latimes.com: Pasadena mayor speaks softly — and wins: Bill Bogaard strives to be boring, a secret to his successful reelection, he says (by way of proctorformayor.com)
I love this city.
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Update: Kelly at West Coast Grrlie Blather on this article in her post Where the Boring Mayor Lives:
I’ve lived in Pasadena for over two decades, and I’m becoming a curmudgeon. Why? Because of the way this city has changed….
…Pasadena now has scads of expensive, ugly rental housing. (Note to self: post photos of egregious examples.) Our traffic has started to rival the famed Westside of LA traffic. And lower income folks are moving out of this town because they cannot afford to stay here.
I’m glad to read that Bill wants to address the affordable housing issue over the next four years. Sadly, that train left the station quite a while ago. Pasadena does have an affordable housing ordinance, but developers can buy their way out if their deep pockets are so inclined (scroll down to “The Breakdown”). (link)
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Update #2: Aaron Proctor and I were emailing back and forth about this today, too, and he posts an excerpt from one of his emails in Rant to a friend:
It’s a shame that this city actually doesn’t care if low income people can’t afford to live here. My friend and his wife have two kids and are taking care of their 100+ year old grandmother and live in a house that they can’t afford to live in anymore. They’re probably going to move back to Nevada..they can’t afford to live here anymore. But, hey, as long as the Paseo is cashing in on people who live in Arcadia, Monrovia, and surrounding cities – who the hell cares about Pasadena? (link)
And here’s a snip from one of my emails:
I don’t want Pasadena to grow by squeezing people out. I want it to grow for everyone. Otherwise, everyone loses. Squeezing people out hurts the squeezers and the squeezees. I don’t want us to become sterile and chain-storey and even more isolated and lonely and afraid.
[…] 21st, 2007 by Kelly L.C. Russell Eye Level Pasadena posted an interesting link to an LA Times article about Pasadena’s mayor, Bill Bogaard, the quintessential nice guy. “My political […]
I haven’t worked as a video store clerk since 2001 🙂
Video clerks rock. There’s nothing wrong with honest work!
Well, I told the reporter how when I came out here, that was my first job. My co-workers were kinda like “Hey, wait a minute, why’s it say you’re a video store clerk?!”
I’m a born and raised Pasadenite, and the changes I’ve seen are ridiculously dramatic. I can afford to live here by the grace of providence. But had I come here cold turkey? No way. We have friends leaving…moving to HAWAII…because it’s cheaper there than it is here. Plus, hey, Hawaii.
Sadly, I think we’re in for more of the same one-sided growth. Too many dollar signs spinning in too many eyes.
I am so lucky that I came out here at the time when I did…I wouldn’t be able to afford to get an apartment in Pasadena if I just moved here.
I’d have a hard time being able to do more than rent a room if I was moving here now.
It’s weird to think that my great grandmother used to have a boarding house on DeLacy Street. Now one street over from where I live in Monrovia there are several. Personally, I don’t mind them. I think they are nicer than boxy stucco apartment buildings. It’s silly how expensive it is to live here. I’m not sure what the solution is. Those big chain stores that we hate bring lots of tax revenue to the city, but where is it going? That’s the question. The key would be to keep the big chains out of Old Town and encourage more indepent stores. But the chains on side streets! Monrovia is poised for quite a bit of a facelift in the next few years. I hope they learn some lessons from Pasadena and keep the corporate monsters in check.
It’s depressing that the cute guitar shop on on Myrtle that has been there for years closed its doors and is being replaced by a Verizon store. 😦 I think three wireless companies now have storefronts along Myrtle in Old Town.