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Archive for the ‘City of Alhambra’ Category

Action Needed! Council Aims to Curtail Residents’ Speech

Posted in Advocacy, City of Alhambra, tagged , , on September 6, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Alhambra.City.HallAlhambra Preservation Group strongly urges you to attend the Alhambra City Council meeting on Monday, September 9, 2019 when City Council will have a second reading of an ordinance that was initially intended to institute Rosenberg’s Rules of Order rather than Robert’s Rules of Order at City Council meetings. However, at the August 12 Council meeting when this ordinance had its first reading, Councilman David Mejia proposed two amendments, which included the following:
  1. Reduce the public comment time for agenda items from the current five minutes to three minutes per person.
  2. Prevent members of the public from turning in speaker cards for an agenda item or oral communications if public speaking for that item has already begun.
Alhambra Preservation Group is very concerned about these two amendments, and we are adamantly opposed to them.
One reason for our opposition is that often times the concepts and/or ideas that our representatives and members present at public meetings are detailed or complicated in nature, with historical data and figures. It is difficult, and at times almost impossible, to express any ideas or rebuttals in just five minutes. To reduce the public comment period by two minutes would unnecessarily restrict our right to provide important input regarding city decisions.
These amendments not only impact APG’s mission and historic preservation efforts, but they also affect every single Alhambran and their right to speak at City Council meetings on any item of concern in our city. Your attendance and voice at this meeting will send a clear message that the residents of Alhambra will not be silenced.
Here is the information on the meeting:
Date:  Monday, September 9, 2019
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Alhambra City Hall, 111 South First Street, Alhambra, CA

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Planning Commission to Consider General Plan in May

Posted in City of Alhambra, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on April 19, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Alhambra.City.HallThe City of Alhambra Planning Commission will consider the final draft of the City of Alhambra General Plan at public meetings on Monday, May 6 and Monday, May 20, 2019. Both meetings will take place at Alhambra City Hall, City Council Chambers, 111 South First Street, Alhambra, CA  91801 and will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Alhambra Preservation Group representatives will be in attendance, and we encourage all Alhambrans to attend one or both of these meetings. Members of the public will be invited to make public statements about the General Plan prior to the Planning Commission’s consideration of the final draft document. If you have any final thoughts or opinions about Alhambra’s General Plan, these public meetings are your last opportunity to let your voice be heard.

The City of Alhambra released the final General Plan on January 10, 2019. APG reviewed the final General Plan along with the final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and immediately noticed that three key implementation action items related to the development of a comprehensive historic preservation program that had been originally included in the General Plan’s draft EIR had been deleted from the final EIR.

APG representatives attended the first public hearing at the Planning Commission, and Alhambra Preservation Group addressed these deleted implementation action items. “The deleted implementation action items included (1) conducting a historic resources inventory, (2) establishing a historic resources commission and (3) taking measures to ensure that the City of Alhambra qualified as a certified local government. All of these action items are necessary to have a historic preservation program,” stated APG President Oscar Amaro. “We insist that these three implementation action items be reinstated into the final EIR and final listing of General Plan Implementation Action Items.”

APG also submitted a letter to Alhambra City Council Members and Planning Commission Members outlining the deletion of these key implementation action items and demanded that these three key items be restored to the final EIR as well as the final listing of General Plan Implementation Action Items. The letter APG submitted to the City of Alhambra may be viewed here.

Soon after the January Planning Commission meeting, the City’s General Plan process was put on hold when Councilwoman Katherine Lee requested that more residents be surveyed to gather additional input. As a result of this request, City Council voted unanimously to conduct an additional survey of 400 Alhambra residents.

The City of Alhambra began the updating of its General Plan – viewed as a long-range vision for the future of a community and sometimes referred to as a “blueprint for the future” – in the spring of 2015. The City of Alhambra’s General Plan was last updated in 1986.

For more information on the City of Alhambra’s General Plan visit the City’s web page.

Photo courtesy of Alhambra Preservation Group.

 

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Candidates Forum Set For October 5

Posted in Alhambra Preservation Group, APG Events, City of Alhambra, tagged , , , , , on August 22, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Vote.Button.FINALAlhambra Preservation Group, with the League of Women Voters – Pasadena Area, will sponsor a Meet the Candidates Forum on Wednesday, October 5, 2016.  The Meet the Candidates Forum will take place from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. at Almansor Court’s Lakeview Room, 700 South Almansor Street, Alhambra, CA  91801. The event is free to the general public and light refreshments will be served. Alhambra residents are encouraged to attend.

All Alhambra City Council candidates have been invited to participate in the pre-election event. A moderator from the League of Women Voters – Pasadena Area will ask each candidate the same opening question, followed by a series of written questions from the audience. “The purpose of the Meet the Candidates Forum is to give city council candidates the opportunity to address policy issues vital to Alhambra’s future and give residents the chance to ask questions of candidates,” stated Joyce Amaro, President of the Alhambra Preservation Group. “Given the many issues facing our city, we invite all Alhambrans to attend this event and receive the information they need to cast an informed vote on election day.”

