Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor--State Farm's Julie Montenegro Supports Aldama Elementary

Julie Montenegro is the latest local business owner to form a partnership with Aldama Elementary School.

This following written by Aldama PTA member Monica Alcaraz. Local State Farm Agent Julie Montenegro is the newest member of the Highland Park business community to partner with and support Aldama Elementary School.  Aldama Elementary will receive a $15 donation for new clients that mention Aldama Elementary's referral program and purchase a new service: services include financial, auto insurance, house insurance and life insurance. This is part of an ongoing partnership with Aldama Elementary. Supporters can download the attached flyer for more information. Julie's office will provide free quotes and "Se Habla Espanol."  "I am happy to support Aldama Elementary, I am part of the community and it just makes good business to support our …

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Ba is a Great Place to Share an Evening, But Not Your Dessert

Restaurant Ba exceeded our expectations during its opening week.

It was date night.  A night which, in the past, would entail a babysitter and drive time to Pasadena or Silverlake to find a decent dining experience.  But with an influx of restaurateurs now setting their sights on York Boulevard we are fortunate enough to maximize babysitter rates on the restaurant experience instead of the drive time.  And with a copy of Adam Gopnik’s The Table Comes First – Family, France & the Meaning of Food sitting on my bedside table, it seemed more than appropriate to check out Ba, the new French bistro, on York Boulevard.  If you check out their website, you’ll learn that Ba has been a long-time coming.  In fact, I recall reading about this new place over the summer and confess that I had almost forgotten about …

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Schiff Wants L.A. River to Remain an Urban Waterway

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) describes why the Los Angeles River should continue with renewal projects.

Rep. Adam Schiff released this op-ed Thursday. It originally appeared on the Los Feliz Ledger: In the past, many viewed the Los Angeles River as little more than a concrete channel winding its way through our backyards, often dry and ignored. But we have now come to recognize that the river’s 32-mile journey through the heart of Los Angeles provides us with an excellent opportunity to unite our communities around a new and exciting waterway. In fact, the river is an asset with the power to connect hundreds of thousands of Angelinos.  In 2007, the Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan breathed new life into the L.A. River. Under the plan, a renewed River would be a continuous, functioning ecosystem that supports native fish, bird and…

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Susan R

8:36 am on Sunday, May 6, 2012

Councilmember Eric Garcetti and Ed Reyes are termed out office so they will leave office having done nothing.   more ›

Does York Boulevard Bridge Need a Road Diet?

What can be done to improve cyclist safety on the York Boulevard bridge?

Highland Park cyclists who ride into South Pasadena have likely noticed the new stretch of bike lanes recently painted on Pasadena Avenue, right after the termination of the York Boulevard Bridge. Writing for Flying Pigeon's blog, Los Angeles cycling advocate Richard Risemberg suggests that the short stretches of bike lane could become the first step in creating a bicycle way that connects Highland Park to South Pasadena. The one obstacle, however, is the York Boulevard bridge spanning the Arroyo Seco. The narrow and craggy bridge is a harrowing ride for cyclists and, on first blush, doesn't appear to be a great candidate for a bike lane given how narrow it is. Risemberg's solution? A road diet: From A Bridge Not Far Enough: ... yesterday …

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Severin Martinez

2:46 pm on Friday, May 4, 2012

If we continue the bike lanes from the South Pasadena border to where the bike lanes on York currently terminate we'll have one of the first pieces of a real regional bicycle network.The bridge should accommodate safe cycling; more and more people are taking up bicycling and particularly between South Pasadena and Highland Park and this York bridge is a vital connector.   more ›

Mount Washington Artists Join Pasadena Poet to Celebrate Neighborhoods

Poet Bart Edelman celebrates the publication of his sixth book of poetry, "The Geographer's Wife", at the closing reception for Shared Views: Local Scenes, featuring artists from Mount Washington, Highland Park, and South Pasadena.

It’s the end of April and coincidentally, the end of National Poetry Month.  This Saturday at the closing reception for Fremont Gallery’s Shared Views: Local Scenes show, a poet from Pasadena joins artists from Mount Washington, Highland Park, and South Pasadena to celebrate NELA neighborhoods. You’ll want to join them.  Here’s why. No matter what medium they use, artists help us look at old things in new ways.  And what better time than spring to get a fresh view of the familiar? Shared Views: Local Scenes You may already have seen Shared Views: Local Scenes, which has been up at Fremont Gallery for the past month.  Curated by glass artist and Mount Washington resident Julie Nagesh, the show features renderings of local vistas by several …

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Riot Remembered: What the Violence Taught Me

The L.A. Uprising of 1992 was not the first time the city swelled with violence.

