altadenablog

Altadena Town Council highlights

It may take longer to write about last night's meeting than the meeting itself.  Let's see:

• Chair Gino Sund announced that the county has filed suit against Sahag Mesrob Armenian Christian School, asking it to vacate its unpermitted Palm St. campus.  The county has filed for a restraining order, and there will be a court hearing in Pasadena on Monday at 8:30.  If the restraining order is granted, the school must vacate immediately.  If not, the lawsuit goes forward, and it could take a year or more to resolve.
• The council approved two proclamations: one honoring Sara Carnahan for her years of service (Carnahan is the Altadena Chamber of Commerce's Citizen of the Year); and declaring February "Scholars Month" in honor of the Bright Futures Scholars.
• Sheriff Capt. Roosevelt Blow said there had been three shootings so far this year, all gang-related: Jan 2 , a male and female were shot near the tennis courts at the 700 block of Loma Alta drive.  Joseph Nichols Earl, 23, was taken into custody Jan. 16 in Pasadena on that shooting.  Also Jan. 2, a 20-year-old male was shot in the leg on Tola Ave. Investigators found out about this shooting when they were at the hospital interviewing victims of the previous shooting and the victim was brought in.  Blow said that investigators were at a "stalemate" in the latter shooting, as no one -- including the victim and neighbors -- is cooperating.
  
  On Jan. 10, at about 6:45 PM, deputies received a call about shots fired at the 2200 block of  El Sereno.  A motorcycle and another vehicle were found to be damaged by gunshots. Two suspects denied involvement, but deputies did gunshot residue test on them and evidence was sent to the crime lab.  One of the suspects was taken into custody on out-of-state felony robbery warrant. 
  
  Blow also said that an annual report of Altadena station activities would be available soon.
• In response to concerns about the recent round of door-ro-door solicitors in town, Blow said to contact the Altadena station if they seem suspicious.  If dissatisfied with the response, ask to talk to Lt. Shiela Sanchez.
• Barbara Pearson of the Altadena Library said that Shirlee Smith was appointed to a vacant library board seat.  The board will also look at final plans for the library renovation at their meeting, Monday at 5 PM at the main library community room.  Plans are available at the library website.
• Councilmember Ruth Neilan Edwards said that an election committee was recently formed (consisting of three members of the council, three from the community, and an appointee from the councll chairman).  The committee will review all election rules and make recommendations to the board before the 2009 elections.

Inauguration fete makes town council meeting short & sweet ...

.. about 50 minutes (!) to be exact.  The rationale behind it, according to chair Gino Sund, was that many council members were going to inauguration parties this evening, so if anything was to be done, it needed to be done quickly. (Town council member Dr. Sandra Thomas was actually in DC for the main event).

We'll file a rundown of the meeting tomorrow (nothing too urgent), but thought we'd point out some other Altadena connections to today's festivities:

Larry Wilson quotes former Altadenan D.G. Fulford in a an article we picked up from the SGV Trib; and Salon gets a quote from Glendar Haskins, who was freezing herself in DC today.

Altadena Town Council, Tues., Jan. 20

... 7 PM at the Community Center, 730 E. Altadena Dr.

Not everybody can be there.  LA Times' Sandy Banks says that  PSN columnist Shirlee Smith, for example, is going to some kind of bash in Washington that day ...

UPDATE 1/17 10 PM: Agenda after the jump, and check out Susan C's comment.

Town council odds & ends

Random bits from last night's meeting:

Sheriff: The council welcomed Lt. Sheila Sanchez, a new service area lieutenant who will mediate and handle community issues and problems and address service complaints.

Electricity:  Dave Ford of Southern California Edison explained electrical service upgrades that will be made in the Altadena service area over the next few years, and also said they would be working with the Christmas Tree Lane association to replace the bulbs with LED lights.

St. Elizabeth's cell tower:  while county planners have approved the cell tower on the St. Elizabeth's property, residents are appealing the decision to the county supervisors.  A letter from the previous council to the planners, opposing the cell tower, somehow never got there.  The council approved sending another letter, stating its opposition to the cell tower, to the supervisors and planning commission.

