Learning link (PW article)

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Learning link

Local nonprofit supplements educational needs for struggling students

By Justin Chapman, Pasadena Weekly, 2/16/2012

When the nonprofit organization Neighbors Acting Together to Help All (NATHA) was first created in 1991, it was a small neighborhood watch group tucked away in a residential section of Northwest Pasadena, near the Altadena border.

Over the years, it has transformed into a critical support network for students and families from all over Greater Pasadena, from San Gabriel to La Canada Flintridge.

Now the grassroots agency is partnering with other local community organizations, as well as most charter, private and public schools, to serve an area of about 1,900 homes with afterschool and summer programs for kindergarteners to high school students, offering programs Monday through Friday with occasional activities on the weekends.

"NATHA was created specifically to give an opportunity to all children, but especially children who may not be exposed to different opportunities, to travel or go on field trips, or be exposed to different things they may not have if they weren't participating in a program," said program coordinator Jalila Walker.

NATHA's programs, designed to supplement what they're learning in school, include: the Lemonade Brigade, an entrepreneurial business created by the Youth Leadership Group that sells lemonade at community events and reinvests the profits back into the organization; the Wagon Tails program, in which kids read to dogs to help build their reading confidence; tennis instruction with the company iTennis; and fitness activities with a personal trainer.

This year, students in the organization's anti-drug and alcohol coalition are planning to expand the Web series they created, which so far is composed of three episodes that the coalition wrote, filmed, acted in and edited with financial support and resources donated by OnWeb Television.

For all the organization's strong ties to the community and partnerships with various schools, however, NATHA remains somewhat under the radar, and that is no accident.

"We're really in the trenches," said Celestine Walker, NATHA's executive director. "We're at the grassroots level, and we really want to make sure that we're providing the services that are needed, so our focus is there as opposed to advertising our accomplishments all over town."

She added that they spend more time trying to interface with young people and their families to make their community better and level the playing field.

"We can't look outward as much, because we don't want to miss a beat here by being more external," she said. "It's also really complicated out there and highly political. We don't want to be derailed from what our passion and purpose truly is and why we're here, and that's the families and people in our community. We're very invested here."

For those involved with NATHA, that sentiment is exactly what makes the organization so special.

"What struck me most about the organization was that the people involved seemed to be genuinely interested in waht they were doing," said Colin Burton, a former Weekly contributor who tutored at NATHA in summer 2001. "When I took the job, I assumed that everyone was somewhat interested in the field of work but mostly in it for a paycheck, as I was at first. But by the end of the summer, it was obvious that the staff genuinely cared about supporting and enriching their community, and the sentiment was infectious. By the end, I found myself doing things above and beyond what I was paid for, simply for the satisfaction of knowing that I had helped in some way."

NATHA is funded by private donations, LA County's Community Development Commission (CDC) and grants, such as the federal Department of Health and Human Services' Drug Free Communities Grant. Jalila Walker said she's not worried about the end of redevelopment funding.

"I don't think it will affect NATHA in a negative way," she said. "We've been able to survive here for a long period of time. A lot of our resources come from our parents and community partners who support what we do, and so that's how we really survive. It's about the commitment of our community partners and the parents and people who work here still willing to make it work."

In the future, Walker would like to see NATHA expand its services to include resources for young adults who have graduated from high school and are either looking for a job or applying to colleges.

"I think young people who are fresh out of high school, until they are about 24 years old, need a place to go where they can learn skills, such as writing resumes and cover letters," she said, " as well as find out what other options they have, like internships or externships or volunteering somewhere. Because even if they can't get a job, there are still opportunities where they can get the skills they need to succeed."

NATHA's staff is actively working toward realizing that goal of expanding the organization to include those kinds of programs.

"We appreciate those who remember that we're here and come by to offer their services," said Walker. "That's what it's about, taking care of each other and making sure that people are successful in society."

To learn more about NATHA, call (626) 794-5889 or visit natha.org.

Words to live by/Life learners/Fast learners (PW article)

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Print version:

Words to live by

Chineses students visit with Pasadena counterparts studying Mandarin

By Justin Chapman, Pasadena Weekly, 2/2/2012

A delegation from China recently provided area students enrolled in a popular dual-language immersion program with a rare opportunity to test their fluency in Mandarin by interacting with their counterparts from Beijing.

