This editorial in the Crescenta Valley Weekly by Mike Lawlor talks about the Crescenta Valley Town Council's tendency to get blindsided by new development along Foothill Blvd. What really struck our internal gong is the following paragraph:

The Crescenta Valley Town Council has had its share of problems managing this onslaught of undisclosed development. I sat in on a meeting they had recently with officials from County Supervisor Antonovich’s office. The Town Council met with them to try to get a handle on these situations. The officials held out Altadena’s Town Council as an example to follow. Altadena holds monthly public meetings on local developments, keeping the community and the developers in touch with one another. Altadena asked for and got the County to alert them to any and all developments way ahead of time, so that no one gets blindsided. I know from my own experience that our neighbors to the west, the Sunland/Tujunga Neighborhood Council, enjoys the same advance notice consideration from Los Angeles, and that they too hold regular public meetings. Antonovich’s representatives further urged the CV Council to be the “eyes and ears for the community” regarding local development.

What they're speaking of here is the Altadena Town Council's Land Use Committee, which meets every month to air out land use issues.  For many years, the Altadena Town Council was pointed out as an example, but not as a good one.  We think this speaks well of the changes over the last few years and the actions and membership of the current council that Supervisor Antonovich now uses to it as an example of how local government should be run.  It's not perfect, but it's progress.

On the other hand, the Crescenta Valley Council has a really cool website.