WEBVTT 1 00:00:06.300 --> 00:00:22.340 On this week's episode: complaints about how signatures were gathered for a proposed housing charter amendment, a first look at cameras for parking officers and garbage trucks, and a split council vote on hiring a firm to write a plan for getting around the Rose Bowl. 2 00:00:25.579 --> 00:00:29.219 From the City of Roses, here's your weekly debrief. 3 00:00:29.819 --> 00:00:41.720 Tuesday's council meeting opened with ceremonial matters, among them a tribute. Members remembered a longtime Pasadena resident and former Los Angeles Dodgers general manager, who died the evening before, on his ninetieth birthday. 4 00:00:41.720 --> 00:00:53.982 He'd also served on the Rose Bowl Operating Company board. The meeting's chair said they served together there for more than twelve years, and called him a mentor. The meeting adjourned in his memory. 5 00:00:53.982 --> 00:01:06.605 The same night, the council proclaimed October National Disability Employment Awareness Month and Bullying Prevention Awareness Month, and October eighteenth through twenty-fourth United Against Hate Week. Teens from city youth programs spoke about bullying. 6 00:01:06.605 --> 00:01:14.539 This episode was produced with AI from the public recording of the meeting. Links to the source are in the show notes. 7 00:01:17.778 --> 00:01:28.722 Our top story: a citizen petition to amend the city charter on rental housing, and complaints about how its signatures were gathered. The Legislative Policy Committee discussed it Monday. 8 00:01:28.722 --> 00:01:30.609 What would the amendment do? 9 00:01:30.609 --> 00:01:56.270 Written comments in the committee's packet say a group called Pasadena Housing Providers gathered it, and that it would weaken and eventually repeal tenant protections. Three of four public speakers said paid gatherers told them it was for rent control or would lower rents, when, one said, the petition itself says it would repeal and replace Measure H. The city clerk's office also received twenty-four written letters. 10 00:01:56.270 --> 00:01:57.780 Did anyone defend it? 11 00:01:57.780 --> 00:02:13.630 One speaker working with the Pasadena Housing Providers group. He said the effort submitted twenty-nine thousand signatures, expects about nineteen thousand to be valid, trained gatherers twice a week, and wants a balanced rent board, not an end to tenant protections. 12 00:02:13.630 --> 00:02:16.649 Can the city do anything about misleading pitches? 13 00:02:16.649 --> 00:02:43.820 Very little, the committee heard. The clerk's office has no enforcement role, though misrepresentation by a circulator is a crime. City staff said complaints should go to the Pasadena Police Department, which can refer cases to the city attorney's office, and cautioned that intent has to be proven. Vice Mayor Jess Rivas said she was approached in several places in her district and told things she believes were inaccurate or outright lies. 14 00:02:43.820 --> 00:02:45.706 Any ideas for the future? 15 00:02:45.706 --> 00:03:09.858 A councilmember floated making gatherers register with the city and take a city training. City staff said the city attorney's office would research it, citing preemption and First Amendment issues. No action was taken. The county has until October twenty-second to report whether the petition has enough valid signatures. If it qualifies, it goes on the March 2028 city ballot. 16 00:03:13.098 --> 00:03:19.774 Next, cameras. On Wednesday the Municipal Services Committee got a look at two plans. Start with parking enforcement. 17 00:03:19.774 --> 00:03:45.368 In June's budget process, residents and councilmembers raised concerns about money for body-worn cameras for parking officers, and staff promised a policy before buying anything. The draft turns cameras on at the start of any contact with the public, keeps recordings a year, and bars using footage in routine performance reviews without a specific complaint or incident. Staff said the laborers' union, LiUNA, and parking staff support it. 18 00:03:45.368 --> 00:03:46.851 What would it cost? 19 00:03:46.851 --> 00:04:11.703 Staff estimated under ninety thousand dollars the first year, as a subscription that includes the equipment. District Seven Councilmember Jason Lyon asked whether the vendor could see the footage, and the committee backed his call for the policy to limit that. A councilmember questioned keeping recordings a full year. Staff said the city attorney's office reads state law as requiring at least that, and will follow up. 20 00:04:11.703 --> 00:04:13.187 And the garbage trucks? 21 00:04:13.187 --> 00:04:38.038 Public Works described up to eight cameras per refuse truck, to flag unsafe driving, log pickups, spot contamination in bins under the state's organic-waste law, and provide evidence in accident claims. Staff said about eighty percent of the division's accidents aren't its fault, and that the cameras don't read license plates or use facial recognition. How long footage would be kept is still being worked out. 22 00:04:38.038 --> 00:04:39.893 What did the public say? 23 00:04:39.893 --> 00:05:08.083 Two residents spoke on both items, and the committee received two letters on the body cameras and fourteen on the trucks. Both speakers thanked staff for the policy and called a year's retention too long, and one praised writing it before buying equipment. On the trucks, one warned of roving surveillance falling hardest on lower-income communities and communities of color. The other said blurring faces isn't enough and asked for a written privacy policy first. 