Mayor Terry Tornek with representatives from Denim Day and the Armenian National Committee (Photo – Garrett Rowlan).
The Pasadena City Council’s Monday-night meeting dealt with weighty issues.
By Garrett Rowlan
It began with a proclamation from representatives of the Armenian National Committee acknowledging the Armenian Genocide of 1915, one in which 1 ½ million people died. Tuesday, April 24, 2018, is the observance day.
The ceremony was followed by a proclamation for Denim Day, April 25. “Another weighty announcement,” Mayor Terry Tornek said. Denim Day will call attention to sexual harassment. “There is never an excuse for or invitation to rape,” said a representative. In acknowledgement, the speaker urged everyone present to wear denim on Wednesday, April 25.
At 7, after the two proclamations were read, the Council chambers audience was whittled down to 17, including members of the press, huddled in the room’s back like sea gulls trailing an ocean trawler.
The passing of Pasadena activist and educator Marge Wyatt at age 93 also occasioned a rather long encomium.
Representatives from Denim Day and the Armenian National Committee surround Mayor Terry Tornek (Photo – Garrett Rowlan).
There followed public speaking on various issues, among them: the height and density of Pasadena buildings and the negative effects on traffic and noise; a call to have the three finalists for the Chief of Police vetted in an “inclusive” manner; a brochure to be distributed by Pasadena Civitan urging employment for the disabled; and a self-described prophet who quoted from Psalms 127 and went on to complain of his being frog-marched out of a church when his celestial vision wasn’t properly acknowledged.
And then there were the suicides, too many of them—eight this year—from the Pasadena Colorado Street Bridge, otherwise known as Suicide Bridge, an eponym all too accurate in recent history, to the point where a task force was formed. Director of Public Works Ara Maloyan presented various solutions: fences, lights, speakers, and signage. (“There’s Hope!”). The expense of these measures made some members wonder if the barriers wouldn’t make potential suicides just go elsewhere, in which case (the implication lingered) – why bother? No, they were told, the jump from a structure anointed with a historical cache is an impulse that is not often repeated in a less-significant area. The Council approved an ongoing process to investigate solutions.
The council then went on to hear a presentation concerning Pasadena’s compliance with state regulations concerning water usage.
> Watch the entire Pasadena City Council meeting for Monday, April 24, 2018 (2 hr, 49 min, 13 sec.).
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