05.09.19

PW OPINION PW NEWS PW LIFE PW ARTS
BRIEFS
COUNCIL MOVES
HAMPTON BECOMES VICE MAYOR;
MASUDA ANNOUNCES BID FOR THIRD
TERM
BY ANDRÉ COLEMAN
District 4 Pasadena City Councilman Gene Masuda
will be seeking a third term on the Pasadena City Tyrone Hampton
Council.
In other City Hall news, District 1 Councilman Tyron Hampton was
named vice mayor, replacing Councilman John Kennedy in that position. He
will serve as vice mayor until December 2020.
The vice mayor is a rotating position. Unlike the mayor, which is a citywide
elected position, the vice mayor is selected by the council. Hampton
was unanimously chosen by Mayor Terry Tornek and his fellow council
members in December. Before coming to the council in 2015, Hampton
served two years as a member of the Pasadena Board of Education.
Masuda, a strong supporter of public education, served as board
member of the Pasadena Educational Foundation, which raises millions of
dollars for the Pasadena Unified School District.
Masuda first unsuccessfully ran for the City Council in 2007 against
incumbent Steve Haderlein. In 2011, he pulled off an upset victory over Jill
Fosselman — who was endorsed by every member of the City Council —
after Haderlein stepped down.
Masuda ran unopposed in 2015. Since coming to the council, Masuda
has successfully advocated for pension reforms and halting mansionization.
In a statement announcing his intentions to run again, Masuda pointed
to his record of “working to fight overdevelopment and traffic in order to
maintain the character and beauty of residential neighborhoods.”
Masuda and his wife Joanne moved to Pasadena in 1985 with his two
sons. His parents, Sam and Alice, were among thousands of Japanese
Americans interned and held in separate “relocation centers” shortly after
the bombing of Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II.
The family reunited in Boyle Heights, where Masuda grew up.
Masuda’s district is based in East Pasadena and includes upper and
lower Hastings Ranch, Daisy-Willa, Eaton Blanche, Eaton Wash, Eaton
Canyon Wash, parts of Orange Grove, Fox Ridge/Canyon Close, Loma Vista,
Sierra Madre Villa and Victory Rose. n
DRIVEN TO NOT TEXT
PASADENA POLICE CITE HUNDREDS
OF PEOPLE IN APRIL FOR
DISTRACTED DRIVING
BY ANDRÉ COLEMAN
Pasadena police officers wrote 639 tickets to people
who chose to do other things while driving their Lt. Mark Goodman
cars in April, Distracted Driver Month.
“These operations hit especially close to home for the officers who
responded to a fatal collision that took place in 2016 that was directly linked
to distracted driving,” said Lt. Mark Goodman.
In that incident, a 19-year old man collided with another car while
speeding and watching a music video on his cell phone. A 41-year-old
mother and her 18-year-old daughter were killed in the crash.
According to Goodman, 363 of the citations were for texting while
driving, an additional 89 people were cited for failing to use a hands free
device while talking on a phone. According to Goodman, 187 people were
cited for unnamed violations.
Drivers are prohibited from having a phone in their hand, and can only
use their phone in a hands-free manner. The phones must be mounted on
the dashboard, windshield or center console, and can only be touched once
with the swipe or tap of a finger to activate or deactivate a function.
According to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), 66 people were
killed and more than 6,500 injured in 2017 from distracted driving-related
crashes.
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution in
2010 to recognize April as Distracted Driver Awareness Month.
Shelley Forney began advocating against distracted drivers after her
daughter Erica was killed on Nov. 25, 2008 by a driver looking down at a
cell phone while driving. Erica was struck in the head while riding her bike
from school. She was less than a half-block from her home.
“Our officers write citations almost daily to people who are texting and
driving or failing to use a hands-free device,” Goodman said. “While we
may focus resources specifically on distracted driving during the month
of April, rest assured that our ongoing focus on traffic safety, including
distracted driving, happens throughout the year. Our goal is to make
Pasadena a safer place to drive, walk and bike every day.”
For more on texting and driving, read PW Wheels Columnist Lauren
Holland’s work at pasadenaweekly.com/category/life/wheels/. n
CAUSE FOR CONCERN
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7
has determined that RDX is a possible human
carcinogen based on the presence of liver tumors
in mice that were exposed to RDX for one to two
years. People who inhaled large amounts of dust
containing RDX suffered seizures.
Trinitrotoluene (TNT) can cause birth defects,
spleen enlargement and abnormal liver function,
according to the EPA.
“You’re 100 percent correct. We will be testing
for the chemicals as requested,” said Cox after
Councilman Victor Gordo, along with Councilman
John Kennedy, prodded him for a guarantee at the
April 29 meeting of the City Council.
