Thursday, April 9, 2026

LA County Doubles Unpaid-Rent Threshold for Evictions, Giving Altadena Tenants More Time

The new rule takes effect April 16 but does not apply in Pasadena, which has its own rent control ordinance

Landlords in Altadena and other unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County will no longer be able to begin eviction proceedings for unpaid rent until a tenant owes more than two months of Fair Market Rent, under an ordinance that takes effect April 16.

The rule doubles the previous one-month threshold. The Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on March 17 to amend the county’s Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protections Ordinance, which covers rental units in unincorporated areas — collectively home to about 1 million residents, according to Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office. Altadena is unincorporated and falls under the ordinance. Pasadena, an incorporated city with its own rent control laws under Measure H, is not affected.

The eviction threshold is based on Fair Market Rent set annually by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, not on a tenant’s actual rent.

Thursday, April 9, 2026

California Community Foundation Leader Who Directed $100 Million in Fire Relief to Keynote Mayor’s Interfaith Prayer Breakfast

The 53rd annual interfaith gathering, hosted by Friends In Deed, raises funds for homeless services in a city still rebuilding

The head of the California Community Foundation, which distributed $100 million in wildfire relief after the January 2025 fires, will deliver the keynote address at Pasadena’s 53rd Annual Mayor’s Interfaith Prayer Breakfast on May 7.

Miguel A. Santana, president and CEO of the California Community Foundation, will speak at the event, which is themed “Rising Together” and takes place at the Pasadena Convention Center.

Santana’s foundation activated its wildfire recovery fund immediately after the Eaton Fire, distributing $30 million in its first month to nonprofits helping survivors in Altadena and across the region, according to an Associated Press report.

Proceeds from the breakfast benefit Friends In Deed, the 132-year-old Pasadena interfaith nonprofit that operates a food pantry, shelters, street outreach, and housing assistance programs for the city’s homeless and vulnerable residents.

The breakfast traditionally draws hundreds of Pasadena residents,

Thursday, April 9, 2026

New Data Tool Maps Altadena’s Slow Rebuild as Forum Tackles Barriers to Recovery

The tool will anchor a panel discussion on permitting backlogs, environmental safety, tenants’ issues, and community land trusts at the Flintridge Center

Of the nearly 6,000 Altadena residential properties significantly damaged in the January 2025 Eaton Fire, only 23 had completed all rebuilding and repairs as of December 2025, according to a data dashboard that the racial justice research organization Catalyst California will present at a community forum Thursday evening in Pasadena.

The dashboard, called “Red Tape to Recovery,” was developed in partnership with Dena Rise Up!, a community coalition. It draws on data from the Los Angeles County Assessor and the county’s Electronic Permitting and Inspections Portal to track the repair status, sale status, and environmental hazards of damaged residential properties across Altadena.

The tool will anchor a panel discussion on permitting backlogs, environmental safety, tenants’ issues, and community land trusts at the Flintridge Center.

The forum is part of the Let’s Talk, Let’s Listen community series organized by Pasadenans Organizing for Progress,

Thursday, April 9, 2026

Volunteers Launch Invasive Weed Removal Effort at Eaton Canyon

By EDDIE RIVERA

With the spring comes the weeds.

So scores of volunteers fanned out across the still-closed Eaton Canyon on Wednesday morning, crouching low and working by hand to pull invasive plants from the soil in an effort to reduce wildfire risk and restore native habitat following last year’s devastating fire.

The event, held at the canyon’s back plateau, marked the official kickoff of Los Angeles Climate Week and brought together community members, state officials and nonprofit groups in a large-scale service project.

Kim Bosell, regional operations manager for the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, said the work is both urgent and ongoing.

“We’re having the kickoff event for LA Climate Week where hundreds of volunteers have come to Eaton Canyon to help us remove non-native invasive species that are preventing the native plants from growing back after the Eaton Fire,” Bosell said.

The process is labor-intensive. Volunteers worked without machinery or herbicides,

Thursday, April 9, 2026

Gas Prices Could Start Falling Thursday Due To Ceasefire

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County was unchanged Wednesday, remaining at $6.048, after rising four consecutive days to its highest amount since Oct. 6, 2023.

The average price increased 4.8 cents over the past four days, including four-tenths of a cent on Tuesday,  according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service.

The streak followed back-to-back decreases totaling seven-tenths of a cent, the first back-to-back decreases since three consecutive decreases totaling 1.3 cents from Jan. 20-22.

The average price is 4.1 cents more than one week ago, 82.7 cents higher than one month ago and $1.126 greater than one year ago. It is 44.6 cents less than the record $6.494 set on Oct. 5, 2022.

Prices were rising slightly in line with seasonal norms before the joint U.S./Israel attack on Iran on Feb. 28 sent oil prices higher and drastically accelerated increases at the gas pump.

