In a packed community center, two major points of contention highlight this month:
Sahag Mesrob: a long line of residents went up to the podium during public comments to decry the Palm St. school, which received a notice of violation from the county last week. (A brave handful did speak in favor of the school). The council agreed to send a letter to the Board of Supervisors, asking them to enforce the notice of violation.
The June election: like Dracula rising from the dead, the loose ends of the election came back to haunt the council again. Council chair Gino Sund said that they had reviewed all election materials, spoke to poll workers, and reviewed the ethics committee report, and didn’t find reasons to negate the election.
However, former town councilmember Walter Olszewski restated previous claims of election irregularities and said that “the town council does not want to look at the ethics of it.”
As well, Brian Franklin took to the podium several times during the course of the meeting to read an extended complaint that involved absent councilman Ken Balder, the Altadena Town & Country Club, Lincoln Crossing, and other topics.
(Pictured: overflow crowd at the community center. Photo courtesy Bill Westphal and the Westphal PhoneCam,)
David said…
Here’s your “thank you” altadenablog for staying to the bitter end (and glad to meet you too). I know personally that it was not easy; family responsibilities called me away before the end.
I also want to express my thanks to the “brave handful” that did speak in favor of the Sahag Mesrob school. We need to hear your perspectives! We all must understand that there are two sides to this issue, involving real people. When all we hear is one side, it is far too easy for the issue to degenerate into depersonalized “us and them” divisions. That helps no one.
That said, right now there is nothing either the school or the residents can do to change the current situation. Even if (miraculously) all of those angry residents were to suddenly change their minds overnight and say “it’s ok for you to operate a school of 250 to 800 students here,” the school would still have to cease operation. The school does not have a permit to operate on that campus. They will be violating the law if they continue after the end of October. There is no other option.
As painful as it may be, the school must follow the proper legal process of obtaining a Conditional Use Permit. That involves public hearings, environmental impact studies (of noise, traffic, and pollution). Judging from the opinions expressed by the majority of residents last night, obtaining that permit will be very difficult if not impossible. But is the only way, and it is the right way.
It is truly unfortunate that the leadership of the school did not do their homework before opening their doors. That is one school lesson we all should learn from this.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 07:54 AM
Michael Reilly said…
What has happened to this country; it seems all one has to do these days is express themselves with a degree of emotion, passion and commitment to an idea and it is immediately perceived as anger. Should we all devolve to emotionally dead and politically correct lifeforms or virtual humans in order to fit into this Brave New Stepford world of nothingness about nothingness. Thank God i’m a baby boomer and had the opportunity to see America at its best, when people were willing to take a stand for what they believed in.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 06:17 PM