Thursday, June 25, 2026

Pasadena School Board to Weigh Developer for Former Linda Vista Elementary Site

[Updated]   The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education is scheduled Thursday to consider a resolution that would select InSite Realty Advisors to redevelop the long-closed former Linda Vista Elementary School site under a 99-year ground lease and authorize district staff to begin negotiating an exclusive negotiating agreement with the developer.

Resolution 2895 would also declare the roughly 4.94-acre Pasadena property “exempt surplus land” and clear the district to pursue long-term lease revenue from a campus that has sat closed for years.

The action would not finalize any deal. The resolution states that selecting the developer and authorizing negotiations “does not constitute final approval of any ENA, ground lease, or other final transaction documents, all of which shall be subject to further approvals required by the Board.”

The resolution carries out three steps: it selects the InSite proposal as the one that best fits the district’s needs, directs the superintendent or a designee to negotiate the agreement, and finds the site to be exempt surplus land under Government Code section 54221(f)(1)(L) because it is being disposed of under the Education Code provisions that govern school-district joint-occupancy leases.

Thursday, June 25, 2026

$82.99 Million Special Education Budget and Service Plan Up For Review Thursday

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education is set to consider approving the district’s special education spending blueprint for the coming year, a roughly $83 million annual budget and service plan that federal and state law require the district to adopt each year.

The item is on the agenda for the board’s regular meeting Thursday, June 25, at 5 p.m. at the district’s Education Center in Pasadena.

The Special Education Local Planning Area, or SELPA, plan sets out how Pasadena Unified expects to fund and deliver services to students with disabilities in 2026-2027. District staff recommend approval and report that the action itself carries “no financial impact,” because the board is being asked to adopt an estimated budget and services plan. The plan arrives as the district works to cut $30 million to $35 million from its overall 2026-27 budget under a county-monitored fiscal stabilization effort.

Pasadena Unified is a single-district SELPA, meaning it operates its own special education planning area rather than sharing one with neighboring districts.

Thursday, June 25, 2026

California Secretary of State to Headline Pasadena Event for Eaton Fire Survivors

A wildfire-litigation coalition gathers survivors June 25, where attorneys plan to revisit the blaze’s still-undetermined origin

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber is scheduled to deliver the keynote Thursday at a free dinner for Eaton Fire survivors in Pasadena, where attorneys also plan to present an updated 3D video analysis of how the January 2025 fire began.

The event, called the Community Rising Dinner, is being hosted by LA Fire Justice, a Pasadena-based coalition of wildfire attorneys, fire-origin experts and insurance specialists representing fire survivors. It is set for June 25 at the Pasadena Convention Center, Hall C, 300 E. Green St., and is open to survivors, community leaders and legal advocates at no cost, according to the organizers’ event listing.

Doors open and dinner service begins at 5:30 p.m., and the program starts at 6 p.m. The public can RSVP at: https://lafjcommunityrisingdinner.rsvpify.com/.

Weber, who in 2021 became California’s first Black secretary of state and won a full term in 2022,

Thursday, June 25, 2026

Altadena Shows Earlier Signs of Recovery Than the Palisades, County Report Finds

A 17-month economic update tracks rebuilding permits, transit use and displacement across the two 2025 fire areas

The Eaton Fire area around Altadena is showing earlier signs of recovery than Pacific Palisades on several measures, Los Angeles County reported Monday, even as fewer than 1% of destroyed homes have been rebuilt and displacement assistance runs out for thousands of survivors.

The finding comes from Los Angeles Wildfires: An Economic Update #3, released by the county Department of Economic Opportunity and the LAEDC’s Institute for Applied Economics. It is the third quarterly report tracking the Eaton and Palisades fires, which began January 7, 2025.

As of April 2026, the report says, 32.83% of homes destroyed in the Eaton fire had received rebuild permits, compared with 19.87% in the Palisades. Across both areas combined, 26.7% of destroyed structures had permits — a pace the report says resembles the fastest-recovering U.S. wildfires on permit issuance, including the Tubbs and Marshall fires. Completion tells a different story.

Thursday, June 25, 2026

Harabedian Bill to Expand Court Mediation Clears Senate Committee

A Pasadena lawmaker’s measure would expand court-ordered mediation in Los Angeles County

A bill that would expand the use of court-ordered mediation in Los Angeles County has passed the state Senate Judiciary Committee, advancing a measure its author says is aimed at easing congested trial calendars and improving timely access to justice.

Assemblymember John Harabedian, D-Pasadena, announced that AB 1950 cleared the committee. The legislation would allow judges in the Los Angeles County Superior Court to refer any civil matter to mediation, regardless of the amount in dispute. It creates a temporary pilot program, scheduled to sunset on January 1, 2032, giving the court an opportunity to assess the program’s effectiveness.

“We must provide Los Angeles County courts with the proper tools needed to manage their increasing caseloads, so they can minimize costly delays for litigants and prioritize efficient resolutions for disputes,” Harabedian said in a statement. “This bill expands access to mediation, which will alleviate strain on the courts and provides a more efficient and fair justice system for the residents of Los Angeles County.”