The 70-teacher and 62-student delegation from Huangchenggen Elementary School in the Xicheng District of Beijing, Pasadena's sister city, last week visited Eugene Field Elementary, which has more than 100 students taking part in the school's growing English-Mandarin dual-language immersion program. The program--one of two offered by the Pasadena Unified School District, the other conducted in Spanish at San Rafael Elementary--has nearly quadrupled in size since it began more than two years ago.

Over two days, guests visited classrooms and observed the future bi-literate students in action--from kindergarteners taking turns counting in Mandarin to first-graders learning about and tasting food with a nutritionist, and from second-graders working on a video newscast in English to third-graders learning multiplication in Chinese.

The total number of students in the Mandarin program has grown from 28 when it first started at Altadena's Burbank Elementary School in 2009 to its current level of 110. The grant-funded program moved to Field Elementary last year after the PUSD shuttered Burbank due to declining enrollments and budget cuts.

The program is expected to continue growing next year if future grant applications with the US Department of Education's Foreign Language Assistance Program are approved. There appears to be no shortage of interest in the program, based on applications submitted during Pasadena Unified School District's open enrollment process, which ended last week. According to district Communications Director Adam Wolfson, students from Arcadia and other nearby school districts are applying to get in the program.

"We're happy to have them, but students within PUSD come first," Wolfson said.

"At this time, we have two programs which are thriving," said Kathy Onoye, PUSD's executive director of elementary schools, referring to both the Mandarin program at Field and the English-Spanish immersion program at San Rafael.

"Due to budget constraints, we really haven't been talking about moving beyond that," Onoye said. "Programs like this are fantastic. We'd love to do more, but because of the budget situation, it's just not feasible."


Longer web version:

Life learners

Field Elementary’s dual-language immersion program allows more students to become bi-literate at a young age

By Justin Chapman, Pasadena Weekly, 2/2/2012

Last Friday and Tuesday, right in the middle of the Chinese New Year celebration, dozens of representatives from Pasadena’s sister city in China, the Xicheng District of Beijing, visited Pasadena Unified School District’s Eugene Field Elementary. The group of Chinese teachers’ and students’ two-day tours of the school’s growing English-Mandarin dual language immersion program (DLIP) gave Field students a rare and unparalleled opportunity to test their fluency by speaking and interacting with their counterparts from China.

The program has become very popular since it began in 2009 at Burbank Elementary in Altadena. The total number of students has grown from 28 when it first started to its current level of 110 and is expected to continue to grow next year now that PUSD’s open enrollment process is underway. According to Adam Wolfson, the district’s communications director, students from Arcadia and other nearby school districts are applying to the program.

“We’re happy to have them, but students within PUSD come first,” said Wolfson.

The Chinese guests visited each classroom and witnessed the future bi-literate students in action, from kindergarteners taking turns counting in Mandarin to first-graders learning about and tasting food with a Chinese nutritionist, and second-graders working on a video newscast in English to third-graders learning multiplication in Mandarin.

Students who participate in the program learn core academic content, such as language arts, math and science, in both languages, spending 10 percent of the day learning in English and 90 percent in Mandarin their first year. The next year is split 80/20 and so on until it is 50/50. This allows them to become proficient and fluent in both languages at an early age.

“By that time, the students are pretty literate in the target language,” said Wolfson. “Students who are bi-literate when they graduate high school will have a seal on their diplomas and receive PUSD’s Certificate of Bi-Literacy.”

As the students get older the program will continue to expand to the next grade. As for expanding it to other schools, however, the focus right now remains fixed on the existing dual language immersion programs.

“At this time we have two programs which are thriving,” said Kathy Onoye, PUSD’s executive director of elementary schools, referring to both the Mandarin program at Field and the very similar English-Spanish dual language immersion program at San Rafael Elementary School. “Due to budget constraints we really haven’t been talking about moving beyond that. Programs like this are fantastic. We’d love to do more, but because of the budget situation it’s just not feasible.”

Each class is taught by certified bilingual teachers. In the classroom students are only allowed to speak whichever language that part of the day is set aside for.

“This year we have put a new rule in place that the Mandarin program classroom teacher only addresses the children in Mandarin so the kids cannot see them speaking English,” said Field principal Ana Maria Apodaca.

An English teacher from Beijing explained during the tour that they have the same rule at Field’s sister school in China.

“The teachers have said that it is encouraging the kids and prompting them to use more Mandarin,” said Apodaca. “It’s a different approach than the English-Spanish dual language immersion program at San Rafael Elementary. Most students here are not using Mandarin in a comfortable, natural way. We don’t see the language being used student to student, so we try our best to encourage them to use it in an informal way outside the classroom.”

