So no points for guessing what day the random weekend story about the Pasadena Paranormal Research Society was supposed to run? We're only as good as the bodies in the room, and mine was in bed much of last week.

Posted by Todd at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Organized opposition emerged today to the proposed Measure D the council will again consider declaring an "emergency" tonight to rush a ballot measure designed to insulate $10 million from the Utility User Tax from potential legal challenge.

Below is the letter from Wayne "Pasadena Pundit" Lusvardi:

November 5, 2007

Mayor William Bogaard and City Councilmembers
City of Pasadena
100 North Garfield Ave
Pasadena, California 91109

RE: Measure D

Dear Mayor Bogaard and City Councilmembers,

We demand that Measure D be delayed until the next regularly scheduled municipal election in March 2009 as there is no justifiable emergency that would allow a special election to be held in February 2008.

The city has more than adequate reserves to fully fund its general fund budget appropriations at current levels through March 2009 even without a single penny of UUT revenue, therefore there is no financial emergency. The claim that there is an emergency because Federal law might one day somehow preclude the City from implementing a future Utility Users Tax if the City does not do so before March 2009 is sheer speculation and does not rise to the level of a currently occurring emergency.

If you nevertheless chose to go forward with placing Measure D on the February 2008 ballot then we hereby demand the following changes be made to Measure D:

We demand that you remove any language from the ballot label describing Measure D as a ratification or continuance of an existing tax. Measure D is a new tax. Although the rates remain unchanged, Measure D is designed to expand the activities that are subject to the utility users tax. Indeed, were it a ratification and continuance of an existing tax there would be no need for an election.

We demand that in the ballot label you cease to refer to the seniors that are exempt as “low-income”. The income threshold of $12,000 is below what a reasonable person or your own criteria used for other purposes (Zoning Code Section 17.80.020) would define as simply “low-income”. We demand that instead you replace the term “low-income” with “very low-income”. If you insist on using the phrase “low-income” then we demand that the amount of the threshold be changed to meet the definition of “low-income” contained in the Zoning Code and that it be subject to annual cost of living adjustments.

We demand that the various UUT rates be reduced by 1 percentage point.
We demand that you insert language into Measure D which clearly and forever exempts internet access and usage from the UUT whether or not Federal or California law prohibits or permits such taxation now or in the future.


Sincerely,

Wayne Lusvardi
Citizens for Responsible Government
180 So. Euclid Ave
Pasadena, California 91101

Posted by Todd at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We had a photo gallery up from yesterday's march through Pasadena, but it doesn't seem to be up anymore. I have a natural aversion to "kid pics" getting into the paper, but I really dug this striking photo by Star-News photographer Sarah Reingewirtz.

I have no clue why that wasn't our A1 display as intended.

Full story posted below.

Protest foreshadows parade controversy

By Kenneth Todd Ruiz, Staff Writer

Article Launched: 11/04/2007 10:32:41 PM PST

PASADENA -- Buzzing commerce in Old Pasadena was disrupted Sunday by protesters denouncing China's human rights abuses and the inclusion of a Beijing Olympic float in next year's Rose Parade.

Protesting both China and the Pasadena City Council's inaction on the issue last week, more than 100 people - including natives of China, Tibet and Burma - marched from City Hall to the Tournament of Roses' headquarters on Orange Grove Boulevard.

Former City Councilman Bill Paparian participated in the march wearing a shawl given to him by the Dalai Lama in 1996 when Paparian served as mayor and welcomed the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader to Pasadena.

"There was a time this city stood for principled issues such as the brutal occupation of Tibet," Paparian said, describing the council's decision last week to reject recommendations from its Human Relations Commission as a "shameful display of political cowardice."

He and march organizers thanked councilmembers Chris Holden and Jacque Robinson, who had wanted to send a stronger
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statement specifically to China addressing its documented abuses of human rights.

The majority opted to endorse a "universal declaration of human rights" from the United Nations that would make no reference to China but be sent to all of Pasadena's sister cities, including one in Beijing.

Many Sunday shoppers registered surprise to the cries of "Shame, shame, China shame! Human rights is not a game!" as the march proceeded through Old Pasadena's shopping district to honks of support from motorists.

China plans to use the Rose Parade as the kickoff event for celebrating the Olympic Games to be held in Beijing.

The float has drawn together a disparate association of groups who feel China broke its Olympic promise to improve conditions for its citizens with, according to the U.S. State Department, abuses that have grown worse during the past year.

The next front in their campaign getting City Hall or the Tournament of Roses to allow a parade celebrating human rights before the Rose Parade begins, according to Tseten Phanucharas, president of Los Angeles Friends of Tibet.

"We went to apply for a permit with the city for a parade and found out the Tournament of Roses has the street from December 15 to January 1st," she said. "Now let us have an equal voice and a march for freedom that won't disrupt the parade. That's the democratic, American way."

Paparian urged those present not to disrupt the float when it rolls down Colorado Boulevard on Jan. 1, but to protest in a dignified way that would "eclipse any public-relations value the Chinese government hopes to achieve with the parade."

Ann Lau, head of human rights group Visual Artists Guild, tucked a letter into the front door of the Tournament House after saying they'd received no response to previous letters to Tournament President CL Keedy.

In a recent letter to Mayor Bill Bogaard, Keedy defended the float as an apolitical celebration of the Olympics.

He also repeated that the Chinese government had no role in its inclusion, although some of the Chinese-American associations paying for it have direct links to the Communist government.

Pasadena-based Avery Dennison Corp. is paying the other half of the estimated $400,000 float.

Although Bogaard helped bring the float to the parade, some on the council have said the controversy falls outside of its purview.

todd.ruiz@sgvn.com
(626) 578-6300, Ext. 4444
www.insidesocal.com/pasadenapolitics

Posted by Todd at 2:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)