social egalitarianism.
Colleagues and residents of Altadena:
We are all here because we see things of value in this place astride the mountains. Gene, Monica, Council and audience. On this particular night, we are here because we wish to see an Altadena that offers generation, wealth, plenty renewal and liberation. We are also here because we seek some form of social equality – just as we are equal before the chronos – before time – and before the majesty of San Gabriel.
My goal as a town representative is always to ask: how can we climb this hill together? Where is the common, feasible solution? Right now, tonight, is why I decided to run for the Town Council, to find the great in the small, and as James Baldwin said to us, to find the world in America.
So, tonight I feel that we are taking one small step up the grade. Because we know that generation, plenty, wealth and renewal come from human activity and of nature united in smart ways.
So, let’s be smart about uniting land and purpose. Let’s make sure that development is constrained to the good but not restrained for the feeling of good. Let’s make sure any proposed development crossing some threshold of size that occurs before the standards work is complete is scrutinized by both the Standards Subcommittee and the Land Use Council. But let’s not preclude the possibility that a visionary developer will see what we have to offer and help make it happen in the meantime. There is much to be done.
But back to this morning.
Just as I finally mounted the tripod on my 7 inch Meade Mak Cassegrain in the dark and cold of early morning and looked south, I watched a soft blanket of fog swallow the last light of the moon.
Council, activists and residents: do not let the fog of small ambitions keep us from imagining, visioning and building an Altadena worthy of us and our history.
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Reggie Wilkins represents CT 4612 on the Altadena Town Council. He made these comments at the January 15 town council meeting.