Those efforts include classroom programs such as “Harvest of the Month,” where the students learn about a different vegetable or fruit in Mandarin and get to taste it. During the visit by Chinese representatives the citrusy smell of grapefruit wafted out of the science room. There are two nutritionists on staff who help teach the kids to use the language in such creative ways as the monthly harvest program.

“I don’t speak Mandarin so I can’t communicate with the teacher in front of the children, so I’ll write notes and communicate in other ways,” said Apodaca. “It’s been a challenge for me and some parents to communicate with the teachers and students in Mandarin, so sometimes we use physical gestures.”

When the Board of Education voted to shutter Burbank last year, the Mandarin dual language immersion program, which is funded in part by a federal Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant, moved to Field Elementary in Pasadena for the 2011-12 school year, where it is managed by the Mandarin Parent Advisory Committee. The grant lasts for three years, and the committee is currently in the process of applying for another grant to continue the program next year.

Although the grant has helped provide personnel and support curriculum development, the program itself is funded by the district, according to Onoye.

“Every year we expand to the next grade level, so it’s a growing program,” she said. “It would survive without the grant, however. As long as we have students, the program will be able to expand.”

This year, the school has a total of five Mandarin dual language immersion classes: two for kindergarten and one each for first- through third-grades. Although there are a few more Asian students than other ethnicities, Onoye said, there is a very diverse cross section of Pasadena represented in the program. About 50 percent of the students are Asian and the other 50 percent is a mix of African-American, Caucasian and Latino children.

The Mandarin Parent Advisory Committee consists of two parent representatives at each grade level, a project coordinator, one dual language immersion program teacher, principal Apodaca, and Mandarin community assistant Dr. Cathy Wei, who teaches at Pasadena City College and heads that school’s Chinese language program. Wei helped organize the tours for the Beijing sister city teachers and students. The committee meets monthly to address concerns and ensure the program’s smooth implementation.

The next meeting will take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 15 at Field Elementary, located at 3600 Sierra Madre Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 396-5860 or visit field.pasadenausd.org for more information.


Original brief version:

Fast learners

Field Elementary’s dual language immersion program allows more students to become bi-literate at a young age

By Justin Chapman

With the Pasadena Unified School District’s Open Enrollment process now underway, more students are expected to participate in the district’s English-Mandarin dual language immersion program held at Eugene Field Elementary School.

The program, which has been growing in popularity across LA County, began in 2009 at Burbank Elementary in Altadena when the district received a federal Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant. After the school board voted to shutter Burbank last year, the program moved to Field Elementary in Pasadena for the 2011-12 school year, where it is managed by the Mandarin Parent Advisory Committee. The grant lasts for three years and the committee is currently in the process of applying for another grant to continue the program next year.

Although the grant has helped provide personnel and support curriculum development, the program is funded by the district, according to Kathy Onoye, PUSD’s Executive Director of Elementary Schools.

“Every year we expand to the next grade level, so it’s a growing program,” she said. “It would survive without the grant, however. As long as we have students the program will be able to expand.”

This year the school has two Mandarin dual language classes for kindergarten and one each for first through third grades. The number of students has grown from 28 to 110 since it started nearly two and a half years ago and is expected to continue that trend. Although there are a few more Asian students than other ethnicities, Onoye said there is a very diverse cross section of Pasadena represented in the program.

Students who participate in the program learn core academic content, such as language arts, math and science, in both languages, spending 10 percent of the day learning in English and 90 percent in Mandarin their first year. The next year is split 80/20 and so on until it is 50/50. This allows them to become proficient and fluent in both languages at an early age.

“By that time the students are pretty literate in the target language,” said Adam Wolfson, Director of Communications at PUSD.

On Jan. 31, just a week after Chinese New Year, representatives from Pasadena’s sister city in China, the Xicheng District of Beijing, will be visiting Crown City. They will be making a stop at Field Elementary, giving the dual language immersion program students an unparalleled opportunity to test their fluency.

The Mandarin Parent Advisory Committee consists of two parent representatives at each grade level, a Mandarin community assistant, Field’s principal Ana Maria Apodaca, a project coordinator, and one dual language program teacher. It meets monthly to address concerns and ensure the program’s smooth implementation.

