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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Council rundown: Loma Alta farmer’s market back to square one

Al Evans of the county department of parks and recreation told the Altadena Town Council Tuesday night that the proposed farmer’s market at Loma Alta Park was going to be delayed even further.

Evans said that the chosen market manager (Air Machine Farmer’s Markets) had withdrawn due to injury, and now the the contract was “open to any potential market manager. So we’re back to square one, unfortunately.”

It may be hard to find a manager, Evans said, as running a farmer’s market requires a number of permits which are paid for out of the manager’s pocket — so opening a new market requires an expenditure of $2,000-$3,000 up front before the market even opens.

Sund said that they looked at both the CSD and the Altadean community plan, but a community plan would take several years to accomplish and involve several pricey environmental impact reports. It clearly needs to be updated, Sund said, but there’s “more pressure from the community to look at the CSD.”

While the CSD may lightly involve residential areas, Sund said it will largey involve the commercial districts. “We’ll be spending a lot of time on the commercial districts, and there’s a lot of pressure on us to do that.”

Sund said that they will be looking into getting proposals for community outreach to get a community consensus of what the CSD would look like. There will be more information available in a couple of months.

• In public safety, Altadena Sheriff Capt. Steven McLean said that there were eight arrests of local gang members in the recent sweep, confiscating six guns and and charging some with murder and attempted murder for shootings here and in Pasadena. Nine warrants were served, six in Altadena and three elsewhere in the county.
  “I anticipate in the next couple of months there will be more [arrests],” McLean said.

  McLean also commended Det. Lt. Joe Dempsey: “He’s the leader who’s basically been leading the charge on these gang bangers,” McLean said.

  Dempsey said that Altadena’s numbers of property and violent crimes saw “the biggest decrease in crime of any sheriff’s station” compared to figures at this time last year.” Dempsey credited the partnership with the community: deputies caught two burglary suspects in the act Monday afternoon after getting calls from the neighbors.

  McLean also said that phase one of the sheriff station renovations were done, and the remodeling of the detective bureau was next. They will be able to use the front lobby in the next couple of weeks, McLean said.

• California Highway Patrol officer Ming-Yang Hsu said that the annual “Tip a CHIP” fundraiser for the Special Olympics will be May 18 at the Yard House at the Paseo Colorado in Pasadena. CHP officers will serve food and solicit donations for the Special Olympics. Last year, they raised $4,000.