Town council opts for single trash service

The Altadena town council told the county to go ahead and pursue an exclusive trash collection contract, ending the semi-exclusive arrangement now in operation.

What this means is, starting next fall, a single trash collection provider will service most Altadena homes, ending the semi-exclusive arrangement between Allied and Athens that now exists.  According to the county, whoever wins the contract will be expected to provide services such as e-waste collection, periodic bulk trash collection, and discounts for seniors and the disabled.

Most residents will have their existing trash cans replaced by five 96-gallon rolling containers -- one for trash, two for green waste, and two for recycling.  More containers will incur an extra $5 per month charge.  The containers can be automatically picked up and emptied by newer model trash trucks.  Smaller containers will also be offered for smaller households.

Grace Andrus, mayor of the Crescenta Valley town council, told the Altadena council that her community had been operating on an exclusive contract for three years with Allied Waste.  Previously, she said, the town council and the county had no control over the multiple trash carriers, and received lots of complaints.  Now, the council -- and the county -- can hold a provider accountable, and as a result, complaints have dropped, she said. 

Individual homes can opt out of the contract, but only if they can prove that they are hauling out trash themselves or are recycling 100 percent of their refuse.  Households that use dumpsters can continue to contract with whoever they wish.

Councilmembers said that they received numerous comments from their constituents about the trash service, most agreeing with an exclusive franchise.

One bone of contention was the recommended rate for scooter service -- a "scooter" being a smaller truck that collects trash in neighborhoods with winding, narrow roads, such as Chaney Trail.  Households that used a scooter service would pay 50% more per month than the standard rate, which caused concern to some council members.

Virginia Maloles of the Los Angeles County Public Works Dept. said that it would probably take four months to solicit and review bids, and another six months to start the franchise.

The Altadena franchise area as drawn up by the county also includes Kinneloa Mesa, a private community of 38 homes southeast of Altadena.

Altadena Town Council meeting, 7 PM Tues., Dec. 16

... the regular monthly meeting at the Community Center,  730 E. Altadena Drive.

Main topic this month is expected to be a new trash hauling contract.

UPDATE 12/12: The preliminary agenda after the jump (format's a little funny, but we're still working on it!)

A "treatise on trash," or where we're at now

Altadena town council chair Gino Sund has submitted the following to explain the trash contracting situation in Altadena, and what the town council will be looking at at the next meeting.  It's rather lengthy, but it's important for informed discourse, and starts right after the jump:

Town council to consider new trash contract at Dec. meeting

The Altadena Town Council will consider signing a new trash hauling contract at the Dec. 16 meeting.  The council will be considering whether to continue what Altadena has now, a "semi-exclusive" contract with several providers and a variety of fees, or an exclusive contract with one provider.

At the last meeting, the information in the graphic (click to enlarge) was given out as to what any new contract will provide, including ewaste and bulky item cleanups several times a year. 

There will also be senior and disabled discounts, and bear-proof containers are also available for a fee.

Please direct any comments to one of your town councilmembers before the meeting.

Town council: no to investigation, yes to reviewing election procedures

The specter of the June town council election occupied a good block of last night's Altadena town council meeting, as the council voted 6-4 against creating a committee to investigate alleged improprieties.

The council responded to a five page letter from election chair Laura Graham, requesting the council's executive committee to investigate the allegations detailed therein. 

The letter, a copy of which has been obtained by Altadenablog, alleges what several councilmembers called "bad behavior" by various members of the council and community as Graham pulled the election together. 

Last night's council was divided as to what action to take -- councilmember Okorie Ezime reminded the council that they agreed several months ago to have the executive committee investigate charges.  Councilmember Susan Goldman said that even if it was just "bad behavior, it is not acceptable,"  and felt that a more in-depth look was in order. Councilmember Michele Zack said that she was troubled that the election chair received a lot of interference, and was not allowed to just do her job.

The majority of the council, however, seemed to go along with what was phrased as "moving forward, and lessons learned," and voted not to further investigate a completed election.