Forever young (PW article)

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Forever young

Winning the battle over some of the unwanted consequences of aging

By Justin Chapman, Pasadena Weekly, 1/26/2012

Matt Kramer must have some reputable standing in the medical world, because last week the company he owns, Oh!UBeauty Med Spa in Glendale, acquired a new device called a Cool Sculpting machine that not just anyone can get.
“It’s so coveted that you can’t buy it if you want to,” said Kramer. “You have to have clout and be a good enough doctor if you want to get it.”

The machine, recently approved by the Federal Drug Administration, offers a nonsurgical procedure that freezes fat cells and kills them permanently in order to lose pinchable fat, such as under arms and love handles. It is primarily for older people who want to lose about five to 15 pounds of fat that they can’t otherwise get rid of. It’s not a device that can be compared to liposuction, and it’s not designed for overweight or obese people.

“The machine is not invasive, compared to liposuction or lasers, which can be very invasive, painful and expensive,” Kramer explained.

The Cool Sculpting machine is not the only service that the popular med spa offers. The staff of 18 medical professionals focuses on the aesthetic aspects of medicine. They do injectable procedures, like Botox and dermal fillers, and anything else that gets the job done, besides plastic surgery.

“It’s affordable, quick, easy and you don’t go into the ER or anything,” said Kramer. “It’s very effective, and there’s no down time. I think our customers are happy and keep coming back because our prices are good, our personnel are very experienced and customers leave very satisfied. We’re now one of the largest medical spas in Los Angeles County.”
The med spa’s prices range from $750 to $1,500 per treatment. Currently, there is a big introductory special being offered.

Oh!UBeauty is at 130 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 130, Glendale. Call (818) 551-1682 or visit oubeauty.com for more information.

If you’re looking for a med spa that also includes plastic surgery, check out Congress Cosmetic Medical Corporation in Pasadena.

Dr. Marilyn Mehlmauer has been in business at the same location since 1991. Mehlmauer has a highly trained staff of medical professionals that includes three physicians, a licensed esthetician and four staff administrators, two of whom are registered nurses.

Mehlmauer’s business is a dermatology practice, covering skin cancer, surgeries, cosmetic procedures, Botox, plastic surgery, facelifts, neck lifts and liposuction. Like Kramer’s spa, her business has also seen an increase in customers over the past few years.

“I think it’s because we have really talented young physicians. The patients are just very happy with what they’re getting, so they tell their friends,” said the doctor. “Also, the economy is getting a little better. But mostly the customers are very happy with the results they get and also the attention. We are intentionally involved in getting the patient good quality care, and it shows.”

She added that the benefits to her practice generally include healthier skin. They try to fit the treatment to the problem, disease or defect, as well as the patient’s economic situation.

“We try to gear the treatment to the patient’s lifestyle and ability to pay,” she said.

Mehlmauer added that she’s surprised to hear patients telling her how much more expensive other places are than Congress Cosmetic Medical Corporation, which is located at 10 Congress St., Pasadena.  Call (626) 585-9474 or visit www.mehlmauer.com for more information.

‘Occupy’ everything (PW article)

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‘Occupy’ everything

New Occupy group set to hold two protests against corporate personhood and political influence

By Justin Chapman, Pasadena Weekly, 1/19/2012

A new Occupy group that includes some old members of the movement has planned two protests inspired by Move to Amend, a coalition of groups opposed to US Supreme Court rulings allowing unlimited contributions to politicians and granting personhood to corporations.
 
The group Occupy Democracy-Pasadena is not part of Occupy Pasadena, Occupy the Rose Parade or Occupy LA, but a few main organizers from those groups are participating, including Occupy Pasadena’s Patrick Briggs, Maddie Gavel-Briggs and Karen Berger. Also included is Pete Thottam, who organized Occupy the Rose Parade.
 
Friday’s protest is called Occupy the Courts, which is part of a national effort by Move to Amend, which includes the American Friends Service Committee, the Alliance for Survival, the Center for Media and Democracy and the National Lawyers Guild among its 15 members.
 
Demonstrators will gather in front of the Pasadena Central Library, across the street from the Pasadena Superior Courthouse, from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday. They are mainly against the Supreme Court ruling two years ago in Citizens United v. the Federal Elections Commission, which allowed corporations to give unrestricted amounts of money to political campaigns. 
 
