Beating a Live Horse

August 23rd marks the end of the period for public comment on the scope of the Environmental Impact Report on the Initial Study for the Multi-Benefit/Multi-Use Project at Hahamongna Watershed Park.

That's doublespeak for:

Pasadena proposes to build an athletic field at Hahamongna, which is currently mostly open space. The name of the proposed field is the Sycamore Grove athletic field. I'm not sure why, maybe because sycamore trees will be razed to build it, along with cottonwoods and willows.

The city also proposes "creek restoration" and "trail restoration." Some bad stuff and some potentially good stuff. They've bundled these things into one project with a confusing name.

It's easy to register your comments, and you don't have to be from Pasadena to do so. Here's the City's link to get you started. Also, the Arroyo Seco Foundation has provided you with a toolkit. At the most recent Hahamongna Watershed Park Advisory Committee meeting, Loren Pluth of the city staff said comments will be accepted until the close of business on thae 23rd.

Please send your comments regarding the scope of the EIR to:
Rosa Laveaga, City of Pasadena, Department of Public Works,
Phone: (626) 744-4321
E-mail: mbmuproject@cityofpasadena.net,
Mailing Address: City of Pasadena, Department of Public Works, Attn: Engineering Division, 100 N. Garfield Avenue, Pasadena, CA, 91101

Check out YouTube sensation Tim Martinez and his tour of the proposed site for the athletic field (shot by Jonathan of the Arroyo Seco Foundation).

To help get you started, here are the comments I submitted yesterday:

Dear Ms. Laveaga,

Herein are my comments on the Initial Study of the Multi-Benefit Multi-Use project for Hahamongna Watershed Park.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The description of the project is vague. Under the circumstances, it's difficult to make direct comments.

ATHLETIC FIELD

As a frequent Hahamongna user, I notice the athletic field that is already there is rarely used.

Why are we building a second field there when the first one gets so little use?

Are there records on the use of the first field?

If so, where can I see the records?

If not, how do we justify a second field at that location?

FLOODING

Because the athletic field is to be built in a flood plain, sooner or later all or part of the field will be affected by heavy rains. One possible result is that the field will be flooded and/or washed into the dam.

Does Pasadena have the funds to repair the field during flood years?

Does Pasadena have the funds to clean the remains of the field from the dam during flood years?

Another possibility is that the field will withstand heavy rains, and flood waters will back up north of the raised field. In a low rainfall year, this wouldn't be a problem. In a high rainfall year, this could affect Tom Sawyer Camp, Rose Bowl Riders, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.

Is Pasadena prepared to repair those potential damages and/or respond to potential lawsuits?

Has the regularity and severity of flooding in Hahamongna been studied? Over how many years?

Where can I see the results of that study?

HABITAT RESTORATION

It seems we are destroying habitat only to "restore" it.

How are you defining "habitat?"

How are you defining "restore?"

WATER

Water shortages continue around the United States. The Colorado River is no longer a source for the Metropolitan Water District. Pasadena's watershed feeds the Raymond Basin. Building anything at all in our watershed, at this time in history, is, at best, idiocy, especially something that pollutes with pesticides, oils, gasoline runoff, asphalt, etc.

Can you guarantee 0% pollution of the Raymond Basin, a San Gabriel Valley water resource?

California's governor is proposing a $23.7 billion pipeline to transport water in California, while Pasadena proposes to destroy its own potentially lucrative water resource. Once we've done that, we will have to spend taxpayer money on water we would have already had if we hadn't ruined the watershed with construction, pesticides, gasoline runoff, trash, etc.

Is Pasadena prepared to pay more for water?

What water resources will Pasadena have when the Raymond Basin becomes polluted?

Now that the Colorado River is no longer a source, where will Pasadena get its water?

Can the Metropolitan Water District guarantee enough water to Pasadena in future decades, when we won't have use of our own watershed and/or the Raymond Basin?

Have the above questions been studied?

Where can I see the results of the study?

WILDLIFE

The Initial Study says there will be no impact on wildlife. I have seen a mountain lion within yards of where the proposed athletic field is to be built, not to mention rabbits, deer, squirrels, snakes, and toads.

How have the project's effects on each of these particular creatures been studied?

How are you defining "wildlife?"

How are you defining "impact?"

Have these potential effects been documented, per creature? Where can I see the documents?

Additional auto and foot traffic can't help but impact wildlife. Not to mention lights, which the city says it will not include but which the grant requires.

How does the city reconcile the fact that it does not allow lights in Hahamongna but the grant requires the field be lit until 7pm?

Rare black willow and cottonwood are rebounding in the Hahamongna basin.

How many of these rare trees will be impacted?

Will they be part of the restoration?

The federally listed endangered bird, the Bell's Vireo, has now been documented in the exact area where the athletic field is planned.

What are Pasadena's plans to protect this federally listed endangered bird?

Has this been studied?

Where can I see the study results?

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Sincerely,

Petrea Burchard Sandel

More Weekend Calendar

You thought I was finished yesterday. Nope! There's more. Here are some good things to do this weekend for those who like to get their hands (and hiking boots) dirty. If you know of an event, please feel free to add it to the comments.

The Theodore Payne Foundation's Native Plant Sale and Fall Festival offers discounts to all today and tomorrow, 8:30-4:30. If you're a member your discount is larger, so it's a good time to join.

The Arroyo Seco Foundation offers a Mount Lowe Railway hike on Saturday. Sunday, there's a volunteer opportunity: a Central Arroyo Clean-up with super-naturalist and native plant expert Tim Martinez.

It's going to be gorgeous this weekend, if a tad toasty. Bring a water bottle, wear a wide-brimmed hat and enjoy autumn's glory in southern California.