The council also voted to create a committee to review the eleciton rules and bylaws and come back with recommendations before the 2009 elections.  Such a committee would comprise three members from the town council, and four at-large members of the community.

Sheriff Capt. Blow on allegations: prove it

While he didn't literally say "prove it," that was Altadena Sheriff Capt. Roosevelt Blow's message in several matters he addressed to the Altadena Town Council last night.

One was allegations that members of sheriff's support and advisory groups -- who have polo shirts identifying their membership -- were trying to pass themselves off as actual officers while staffing the polls (alleged in the last town council elections).  Blow said that the shirts do not identify them as police officers, and if a member of a support group is trying to pass themselves off as an officer, they would be removed.  And "unless someone can come forth" with a signed affidavit, "I'm taking it as rumors, conjecture on the part of individuals."

Likewise, Blow said, people who were complaining about conduct of the department and deputies would have to stand behind their complaints.  People were making complaints without evidence to back it up, he said.  He also said that there were sections in the state penal code penalizing filing a false police report, and if someone files a report knowing it to be false, "we will follow up on it."

Finally, Blow said that "I have consulted with an attorney on a couple of issues, a couple of issues of slander and libel" regarding his performance as captain.  "In some cases,  the town council also gets accused of things without any proof -- I’m encouraging the council as a body ... I’m encouraging you to seek legal counsel, and sue them civilly ...I can give you the name of an attorney who is really good at it."

Ken Roberts to fill vacant council seat

Ken Roberts, a five-year Altadena resident, was unanimously approved by the Altadena Town Council to represent Census Tract 4603.02, filling in the position vacated by Steve Lamb.  Roberts is the Los Angeles sales representative for Large Screen Displays of Orange County.  The seat will be up for election next year.

Altadena Town Council Meeting, 7 PM Tues.

... at the community center, 730 E. Altadena Dr.

Chairman Gino Sund tells us that the major agenda item will involve a possible new trash contract.  There may also be the usual surprises.

Packed Town Council meeting considers school, elections

We have survived the almost 3 1/2 hour October ATC meeting, and return to the office exhausted in body and dead in soul.  Nonetheless, we go so you don't have to.  You're welcome.

In a packed community center, two major points of contention highlight this month:

Sahag Mesrob: a long line of residents went up to the podium during public comments to decry the Palm St. school, which received a notice of violation from the county last week.  (A brave handful did speak in favor of the school).  The council agreed to send a letter to the Board of Supervisors, asking them to enforce the notice of violation.

The June election: like Dracula rising from the dead, the loose ends of the election came back to haunt the council again.  Council chair Gino Sund  said that they had reviewed all election materials, spoke to poll workers, and reviewed the ethics committee report, and didn't find reasons to negate the election. 

However, former town councilmember Walter Olszewski restated previous claims of election irregularities and said that "the town council does not want to look at the ethics of it."

As well, Brian Franklin took to the podium several times during the course of the meeting to read an extended complaint that involved absent councilman Ken Balder, the Altadena Town & Country Club, Lincoln Crossing, and other topics.

(Pictured: overflow crowd at the community center.  Photo courtesy Bill Westphal and the Westphal PhoneCam,)

Altadena Town Council monthly meeting

... 7 PM Tuesday, Oct. 21 at the community center.  Be there or be square!

UPDATE 10/20:  Our sources tell us that nothing is up for a vote, but there should be some items of interest: residents of the Palm St. area near Sahag Mesrob school may be speaking and the council may take some action; there will be a report on Regina Grimes' complaint about the last election; county public works will present options for traffic mitigation in West Altadena; and a new seven year trash hauling contract will be discussed. 

Altadena Town Council highlights

Here's the short rundown of yesterday's meeting: MonteCedro yes, tennis courts yes, commercial vehicles will start getting tickets, and a council seat is still vacant.  Details after the jump.

UPDATE 10 AM: just got a response from our Marengo Nuisance House source, which has been added to the story below.

Altadena Town Council Meeting, 7 PM Tues. Sept. 16

... at the Community Center.  Council chair Gino Sund writes that there are three important items on this agenda: (1) The MonteCedro Retirement Home project, successor to the Scripps Home; (2) a proposal by the Altadena Town & Country Club to construct three tennis courts at Eliot Middle School for shared use, and (3) a presentation on the Pasadena Unified School District's proposed $350 million bond issue.

