June: A Time for Congratulations!

The CV Town Council held another successful prayer breakfast on May 12 thanks to our host, St. Luke’s of the Mountains. It was keynoted by 5th District County Supervisor Kathryn Barger in a speech entitled, “How to Protect our Youth.” Our entertainment included musical groups from Crescenta Valley High School and Korean fan dancers. The purpose was to pray for our youth and community.

Three Eagle Scouts received certificates of appreciation and recognition from the Town Council. Congratulations to Brendan Harvey, Chad Wilson and Connor Harvey. I was honored to attend the award night for CV High School scholarship recipients. Congratulations to all of the CV high school seniors, their teachers and principal for jobs well done. I also attended the silver cup presentation by the CV Chamber at the La Crescenta Library and participated at Prom Plus at the YMCA. We honored our veterans and their ultimate sacrifice at the Memorial Day ceremony at Two Strike Park and thanked them for their service.

Residents of La Crescenta have recently witnessed drag races taking place on Ramsdell Avenue (south of Foothill Boulevard and north of Foothill Boulevard all the way up to Orange Avenue) and on La Crescenta Avenue. Indeed, Corresponding Secretary Sophal Ear, whose home is at Evelyn Street and Ramsdell Avenue, recorded two videos of a three-car drag race that took place at 10 p.m. on May 15. He recorded from two vantage points: via his front door (video found at https://youtu.be/124NhZw6yrs) and from his garage driveway (video found at https://youtu.be/LppOp9GQ6Tk).

Ramsdell has only two lanes, one northbound, one southbound; La Crescenta Avenue has additional lanes south of Foothill Boulevard. Crescenta Valley High School is on Ramsdell and there are high schoolers there at all times of the day. La Crescenta Elementary is on La Crescenta Avenue and is also busy. The Council will send a letter to the supervisor on this matter.

It has also come to the Council’s attention that certain intersections of La Crescenta are in need of re-striping and other pedestrian-friendly measures for safety reasons. The corner of Briggs Avenue and Los Amigos Street, the corner of La Crescenta Avenue and Orange Avenue, and the corner of Briggs Avenue and Orange Avenue have all been observed as having their yellow crosswalk paint faded and are in need of additional pedestrian-friendly measures. A letter requests the re-striping of the yellow crosswalk at these intersections and for the Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Works to make these pedestrian crossings more obvious and visually strong with pedestrian crossing signs and flashing lights if deemed appropriate.

With the safe route to school championed by Road and Transportation Committee Member Desiree Rabinov, we will obtain the support of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and CHP, both of which have both been notified.

Speaking of streets, we believe living in the foothills should not prevent people from walking or biking and using multiple modes of transportation while commuting to work, shopping or picnicking at the park. The Open Streets Program of Metro offers an opportunity to bring awareness of the importance of having a sustainable environment where we can collectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution and congestion in our streets. The Town Council is a partner of Metro and will be working closely with county staff and local organizations and businesses to ensure participation in activities for the Open Streets Program that will attract participants from the surrounding and countywide jurisdictions. The proposed route will also include streets under the jurisdiction of the City of Glendale, which is a strong supporter and will assist the County with all permits, marketing, and traffic coordination.

Our community will benefit hugely from having such a family-friendly outing that educates on the importance of alternative modes, access and transit options in moving to and from neighboring communities and amenities. We strongly support the County application for our unincorporated area as a model of a mixed-use, diverse suburban town that has great potential to increase transit ridership and shifting the behavior of using other forms of transportation than the automobile.

With our Land Use Committee, the Town Council held a successful Community Standards District (CSD) session with regional planning on May 31.

Finally, calling all music fans! Thanks to Supervisor Barger’s office, three-time Grammy nominee and veterans advocate Trace Adkins will perform at the annual Live at the Arboretum concert on June 16. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for picnicking and the show starts at 7 p.m. For tickets (starting at only $15) and more information, call (626) 793-7172 or visit pasadenasymphony-pops.org.

We will have a presentation from Los Angeles County Public Works regarding the medians on Foothill Boulevard at our next public meeting on June 21 at 7 p.m. at the La Crescenta Library community room (2809 Foothill Blvd.). I look forward to seeing you there!

Harry Leon is the president of the Crescenta Valley
Town Council.