Thursday, June 25, 2026

Chu Lauds Continued Eaton Fire Survivor Access to Federal Housing Aid Under Extended Deadlines

Homeowners in the Altadena burn zone can now draw FEMA assistance through July 2027, and renters through next fall

Federal disaster aid for survivors of the Eaton Fire will keep flowing well into next year and beyond, after the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday approved California’s request to extend its housing and financial assistance for people displaced by the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.

Under the extension, eligible homeowners can receive assistance through July 9, 2027, and eligible renters through October 9, 2026 — a change that reaches directly into Altadena and Pasadena, where the Eaton Fire destroyed more than 9,000 structures and killed 19 people, according to Cal Fire.

The aid comes through FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program, which provides direct housing and other needs assistance to disaster survivors. As of June 12, 2026, FEMA reported that more than 35,000 households had received assistance through the program, with more than $177 million awarded. FEMA also reported that more than 1,200 households have received Continued Temporary Housing Assistance since the disaster.

Thursday, June 25, 2026

Altadena Mutual Water Company Breaks Ground on Major Reservoir Reconstruction Project Following Eaton Fire

$2 million insurance-funded project marks a key milestone in Altadena’s recovery and honors the water operators who helped protect the community during the devastating wildfire

Rubio Cañon Land and Water Association on Wednesday celebrated the groundbreaking of a major reservoir reconstruction project that will restore and strengthen critical water infrastructure damaged during the 2025 Eaton Fire — a significant milestone in Altadena’s continuing recovery.

Held at the Maiden Lane Reservoir, the ceremony brought together community leaders, shareholders, water industry representatives, and local officials. 

The project invests more than $2 million in insurance proceeds to rebuild the damaged reservoir, plus nearly $1 million in additional capital improvements to strengthen pipelines, valves, and related infrastructure across the system.

“The groundbreaking of this reservoir is a symbol of Altadena’s resilience and determination to recover from the Eaton Fire,” said Dr. Janet Fahey, President of the Board of Directors of Rubio Cañon. “Our community has shown remarkable strength over the past year and a half,

Thursday, June 25, 2026

PUSD Trustees to Weigh Rescinding Optimal School Size Resolution, Setting Aug. 13 Study Session

Approval would close out the framework that launched the now-paused consolidation review and start a new ‘District Transformation Process’

The Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education is set to consider a resolution Thursday that would rescind its “Establishing Optimal School Size” resolution and replace it with a “District Transformation Process,” reopening the district’s stalled enrollment-and-facilities review with a study session set for Aug. 13.

Resolution No. 2894 would designate the Aug. 13 study session as the venue to discuss how to move forward.

The resolution directs Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco to bring five items to the August session: a Facilities Master Plan demographer’s presentation on local enrollment context, including birth rates, housing trends, immigration and private and charter school impacts; projected district enrollment for the next five to 10 years, with individual school-site projections where available; updated capacity reports by school site; background data from the 2026 consolidation process; and current staffing levels for each school site.

The board would also discuss scheduling community engagement sessions with community partners to gather community values and vision for the district in the next five to 10 years,

Thursday, June 25, 2026

California’s Housing Market Drifts Into Summer With No Clear Bottom In Sight

By EDDIE RIVERA

Mortgage rates above forecast, affordability at 22 percent, and a federal government consumed by other things

The spring 2026 numbers arrived with a familiar message: not much has changed. 

The statewide median home price hit $914,810 in April, according to the California Association of Realtors, a figure that crossed the organization’s own $905,000 forecast for the full year before summer began. Mortgage rates, which CAR projected would average 6.0 percent in 2026, were 6.55 percent on June 24, according to Mortgage News Daily. Active listings across the state were down slightly in March from the year before, according to CAR. 

The number that explains the rest is affordability. Twenty-two percent of California households earned enough to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home as of the first quarter of 2026, according to CAR. The association had forecast 18 percent for 2026. That level of affordability does not produce a surge in first-time buyers.

Thursday, June 25, 2026

Guest Opinion | Kimberly Kenne: Pasadena Unified Needs Spending Plans that the Public Can Understand and Believe

This week, the Pasadena Unified School District will approve its Budget for 26-27 and its Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP).  The budget document is over 200 pages, and most of it is difficult to understand.  For instance, what is the line for certificated salaries  and who are the people in that category?  Teachers? Librarians? Counselors? Principals? Central Office Directors?  (The answer is all of the above).  What programs do they support and for which students?  It can be difficult to tell exactly how the over $300 million in the general fund is being used to provide an education to the students of Pasadena Unified.

The LCAP document was intended to be the more user-friendly narrative that describes what activities the budget is funding and why.  It includes metrics showing how students are performing and describes what activities are focused on the most at-risk students.  At almost 170 pages, it is not the most concise of plans but at least there is an attempt to link funding to student needs and the strategies to address those needs.