Town council website getting revamped (again!)

Altadena town councilor Alice Wessen tells us that the Altadena Town Council website is in the process of being transferred to a professional web hosting company (GoDaddy, the registrar of this very website).  Over the next few weeks, the council agendas and minutes should be up and made available as well.  During the transition, the site may go down temporarily, so don't panic ... yet.

MonteCedro, Eliot tennis courts on land use committee agenda Sept. 2

Town council chair Gino Sund tells Altadenablog that the Altadena Town Council Land Use Committee will have two significant and controversial items on the agenda: an information item on the Eliot Middle School tennis courts, and the Monte Cedro development at the site of the old Scripps Home will be up for a vote to refer to the Town Council.

Writes Sund:

In September, the Altadena Town Council will be voting on the reconstruction plans for the Scripps Retirement Home, now called MonteCedro.  MonteCedro  will be the largest, around $200 million, and the most important project in Altadena in years.  I would invite all interested or curious residents to attend the Land Use Committee meeting on September 2nd or the Town Council meeting on September 16th.  You will hear the presentations by the Episcopal Home Community (the successor organization to Scripps) and will be given an opportunity to ask questions and to express your opinions.

The meeting will be held Tues., Sept. 2, at 7 PM at the Altadena Community Center, 730 E Altadena Dr.

Ezieme meet & greet Sat., Aug. 23

New CT 4602 town council member Okorie Ezieme will hold a "meet your town councilman" event on Sat., Aug. 23, from 11 AM-3 PM at Farnsworth Park (middle section, Lake Ave. side).  He welcomes your questions and suggestions.  Hot dog and lemonade will be served.

New town council takes charge: tonight's highlights

A long meeting, and we're physically and psychologically exhausted (not to mention facing a 7 AM Wed. breakfast meeting), but here's the highlights of tonight's Altadena Town Council meeting:

This was the first full meeting to feature the new councilmembers.  Starting at left:  Okorie Ezieme (CT 4602), Ruth Edwards (CT 4612), Alice Wessen (CT 4603.01), Tecumseh Shackelford (CT 4610).  (The indispensible Bill Westphal took the photos).

New officers: Chair, Gino Sund; vice chair, Ken Balder; corresponding secretary Lorie Judson; recording secretary Wessen; treasurer, Shackelford.

The slot for CT 4603.02, vacated by Steve Lamb's resignation last month, will be appointed by a two-thirds vote of the council next month.  Interested candidates who live in that census tract can submit a letter of intent to the town council (and pay a $25 fee). 

The major event of the meeting was the appearance of Ray Carlisle (pictured) of the West Altadena Development Corp., partners with Dorn Platz in developing Lincoln Crossing.  In a lengthy presentation and Q&A session, Carlisle expressed sympathy with those businesses that suffered under the project's present management, but had precious little new information to offer and not many assurances that the project will get on track (and yes, we're editorializing here).

"Is this the worst deveopment I’ve seen,  heck no, not by a longshot," Carlisle said.  "Is it the best? Heck no, not by a longshot."

The council also determined that the council's executive committee, per its rules, will look into Regina Grimes' letter challenging the results of the last election, and will try to work to solve the problems that always seem to plague town council elections.

Altadena Town Council, 7 pm. Tues. Aug. 19

... the next generation, meets at the Community Center, 730 E. Altadena Dr.

Town council web page up again ...

... but Sandra Thomas is STILL in a census tract that doesn't exist! (Of course, they're just perpetuating Altadenablog's original error!)

Town council website down?

Don't know what's behind this -- we checked the Town Council website this afternoon, and it seemed fine -- but now there's only a placeholder from the host.  Even the Google-cached version is text only, no graphics. We're trying to track this down, but anyone know what's going on?

The invisible wounds of China's earthquake

This editorial in PSN comes from TImothy Kelly, who, among other things, represents CT 4601 on the Altadena Town Council.

