Altadena Above It All

– The AAA’s national gas price average has reached $4 a gallon for the first time in history. per CNN

BUT LIKE i POSTED YESTERDAY, FRANCE IS UP TO $10 AND ENGLAND’S RIGHT BEHIND AT ABOUT $9

Here’s the word from my friends in France. We’re still way behind what they’re paying.

“This side tooooo is getting killed with the gas prices.
The trucks have been doing snail drives in & around the main “port Towns” to protest the price.
Especially since 80% of the price is just tax from France……
And the poor fisherman can not make any money with the price of Diesel…..

We figure almost $10.00 Per gallon here..
We have to do very little driving & boy you talk about getting cabin fever !!!!
There is a this summer activities & Festivals going on & I do not think a lot of people are able to attend (unless they live in the area).”

Ow ow ow

Ok, I wish I had been documenting the price increases over the past year. In Death Valley in March one station was selling gas for $5.50 a gallon. But they’re out in the boonies so it wasn’t that nuts. On May 27, near Oakland, we thought $4.19 for regular was pushing it. We got home to see it was that price here, too. I’ve seen the prices increase from evening to the next morning and from that morning to that evening, so two increases within 24 hours. Yesterday the AMPM on Lake was $4.27, today it is $4.33. We’re driving slower, using less air conditioning,  planning trips a little better, probably foregoing a July 4th trip north. Just thankful we work near home.

OUCH!

What are you doing to protect your pocketbook?

W

Altadena could have the perfect nursery for our climate!

With kind permission, from notes from Carolyn Seitz per Alice Wesson

Condensed for the listserve
Note: Other listserves are b’ccd for their privacy
–Alice

Re: Status of the townhouse development that was
proposed for Fair Oaks between Ventura and Kellogg
Court.

While this project had wide ranging support from the
community and unanimous support from the Los Angeles
County Regional Planning Commission, negotiations
between the developer and the Cemetery Board broke
down and the cemetery made the decision not to sell
the property.

The developer had to withdraw their project.

The Cemetery Board has been approached by someone with
a new idea they’d like to develop on that property, at
least on the portion of the property that is between
Ventura and Mountain View.

A gentlemen, who has had a long history at the former
garden center  called Hortus, in Pasadena, wants to
develop a garden center on that property, similar in
character and feel to Hortus, but with a primary focus
on native and drought tolerant plants, the things that
thrive in our Mediterranean climate.

The property has 3 different zoning classifications -
C-3 which is major commercial along the Fair Oaks
street frontage, R-2 (multi-family) in the middle and
the western most portions are zoned R-1-7500, meaning
single family residential, 7,500 square feet minimum
lot area required.

Ultimately they’d like to have this garden center on
the entire parcel, but to do that would require a zone
change.  Their proposed is permitted on the C-3
portion of the property, but not on the R-2 or
R-1-7500 portions.

====

Will keep folks updated as developments evolve
-Alice

Gypsies sound exotic, but when they’re in Altadena, watch out for the scams. This item in from Carolyn Seitz:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is the beginning of summer and true to their history, the gypsies appear to be back in our area. 

I watched them in the Ralph’s parking lot at Hastings Ranch as they blocked a woman’s car in a parking space and were trying to persuade her that they could fix the big dent in her rear bumper and the dent in her front bumper as well as some minor scratches – for only $200.

She said not today.  No money.  They said, no problem, we’ll follow you to your ATM, but we’re only here today and the price is only good today.

I got her attention as I headed in her direction (I was headed in that direction anyway) and she told them no again.  They continued to try to work her.  By the time I walked up, the guy out of the car headed back to the car he arrived in and they left.

They’d followed her around the parking lot until they finally cornered her.

Watch out.

———-

I had my own experience a few years ago with a car repair scam over in La Canada. Same kind of deal, but not as aggressive. Here is some background on gypsies that Carolyn found. Also, Google Gypsies in America and you’ll learn a lot about their specialties and origin.

Carolyn says:

They’ve historically run a few different scams when they get here and this is about the time of the year they show up – sometimes to fix your dents and scratches.  That “fix” will last until the first rain.

They prey on the elderly – offering to fix roof leaks, repave driveways, do home improvements, or fix your car.

They always convey urgency – you have to take their offer right then or the price won’t be the same.

————

I remembered a story a while back involving a group that started with a T who did a housepainting scam. Carolyn dug it up:

I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone talk about where the gypsies that show up here every summer come from.  I wish I knew.  

I just googled gypsy scams southern California and got a mixed bag of “stuff”.   Judd MacIlvain did a story on them in 2002, announcing their arrival in town.

Not all gypsies are crooks or scam artists.  He described a group from the midwest – The Irish Travelers, from Oklahoma and Arkansas.