“We the people of the United States of America reject the US Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights,” said Berger.
“Corporations now have almost complete control over the financing mechanism of campaigns,” Thottam said. “All these companies are empowered by Citizens United, and it really is one dollar, one vote. So you’ve got a complete plutocracy now, where the electoral process is controlled by corporate interests. Occupy the Courts is saying ‘Corporate money out of politics.’” 
Saturday’s protest is called Occupy the Corporations. From noon to 3 p.m. protesters will gather in front of the AT&T building, 83 E. Colorado Blvd.

‘Warrior’ artist (PW article)

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‘Warrior’ artist

Controversial and prolific artist Betye Saar comes home

By Justin Chapman, Pasadena Weekly, 1/19/2012

After proving herself as one of the most influential assemblage artists of the past 50 years, Betye Saar is still going strong at age 85. Over the years, the artist’s sometimes controversial works have been shown at prominent museums and art galleries, and today she’s come back to her hometown for a Pacific Standard Time exhibit at the Pasadena Museum of California Art.
 
Opening Sunday, “LA RAW: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles 1945-1980, From Rico Lebrun to Paul McCarthy” includes works by Saar and 40 others in a variety of media examining the roles these artists played in the historical context of post-World War II America. 
 
“My most famous piece is ‘The Liberation of Aunt Jemima,’ which is a figure that was fabricated, actually manufactured, to be a kitchen item to hold a notepad and a pencil and things like that,” Saar explains in a recent interview with the Pasadena Weekly. “So instead of the pencil, I put a rifle in there, and instead of the notepad, I put a photograph in there, so that sort of became an icon. Instead of a servant, I made her a warrior.”
 
Saar’s family moved to Pasadena in 1932, and although she now lives in Los Angeles, she attended Cleveland and Washington elementary schools as well as Washington Junior High and spent the last two years of high school at Pasadena City College, when it was called Pasadena Junior College. She studied art at UCLA and received her master’s degree from Cal State Long Beach.
 
After dabbling in fine arts and printmaking, Saar dedicated her talent and energy to assemblage art, or three-dimensional collages. She started gaining respect and admiration in the art world following her controversial works, which recycled derogatory images and figures, such as Aunt Jemima and Little Black Sambo.
 
Dorothy Garcia, co-founder of the Altadena-based nonprofit Art Aids Art, has known Saar’s mother and family since she was 14, but it wasn’t until seeing one of Saar’s art shows in San Francisco that she realized Saar’s connection with Pasadena and her life.
“For me, Betye is a West Coast artist, a Pasadena artist, and she’s just starting to realize how much she is loved here,” says Garcia. “I would really like to see Pasadena own her. She is a goddess.”
 
Saar recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the California African American Museum for her contribution to the early black arts and women’s movements. But even at age 85, Saar is nowhere near retiring.
 
“I think my success just comes from continually doing it,” she says. “I can’t give up, because I just have too many ideas, and I’ve got all this stuff to do, so that’s why I think I continue to be an artist. The more you do, the more you can do.”
 
Saar recalls how she started out, after discovering a trunk that her mother had brought back from Kansas City. The trunk was full of handkerchiefs, gloves, personal letters and other items, such as old photographs of African Americans, which she began using in assemblage art aimed at telling the story of her mixed African, Irish and Native American heritage.
 
“I like transforming junk into something else,” said Saar. “I go to the PCC flea market, thrift stores, antique stores and yard sales. Those are good places to find materials. I like turning trash into art, which is kind of a California movement.”
 
The length of time it takes her to finish a piece varies. She’s always writing down ideas and collecting items to use, and sometimes it takes several years until she has gathered enough materials to create a display. Once she is ready, however, putting a piece together usually doesn’t take too long. Her home and art studio is filled with rare and antique items waiting to be turned into three-dimensional works of art.
 
Although she has only had one solo art installation, Saar enjoys showing her work with other artists. One group show she is particularly proud of consisted of her work along with visual art created by two of her three daughters, Alison and Lezley.
 
“Betye is the only artist who has had a show with two other women, both her daughters, at the Pasadena Museum of California Art,” said Garcia. “It’s a big deal. If Michelangelo and his son had a show together, we would think it was so hot. The fact that her progeny is having art shows with her, it’s just not usually done.”
 
Saar, who has been represented by the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery in New York for more than two decades, is ready to bring her work back to the city she grew up in.
 