(Apologies to all: our provider, Typepad, has been very recalcitrant today -- it's been hard to post items today, and some posts were erased entirely!  We will attempt to reconstruct them after we finish teaching tonight)

Ethics committee report on Town Council election

Altadenablog has obtained a copy of the report of the ethics committee appointed by Town Council chair George Lewis.  The Altadena Town Council voted, by majority, not to accept the report at the July 15 meeting, because of questions about the legitimacy of the committee.

As it was explained in the meeting, the council's Executive Committee is supposed to investigate election irregularities.  However, due to the fact that many members of the executive committee were themselves up for election, Lewis gave the job to the ethics committee that he previously appointed to investigate possible conflicts of interest among the town council.

In brief, the report says that the irregularities identified were mostly quickly corrected and would not have changed the results of the election.  However, the committee did find credible evidence of town councilmembers and candidates ignoring warnings to stop campaigning within 100 feet of a polling place, actively attempting to interfere with the election chair's process prior to election,
and:

Two seated Town Council members, one candidate and a few others are alleged to have verbally abused the Election Chair prior to the election; some of these accused seemed intent on interrupting the process rather than assisting with the election.

None of the councilmembers or candidates are named in the report.  The report asks that the Town Council investigate these reports of misbehavior, and to start training and working to correct the deficiencies to insure a clean election next year.

Full report follows after the jump:

Amid protests, Altadena Town Council certifies election

The Altadena Town Council certified last month's election tonight, amid protests that there were multiple irregularities in the election process.

While complimenting and congratulating his election opponent, Alice Wessen, outgoing councilman Walter Olszewski read a letter urging investigation of 11 alleged irregularities during the election, including: candidates actively campaigning within 100 ft. of a polling place; people "wearing uniforms of a certain (unidentified) organization" actively campaigning while staffing polls; polls not requiring identification; polls closing early; inaccurate maps that resulted in a number of people voting outside of their census tract; and councilmembers Eugene Sund and Ken Balder determining polling locations and staffing in their tracts, which they were not to do.

Polling irregularities were also cited during public comments, after the vote was certified.  William Bowen, a neighbor of Olszewski's and in his census tract, said that he was originally assigned to the wrong census tract due to an inaccurate map.  After phone calls to other polling places, that was corrrected, but he wondered how many people cast votes in the wrong tract before it was corrected.

Likewise, Regina Grimes, another losing candidate, said that she had found suspicious signatures on the sign-in sheets, suspicious addresses, evidence of children voting, as well as the Farnsworth Park polling place running out of ballots.

There were also multiple wrestlings with Robert's Rules of Order during the council's election discussion, and disagreements as to whether Steve Haussler, a member of the ethics committee appointed by chairman George Lewis, could present a report of the committee's investigation into election irregularities.  Some members of the council thought that the ethics committee itself was irregular ("illegal," said Balder), and by majority vote decided not to hear Haussler's report.

Eventually, the majority of the council did vote to certify the election, but in the "new business" section decided that an investigation was in order by the new board, but the method seemed to be left up in the air.   The new board was seated (Lewis lost the election, but will maintain his chairmanship until the start of the next meeting), and a committee formed to select officers for the new council.

Update 7/16 8 PM:  PSN is running a story on the council meeting, and it looks like they have a copy of Haussler's report.

ATC chair calls for Balder, Lamb to resign; Lamb does

Also at tonight's Town Council meeting, outgoing chair George Lewis went out with a bang, calling for fellow councilmembers Ken Balder and Steve Lamb to resign from the council.

Lewis said that the council is "divided and fractured," and blamed that division on personal "hatred" between Balder and Lamb.  "The two of you should resign -- it is time for the two of you to step down, and say goodbye," Lewis said, to scattered applause.

Lamb left the meeting a short time later without announcement.  During the census tract reports, Lewis said that "Steve Lamb has resigned his seat on the Altadena Town Council ...  he has agreed, and I have spoken to him earlier  Steve has taken the high road and he accepts walking away at this time."

