Friday, May 15, 2026

Guest Opinion | Francesca Mariani: Schools Do Not Flourish Without Community

Change Requires Legitimacy

As the Pasadena Unified School District board considers major school closure and restructuring decisions, one thing has become increasingly clear: families are not resisting change simply because change is difficult. They are resisting a process that has asked communities to absorb enormous consequences without meaningfully including them in shaping the future.

Schools are not simply facilities or enrollment charts. They are communities where children develop identity, belonging, relationships, and confidence over many years. When trust in schools erodes, the damage extends far beyond enrollment numbers. Families disengage. Teachers leave. Students internalize instability.

Effective change requires legitimacy.

The Process Has Lost Public Confidence

From the beginning, the district’s restructuring effort has been top-down rather than being community-led. The community has been presented with scenarios and spreadsheets but have been excluded from the larger conversation about what kind of district Pasadena wants to become.

The installation of the Superintendent’s School Consolidation Advisory Committee (SCAC) itself increasingly reflected those concerns.

Thursday, May 14, 2026

Online Panel to Examine Stalled Rental Recovery in Altadena After Eaton Fire

UCLA researchers, state senator and tenant organizers to discuss new data showing about three-quarters of fire-zone rentals show no rebuilding activity

A community panel discussion examining why rental housing recovery has stalled in Altadena nearly 500 days after the Eaton Fire will be held online Thursday, May 21, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., according to event co-hosts.

The session, titled “Who Gets to Come Back? Tenants and the Future of Altadena After the Eaton Fire,” is co-hosted by the Altadena Tenants Union and the UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute. It will pair newly released research with a panel of elected officials, community organizers and housing experts, organizers said in a press release.

The discussion centers on a policy brief published Feb. 25 by UCLA LPPI, which found that about 74% of identified rental units within the Eaton Fire perimeter remain on properties with no public record of rebuilding permits, sales or active listings. The institute reported that more than 1,500 rental units — roughly 70% of Altadena’s identified rental stock — were located within the fire perimeter,

Thursday, May 14, 2026

Eaton Fire Survivors Demand Answers on $2.5 Billion Relief Package as Newsom Releases Budget Plan

A coalition of Altadena advocacy groups times its push for accountability to the governor’s May revision

Sixteen months after the Eaton Fire leveled more than 9,400 structures across Altadena, the people still waiting to rebuild want to know where $2.5 billion went.

A coalition of fire survivor groups and community organizations plans to hold a news conference at 9 a.m. Thursday in Altadena to press for transparency on the state wildfire relief package that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in Pasadena in January 2025 — the same day the governor is expected to release his May budget revision, which includes a proposed $100 million fund to help wildfire victims secure construction loans. Organizers said speakers will include wildfire survivors and recovery leaders affected by the Eaton Fire, according to a statement from the coalition.

The groups organizing the event — Eaton Fire Residents United, A Resilient Tomorrow, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and LA Voice — represent a cross-section of the communities reshaped by the fire,

Thursday, May 14, 2026

Pasadena Unified Heads Into Busy Round of Summertime Campus Construction Projects

Two voter-approved bond programs are funding simultaneous projects across Pasadena and Altadena, with Allendale Elementary set to serve as the temporary home for students from three schools

Pasadena Unified School District is entering an active summer 2026 construction season, with projects ranging from a Board-approved $128 million rebuild of San Rafael Elementary to the post-Eaton Fire reconstruction of Franklin Elementary advancing across Pasadena and Altadena campuses.

The work is funded by two voter-approved general obligation bond programs — the $516.3 million Measure O, passed in November 2020, and the $900 million Measure R, passed in November 2024.

As of early 2026, the District had $76.2 million in active construction, was preparing to break ground on $135.5 million in additional projects, and had over $86.8 million in projects in the design phase.

Allendale Elementary, located at 1135 S. Euclid Ave., will serve as the temporary home for students from multiple campuses during their schools’ construction.

San Rafael Elementary: A $128 Million Rebuild

The most consequential capital decision facing the District this spring is the planned demolition and full reconstruction of San Rafael Elementary,

Thursday, May 14, 2026

Harabedian Bill Would Bar Insurers From Forcing Mental Health Patients to ‘Fail First’

AB 1970 clears Assembly Health Committee 15-0; supporters say step therapy delays treatment for the most vulnerable

Patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and substance use disorders would no longer have to try and fail on cheaper medications before their insurers cover the drugs their doctors actually prescribed, under a bill by Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena) that cleared its first legislative hurdle this month.

AB 1970, which passed the Assembly Committee on Health on a 15-0 vote on April 21, would prohibit health plans and insurers from requiring step therapy — a practice widely known as “fail-first” — for prescription drugs used to treat serious mental illness and substance use disorders. The bill heads next to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.

