03.07.19

PW OPINION PW NEWS PW LIFE PW ARTS
BRIEFS
NEW CROWN
ROSE QUEEN NAMED
WOMAN OF THE YEAR
BY ANDRÉ COLEMAN
State Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Canada) has named
Rose Queen Louise Deser Siskel the 25th Senate District’s
2019 Woman of the Year.
Louise Deser Siskel
“I am grateful to Sen. Anthony Portantino for nominating
me for the California Legislative Women’s Caucus Woman of the Year Award,”
Siskel said. “I feel lucky to be honored among a group of truly dedicated women who
make the world a more kind and welcoming place. This year, as the 101st Rose Queen,
I had the opportunity to promote scientific research, education, and inclusion. This
recognition encourages me, and I hope will encourage others, to advocate for these
values.”
Siskel came out as bisexual in a column in the Los Angeles Times on New Year’s
Eve.
“[I]n this new, very public position, I feel it’s important to present myself authentically,
especially to those who look to the Royal Court as a representation of our community,”
wrote Siskel. “While I am almost certainly not the first member of the LGBTQ
community on the court, I hope that by saying so publicly, I might encourage others to
be proud of who they are.”
In February, Siskel appeared at the Pasadena City Council and spoke in favor of the
city remaining on track to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020.
Later that month, members of the controversial anti-gay, anti-Semitic Westboro
Baptist Church protested against Siskel at Sequoyah High School in West Pasadena.
“I am very honored and excited that Louise has to come to Sacramento to represent
our district. She has distinguished herself as an amazing leader, not just displaying
poise while the entire world watched her in the Rose Parade but through her trailblazing
leadership. She embraced the responsibility of being selected Rose Queen with a
bold civic agenda, impressed everyone who has encountered her during this past year
and exemplified intelligence, confidence and maturity,” Portantino said in a prepared
statement.
Each year, members of the Legislature recognize the exceptional women in their
district with a celebration commemorating their accomplishments and positive impact
on our communities, said Yvonne Vasquez, a spokesperson for Portantino.
“This year, Sen. Portantino is honored that Ms. Siskel has agreed to proudly represent
the 25th Senate District.” Vasquez said. n
‘RIGHT PLACES,
RIGHT TIMES’
PARSONS MOVING HEADQUARTERS
TO VIRGINIA
BY ANDRÉ COLEMAN
Officials with the Parsons Corp. announced last week that
the company will move its headquarters from Pasadena to
Virginia in order to be closer to clients in the Washington,
DC area.
Chuck Harrington
According to a company spokesperson, Parsons corporate headquarters will be
relocated “effective immediately” to a facility in Centreville, Virginia, about an hour’s
drive from downtown Washington.
“Parsons’ position as a world leader in defense, intelligence and critical
infrastructure is the result of more than seven decades of strategic planning and
investment,” said Chuck Harrington, Parsons chairman and CEO in a prepared
statement. “Our strategic actions over the past 10 years, including acquisitions, have
led to the Washington metropolitan area having Parsons’ largest concentration of
employees worldwide. The move of our corporate headquarters to the Washington area
will support this concentration of employees in the region.”
Being in Northern Virginia, Harrington said, gives us more opportunities to be in the
right places, at the right times, with the right people driving the future of our markets.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, the company already has 2,400 employees
in Washington. Parsons employees 500 people in Pasadena and 2,000 in California.
Those employees will not be asked to relocate .
Parsons, which makes about $3.6 billion a year, provides cyber/converged security,
technology-based intellectual property, and other innovative services to federal,
regional, and local government agencies, as well as to private industrial customers.
The firm has more than 16,000 employees across 24 countries and spanning four
continents.
Parsons was founded by Ralph M. Parsons. Beginning in 1944, Parsons provided
process engineering, facility design, construction services and operated various jet
propulsion facilities — nuclear, chemical, and heavy fuels. It also delivered electronics,
instrumentation, and ground checkout systems design and engineering for aircraft,
missiles and rockets.
Parsons sold its 22.7-acre property on Walnut Street to Morgan Stanley Real Estate
Investing and Lincoln Property Co. for $320 million in 2011, but was still housed in the
12-story building. The employees in Pasadena will continue working in that building.
Plans for the remaining property by Lincoln Property and AMLI Residential call for
multiple mid-rise structures across 6.4 acres, featuring 400 residential units and
210,000 square feet of office space above 17,500 square feet of retail and underground
parking, according to urbanize.la. n
CHEMICAL ROUNDUP
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7
THE COUNT
As of Monday, 4,023 days after the war in Afghanistan ended …
2,228
American military
service members
(0 more
than last week)
were reported
killed in Afghanistan
since
the war began in
2001, according to
The Associated Press.
3,000
people, including
some ISIS
extremists, have
fled villages
in Syria as
US-backed
forces pushed
into the terrorist
organization’s last
stronghold there, according
to USA Today.
products that contain traces of glyphosate.
However, US District Judge William Shubb’s
injunction left glyphosate on the list required by the
1986 Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act
as a “chemical known to the state of California to cause
cancer.”
In April, a state appellate court found that the state
can require labeling of products containing glyphosate
herbicide as toxic under the state drinking water
law, also known as Proposition 65. Proposition 65,
according to efficientgov.com, a San Francisco-based
information collection service that tracks fiscal and
operational challenges facing cities and towns, requires
notification and labeling of all chemicals known to
cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm,
and prohibits their discharge into drinking water.