Community planning, environmental sustainability, public health and safety, historic preservation, transportation and infrastructure are just a few of the topics that may be addressed at the forum. The November 8, 2016 election will decide two of five Alhambra City Council seats.

Photo courtesy of start2finish.org.

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January 13 General Plan Community Meeting Recap

Posted in Advocacy, Alhambra Preservation Group, City of Alhambra, tagged , , , , on January 23, 2016| Leave a Comment »

IMG_7364On January 13, the City of Alhambra hosted the second General Plan Community Meeting at the Civic Center Library. Approximately 100 Alhambrans attended the workshop. The presentation given by the city’s consultant included information about the surveys that were collected this past summer and recommendations for Alhambra’s future. Here are a few of the evening’s highlights:

– Consultants conducted 400 random phone surveys from June 25 – July 9, 2015 with respondents prioritizing the enhancement of existing city services, the protection of the city’s character/quality of life and ensuring the health of the city’s economy and job market.

– Consultants collected 360 written surveys with 13% of respondents wanting to preserve historic homes and buildings, 13% of respondents expressing an interest in protecting open space/parks and trees and 9% of respondents interested in preserving the small-town community atmosphere.

– High priorities identified from the written surveys included the improvement of traffic flow (58%), the preservation of historic areas and buildings (52%) and the improvement of the maintenance of city streets (50%).

– Concerns expressed by respondents included the opinion that there is too much development in Alhambra. Sixty-six percent of respondents felt that there were too many condominiums, 60% expressed that there were too many apartments, and 58% said that there was too much mixed-use housing.

– Other ideas presented included the identification and enhancement of gateways entering Alhambra, linking neighboring community bike connectors into Alhambra, and the maintenance of Alhambra’s core industrial area while transitioning select industrial areas to commercial mixed use.Linear.Park.Railroad.Trench

– One idea that generated a lot of interest was the creation of a linear park over the current railroad trench, which runs parallel to Mission Road.

The January 13 community workshop presentation can be viewed here. The results of the community survey can be found here.

After the presentation, participants rotated through three stations – (1) Land Use & Economic Development, (2) Community Design & Character and (3) Mobility, providing additional input on elements/issues that need to be prioritized or were missing. The consultant team encouraged residents to e-mail comments or concerns to generalplan@cityofalhambra.org.

Fifty-two percent (52%) of people who submitted a written survey last summer stated that the preservation of historic areas and buildings should be a priority for the City of Alhambra. The commitment and dedication of APG’s members last summer to filling out and submitting the written surveys and taking the online survey paid off! The next step in this process is the writing and release of the draft General Plan, which should take place in late Spring. After the release of the draft General Plan, there will be a required 45-day public review period.

Yes, it may seem like we are inching our way toward a historic preservation ordinance, but that’s how change happens – one step at a time. APG is committed to advocating for the adoption of a historic preservation ordinance. The more Alhambrans who join us, the faster we’ll get to our goal of Alhambra adopting legislation that will protect and preserve our city’s architecturally significant homes and buildings.

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Midwick Project Approved Despite Resident Opposition

Posted in Advocacy, City of Alhambra, tagged , , , , , , on January 23, 2015| 1 Comment »

Jan.20.Planning.CommissionLast Tuesday night, Alhambra’s Council chambers were filled with residents attending the Planning Commission meeting where the City Ventures LLC Midwick project was discussed and considered.
Alhambra Preservation Group had six board members in attendance with three board members speaking against the project. “While none of the buildings in the proposed construction zone are listed on the National Register of Historic Places or included in Alhambra’s list of historic buildings, that does not mean the buildings aren’t significant. Some of them date back to 1937, and most were built between 1947 to 1968,” stated Christine Olson, APG President. “The city of Alhambra … has not compiled a list of its historic resources in more than 30 years, and that one was limited in its scope. What that means is that no one really knows if there are locally significant historic buildings in Midwick that will be demolished by this project,” she continued.
The meeting lasted until after 10 p.m with almost two and a half hours of public comment. Resident after resident gave informed, rational and heartfelt reasons why the project, which will be located at 2400 South Fremont Avenue in the Midwick Tract, should not move forward. Unfortunately, the Planning Commission approved the project by a vote of 7 to 2. Tom Maloney and Ross Maza were the only commissioners to vote against the project, which will demolish all existing structures, build 70 new residences and re-zone a portion of the area. The proposed project’s specific plan will now go before the City Council for final approval.
You can read more about the Mickwick project and last Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting in the Alhambra Source and Pasadena Star News. For ongoing updates about the Midwick project, follow Alhambra Preservation Group and Grassroots Alhambra on Facebook.
Photo courtesy of Oscar Amaro.

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