Update: The comments are always part of the post and today isn't the first time they make it better. Here's what Bellis had to say this morning: "I hope lots of people will go on one of the guided hikes in Rubio Canyon, where the Mount Lowe railway tracks are still visible in places. The privately-owned part of the canyon was recently purchased from a generous landowner by the Arroyo and Foothills Conservancy with donations from many local residents and others. Thank you to all those who saved this lovely canyon so we can hike in it forever.
We have the women of Pasadena and Teddy Roosevelt to thank for saving the Lower Arroyo Seco park pictured in your photo - but that's another story."

I've Got Your Pasadena Weekend

I know it's only Tuesday but calendars fill up. Listen, don't worry about it. I have your weekend planned for you.

Friday the 26th: Wine tasting and silent auction benefiting the Be The Match Foundation, the national bone marrow registry. They'll be tasting wines from some of California's top vineyards. There will also be a "pole dance" the likes of which I'm told Pasadena's never seen before, and that's all I'm saying about it.

Saturday the 27th: hike the Lower Arroyo with Tim Martinez, who knows everything about the native flora here except the Latin names. Tim's talk about plant uses was one of the highlights of last spring's Hahamongna Walkabout. Join him and you'll learn fun stuff like "the best" plant in southern California or what to mix with tequila as a topical for aching muscles.

Sunday the 28th: treat yourself to an ice cream social sponsored by the League of Women Voters, celebrating the anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote. It's only $5, you need reservations and there's still plenty of time to make them. It's being held at Hillmont House, one of Pasadena's most beautiful Victorian homes.

Then I'll see you back here on Zen Monday and you can tell me how much fun you had.

Filters

It's a given that we run, bike, hike, ride our horses and walk our dogs in the Arroyo Seco. We also park our world-famous football stadium, our childrens' museum and our aquatic center there. And around those popular people magnets, we park our cars.

The parking lots need occasional maintenance, and I joined a clean-up last weekend. Wilson Lau, Watershed Coordinator at the Arroyo Seco Foundation (ASF), put out the word on the Arroyo Seco chat list ("What better way to show love for your country than to clean up the Arroyo?...Gloves and trash bags will be provided...") and I posted about it here on PDP.

I expected the turn-out to be small, but it was small. Besides Lau and Tim Martinez, a college student, native plant expert and one of the ASF's top volunteers, the only person to show up besides me was a PCC student who shuns the spotlight, so to speak. The four of us cleaned several large islands in two hours. 15 or 20 people could have done the whole parking lot in about 90 minutes, but I doubt they would have had more fun.

Our parking lot islands are populated with black sage, little red berry and California rose. The latter's hips shimmy in the photo above and its thorns wrote their tale on my forearms. I got an excellent upper body workout. 

The islands, and the spaces next to them that look like they're paved with beige bricks, are a permeable filtration system that removes trash and impurities from storm water before it runs into the Arroyo stream bed. I never knew a parking lot island could be an engineering marvel, but in Lot I they are marvels indeed.

Another marvel is the number of cigarette butts down there getting filtered out of our water. An amazing amount of cigarette butts. I said to Wilson, "Are these things major polluters? Or do they biodegrade?" He said "Oh, they biodegrade if you give 'em a hundred years or so."

If you'd like to be informed about Arroyo volunteering opportunities, you can fill out the ASF's volunteer form. There's always something to do. It's likely you'll meet Wilson and Tim in the process. Big plus.

Talk About the Walkabout

You'd think that, after all my talk about the Hahamongna Walkabout last Saturday, I'd be showing you pictures of the park. But I've posted many, many, many pictures of Hahamongna Watershed Park and for me, the Walkabout turned out to be about the people.

I led a group of at least 900 wonderful people (okay, maybe 35, but still wonderful) through the old Oak Grove Park area and across the Devil's Gate Dam. We made stops to learn from experts about the park, its history and the critters who live there. The presenters were fascinating and so well-informed we could have spent our whole morning with each of them.

Tim Martinez (above) charmed the crowd with his talk about the different habitats at Hahamongna. Tequila does not grow there (I knew that), but sage does, and when you soak sage in tequila you get a soothing ointment for sore muscles. Tim knew a lot of other cool stuff, but for some reason the tequila sticks in my mind.

Laura Garrett of the Pasadena Audubon Society had 'em riveted as well. She knew everything about the Hahamongna birds and spoke knowledgeably of species after species, playing their calls on the stuffed animals you see in the center of the photo (not dead--plush). How many species of birds live at Hahamongna? A lot! You can see photos of some of them taken by local treasure Denis Callet at his pbase site.

Other presenters included Tim Brick of the Arroyo Seco Foundation (sponsor of the event) on the scope of the Arroyo Seco, Michele Zack on history and how the Tongva people lived in the Arroyo, Brad Boman from Pasadena Water and Power on water (he took my group under the dam to see the devil!), and our very own Barbara Ellis speaking about the wildlife that thrives at Hahamongna. I was so busy listening to Bellis that I forgot to take her picture! Luckily, Debbi Swanson Patrick of Altadena Above It All was in my group and she got plenty of great shots. She got a good one of Bellis. If you were on my tour, she probably got a good one of you, too.

For a detailed run-down of the day's activities, check out Laura Monteros's informative article on Altadena Patch.

Big thanks to Wilson Lau and Tim Brick of the Arroyo Seco Foundation for putting it all together. It was a great day.

Okay. I'm not going to talk about Hahamongna now for at least a week, maybe more, at which time I'll remind you about the meeting of the Hahamongna Watershed Park Advisory Committee on March 22nd at 6pm. You can wait 'til then or you can mark your calendars now.

Update: thanks to countrynmore, here are videos of some of the presenters, posted on Seeds of Change, the blog of the PCC club.