We Get Letters

Leafblowers

I am a resident of Pasadena for 59 years born and raised.

I am also Terry Tornek’s neighbor.

In 2017 I raised the issue to the city of Pasadena City Ordnances not being enforced.

Most are not.

Specifically Leaf blowing machines. (leaf blowing gets the leaf, dust and dirt to become airborne)

It’s not rocket science.

It’s against ordinance.

It’s dirty.

It’s unhealthy.*WebMD 2017

It is illegally loud.

Pasadena ordinance (Ord 6845 s 3 2000: (part), (Ord 6227 s 1 (part)1987

Most 2 stroke leaf blowers puts out 4 times the emissions of your car.

PS. I have video with a decibel meter and the gardeners exceeding 88 decibels in my side yard.

I dropped the issue, after I got no results from either Andy Wilson or Mayor Tornek.

Attached are copies of the letters I sent to both councilman Wilson and my neighbor and Mayor Tornek.

I received one phone call intended to calm me for a lady, who too had a dusty back yard.

” What can we do?” She said.

I personally endure the same gardener on both sides of my house, blowing and decibels of 65 to 89 for least a half an hour ( against ordinance of leafy dust animal feces and some leaves blowing on either side of my property leaving my backyard absolutely filthy.

I asked the mayor about it in person.

He said “it’s never going to happen”.

Bottom line.

I pushed hard on this codes not being enforced in 2017 and nothing but one sympathetic phone call, ending with

” what can we do?

I want my voice heard.

Brian “Rick” Lamb
Pasadena

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Dear voters in Altadena, Pasadena, Sierra Madre and the unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County served by the Pasadena Unified School District,

We have a great opportunity – by passing Measure O on the November ballot – to invest $516.3 million into much-needed technology and facilities improvements across the PUSD – a major step forward for the schools, the students, their families and, of course, our entire community – an opportunity that’s too good to miss.

Measure O has these focusses:

• Success Spaces:  top of the line athletic facilities, visual and performing arts spaces, makers spaces (open labs used for robotics, coding, 3D printing and similar activities) and job training labs.

• Technology:  hardware lease so that this does not come out of the general fund and the infrastructure to support 21st century technology (wiring, servers, etc.), plus the buildings necessary to support our robust STEM programs, including up-to-date science labs.

• Sustainability: solar panels, water conserving landscaping, building insulation improvements, and energy efficient appliances.  Good for the environment and saving money that can be redirected to the classroom.

• Equity and Safety:  Our community founders invested in our children with the creation of beautiful schools.  Some of those schools are almost 100 years old.  For the benefit of our children, we need to update and maintain these beautiful schools and make them safer and more functional, and with facilities that meet evolving 21st century standards and promote excellent teaching and learning for every PUSD student every day.

The cost to property owners is modest – property taxes in Altadena, Pasadena, Sierra Madre and the unincorporated part of the county served by the PUSD will increase $20 per year per $100,000 in assessed value beginning in 2021 (less than $1.75 a month) increasing by 2028 to $45 per year per $100,000 in assessed value (less than $4 a month). Measure O will be paid off in 2051. (Note: assessed value is often lower, sometimes much lower, than market value.)

To catch up on some of the great things going on in the PUSD these days, please spend a few minutes taking a look at PUSD Today: 15 Things You Might Not Know at https://pasedfoundation.org/get-involved/pusd-today/

As you know, a community’s public schools are one of the community’s most valuable and important public resources. They prepare our future community leaders, they protect our property values, they’re key to addressing important issues around inequity and inequality (especially in a district like ours, where of the PUSD’s almost 16,000 students, 80% are of color and 60% are from low income families), and they do much more. For more on why education matters, see https://pasedfoundation.org/resources/why-education-matters/.

If you’re in doubt about Measure O, please consider that the PUSD is the only public school system we have.  We don’t have the option of waiting for it to get better.  We have to do all we can to make it stronger right now.  The students there now and in coming years deserve nothing less.  And we know that to be a truly great community, we must have a great public school system.

• Please visit https://www.pusdyesonmeasureo.com/, where you can:

• learn more about the PUSD, Measure O, and the process to identify the improvements it will fund,

• check our Frequently Asked Questions,

• make a financial contribution to enable us to conduct the strongest possible campaign,

• become a campaign volunteer,

• endorse the campaign and

• make an appointment to visit a school where Measure O funds will be invested.

• Please also encourage others to support Measure O.

• And, most important – please VOTE FOR MEASURE O!

If you have any question, comment or suggestion, please be in touch.

Thank you very much,

George A. Brumder
2020 PUSD Technology + Facilities Bond Committee
(626) 795-0315
gabrumder@gmail.com

Got something to say, email Managing Editor André Coleman, at andrec@pasadenanowmagazine.com