City Council Appropriates Department of Justice Grant Funds to Held Reduce Recidivism in Pasadena

The City Council voted to recognize $1 million and appropriate $333,333 in Department of Justice – Justice Reinvestment Initiative grant funds and increase personnel allocation by 1 limited-term full-time employee position.

According to a staff report, the Pasadena City Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for more than 1,500 defendants who have violent or serious criminal histories. This is a high percentage of the total when compared to other agencies, given that the population of Pasadena is approximately 150,000.

According to the report, Pasadena is disproportionately affected by defendants with violent or serious criminal histories.

The overall goal of the project is to strengthen the referral process from the courts and police to treatment organizations, particularly resources that are as close as possible to Pasadena, while also providing case management that will reduce recidivism.

With the new grant resources, the Pasadena City Prosecutor’s Office estimates that the caseload of those served will increase from 1,500 to 2,000 at any given time, closing a significant existing service gap.

California has the highest recidivism rate in the nation. More than 65% of those released from California’s prison system return within three years. 73% of those recidivists committed a new crime within one year of release.

For Los Angeles County and for Pasadena, those numbers are even higher, exceeding 75%.

“This number also does not include those that have violent or serious offenses, but are not sent to state prison, but are sent to County Jail and then re-offend,” according to a staff report. “The recidivism rate for these individuals is astronomical. Statistics show that almost 75% of individuals with violent or serious offense histories who are sent to the County Jail will re-offend within 3 years. This statistic seems to mirror the state prison rate for violent criminals.”

Also on Monday’s consent calendar:

The City Council also approved the submission of a functional classification change for local streets and roads to Caltrans.
If the council approves the resolution via a sweep motion, the following streets would be reclassified to a local roadway from a major collector roadway:

• Howard Street from Fair Oaks Avenue to Lake Avenue
• Howard Street from Arroyo Boulevard to Forest Avenue
• Lombardy Road from Arden Road to 200 feet west of Allen Avenue
• Lombardy Road from 400 feet west of La Presa Drive to 650 feet east of La Presa Drive
• Montana Street from Marengo Avenue to Los Robles Avenue
• Sierra Bonita Avenue from Washington Boulevard to Villa Street
• Sunnyslope Avenue from Walnut Street to Del Mar Boulevard
• Villa Street from Sierra Madre Boulevard to Sunnyslope Avenue

“All highways and roads in the United States are functionally classified using a common nomenclature developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to provide a consistently-defined roadway network across the country,” according to a staff report. “State Departments of Transportation are charged with ensuring that the functional classification of their roadways is kept up-to-date.”

Marengo Avenue from 230 feet north of Montana Street to Washington Boulevard would be reclassified to a local roadway from a minor arterial roadway.

Reclassifying roadway segments to local streets allows the speed limit to be set at 25 mph without the need to conduct an engineering and traffic survey. The survey is required to establish speed limits on non-local streets. In addition, this reclassification allows the city to potentially apply various traffic-calming treatments that are reserved for local streets through city policies.

Walnut Street from Foothill Boulevard to Kinneloa Avenue and Kinneloa Avenue from Foothill Boulevard to Walnut Street would be reclassified as a major collector roadway from local roadway.

The reclassification to major collector for Walnut Street and Kinneloa Avenue will match the existing roadway characteristics such as number of travel lanes, speed, traffic volume, distance, and access points to the proper roadway classification.

As part of Monday’s consent calendar, the City Council also approved:

• A $1,128,000 purchase order with Westco Distribution for electric tree wires. The Pasadena Water and Power Department has been successfully installing covered overhead electrical wires in its distribution system for more than two decades. The installations have resulted in reduced power outages normally caused by momentary contact of overhead electrical wires with tree branches or other conductors.

• A contract not to exceed $334,058 with Parkia Inc. for the Dunham Alley Conversion Project. Staff is planning to upgrade the existing 4kV system to 17kV for electric circuits along Dunham Alley from Sinaloa to Hamilton. This project which is included in the Fiscal Year 2022 adopted capital budget will solve power quality issues, such as drop in voltage during summer months and add electrical capacity to the upgraded circuits for future load growth.

• A $375,000 purchase order with Toter, LLC for the purchase of 7,000 rotational molded automated refuse containers. Toter, LLC is the only manufacturer of rotationally molded automated refuse containers that come in 32, 64 and 96 gallon sizes, which are the three specific sizes residents can choose from through the city’s “Pay as You Throw” refuse collection program.

• A $219,507 contract with EagleShield Pest Control to comprehensively address the various pest control needs at city facilities. The city of Pasadena’s Public Works Department Building Systems and Fleet Management Division (BSFMD) is responsible for interior and exterior pest control management for 37 sites. BSFMD is aligning with the standards and methodology of the University of California’s Statewide Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program.

• A purchase order to Los Angeles Truck Centers, LLC dba Velocity Vehicle Group for purchase of eight renewable Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) automated side-loading refuse packers for a total of $3,170,903. Eight renewable CNG automated side loading refuse packers are in need of replacement. The vehicles being replaced are 10 years old and have reached the end of their useful life. Upon delivery of the replacement refuse vehicles, these vehicles will be sent to auction per city policy.

• A $500,000 contract for installation of a new traffic signal at the intersection of South Fair Oaks Avenue and Bellevue Drive.

• A total of $450,000 in contracts to Arnolds and Walters Telecommunications Consultants and Magellan Advisors for fiber network engineering and construction management services.