Thursday, April 9, 2026

LA County Warns of Rent Relief Application Glitch

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Applicants in the Emergency Rent Relief Program were being warned Thursday by Los Angeles County officials to check their email after a technical issue prevented some landlords from being notified to complete required portions of the application.

The Department of Consumer and Business Affairs said the problem affected some tenant-initiated applications filed before the deadline, when tenants were first allowed to apply directly.

“DCBA identified a system error in which some tenant-initiated applications submitted before the March 11 deadline did not result in an automatic email notification to their landlord prompting them to complete the landlord portion of the application,” according to an agency statement.

Officials said both tenant and landlord portions must be completed for applications to be reviewed.

To address the issue, affected landlords will be given a new window from April 15 through April 25 to complete their portion, officials said. Notifications with instructions will be sent from the program’s third-party administrator,

Thursday, April 9, 2026

Poppy Fields and Passport Stamps: A Festival Aims to Bring Altadena’s Shoppers Back

René Amy planted 250 million seeds on fire-scarred lots; now the Pasadena Jaycees are building a daylong event around the bloom

On Saturday, April 18, visitors to Altadena will be handed a free passport booklet at the Grocery Outlet on Lake Avenue and sent on a driving tour through the community — stopping to see California poppies blooming across fire-damaged lots and collecting stamps at small businesses along the way. Complete the route, and there are prizes.

The Great Altadena Poppy Festival, organized by the Pasadena Jaycees, is designed to do something specific: get customers back inside the doors of Altadena businesses that have struggled with lost foot traffic since the Eaton Fire destroyed more than 9,000 structures in January 2025, according to the organization’s website. Admission is free. Many participating businesses are offering discounts, the Jaycees said.

The festival grew from one resident’s grief and a lot of poppy seeds. René Amy, an Altadena activist and longtime Jaycees volunteer, lost his home in the fire.

Thursday, April 9, 2026

Pasadena Sends 800 Goats Into the Arroyo Seco to Eat Away Wildfire Fuel

Fifteen months after the Eaton Fire, the city and a nonprofit partner are betting on a four-legged approach to clearing fire-prone brush

Fifteen months after the Eaton Fire destroyed more than 9,000 structures and killed at least 19 people across Altadena and parts of Pasadena, the city is turning to an unlikely line of defense: goats.

More than 800 of them will be released into the Arroyo Seco on Saturday, April 18, to begin a two-month pilot program targeting nearly 100 acres of invasive brush and dry vegetation that officials say makes the corridor particularly vulnerable to wildfire. The City of Pasadena and the One Arroyo Foundation, the nonprofit funding the effort, announced the initiative in a March 26 press release.

The Arroyo Seco stretches from Hahamongna Watershed Park to South Pasadena. Overgrowth and fire-prone vegetation have made it a fuel-load concern — and much of it sits on terrain too steep for conventional clearing equipment. The goats can navigate that ground.

Thursday, April 9, 2026

Frank Capra’s First Film Turns 100, Returns to a Theater That Knew Him When

The Caltech graduate’s directorial debut screens with live piano at a Sierra Madre venue that was showing silent movies when Capra was making them

Frank Capra graduated from Caltech in 1918, and his family lived in Sierra Madre, where his father oversaw a citrus orchard. Eight years later, at 29, he directed his first feature film. One hundred years after that, the film is coming back to the foothills.

Sierra Madre Playhouse screens The Strong Man (1926) on Sunday, April 12, at 8 p.m., with live piano accompaniment by Larry Garf and a post-show discussion led by writer and humorist Rich Procter. Tickets are $20.

The screening marks the centennial of the silent comedy that the Library of Congress selected for the National Film Registry in 2007, calling it “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” It also marks something the Registry citation didn’t mention: the film was made just miles from the theater where it will now be celebrated.

Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Enhaus Design Build Establishes Altadena Headquarters to Support Local Rebuild

Robert Chuang, CEO and Founder of Enhaus Design Build, Speaks on the Complex Reality of Rebuilding in Altadena Following the Eaton Fire

Enhaus Design Build, a Los Angeles-based, full-service design-build firm with over 20 years of collective experience across commercial, multi-family, and custom residential construction and renovations relocated its headquarters to Altadena in January 2026; placing its team directly on the ground in the communities where many of its projects are taking shape.

In the aftermath of the Eaton Fire, which displaced a significant number of Altadena residents, rebuilding has emerged as a prolonged and technically complex process shaped by insurance timelines, county approvals, and rising construction costs. 

“Demand has increased significantly, with more homeowners actively seeking reliable contractors than ever before,” said Robert Chuang, CEO and Co-founder of Enhaus Design Build.

Reconstruction in Altadena is governed by Los Angeles County’s wildland-urban interface requirements, which impose stricter standards on how homes are designed and built in fire-prone areas.