07.19.18

• NEWS •
PASADENA | ALHAMBRA | ALTADENA | ARCADIA | EAGLE ROCK | GLENDALE | LA CAÑADA | MONTROSE | SAN MARINO | SIERRA MADRE | SOUTH PASADENA
GOOD MEDICINE
NEW URGENT CARE FACILITY OFFERS
ER-LEVEL CARE
SHADY SUBJECT
CITY TO HOLD MEETING ON FICUS
TREES ON GREEN STREET
THE BIG PROTEST
RALLIES FOR CHANGE BREAK OUT
IN BAGHDAD
P. 8
P. 8
P. 8
WEB EXCLUSIVE
ARRESTING
DEVELOPMENTS
LA COUNTY SHERIFF LOOKING
FOR NEW WAYS TO FIGHT
RISING OPIOID OVERDOSES
‘THE BIG ASK’
COUNCIL PLACES SALES TAX HIKE ON NOVEMBER BALLOT;
CHAMBER HEAD SAYS IT COULD HURT BUSINESS
BY ANDRÉ COLEMAN
The Pasadena City Council voted unanimously to place a
three-quarter cent sales tax increase on the November ballot
that could raise millions of dollars to maintain city services
and potentially save the local school district, which is currently
teetering on the brink of fiscal insolvency.
The Pasadena Infrastructure/Community Essential Services
Protection Measure could generate $21 million a year for
essential services, including public safety, according to a city
staff report on the measure.
Mayor Terry Tornek called for the tax increase earlier this
year, saying he wanted to turn over one-third of those funds to
the Pasadena Unified School District.
The district would get that help through a second measure
that would ask voters to decide if the city should prioritize
assisting the school district.
“All we are doing tonight is asking the voters, ‘Are you
interested in this?’” said Councilman John Kennedy. “We have got
to do something.”
City expenses will exceed revenue by $3.5 million next year.
In 2017, the city took in $237 million in revenue, with more than
$100 million going to public safety.
If the measure passes, the city’s sales tax would rise from 9.5
Los Angeles County
Sheriff Jim McDonnell
called on new approaches
to deal with
rising opioid abuse.
“I think we all recognize
we are simply not
going to arrest our way
out of this problem,”
Sheriff Jim McDonnell
said last Wednesday Jim McDonnell
while speaking to a
group of law enforcement offi cials.
“Law enforcement tried that in the 1980s
when we experienced the flood of crack
cocaine into our communities, and we ended
up with crowded jails but not a lot of reduction
in drug use.” McDonnell said.
According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), the rate of
overdose deaths jumped by as much as 20
percent in 2017, resulting in more than 175
drug overdoses per day across the country.
The crisis has gotten so bad in some
states that health offi cials have trained
civilians on how to handle an overdose and
provide them with overdose kits.
In Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco,
library employees either have been
trained or are set to learn how to use the
drug naloxone to help reverse overdoses.
The drug is available without a prescription
at CVS pharmacies throughout California,
including Pasadena.
“I believe it starts with education and
awareness,” McDonnell said.
In 2017, McDonnell issued more than
1,200 doses of the anti-opioid medication to
deputy personnel at three patrol stations and
two bureaus as part of the intervention pilot
program.
In March, Congresswoman Judy Chu
(D-Pasadena) told an audience at Pasadena
City College that the crisis has arrived in
California.
Chu has authored the Ensuring Access
to Quality Sober Living Act. The bill would
authorize the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
to develop best practices for sober living
facilities.
“With the alarming rate of overdose
fatalities related to illegal consumption and
accidental exposure, the risk is too great not
to consider other options to curb the tide of
abuse,” McDonnell said.
WEEKLY WEATHER
THU
89°
FRI
89°
SAT
88°
SUN
92°
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
MON
95°
TUE
96°
WED
99°
— André Coleman
THU
96°
07.19.18 | PASADENA WEEKLY 7