Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Altadena Town Council Faces Brimming Agenda Tonight

A Flock Safety camera in use. [Shutterstock]

County Public Works presents on the license plate reader network as the council weighs letters on federal relief, wildfire smoke standards and construction hours

The Altadena Town Council meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday to consider a range of important issues.

The Council will hear a presentation on the Flock license plate cameras installed across the community and to vote on three letters.

The cameras reach the council at a moment when automated license plate readers are under sustained scrutiny across Los Angeles County, and after residents in Altadena organized against the devices installed there following the Eaton Fire. The meeting is at the Altadena Community Center, 730 E. Altadena Drive, directly west of the Altadena Sheriff’s Station.

Dominic Osmena of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works and Anton Anderson, who represents Census Tract 4610 on the council, are scheduled to give the Flock presentation. It is one of two special presentations on the agenda, alongside a legislative update from Chair Nic Arnzen and Treasurer Darlene Greene.

Three action items come before that. The council will vote on a Department of Angels federal relief letter, a letter from Eaton Fire Residents United urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign Assembly Bills 1642 and 1795, and a letter on construction hours.

AB 1642, by Assemblymember John Harabedian of Pasadena, would set testing and remediation standards for when a home is safe to reoccupy after a wildfire. Its companion, AB 1795 by Assemblymember Mike Gipson, would require insurers to follow them. Neither takes effect without the other. AB 1642 directs the state Department of Toxic Substances Control to pursue standards for detecting and removing lead and asbestos by the end of 2028, and standards for other contamination, including beryllium, by the end of 2029, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The governor has until Sept. 30 to act on both bills, LAist reported. Neither appeared on the list of legislation the governor announced he had signed on Sept. 14.

The Flock presentation lands against a long local record. In neighboring Pasadena, police operate 61 fixed Flock cameras and have asked for 11 more, and the program dates to a contract the City Council approved July 17, 2023, with Flock Group Inc. for cameras at 17 intersections. Senate Bill 1013, which would have tightened how California police collect and share automated license plate reader data, died in the Assembly without a floor vote.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department uses Flock cameras at selected entry, exit and roadway locations in the communities it serves. The system does not use facial recognition and does not identify drivers or passengers, according to the City of La Cañada Flintridge, which contracts with the department for the same technology.

Residents in Altadena have pushed back. Altadena resident Shawna Dawson Beer said residents “want a say in whether this technology is deployed” in their community, L.A. TACO reported in August.

Public safety reports are scheduled from Capt. Ethan Marquez of the Altadena Sheriff’s Station, California Highway Patrol Officer Jeremy Keller and Maria Grycan of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Library District Director Nikki Winslow and Altagether Executive Director John Mayo will deliver community reports. Six committees report, and the meeting closes with public comment on agenda items and a Census Tract 4610 report.

Two other items of business reach the community this week. Candidate applications for Town Council seats open Sept. 15, the council said in a community update; the council holds annual elections for one seat from each census tract, and residents displaced by the Eaton Fire remain eligible to run.

Revised street-sweeping parking restrictions also take hold. A three-week grace period runs from Aug. 31 through Sept. 18, and full enforcement begins Sept. 21. The council’s community update identified portions of Casitas, Hanning, Stonehurst, Alberta, Canyada, Crosby and Spaulding as affected.

Los Angeles County Planning has scheduled three Altadena listening sessions at The Collaboratory, 540 W. Woodbury Road, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: economic development on Sept. 19, land use and zoning on Oct. 17, and infrastructure on Dec. 12.

Need to know: The meeting begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15, at the Altadena Community Center, 730 E. Altadena Drive. To speak, submit a comment card to a council member before the general comment period; comments are limited to two minutes. The meeting streams live on Pasadena Media’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WlwYX2Kt2I