Geoffrey Jost speaks in favor of municipal broadband at Pasadena City Council, Jan. 29, 2017 (Photo – Garrett Rowlan).
Early on in life, most of us learn that what we wish for and what we get are two different things.
By Garrett Rowlan
In the case of the City Council’s meeting on Monday night, 1/29, the future is one of peril and hope, and oftentimes one’s hopes are only provisional things.
Take the main subject on the meeting, the “ask” for what to do with the Major “R” funds, money that can be used for other resources now that the 710 freeway extension appears to be defunct.
Wish list
Caltrans has the dough, and what they intend to do with the “wish list” that the City Council will present them with is not certain. It is clear that Caltrans wants to improve traffic flow in the 710 corridor and reduce the demands put on the roads by car traffic.
One idea is to improve the coordination with Gold Line trains and street traffic signals, so that irritating waits at certain intersections can be minimized, another is a bridge on California, enabling the Gold Line to go over the street, thus eliminating the long waits before the signals change. (Del Mar and Glenarm are not candidates for this procedure, owning to Whole Foods underground garage in one location and extensive, buried cabling around Glenarm.)
Other ideas—the modifications of freeway onramps, the rerouting of street traffic, free bus passes for college and high-school students—had the effect of adding to the many layers of “moving pieces,” in the words of Councilmember Andy Wilson, that this wish list contains.
Improvements for increasing bicycle ridership is another possibility, along with funding a safer, greener, and more sustainable local transportation system and improving bus services in certain corridors, including Rosemead and Fair Oaks.
In the end, the council voted to send its “wish list” to Metro, and though some projects are farther along the line than others, one couldn’t help but think of the old metaphor of throwing mud against a wall and see what sticks.
David Wolf speaks in favor of the “Arroyo Link” (see link in article) at Pasadena City Council, Jan. 29, 2017 (Photo – Garrett Rowlan)
Public comments
In the public commentary at the meeting’s beginning, several people spoke of Pasadena’s supporting a municipal broadband, inasmuch as net neutrality was ended by the FCC. People said that the Internet should not be used for profit, that non-profit organizations, and families, and students, all would be affected if some kind of public service is not provided. One speaker pointed to the Central Library, saying that the maintenance of a viable public broadband is comparable to the construction of the central branch, many years ago.
The issue of the Internet will be “agendized,” according to City Manager Steve Mermell.
Kyle Douglas, Principal at Wilson Middle School, spoke of his school’s drum band, the public appearances it has made and will make, including a trip to Carnegie Hall. The problem is funding the trip. Douglas plans a multi-tracked approach to this issue—a series of “teachable moments”—including a funding page which should soon be up on the school’s website.
Students from the Global Initiative Alliance spoke of the environmental destruction caused by the use of palm oil, and the alternatives to traditional ways of making soap—already available—that would prevent the cutting down of palm trees and the subsequent loss of orangutan habitat.
Leave a Reply