In 2006, they hit Palos Verdes pretty hard with scams about retaining walls, and then gangs of tree trimmers who would surprise people in their backyards, distract them and then lock them out of their back doors, leaving their front doors unlocked, having stolen personal property.

I think I found your T___ in an article from September 2002 – here it is . . .
DALLAS (AP) _ The tearful testimonial Madelyne Gorman Toogood gave in front of glaring TV cameras after she was videotaped beating her daughter was starkly uncharacteristic of the reclusive, media-shy Irish Travelers culture to which she belongs, experts say. Toogood, who was caught beating her 4-year-old daughter, Martha, in a department store parking lot, said she is a member of the clannish, nomadic culture of Irish descendants, most of whom came to the United States as refugees during the potato famine in the 1840s. “By nature, they’re very reclusive people,” said Joe Livingston, a South Carolina state investigator who has been tracking Travelers for nearly two decades. “They tend to shy away from publicity.”

Some law enforcement experts who have studied the culture paint it as a secret society, fond of material wealth evidenced by gaudy jewelry and new vehicles. Police often associate Travelers with scams involving fraudulent home repair that target the elderly. They tend to use aliases, carry bogus identification cards, and avoid contact with non-Travelers, whom they call “country folk,” authorities said.

But professors and academics said the reclusiveness is a defense mechanism against stereotypes and the ancient persecution that has haunted nomadic peoples throughout history. Travelers, who may be Irish, English, or Scottish, have no more criminals among them than any other ethnic culture, experts said. “If there were, they could not sustain their living,” said Larry Otway, who began studying Irish Travelers in 1977 and has worked as a paralegal and adviser on court cases involving Scottish travelers. What the clans in the culture do share, Otway said, is a nomadic lifestyle, a language called “Scelta” with roots in Gaelic and Romani, an almost “pathologic” devotion to Catholicism, and an anti-bureaucratic form of self government that he describes as a “consensus democracy.”
The largest Traveler settlement is a group of 3,000 in Murphy Village, S.C., experts said. Toogood is believed to belong to the Greenhorn Carrolls, a Traveler group in the Fort Worth area. Estimates of the U.S. Traveler population vary from 20,000 to 100,000. Ian F. Hancock, a professor at the University of Texas who wrote the Irish Travelers entry for the Encyclopedia of the South, said a distraught Toogood called him Thursday seeking advice. “She was scared to turn herself in because she knows very well how the police feel about the Irish Travelers,” said Hancock, who has a reputation as a sympathizer of the group. “She didn’t think she’d get a fair shake and she knew she’d been rough with the child.”

Toogood, who also has two young sons, remains free on a $5,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 7. If convicted, she faces up to three years in prison. She was scheduled to have a 90-minute supervised meeting with her daughter on Tuesday but the child, who is in foster care, was sick. An attorney for the state said Toogood would be allowed to see Martha on Wednesday if the girl has recovered from the flu.

 
Hancock and other academics said they believe Toogood’s case has been sensationalized by the media because of her ethnicity. “As bad as what she did, and it’s inexcusable, I still think there’s an awful lot of profiling going on,” Hancock said. “Very much is being made of her ethnic background. If she were German American or Italian American, would that even be an issue?”

———–

So there you have it. The gypsies do move around Europe and in France. Friends there say they drive around in Mercedes Benz cars and hunt the local wildlife on anyone’s land without permission among other transgressions.  I’m not bringing this up to spread fear and hatred, just awareness like I would if there were any scam going on. In fact, it’s odd to hear about gypsies here, we just don’t think about them. I’m sure this will bring up a lot of discussion. What do you think?

Here is a link to the Green Pasadena Leadership Summit program taking place at the Pasadena Convention Center this weekend. This event focuses on green technology, with speakers from JPL/Caltech (Dr. Charles Elachi) and many more.

http://www.green-technology.org/greenpasadena/program.htm

I’ll be there Saturday evening drooling over great Altadena gardens. See ya there???? I should have posted this sooner, sorry! I’ll have photos.

Announcing Altadena Heritage’s 5th Annual Garden Party and “Golden Poppy” Garden Awards to be held Saturday, June 7, from 5-7:30 pm.
 
The Golden Poppy awards are given annually to recognize community members whose gardens improve and maintain the character and quality of Altadena.  

Celebrate Altadena’s most beautiful gardens with wine and cheese in the garden of Anita and Chris David.
 
Admission is $15 at the door for members. Admission is free for new members who join at the door ($30 annual membership fee). Cash or checks only, please.
 
RSVP to altadenaheritage@aol.com or 626-797-0054. We will contact you with the address for the event.

And Sunday is the McNally House Tour. Great stories to be told, I’m sure. Here’s the link to the Star News story. http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_9482986

Star News has some updates on the 100th anniversary of the Mt. Wilson Trail Race this Saturday, June 7, and a tragic accident on the 134 freeway.

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_9470672