Pasadena State of the City 2018: The Good, the Bad, and the Jazz in Between

Pasadena State of the City 2018 (Photo – Garrett Rowlan).

As evidenced by Tuesday’s nights State of the City speech by Pasadena Mayor Terry Tornek, the job of a modern city leader needs a combination of schmooze, sangfroid, and sensitivity to a myriad of competing agendas, complaints, and concerns. And the need to tell the community some hard financial truths.

By Garrett Rowlan

Making the pre-speech rounds prior to his address, the Mayor’s meet-and-greet took place in a community gathering which at times suggested the diversity of a United Nations’ meeting, though the location was the Marshall Fundamental School on Allen. Regardless, Mayor Tornek seemed in his element, working the crowd while the Marshall Band (video), led by director Anthony Carafone, played “I’m Coming Home,” “Stolen Moments,” “So What?”, and “It Don’t Mean a Thing,” the first and last numbers vocalized by student Chris Strayer, doing a good take on Mel Tormé. He was followed, once the ceremony had begun, by the Marshall Choir (video) doing their A Capella version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” starting the evening off on a high, pleasant note.

“Giving voice to victims” vigil protest organized by by Pasadenans and Altadenans Against Police Violence, at Mayor’s State of the City 2018 (Photo – ColoradoBlvd.net).

It was needed. Beyond the protestors’ interruption of the Mayor’s speech (the fallout from the Chris Ballew beating on November 9 continues to be a thorn in the community’s mood), the Mayor laid down one sobering fact, that the city’s financial problems, due to mostly retirements payments, has reached toxic status. The past, piecemeal reduction of services has whitewashed the city’s increasingly dire financial health. The Mayor reductions suggested that 2019 will be the year of the major cutbacks, especially dire is the financial health of the Pasadena Unified School District, and in terms of city services the Mayor indicated that the necessary job of rebuilding and fixing isn’t being done in a way that is sustainable.

To this end, the Mayor proposed a 0.75% Sales tax hike, a disclosure that got a collective groan from the crowd.

The Mayor also spoke the city’s ongoing chronic problems, homelessness, rising rents, and the tug of war between development and neighborhood “character”.

In terms of development, the Mayor stated that the most significant development was one that has been abandoned, the competition of the 710 extension, with the extra land that will go back to the city planned for a myriad of uses.

(R-L) Councilmember Gene Masuda and members of Pasadena Tenants Union (in green shirts) at the Pasadena State of the Union 2018 (Photo – ColoradoBlvd.net).

When the Mayor’s relatively short but fact-filled speech ended, he took questions. To this end, he said he didn’t support rent control; he advocated better training and policy to improve police interaction with the community; and though no marijuana shops had yet been licensed—which one questioner asked why in terms of the city’s financial problems—that was an issue sure to be revisited.

The speech ended at 20 minutes to 8.