Where We Are Now and Where Are We Going?

As the year draws closer to an end and everyone starts to switch their minds to holiday mode, I wanted to take this opportunity to bring you up to date on some old business and let you know where we are going with some new business in the community.

Back in July the CV Town Council article was dedicated to one topic titled “What will it take to be heard, GUSD?”  The survey attached to the article garnered tremendous feedback from the community. All of the comments were passed along to the GUSD and several one-on-one meetings with school board members and various other GUSD personnel were held to address the comments from the community. So far as any actions from GUSD nothing has happened. However, as is typical, the very proactive Crescenta Valley community has had several residents stand up and begin to take action.

I had the pleasure of meeting with a new organization called CV Unified. This newly formed organization in my opinion is going to gain a lot of momentum in our community. Their short term goals are certain to start holding GUSD and its school board more accountable to our community and their long term goals are set on creating our own district, CV Unified. This will be an exciting organization to watch.

Last month I was able to briefly touch on the $1 million secured by Supervisor Antonovich at the request of the CV Town Council for medians on Foothill Boulevard. Public Works has been given a list of areas along Foothill where medians should and should not be placed. In addition, the Council has reached out to the CV Chamber so the businesses along Foothill have some representation as the design and planning process moves forward. Several others with urban design and landscape backgrounds within the community have also been selected to join the committee to provide input as the process continues. Once a solid draft is completed Public Works will then begin outreach to the entire community. This is the first step in helping to beautify Foothill Boulevard. The plan will not simply stop with medians, as urban planners on staff with Public Works will be working on a complete master design plan for Foothill which would serve as the blueprint to beautify Foothill even more as additional funding becomes available.

This month, Oct. 13 to be exact, is the deadline for applications to run for CV Town Council. This year the councilmembers not up for re-election and/or those opting not to run again will be hosting an informal round table meeting on Saturday, Oct. 10 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. to meet with current and on-the-fence applicants. The goal of this informal round table meeting is to answer questions and concerns from the potential candidates as well as provide a clearer picture as to what Council does and the true time commitment of serving on Council. The informal meet and greet will take place at 2606 Foothill Blvd. in La Crescenta in the main floor office. You can RSVP to robbyn@thecvcouncil.com. I hope to see lots of you there. Even if you are not planning on running this year, it will be a great chance to learn more from your CV Town Council and have a chance to offer your assistance on many of the committees. Applications are currently available on our website www.thecvcouncil.com.

Now for some follow-up on what I feel is a new exciting community tradition, the first annual La Crescenta Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony. Please mark your calendars for Friday, Dec. 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the La Crescenta Library main entrance – rain or shine. There will be music and singing as well as a yet to be selected traditional Christmas story read by Supervisor Antonovich. Light refreshments will be served and the event will be a great kick off to the Christmas holiday season. As more details become available we will be sure to post them on our Council website.

Don’t forget the next evening, Saturday, Dec. 5 is the annual Montrose Christmas Parade.

Lastly, be sure to come to our Thursday, Oct. 15 CV Town Council meeting at 7 p.m. at the La Crescenta Library. This year a very strong El Niño is predicted and because of this we are being told we will have an extraordinary amount of rain. Public Works will provide a brief presentation to let us know what they are doing to prepare and more importantly what we as a community need to do to be prepared. The last portion of our meeting will be our CV Town Council candidate forum. For all of you who decided to run for CV Town Council this year I will have the honor to moderate this year’s candidate forum. The community is strongly encouraged to submit questions at the event or via email if you cannot attend. All candidates and their applications will be posted on the CV Town Council website on Wednesday, Oct. 14 for your review www.TheCVCouncil.com. Email questions to contact@thecvcouncil.com.

  Robbyn Battles