Harabedian, who represents the 41st Assembly District including Pasadena and serves on the Assembly Insurance Committee, has made behavioral health access a legislative priority since taking office in 2024. The bill comes after Governor Newsom vetoed Harabedian’s AB 1032 last October, which would have required insurers to cover 12 additional behavioral health visits for wildfire survivors — a measure the governor rejected amid concerns about rising health care premiums.

Thursday, May 14, 2026

LA County Assessor Takes Fire Survivors’ Tax Questions in Free Webinar Tonight

Jeff Prang will cover Misfortune and Calamity claims, a newly secured four-year deferral, and what rebuilding means for Altadena homeowners’ tax bills

Sixteen months after the Eaton Fire leveled their neighborhoods, thousands of Altadena property owners are still paying taxes on homes that no longer exist — and tonight, the county official who sets those assessed values will explain how to stop.

Los Angeles County Assessor Jeff Prang will take survivors’ questions directly in a free, one-hour Zoom webinar hosted by the Every Fire Survivor’s Network, the 10,000-member advocacy organization that grew out of an Altadena pickleball WhatsApp group in the days after the January 2025 fire.

The session, scheduled from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday, will cover how to file Misfortune and Calamity claims, what a recently secured four-year property tax deferral means for individual homeowners, and what happens to a survivor’s tax base when they move, rebuild larger or have already made payments.

The webinar arrives at a critical moment for fire-affected property owners.

Thursday, May 14, 2026

California Has 6 Weeks of Gas Supply. After That, It Gets Expensive

By Alejandro Lazo, CALMATTERS

Eleven weeks into the Iran war and a global energy shock, California drivers are paying the highest gas prices in the nation, an average of $6.15 a gallon this week.

The pain at the pump is colliding with California’s ambitious push away from fossil fuels, as refinery closures, supply disruptions and a deepening debate over reliance on imported oil and gas raise new questions about whether the state can keep gasoline affordable during the transition.

Here are five things to know about how Sacramento is responding to the crisis and what it could mean for prices in the months ahead.

California can confidently forecast gasoline and crude oil shipments coming in through about mid-June, and supply looks stable through that window, Siva Gunda, vice chair of the California Energy Commission, told an Assembly oversight hearing last week.

After that, oil and gas will cost significantly more to secure,

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

PUSD Advisory Committee Stops Short of Recommending School Consolidations

By ANDRÈ COLEMAN, Managing Editor

The Pasadena Unified School District’s (PUSD) School Consolidation Advisory Committee concluded its work this week without recommending that schools be consolidated at this time, leaving the final decision to the Board of Education as the district continues studying declining enrollment and long-term financial pressures.

According to a district update released Tuesday, the committee held its final meeting May 11 and provided comments and input for consideration by the board following months of discussions surrounding possible campus consolidations and closures.

“The committee’s feedback is that there is no recommendation to consolidate schools at this time,” the district said in the update. “No consolidation or closure decisions have been made by the Board of Education.”

The issue has drawn significant public attention in recent months as district officials grapple with declining student enrollment, rising operational costs and concerns about maintaining academic programs across under-enrolled campuses.

District officials said a draft Equity Impact Analysis report will be presented during the Board of Education’s regular meeting on May 28.

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

LA County Supervisors Advance Housing Ordinance Update, With Barger Amendment Preserving Existing Density Caps

The measure, which applies to unincorporated areas including Altadena, creates a new “Acutely Low Income” tier and tightens affordable-housing replacement rules

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday took a step toward overhauling the County’s housing ordinance for unincorporated areas, voting 5-0 on an amended measure after first adopting, 3-2, an amendment by Supervisor Kathryn Barger that preserves the County’s existing density bonus caps rather than raising them.

The ordinance, presented by the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning, applies to unincorporated communities across the County — including Altadena, where thousands of structures were destroyed in the January Eaton Fire. Among its provisions: a new “Acutely Low Income” category for households earning less than 15% of the Area Median Income, a requirement for “like-for-like” replacement of affordable units that are demolished, and broader eligibility for density bonus projects to include shared housing and residential care for the elderly.

The action was not the final adoption of the ordinance.

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

L.A. County Moves to Shield Hospital Workers and Patients From Immigration Enforcement

The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to create an oversight committee and expand staff training at county medical facilities, a response to months of confrontations between health care workers and federal agents

Health care workers at Los Angeles County hospitals will soon receive new training on how to protect patient rights during encounters with federal immigration agents, after the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a motion to strengthen protections at county-operated medical facilities.

The motion, authored by Board Chair and First District Supervisor Hilda L. Solis and co-authored by Board Chair Pro Tem and Second District Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, directs county staff to establish an internal oversight committee to enforce and improve hospital protocols that have been strained by a surge in immigration enforcement activity since 2025. Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who has previously cited governance concerns when voting against or abstaining on immigration-related county measures, abstained.

For Pasadena and Altadena residents — who are served by L.A. County’s Department of Health Services,