Thursday, September 3, 2026

Retail Vacancy Eases Across L.A. Metro, Marcus & Millichap Reports, as Pasadena’s Tri-Cities Submarket Posts the Region’s Lowest Rate

Competing brokerage reports measure vacancy differently, from 5.6 to 7.3 percent, but agree new retail construction has nearly stopped and investment sales are up sharply

Retail vacancy across the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the market that includes Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley, fell to 7.3 percent among multi-tenant properties in June as retailers moved into recently vacated big-box spaces and builders delivered the smallest first-half addition of new space in at least 19 years, according to a third-quarter report published Wednesday, Sept. 2, by commercial brokerage Marcus & Millichap.

The Tri-Cities submarket of Pasadena, Glendale and Burbank posted the lowest retail vacancy in the region, 4.6 percent, in the second quarter, according to a separate report by brokerage Matthews Real Estate Investment Services.

Multi-tenant vacancy declined 50 basis points, or half a percentage point, from a year earlier, Marcus & Millichap said. More than 600 lease commitments were signed at neighborhood and strip centers during the first half of 2026.

Thursday, September 3, 2026

L.A. County Breaks Ground on $63.7 Million Baldwin Lake Restoration at Arboretum, Summer Home of the Pasadena Symphony POPS

Dredging starts this month at a lake that has silted in to about 3 feet deep; the county says the work will be done by the end of 2027, ahead of the 2028 Olympics

Los Angeles County officials broke ground Wednesday, Sept. 2, on a $63.7 million restoration of Baldwin Lake and Tule Pond at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Arcadia, the outdoor summer home of the Pasadena Symphony and POPS and a project the county says has been more than a decade in the making.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose Fifth District includes Pasadena and Altadena, joined county department heads, Arboretum leaders and community partners for the ceremonial groundbreaking, according to a news release from her office. A representative of the Gabrieleno San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians conducted a traditional land welcoming ceremony.

“This $63.7 million investment will protect a place that is part of the identity of the San Gabriel Valley and ensure it thrives for generations to come,”

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Pasadena Public Health Urges Updated COVID-19 Shots for Everyone 6 Months and Older as California Cases Climb

The city’s guidance tracks the state’s, which is broader than the federal approvals issued Aug. 27 for seniors and people with underlying conditions

The Pasadena Public Health Department is urging everyone 6 months of age and older to get the 2026-27 COVID-19 vaccine as the virus spreads more widely in California this season, the city said in a news release Wednesday, Sept. 2.

Hospitalizations remain low, the department said, but the share of tests coming back positive has reached a moderate level, and virus concentrations in wastewater are running higher in several parts of the state. The number of cases is lower than at this point last year, with the biggest increases among children ages 0 to 4 and 5 to 17, the department said.

“COVID-19 can still cause serious illness; especially in infants, pregnant people, older adults and individuals with weakened immune systems or certain medical conditions,” said Dr. Parveen Kaur, the city’s health officer, in the release. “Getting vaccinated is one of the best ways to protect yourself from severe illness.

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Altadena Native Opens the Mic Friday for a Night of the Town’s Own Stories

Altadena residents will spend Friday evening telling one another what they remember about their town, at a free three-hour gathering of storytelling, music and poetry at the building the community’s recovery organizations share.

The event runs from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4, at the Collaboratory, 540 W. Woodbury Road in Altadena, with the formal program beginning about 6:30 p.m. It is hosted by Nahshon Dion, the Altadena-born writer and emerging filmmaker who has spent the period since the Eaton Fire gathering firsthand accounts from residents, artists, historians, elected officials and community workers for an anthology titled “Our Beloved Altadena: Voices from the Aftermath of the Eaton Canyon Wildfire.”

The program includes storytelling, music, singing, poetry and an open mic, along with desserts and recognition of people with September birthdays, organizers said. There is no admission charge. The Department of Angels and Altadena Rising are named as supporters, organizers said.

Dion is also producing a documentary and writing a memoir, both titled “My Beloved Altadena.”

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Altadena Chamber’s Friday Coffee Chat Carries County Economic-Recovery Updates

The Altadena Chamber of Commerce & Civic Association holds its weekly Business Coffee Chat online at 9:30 a.m. Friday, an open session for Altadena business owners that carries updates from the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity.

The Friday session is the standing point of contact between the Chamber and a business community in the unincorporated community directly north of Pasadena that is still working through Eaton Fire recovery, and it now doubles as a regular channel for county information at a point when several of the county’s Altadena aid programs have closed.

The session runs Friday, Sept. 4. It is held on Zoom, with the link posted on the Chamber’s homepage at altadenachamber.org, and the meeting ID is 881 9070 5729.

The Chamber has described the Coffee Chat as a forum for owners and operators to raise concerns, share experiences and talk through recovery. “Let’s foster a supportive environment where we can learn from one another,” the Chamber said in its announcement of the series.

