From last night's Altadena Town Council meeting:
- Councilmember Guarav Malhotra (CT 4611) resigned from the council, as he is moving to a home in CT 4601. He told the council he still planned to remain very active in community affairs, particularly in his former district, He is also working on a establishing a nonprofit organization to get kids at risk interested in competitive cycling.
- Chair Gino Sund reported that work is beginning on creating a new Altadena community plan and community standards district, which has not been updated in decades. The council plans to send a letter to Supv. Michael Antonovich, asking for supervisor support in efforts to revitalize the the plans. Sund said that the Land Use Committee has formed subcommittees to look at residential and commercial parts of the plan, and is looking for a lot of public input in the process, which may take 18 months.
- Sheriff Capt. Steve McLean introduced two new deputies (James Barber and Efron Contreras), and reported some statistics for 2010: A 20.9% decrease in Part I (serious felony) crimes, including no murders, rapes down 20%, robberies down 3%, aggravated assaults 22%.
McLean said that, out of 23 patrol stations, Altadena had the biggest reduction in violent crime in the county. Altadena did record 14.9% increase in auto thefts, representing an increase in seven vehicles.
McLean also reported on the station’s first parolee mentoring program, held Dec. 4, where 16 parolees connected with organizations that could provide food shelter, and job training to support them.
In addition, earlier that afternoon six children graduated from the Bicycle Educationa and Registration Program (BEAR), a program that teaches kids bicycle safety and maintenance, including how to take a bike apart and put it together. Those who completed the program received a certificate of completion and a brand-new bike that they built themselves.
McLean said that his goals for 2011 included building better relationships with the community, and continuing to work on crime in Altadena, particularly thefts. McLean also said that there would be a followup to last fall’s town hall sometime in January.
- Also in public safety, Jeff Sedlick, who runs the Braewatch neighborhood watch blog, gave a presentation on the Google map he is completing to show the neighborhood associations and neighborhood watch groups in Altadena. The map will go public shortly, but contact altadenalert@gmail.com to add your group to the map.
- Officer Ming Hsu from the California Highway Patrol said that the CHiPs for Kids program had already collected 2,200 toys for children in the Altadena/Pasadena area, and will continue to collect toys through Christmas Eve at the Altadena CHP station and Walgreen’s Drugstores.
- Representatives of the Bank of America branch at Lincoln Crossing presented an overview of their services, which include safe deposit boxes. A bank was considered one of the necessary services for the west side of Altadena, and the Lincoln Crossing branch is looking for more business.
- The council’s representative to the West Altadena Project Area Committee (WAPAC), Allan Wasserman, told the council that a list of complaints against Lincoln Crossing developer Dorn Platz are on the desk of the county district attorney, and the DA should determine what action to take by the end of January. “I’m hoping the DA’s office will really get back to them to say, you have to fulfill their obligations,” Wasserman said. “There is some hope.”
- Construction is also starting on Building 5 in Lincoln Crossing (the lot just east of the present complex), and is underway at the corner of Lincoln and Woodbury to make sidewalk and street improvements that the developer agreed to. Once those improvements are completed, the developer will be able to get gas and electric meters for the apartments that are part of the development.
- Penny Daniels and Richard Aguirre of the LA County Dept. of Parks and Recreation said that they are now in the process of taking a survey of the Loma Alta Park neighborhood to see how much support there would be for a farmer’s market. There is also definite interest in using Charles White Park, although parking would be a problem there.