“It’s always hard to make it in your own hometown,” said Saar. “It seems like you have to go elsewhere and develop a reputation and then you can be accepted back home. But I’ve always been very fond of Pasadena, and I still go there a lot.” 
“LA RAW: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles 1945-1980, From Rico Lebrun to Paul McCarthy” opens from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday to May 20 at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, 490 E. Union St., Pasadena. The museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Call (626) 568-3665 or visit www.pmcaonline.org for more information.



Think ahead (PW article)

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Think ahead

How to avoid illnesses, even without health insurance

By Justin Chapman, Pasadena Weekly, 1/19/2012

Pasadena is one of only three cities in California that maintains its own independent health department, which was created more than 120 years ago. 
 
While the scope of the services provided is very broad, the Pasadena Public Health Department also utilizes a Disease Prevention and Control Division that focuses on immunization, lead poisoning and public health clinics specializing in Tuberculosis, prenatal and HIV/AIDS testing and prevention.
 
According to the department’s Web site, health is broadly defined as “both the absence of disease and the presence of well-being — physical, social, economic, mental and spiritual.”
 
Everyone knows how important it is to stay healthy. The healthier you are, the better you feel. But how does one make sure he or she does not get a debilitating, or even worse, fatal illness? 
 
Some ways to avoid catastrophic illnesses are obvious. Quit cigarettes if you smoke; do not start if you are already tobacco free. That can be easier said than done, but it is definitely possible and there are plenty of options out there for those who are ready and willing to put in the effort to quit the habit. 
 
Drinking alcohol, taking drugs and eating disorders are also ways to develop unwanted stress, disease and illness. Like the old saying goes, everything in moderation. It’s a good rule to live by.
 
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) can easily be avoided by practicing safe sex. While condoms are hardly 100 percent guaranteed safeguard against STDs, you are, without question, much better off using them than not. When in doubt, get the morning after pill and/or get tested for HIV and other STDs as soon as possible. 
 
Officials at Planned Parenthood, located at 1045 N. Lake Ave., are there to help people in those often uncomfortable situations. Don’t put off something so important out of shame or embarrassment. The situation will not go away, and avoiding it will only make things worse.
 
Detecting and treating diseases can be very costly, but even if you don’t have health insurance, there are local options to turn to. The Community Health Alliance of Pasadena (CHAP) and the city’s public health clinics, for instance, have programs aimed at educating and preventing HIV and other STDs. Health insurance isn’t even required to get tested, which is a very important step in avoiding these types of life-changing illnesses.
 
CHAP, which provides low- and no-cost services to those who meet income qualifications, has three locations in Pasadena: 1855 N. Fair Oaks Ave., 1800 N. Lake Ave., and 3160 E. Del Mar Blvd. Call (626) 398-6300 to schedule an appointment. No one is turned away due to their inability to pay.
 
The city’s Disease Prevention and Control Division covers a myriad of activities, such as public health field nursing to investigate cases of communicable disease and to counsel and educate infected individuals; tuberculosis control; sexually transmitted disease counseling and treatment; HIV/AIDS outpatient medical services; public health laboratory testing and analysis; travel immunizations; and childhood lead poisoning prevention and treatment.
 
No one wants to deal with a catastrophic illness. Take care of your mind and body — you only get one. If you don’t have health insurance, there are free clinics right here in Pasadena that exist to help you live a long, prosperous life. Take advantage of their services. 

Re-carving Pasadena (PW article)

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Re-carving Pasadena

Separate task forces consider City Council and school board district boundaries

By Justin Chapman, Pasadena Weekly, 1/12/2012

Wednesday night marks one of the last opportunities people will have to review the work of a special task force charged with redrawing the boundaries of Pasadena’s seven City Council districts.
 
The redistricting effort, which is mandated every decade to include demographic changes reflected in the US Census, has been headed by former Councilman Bill Crowfoot, an Assistant US Attorney and two-term Pasadena councilman who served from 1993 to 2001.
 
After nine meetings since August, the only thing that appears clear — with another meeting set for Feb. 1 and a tentative final session set for Feb. 15 before the nine-member Redistricting Task Force’s recommendations go to the Council for consideration — is that all seven districts will continue abutting Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena’s main commercial artery.
 
Meanwhile, the Pasadena Unified School District has commissioned a task force to essentially do much the same thing. PUSD’s nine-member Districting Task Force is reviewing the 1999-2000 City Charter Amendment proposal for sub-geographic district elections of Board of Education members and using 2010 Census data and public input to determine geographic regions for seven school board seats. This means the selection method for PUSD board members would change from current at large elections to district-based elections, similar to how City Council elections are set up. 
 
