Carolyn Ingram-Seitz has been named the 2010 Citizen of the Year by the Altadena Chamber of Commerce.
A planning and zoning consultant who has worked on many projects in Altadena for over 25 years, Carolyn has been a resident since early 2000 and is a well-known activist in community safety in Altadena.
Seitz was appointed to the Altadena Sheriff's Advisory Community Advisory Committee (CAC) in 2007, and served as chair. Seitz was particularly cited for her work in improving sheriff-community relations, but it doesn't end there.
She has worked with her own neighbors to develop a neighborhood watch group, and has been instrumental in helping other neighborhoods get organized to prepare for natural disasters or catastrophic events. She has also helped organize Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training, which have taken place in Altadena almost annually.
During the Station Fire, Seitz worked countless hours to make sure the community had the best possible updated information on the fire, working through local listservs.
She was instrumental in organizing a group of people from across the community to fight the reopening of one of Altadena's worst liquor stores (nicknamed "Murder Mart"). Her work included gathering the resources to prepare exhibits and cover the cost of the bus that took 42 people to the county planning commission hearing on the case. She also worked with the Sheriff's Department to ensure they would participate in the hearing process.
In Feb. 2010, she organized and hosted a Neighborhood Watch Conference at Loma Alta Park which brought together members of the community as well as the American Red Cross, the California Highway Patrol, LA county Department of Animal Care and Control, and many divisions of the LA County Sheriff's Dept. and Pasadena Police Dept.
Carolyn still contributes 60 to 100 hours per month volunteering with the Sheriff's Dept. and other organizations, including Mentoring & Partnership for Youth Development, the Quality of Life Center and its Bright Futures Scholars Program, and supports the Central Altadena Little League and Altadena Chamber of Commerce.
"I'm surprised and humbled to be invited to join the group of special people who have been acknowledged for their exemplary service to the community, some over a long period of time," Seitz wrote us in an email. "Every year, many very deserving people are nominated for Citizen of the Year and I'm honored to have been selected from among this year's group of nominees.
"Being in service to Altadena is a privilege, but I've only succeeded at contributing because this community has been willing to participate. It's working with great people here who give tirelessly and who demonstrate a great generosity of spirit and attitude that inspires me to keep doing the things I do as a community volunteer, and it is they who set the standard and they who deserve the thanks from a grateful community."
Seitz will be honored at the Chamber's annual Installation & Awards Dinner at the Altadena Town & Country Club on Jan. 28, 2011.