24 00:05:08.083 --> 00:05:08.825 Any votes? 25 00:05:08.825 --> 00:05:14.018 No, both were informational. Members also called for a citywide policy on artificial intelligence. 26 00:05:17.257 --> 00:05:34.840 Our third top story: getting around the Rose Bowl. On Tuesday the council approved a contract of up to five hundred thousand dollars with Kimley-Horn and Associates for a multimodal connectivity plan for the Rose Bowl area and Brookside Park, paid for with a Caltrans grant plus a local match. 27 00:05:34.840 --> 00:05:36.909 Wasn't that on the consent calendar? 28 00:05:36.909 --> 00:06:08.972 It was, but it got a vote of its own. Three public speakers backed better access but questioned paying consultants half a million dollars, though one still supported it. They cited the thirty-five mile an hour limit on the Rose Bowl loop, close calls, and a collision while biking. Councilmember Rick Cole of District Two objected to hiring outside consultants for community outreach. Cole said his no vote was about consultants, not opposition to safety preparations for the Olympics, which bring soccer to the Rose Bowl in summer 2028. 29 00:06:08.972 --> 00:06:10.351 What did staff say? 30 00:06:10.351 --> 00:06:39.657 That speed limits follow state rules, but a plan to lower limits on safety corridors is headed to the Municipal Services Committee. Staff said the area's many stakeholders, like the Rose Bowl Operating Company, the Aquatic Center and Kidspace, call for consensus-building, and that a finished plan is needed to pursue grants. The meeting's chair suggested the Finance Committee take up whether outreach should be done in-house. The contract passed five to two, with Cole and District One Councilmember Tyron Hampton voting no. 31 00:06:42.896 --> 00:06:46.474 Now a few shorter items from around City Hall. 32 00:06:46.474 --> 00:07:20.265 The council approved a contract with PCL Construction Services worth up to about eleven point one million dollars, per the agenda, for early phases of a new transit operations and maintenance facility, including demolition and site preparation. Staff said the transit system must leave its leased site by June thirtieth, 2028, and that another eighteen point four million dollars would be needed, expected from Metro Measure R funds. The council added a twenty percent aspirational goal for local hiring, vendors and materials. 33 00:07:20.265 --> 00:07:47.695 Last week we reported the Legislative Policy Committee's ballot recommendations. The committee confirmed them three to nothing on Monday, and the council adopted them Tuesday: support Measure PFD, for 911, fire and paramedic emergency response, Pasadena City College's Measure UP, and Proposition 1, housing bonds. Oppose Proposition 39, on photo ID to vote, and Proposition 43, on a two-thirds threshold for local special taxes. 34 00:07:47.695 --> 00:08:05.982 The council unanimously adopted a policy that the longest-serving councilmember who hasn't been vice mayor is considered next in line, with consideration given to the tradition of two one-year terms. The charter requires an election by five votes, so it can't bind the council. 35 00:08:05.982 --> 00:08:22.679 An ordinance exempting qualifying Eaton Fire repairs from the city's construction tax passed its first reading unanimously. And after a speaker asked to save seventeen trees in the Lower Arroyo, city staff said only one, next to the bridge, will be removed. 36 00:08:22.679 --> 00:08:39.376 Finally, AT&T is moving to retire copper landlines. City staff told the Legislative Policy Committee that state regulators have stopped disconnections in California until a replacement performs as well. Staff will check with police and fire before bringing the item back. 37 00:08:42.615 --> 00:08:45.754 Before we go, a look at what's ahead. 38 00:08:45.754 --> 00:09:17.536 Next Tuesday, October thirteenth, the council is scheduled to hold a hearing on up to forty-two million dollars in bonds for a residential rental project at 2000 to 2030 East Colorado Boulevard. It's also set for the second reading of the Eaton Fire construction tax exemption, and a choice of surface for the Villa Parke and Robinson Park fields, where staff recommends recyclable artificial turf made without PFAS chemicals, while still evaluating natural grass for the future. 39 00:09:17.536 --> 00:09:31.661 That afternoon, the Finance Committee reviews budget changes, including five million dollars for street lighting in the Raymond Avenue undergrounding project, and a commitment of about fifty-four point seven million dollars to the emergency reserve. 40 00:09:31.661 --> 00:09:50.495 And Wednesday, October fourteenth, the Housing, Homelessness and Planning Committee hears how state density bonus law limits the city's power to deny developers' concessions, and a staff proposal to stop councilmembers from requesting council presentations on major projects, citing a state cap on public meetings per housing project. 41 00:09:53.734 --> 00:10:01.934 That's our week. If you catch something we got wrong, there's a link on this episode's page to report it, and corrections are read on air. 42 00:10:01.934 --> 00:10:04.894 That's the news from City Hall. See you next Friday.