In August, six months after the federal court
ruling, a state civil court jury found that Roundup was
responsible for a school groundskeeper’s terminal
cancer. Dewayne Johnson was spraying the chemical
20 to 30 times a year while working at a school district
near San Francisco. According to CNN, more than 800
other people are suing Monsanto, claiming Roundup
gave them cancer.
In an email to Noreen Sullivan, field representative
for Councilman Gene Masuda, who represents eastern
Pasadena, Hu Yi, Los Angeles County Public Works
senior civil engineer, said the spraying is only being
done a few times a year to stop vegetation from growing
near a heliport in the Sierra Madre Debris Basin.
“The basin is a unique facility because the crest of
the hillside serves as a heliport with the capacity to
hold two helicopters at a time,” said Yi.
The use of Roundup by the city of Pasadena was
stopped in areas where people recreate and congregate
in 2017, and discontinued altogether last year, said City
Manager Steve Mermell.
All told, there are local and state government
glyphosate restrictions or bans in place in 13 states.
Other California cities to take action on use of the
herbicide include:
Los Angeles, where in 2017 the city Recreation and
Parks Department stopped spraying the weed killer
within 100 feet of children’s play areas, recreation
centers and dog parks; Burbank, which discontinued
the use of Roundup in city parks for one year, and the
Burbank Unified School District, which stopped
using the herbicide due to cancer concerns; Carlsbad,
which adopted a policy that makes organic pesticides
the preferred method for killing weeds; neighboring
beach city Encinitas, which banned the use of
Roundup and other glyphosate-based weed killers
in city parks; Irvine, which has stopped spraying
Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides; and
Thousand Oaks, which has a ban on glyphosate use on
public golf courses. Petaluma officials are considering
a ban on glyphosate for use in public parks, according
to efficientgov.com, and Richmond has banned the
use of glyphosate for all weed abatement activities
conducted by the city.
Despite all the calls to ban the product, Roundup
can be purchased at most local hardware stores.
“It is one of the only heliports of its size in the area
and it is frequently used as a filling station for waterdropping
helicopters used in aerial firefighting,” Yi
explained of the need to clear the heliport area of
vegetation.
“This area must remain clear of vegetation
and obstructions at all times per Fire Department
guidelines,” he continued. “Use of herbicides for
vegetation management is a cost-effective means to
improve visibility along the public rights-of-way, reduce
fire hazards, facilitate infrastructure inspections,
prevent rodent infestations and to keep them
functioning as designed.”
Although in a phone conversation Yi acknowledged
Roundup was being used in the area, and that such
spraying was conducted up to three times a year,
the email does not mention the herbicide by name.
However, it does state that spraying of the herbicide is
canceled when the wind exceeds five mph or if there is
a forecast of rain within the next 24 hours. According to
Donner, spraying was done on Feb. 27, when rain was in
the immediate forecast.
The site where the weed killer is used is also
supposed to be monitored to ensure members of the
public are not in the location of spray prior to, during,
and immediately after the application, according to the
email.
“When I asked them what they were spraying, I was
right in front of them at the gate and no one told me I
couldn’t be there,” said Donner.
“We only use herbicides that are approved by both
Federal Environmental Protection Agency and the
California Environmental Protection Agency,” Yi said
in the email. “The herbicides used do not pose a threat
to humans, animals, or insects when used according
to the product label. Applications of herbicides are
not sprayed directly into water and where there is a
possibility it could come into contact with water, then
we use an herbicide approved for aquatic use.”
Last year, US Rep. Adam Schiff called for a ban of
Roundup after it was discovered the weed killer was
being sprayed along and in the LA River. According to a
story in the Los Angeles Daily News, Schiff asked Col.
Kirk E. Gibbs, district commander of the Los Angeles
District US Army Corps of Engineers, to “end its use
of products containing glyphosate as part of the (Los
Angeles River) vegetation management plan in favor of
safe alternatives.”
Pasadena city officials have also fought to stop the
use of dangerous chemicals in local communities. In
1990, Pasadena city officials filed a legal brief in support
of the lawsuit by Los Angeles, Glendale and Burbank
seeking to stop state helicopters from bombarding
homes with the pesticide malathion to eradicate the
Mediterranean fruit fly.
For former Pasadena Mayor Bill Paparian, who
helped lead the city’s fight against the spraying of
malathion to eradicate crop-destroying fruit flies in
early 1990, expressed concern over the county spraying
Roundup in Pasadena.
“Portugal and Italy, as well as Vancouver, Canada
have banned the use of the chemical in public parks and
gardens. My family and I have lived in the immediate
neighborhood where LA County has been spraying
Roundup. Obviously I am deeply concerned over the
potential health risks,” Paparian said. n
10,000
people have left villages
in Syria since February
20, including
members of
ISIS who have
surrendered
to local forces,
according to USA
Today.
2
men will be hanged for their
involvement in a suicide
bombing in Baghdad. The
pair admitted the attack
was meant to achieve
terrorist ends, according
to Retuers,
— Compiled by
André Coleman
8 PASADENA WEEKLY | 03.07.19