Pasadena’s Glenarm Power Plant (Photo – Pasadena Department of Water and Power).
The mother of truth is history, wrote Cervantes years ago, and the truth of the matter is that the Pasadena City Council Monday night dealt with issues of history, more precisely history in the making as important matters were raised which will have future impact upon Pasadena.
By Garrett Rowlan
First among these was the adoption of an Integrated Resource Plan. This is an ambitious, 20-year plan to pull Pasadena away from fossil fuels and becoming a city not only in compliance with Senate Bill 350, which requires a forty percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030, but to exceed that benchmark, possibly to a seventy-five-percent reduction. So said Mandip Samra, Pasadena’s Power Resource Planning Manager, presenting the staff recommendation to the council.
“This keeps Pasadena at the forefront of climate change and sustainability,” said Margaret McAustin, District 2 Councilmember. The plan includes alternative means of energy, whose price is rapidly falling and will require creative billing said Gurcharan Bawa, Pasadena’s DWP General Manager, as more homes are driven by solar power, possibly requiring charges more than the electricity used just to maintain a common grid. Energy will go both ways, created during the day and used at night. In addition, 122 charging stations for electric cars are envisioned. The restructuring away from the city’s dependence on outdated and environmentally destructive technologies will require shorter contracts with energy companies as the new technology evolves. Steve Madison, District 6, noted that the new plan contained an element of cognitive dissonance, selling energy to the consumer on one hand and trying to save it with the other. (Juggling contradictions may be a new, paradoxical truth in a rapidly changing world.) “This was a good discussion of a comprehensive document,” said Mayor Tornek, prior to the council’s adoption of the new Integrated Resource Plan.
Pasadena City Council meeting on Monday, Dec. 10, 2018 (Photo – Garrett Rowlan).
A watershed moment between City Council and PUSD
Another “historic” moment was the council’s adopting of ad hoc committee to help with the implementation of Measure J funds, historic in the sense that this involves a new level of integration between the council and the Pasadena School District. The council seemed to stress that the primary function of this new committee—whose numbers would be divided between the council and the school board—would be to establish a sure-footed solvency so that LA County won’t take over the district. “This is a watershed moment in the evolving relationship between the city and the school board,” said Margaret McAustin.
The council began the evening with a few ceremonials, the swearing in of new employees, the acknowledgement of milestones reached in years of service with the city—including some, like librarian Nick Smith who reached the 35-year mark—and the future appointment of Tyron Hampton, District 1, as the city’s Vice-Mayor beginning next year.
> Watch the full Pasadena City Council meeting on Monday, Dec. 10, 2018.
> Subscribe to Colorado Boulevard Print Edition and support local journalism.
Leave a Reply