The PUSD Districting Task Force, which next meets Saturday morning, has a bigger area to consider than the city’s task force, because PUSD also encompasses the unincorporated community of Altadena and the city of Sierra Madre. PUSD and the City Council appointed three members each to the task force, with one member appointed by the Sierra Madre City Council and two appointed by LA County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, whose supervisorial district includes Altadena.
 
The task force is also required to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act. At its Nov. 15 meeting, members voted unanimously to follow four other criteria for drawing up seven new school district boundaries: socio-economic factors; race, ethnicity and linguistics; natural geographic boundaries; and school attendance zones, including school locations and student attendance patterns.
 
“I favor it, because it brings a more local democracy,” said PUSD Board member Ramon Miramontes. With districts, he said, “The average person, the average parent can now run. They can walk the district. They don’t have to raise the $50,000-plus. So I think we’re going to have a stronger pool of candidates.” 
 
Pasadena Unified’s task force has six scheduled public hearings left in order to receive community input on the process, following the first hearing, which took place Jan. 3. A special election set for June 5 will allow voters to decide on a City Charter amendment allowing for the creation of PUSD electoral districts.
 
It’s still unclear whether Altadena or Sierra Madre will get their own sub-district seats on the school board, though at the joint meeting between the Pasadena City Council and the PUSD Board of Education last January, a few school board members expressed doubt that would be the case.
 
“I know there’s been some discussion floating around,” said Board member Ed Honowitz. “If we divide [the district] evenly by seven, it’s not going to fall exactly like that. There won’t be a separate city of Sierra Madre representative, for instance.”
 
John Pappalardo, PUSD’s chief finance officer, told the Weekly that with roughly 206,000 people in the school district, there needs to be about 29,000 people in each sub-district.
 
“Since Sierra Madre has about 15,000 residents and Altadena has about 42,000 residents, each could be split into part of one or two sub-districts. So it’s going to be up to the community to weigh in and decide how these lines are drawn,” Pappalardo said. 
“Some Altadenans say they want their own seat, but another thought I’ve heard from Altadenans is that they want to be part of multiple sub-districts, so they’ll have more representatives and more access in the school district. Those are issues that will come up during the public hearings,” he said.
 
“There are a lot of people who do not venture into the political realm at PUSD because it’s at large,” Miramontes said. “For you to run in West Altadena and go all the way to Sierra Madre, imagine the types of communities you’d have to touch bases with. You can’t really win a school board race without tens of thousands of dollars in mailers. Now with districts, you’ve made it viable for the average Joe or Jane to run. Now it would take seven to 10 [thousand dollars], and they could make up for the lack of money by walking and meeting the voters.”
 
In city redistricting efforts, consultant Douglas Johnson said criteria for that task force included compliance with the Voting Rights Act and ensuring that each district is equal in population. 
 
Of two sample maps being considered, the second would have the greatest effect on District 5 — Crowfoot’s former district, which is located roughly in the center of northern Pasadena and was carved out of parts of Districts 2 and 3 in the early 1990s to increase voting opportunities for the growing number of Latinos living there.
 
Although Crowfoot is not Latino, he speaks Spanish fluently. Since Crowfoot left office, the district’s council seat has been occupied by his former field representative, Councilman Victor Gordo.
 
Between 2000 and 2010, the city’s total population increased by 3,186 residents, or 2.4 percent. Districts 3, 4, 6, and 7 increased in population slightly, while Districts 1, 2, and 5 decreased, with District 5 seeing the largest decline in Latino and African American residents.
 
“That district’s had the greatest decline in population, so it has to grow and expand somewhat,” said Crowfoot. “It’s interesting, because it illustrates how some areas of our city are stable and people want to continue to be part of the same neighborhoods in which they’ve established good relationships with their neighbors and council representatives, while in other parts of the city new neighborhoods have been created that weren’t around when the last Census was done. This is unusual, he said.
The next meeting of the Pasadena Redistricting Task Force is set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Villa-Parke Community Center, 363 E. Villa St., Pasadena. For more information, call (626) 744-4124. To view the sample maps, visit 
cityofpasadena.net/cityclerk/redistricting.
 
The next meeting of the PUSD Districting Task Force is set for10 a.m. Saturday at the Western Justice Center, 55 S. Grand Ave., Pasadena. For more information, call (626) 396-3600 ext. 88159 or visit districting-task-force.pasadenausd.org.