Lamb sent out a frequently-bitter email tonight, saying in part,

For nineteen miserable years I was insulted, lied to, lied about, harassed, and endured all manner of disgusting behavior by people who were quite frankly, not sane or stable enough to to be voted into membership in a sports car club, let alone represent a community ...

It is true that I was begged to run last year in spite of my desire not to do so. Lots of people wanted me to run. all of the people I have spoken to over the last three months about resigning has told me my work was too important for me to do so, but it was not important enough for them to take upon them some of the burden when I asked for help. This is a burden no person should have to bear decade after decade.

I look forward to what is left of my life as a private person. There are cars to restore, houses to build, Organic Architecture to advocate for, silent movies to be seen, and relatives to enjoy.

Town council odds & ends

A few observations from Tuesday's town council meeting:

• Election chair Laura Graham, reporting that it was a successful election, despite the efforts of some to taint it: "There is no excuse and there is nothing to be gained by this behavior ... what is most damaging is that it’s always been accepted ... We must demand a higher standard from our community leaders and ourselves."
• Outgoing councilman Bobby Thompson, looking very tired, during his census tract report: 'I’ve lost, but I’ve won-- I’m tired of the infighting, I’m tired of the business, Lincoln Crossing -- these allegations about the voter’s fraud embarrases me ...  to just solidify this election and do it the way we did it is wrong. "
• Steve Haussler, having just been denied the opportunity to speak as a member of the ethics committee, didn't even have time to leave the podium before he was asked to speak as co-chair of the Land Use Committee.  He mentioned that his co-chair left abruptly -- his co-chair, councilman Steve Lamb, had in fact just resigned, altho' that was not widely known at the moment.
• Disturbing trend:  councilmembers who tell Altadenablog he's biased and untrustworthy, then ask him to print something.

Altadena Town Council, Tues. 7 PM

... at the Community Center.  Wear your helmet and waders for this one.

"Roustgate"

We decided we needed some umbrella name for this kerfluffle that involve certain town councilmen, the sheriff's department, the Altadena Sheriff's Support Group, the Chamber Citizens of the Year, and now the Pederast Hilton, etc. and has caught Altadenablog in its toxic spray.  Since the precipitating event is the (unproven) accusation that the deputies are stopping people who shouldn't be stopped, we've decided to call it Roustgate.

So here's the latest:

Jamie Bissner weighs in in Sunday's PSN.

And Steve Lamb has finally taken our advice, and alerted us that he has posted his response to his critics in this blogpost. (We note with some satisfaction that he uses "Pederast Hilton," a term we coined).

(Our ban remains in place, however.)

Update 7/14: Steve's Lamb's original blogpost linked above has apparently been removed from the website.

Updates ...

Please check out the latest updates on the Sheriff's Support Group letter and response right here.

Letter roasts Lamb

The Sheriff's Support Group blog has posted a letter from some prominent Altadenans, presumably to the Star-News,  in support of the county sheriff.  Among the signatories is Altadena Town Councilman Ken Balder and presumed councilman-elect Tecumseh Shackelford.  This letter takes issue with the May 30 letter from councilman Steve Lamb in PSN offering himself and presumed outgoing council chair George Lewis as escorts for anyone who wants to file a formal complaint.  (Another Town Council snit for your consideration).

7/3 Update:  Transparency:  Steve Lamb has written Altadenablog with a lengthy response to the letter linked above.  However, due to its length (we're a blog -- we do short)  and certain content, we told Steve we could not run it as written. (In addition, we're not exactly sure why we're supposed to run full responses to letters that we only link to.) We informed him that, if our standards were that restrictive to him, he was welcome to post anything he wanted to in another forum, such as his own blog, and we'd happily link to it.  He does not think this sufficient, and that's where we stand now.

Town council elections to be thrown out?

Crown City News reports in a rather breathless paragraph that the June 21 Altadena Town Council elections are in danger of being thrown out.  CCN reports that Regina Grimes plans to challenge her loss to Okorie Ezieme for CT 4602, and quotes council chair George Lewis that three other candidates are going to file protests, including Walter Olszewski for CT 4602.01, who lost against Alice Wessen.  CCN says that Lewis will put his newly-formed ethics committee, chaired by Joe Brown, on the case.