Thursday, September 3, 2026

Metrolink to Offer $10 Day Pass, Weekend Schedule on Labor Day

CITY NEWS SERVICE

Metrolink announced Wednesday it will operate on a weekend schedule on Labor Day and offer passengers a $10 day pass for unlimited travel throughout its Southern California rail system.

Weekend service will operate Monday on the Antelope Valley, Orange County, 91/Perris Valley, San Bernardino, Inland Empire-Orange County and Ventura County lines, along with Arrow service between San Bernardino and Redlands, according to the agency.

The Riverside Line will not operate Monday.

Metrolink’s $10 SoCal Day Pass provides unlimited rides throughout the system on the day of purchase and is available through the Metrolink mobile app and station ticket machines, officials said.

The agency’s Rail2Rail program, which allows Metrolink Monthly Pass holders to ride eligible Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains at no additional cost, will be suspended from Friday through Tuesday because of the holiday period. The program will resume Wednesday.

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner codeshare trains that accept Metrolink tickets and passes between Los Angeles and Ventura could have limited availability if holiday ridership exceeds capacity,

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

County Orders Contractor-Fraud Taskforce for Altadena Within 30 Days

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday, Sept. 1, to order several county departments to convene a taskforce within 30 days to address and curb contractor fraud and other scams targeting wildfire survivors.

The motion, authored by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey P. Horvath, is aimed largely at preventing fraud before it occurs, and it routes the work into the Altadena One-Stop Permitting Center, where residents rebuilding after the Eaton Fire already file their plans. It sets two deadlines and calls for county resources and enforcement tools to be better aligned so emerging complaints and potentially fraudulent activity can be identified and addressed.

The first directive instructs the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs, working with the District Attorney, County Counsel, the Director of Public Works and other county departments, and in consultation with partners including the state Contractors State License Board, to build upon and strengthen existing county consumer protection and wildfire recovery efforts and to convene the taskforce within 30 days.

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

County Puts $63.7 Million Into Baldwin Lake Restoration, Funded Largely by Regional Stormwater Tax

Los Angeles County is spending $63.7 million to restore Baldwin Lake and Tule Pond at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden in Arcadia, with dredging scheduled to begin this month and about 86 percent of the money coming from the countywide stormwater parcel tax that Pasadena property owners help pay.

Of the $63,714,000 total, $54,714,000 comes from the Safe Clean Water Program, which is financed by the Measure W parcel tax of 2.5 cents per square foot of impermeable surface on private property throughout the Los Angeles County Flood Control District. Pasadena pays into that program and draws from it for its own stormwater projects. The county has also committed itself to maintaining the result for as long as a century.

The work will remove approximately 65,000 cubic yards of sediment from a lake the county says is now roughly 2.5 to 3 feet deep, down from the 12 to 15 feet Elias Baldwin dredged it to in the late 1880s. The lake covers 3.4 surface acres and the adjacent Tule Pond about 0.7 acres.

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Four Harabedian Wildfire Recovery Bills Clear Legislature and Await Newsom’s Signature

Four wildfire recovery bills written by Assemblymember John Harabedian, D-Pasadena, cleared the California Legislature and now await Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature, Harabedian announced Tuesday.

The package grew out of the January 2025 Eaton Fire in Altadena, which Harabedian represents.

AB 1642 directs the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt regulations on lead and asbestos testing and remediation after a wildfire by Dec. 31, 2028. It becomes operative only if AB 1795, the Smoke Damage Recovery Act by Assemblymember Mike Gipson, takes effect on or before Jan. 1, 2027; that bill also passed.

AB 1842, the California Mortgage Relief Act, would require servicers to offer forbearance of up to 12 months for homes made uninhabitable by a disaster. AB 1847 extends the deadline for Eaton and Palisades fire survivors to request forbearance to Jan. 7, 2029. AB 2038 amends the Insurance Code section on post-disaster cancellations and nonrenewals.

Financial industry groups opposed the mortgage bills. The California Bankers Association, the California Chamber of Commerce and California’s Credit Unions were among eight organizations registered against AB 1847,

Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Pasadena Unified Says Effort to Save Six Mature Longfellow Trees Failed; Parents Dispute Account

By THERESE EDU

[UPDATED] The Pasadena Unified School District has told families at Longfellow Elementary Magnet School that contractors and arborists tried but could not avoid the need to destroy six mature trees on the school’s Washington Boulevard front lawn, and about a dozen parents, neighbors and tree advocates gathered outside the empty campus Tuesday morning to challenge the district’s version of the efforts it had taken to save the trees.

The district’s Monday night announcement email closed out a summer during which its board directed staff to evaluate, tree by tree, whether as many as 57 protected trees in Eaton Fire soil remediation work zones could be saved from destruction. It arrived while the district’s authority to remove trees at all remains before a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, with a trial setting conference scheduled for Oct. 30 and no trial date set.

A second demonstration at Longfellow was called for Wednesday morning at the same location.

In its Aug.