Gordo and Councilman Gene Masuda, whose
district includes the property in question, have been
the staunchest critics of the project on the City
Council and have repeatedly called on Mayor Terry
Tornek to bring the project back to the council for
further consideration.
Gordo, Masuda and Councilman Tyron Hampton
unsuccessfully opposed the project last July.
Gordo took the DTSC to task at the council’s
April 29 meeting, citing a February state
Senate report that pointed out the department’s
shortcomings in “fiscal mismanagement,
inconsistent record keeping, insufficient
administrative processes and lack of transparency.”
After a meeting in March with more than 100
community members, Gordo and Masuda sent
a letter to the DTSC demanding the review date
of the RAW be extended by 90 days. Instead, the
DTSC agreed to a 21-day extension, pushing the
deadline to April 30, prompting Tornek to send a
similar letter, which was also denied. However, the
city received a break after the DTSC mistakenly
began listing the review deadline as May 14, and
later agreed to honor that date due to the error,
according to City Manager Steve Mermell.
Tornek said a great deal of misinformation has
been spread about the project.
“I think there’s a misunderstanding,” Tornek
said. “I think what people have been told is that
if the work begins that the housing is going to go
ahead without the site being cleaned up. That’s not
correct. The site must be cleaned up and certified
before the housing can proceed. And so that I think
is the misinformation, the feeling that if they start
to move dirt on the site that means that people are
going to be moved onto a toxic site. And that’s not
correct. They have to move the dirt to remove the
toxic materials, but they won’t be allowed to build
the housing until the state has certified that the site
has been remediated.”
If the cleanup is not completed properly, the city
could take legal steps to force the removal of the
toxins.
According to Cox, TCC is only requesting the
testing to alleviate concerns of nearby neighbors.
THE COUNT
As of Monday, 4,086 days after the war in Afghanistan ended …
2,245
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.
735
former federal
prosecutors from
every presidential
administration
since Eisenhower
signed a letter
claiming President
Trump would have
been prosecuted for
obstruction of justice if he
were not president.
“The DTSC Removal Action Work plan does not
currently include testing for RDX and TNT because
the site was used for the research and development,
and not the manufacturing of delivery systems for
torpedoes,” said Cox. “There is no evidence that
these substances, which are used in warheads,
were used on the site.”
Cox said the group will ask for a clean-up plan if
the chemicals are discovered at the site.
“It’s essential that the future Pasadena residents
who will reside in this project are living in a safe
environment, and their health is protected from any
impacts of materials onsite or in the groundwater,”
said Councilwoman Margaret McAustin. “The
DTSC has jurisdiction over the cleanup, but I
think the city’s engagement of a consultant with
expertise in this area to provide us with additional
assurances as to the adequacy of the DTSC work
and fulfillment of the Removal Action Work Plan
imposed on the developer will give us an extra level
of certainty as to the actions planned and properly
undertaken to remediate the site.”
Councilman Andy Wilson said he still supports
the project but called for all health concerns to be
dealt with.
“Health and safety issues must be fully
addressed,” Wilson said. “I understand that some
community members feel the plan in this area is
insufficient.”
Representatives from Trammell say that the
weapons were not manufactured at the site. Critics
disagree with that claim and say other weapons
could have been manufactured at the site under
classified designations, leaving behind dangerous
carcinogens and toxins that could create health
risks if the state agency does not plan a full cleanup.
Recent environmental tests indicate the
presence of hazardous materials in the soil and soil
vapor, and potentially in groundwater beneath the
property.
Local residents claimed victory after TCC
agreed to the tests and credited the city for hiring
the consulting company Alta Environmental to
monitor the cleanup.
“Even though it was well known that RDX, a
neurotoxin, was used in rockets and torpedoes
manufactured on the 3200 E. Foothill Blvd site,
the Department of Toxic Substances Control
failed to require the developer to include it among
the Contaminants of Concern (COC) destined
for removal,” wrote Gary Smith in an update on a
online petition calling for full testing and cleanup
of the site.
“This victory took place largely because the
city of Pasadena hired an outside consultant, Alta
Environmental, to evaluate whether the RAW was
adequate to protect the safety of children,” Smith
wrote. n
8
suspects were arrested in
Indonesia on Monday
as part of
plot to stage
a series of
bombings to
coincide with
elections this
month, according
to Reuters.
44
workers in Baghdad were released
on Monday after a 9-member
gang kidnapped them
and demanded hefty
payments from their
relatives, according
to The Associated
Press.
— Compiled by
André Coleman
8 PASADENA WEEKLY | 05.09.19