Now, UNLIKE CCN or any of the above-named parties, Altadenablog was present in the locked room at the Altadena Sheriff's Station for the count as an official observer, and it seemed above-board on that end.  It will be interesting to see on what basis the challenges are made.  Developing ...

Update 7/2 10 AM: Crown City News seems to have cleaned up the story a bit -- it's broken into paragraphs and Alice Wessen's name is spelled correctly now. (They still haven't fixed their story about the Town Council election results, tho')  They also maintain that the election may be thrown out, but Altadenablog's sources say there are enough votes to certify.  Obviously, the July 15 Town Council meeting will bear watching. (Actually, there's a lot of "bear watching" going on now ...)

Land Use Committee taking July off ...

... says Steve Lamb of the Altadena Town Council and Land Use Committee.  (The regular meeting is the first Tues. of the month, which would be tomorrow). The committee will resume its regular meetings in August.

Altadena does not have an average town council ...

... as represented in two PSN stories today.

In one, Larry Wilson runs down the exploits of ex-councilman (and recent defeated candidate) Rev. C.R. Tillman.

And Robert Hong looks at Keith "Sarge" Gibbs' "Commit II Achieve" training program (great pictures in the print version which are not available online).

PWeekly weighs in on "conflict of interest"

Andre Coleman, one of the better reporters at the Pasadena Weekly, gives his take on the "conflict of interest" controversy at the Altadena Town Council, pointing out that four incumbents in last weeks election were "sent packing" (hmm .... wonder where he got THAT description?).  It's a good story with great background (the kind we don't have the time to do, unfortunately), and includes the transparancy that Andre's cousin works for Sarge  (there's always enough "conflict of interest" to go around!)  Congrats to Andre on winning a Press Club award for another Altadena-based story.

Blog-a-dena

Tarita blogs about a visit to the Altadena main library (she likes it!)

Town councilman Steve Lamb blogs about the results of the town council election (he doesn't like it).

When Dr. Letitcia Wright was growing up in Altadena, she was somebody's imaginary friend.

Update 1:30 PM: Petrea at Pasadena Daily Photo has a picture of an Altadena-based bake sale for Obama last Sunday (hey, buddy!  The flag does not touch the ground!)

Conflict of interest? PUSD board member says no

Altadena town councilman Keith "Sarge" Gibbs forwarded a message he received from Tom Selinske of the PUSD Board as the "conflict of interest" controversy rages.  It appears after the jump:

Altadena voters clean house as incumbents fall in town council election

There will be four new faces on the Altadena town council as voters today sent every incumbent home packing in the contested races.

Okorie Ezieme (CT 4602), Alice Wessen (CT 4603.01), Tecumseh Shackleford (CT 4610),  and Ruth Neilan Edwards (CT 4612) won seats on the town council by comfortable margins.  Wessen's was the tightest race, besting her opponent, councilmember Walter Olszewski, by 16 votes, whereas Shackleford bested incumbent Bobby Thompson by 62 votes, and Ezieme beat his nearest opponent by 66 votes.  Neilan Edwards scored the greatest margin (69 votes), even though fewer total votes were cast in her race against council chair George Lewis.

Nine polling places around Altadena yielded a total of 735 votes this year, a significant number considering the record heat on election day.  It took about two and a half hours to count the ballots, which were tallied at the Altadena Sheriff's Station.

Results of the election follow. Winners are listed in boldface.

4601     Eugene Sund (incumbent)   75

4602     Mabel Duncan (incumbent)    31

            Okorie Ezieme               118

            Regina Grimes                 52

4603.01 Walter Olszewski (incumbent) 49

            Alice Wessen  65

4603.02    Dr. Sandra Thomas (incumbent) 24

4610     Bobby Thompson (incumbent) 46

            Tecumseh Shackleford 108

            Rev. C.R. Tillman 4

4611     Alan Wasserman (incumbent) 29

4612     George Lewis (incumbent) 27

            Ruth Neilan Edwards 96

4613     Susan Goldman (incumbent) 11