The crowd at the beginning of the session (Photo – Garrett Rowlan).
Monday’s meeting of the Pasadena City Council was in terms of public attendance a front -loaded affair.
By Garrett Rowlan
A large opening crowd featured advocates of marijuana dispensaries objecting to the recent raids in Pasadena. For 20 minutes, the time allotted for open forum at the beginning of each sessions, they testified, but when the advocates left after the 20-minute open forum, the full chambers cleared out.
There was hardly anyone there, and indeed it was a drop-off of sexy issues, going from marijuana (for pain, people testified, for the avoidance of opiates) to the awarding of tree-pruning contracts, though there was useful information regarding the different skill sets in relation to the pruning and disposal of green waste.
The presentation on the dividing of Measure H funding showed funds going to Union Station, Friends in Deed, and the Hathaway-Sycamore organizations to combat different aspects of Pasadena’s homeless problem. There was little commentary.
The last part of the two-hour session was devoted to the reading of a revised ordinance to amend the Pasadena Municipal Code, this a response to the FCC’s “shock clock” proviso in which the city of Pasadena struggles to maintain some element of control in relation to the placing of breadbox-like (and, indeed, bigger than a breadbox) telecommunication cell sites around the city. “None of us are happy about this,” said Mayor Tornek at the end of the approval vote, but with the FCC breathing down the city’s neck, this was better than doing nothing—some local control maintained.
Unhappier still was the fate of Danny Wooten and Tyron Collins both of whom, Mayor Tornek said at evening’s end, received lengthy prison sentences, 14 and 7 years, respectively, in the embezzling of city funds.
Council adjourned after two hours. No meeting next week.
> Watch the full meeting of Pasadena City Council on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019.
Leave a Reply