What do I remember about the L.A. Riots? My memory of the time is divided in four almost distinct areas. First, my wife and I were going though some personal tumult, which was living large and loud in my head and was coloring everything in my life at that time. In those years we were living in Frogtown and I was the full time parent, and working from home. We took the kids to school, and the other parents hanging about were hysterical and their kids were terrified, so Mrs. O’Roscoe and I did the only reasonable thing. We took the kids to Disneyland. The place was nearly empty. I found the fear in some people’s faces amusing. I talked to more than one family that came to L.A. for a vacation and had been planning the trip for a while. They …

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VIDEO: Every Day is Earth Day at the Schneider Home

Jerry and Gloria Schneider designed their Southwest home with the environment in mind but offer tips that anyone can utilize.

“Every day should be Earth Day,” says Jerry Schneider.  And in Jerry and Gloria Schneider’s Southwest style home on Sea View Avenue, it is. Environmental Design for All A little over ten years ago, Gloria and Jerry had the luxury of designing a house that combined beauty and comfort with their passion for living in harmony with nature.  Jerry, a civil engineer with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, was able to bring all of his experience to bear on the beautiful project of their home. One would think that Jerry and Gloria more than “walked the talk” via their home’s conscious design. But when approached about the house being featured on Patch and The View from Jack Smith’s Street, it was Jerry who suggested that we discuss …

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Susan R

9:03 am on Monday, April 23, 2012

I admire them too and good for them that they have money to do those things. And, those are NOT little things. Insulation and other stuff cost big money. A ceiling fan is reasonable, but not all things are. An attic fan is great too. They sell solar ones at Costco. But people on low income can not afford that either. Let's tax those 1% that can afford to make their homes environmental correct and…   more ›

From the Editor

The Jackson Huang Lesson: Dismiss Cyclists At Your Own Peril

Bike advocates are furious over what they consider to be a dismissive response to a local teen by city officials.

Late last month, Florence Nightingale Middle School Student Jackson Huang sent a letter to Councilman Ed Reyes, requesting that bike lanes called for in Cypress Park through the city's five-year Bicycle Plan be implemented as soon as possible.  Councilmember Ed Reyes responded to Huang's letter about a week later, urging Huang to be patient as he waited for the lanes to be installed in Lincoln Heights. The lanes Huang wrote about would be located on Cypress Avenue and Avenue 28, both of which are actually located in Cypress Park. That was the first of what local cycling activists consider to be a pair of "dismissive" responses to Huang. Comments made by LADOT Spokesman Bruce Gillman about Huang's Letter in L.A. Streets Blog have prompted …

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Susan R

8:08 am on Saturday, April 21, 2012

Nishith, I agree with you but I don't think it will happen.   more ›

Jack and Denny Smith Trail Walk Returns For 17th Year

Hikers should expect a challenging climb, beautiful views, and convivial company, but no grackles.

The birds in my ‘hood have been having a shindig. Have they finally decided it’s spring? Are they heralding in the (early) 80-degree weather? Are they welcoming the wild parrots of South Pasadena?  (The latter only occasionally visit my neck of Mount Washington, but I’ve recently heard tales of wild parrot parties that rival teen blowouts for exuberance and volume.) Maybe the birds of Mount Washington are just excited about the seventeenth-annual Jack and Denny Smith Trail Walk, which takes place this Sunday, April 22. The trail, after all, is marked with placards bearing images of the hard-to-spot grackle. Hard to spot west of the Mississippi, that is. Jack Smith and the Grackle In the 1960’s, Mount Washington resident Jack Smith casually…

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So-Cal Citrus Faces Unprecedented Threat

The deadly disease has been found in Hacienda Heights.

Citrus has a long history in California. From their introduction by the Spanish in the Mission groves to the "second gold rush" and the establishment of the citrus industry in Riverside, Orange County, Ventura and the San Joaquin Valley to the ubiquitous backyard trees of Southern California, citrus and California are interconnected the way that few places and plants are. Our climate is not just great for growing citrus--it's perfect. Now our citrus paradise is under a threat of historic proportions. Two weeks ago Huanglongbing (HLB) was discovered in a backyard in Hacienda Heights. HLB--Yellow Dragon Disease--is known in the West as Citrus Greening and is a bacterial disease with no known cure. Its vector is the Asian psyllid, an aphid …

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Susan R

2:38 pm on Thursday, April 19, 2012

I don't think that I do the tree does have that. They were just going around the whole neighborhood spraying every tree that has citrus. They never inspected the tree. They were just going around spraying. They said I had a choice. If the tree was infected I don't think they would have given a choice. I don't think Shawn should be too hard on me because I don't know about trees. Yet she was not …   more ›