210 Updates, Prom Plus Info and More

Our shared condition – the saga of the pavement rehabilitation project for the I-210 – continues to keep our community busy and alert. Please continue to drive safely. As Caltrans advises, “Motorists should anticipate delays, plan ahead and use alternate routes. Construction signs and changeable message signs will be in place to alert motorists of construction activities and closures.” Caltrans appreciates your patience while they work to improve I-210. Motorists are advised by Caltrans to “Be Work Zone Alert.”

It’s that time of year again – Prom Plus is in full gear and needs your support! Prom Plus is a grassroots effort that was started by parents and community members following the 1991 murder of Berlyn Cosman, a Crescenta Valley High School student, at an unsupervised, post-prom hotel party. Prom Plus offers an alternative to unsupervised after-prom parties and costs tens of thousands of dollars to put on each year. On Saturday, April 22, the American Legion (4011 La Crescenta Ave.) will host a bingo benefitting Prom Plus. Doors open at 4:30 p.m., food and beverages available until 5:30 p.m. when the first game starts. Every game pays at least $100 cash; admission is $10, which includes two cards for 10 games & dauber. Tickets available at the CV Weekly and CV Chamber offices. Prom Plus is saving lives one prom at a time.

The Town Council’s High School Scholarship Fund has received nearly a dozen applications for its annual scholarships competition, the deadline for which has now passed. Each year, we ask friends and neighbors to donate. In the past, we received many generous donations enabling us to give, cumulatively, hundreds of scholarships to Crescenta Valley High School seniors to help them attain their educational goals. As has been the case since 2014, along with the graduating seniors of CVHS, we have included all graduating seniors attending other schools or programs who live in the unincorporated area of La Crescenta/Montrose.

Sometimes it is your generosity, that little extra dollar, that lets our graduating seniors know their hard work has been noticed during their high school years. Recognizing their efforts has real value as they strive for continued success in college and beyond. If you find it in your heart to help one of our graduating seniors this year, your kindness is greatly appreciated. Your gift to our scholarship fund ensures that each and every dollar goes to helping our college-bound seniors. If you have a specific area of interest or individual you wish to remember and honor, your donation will be received with the recognition you request. Every effort will be made to select students who meet your criteria. On behalf of the hundreds of graduating seniors we have honored in past years and those who will be honored this year as a result of your donation and support, we thank you. Please mail checks payable to the Crescenta Valley Town Council to P.O. Box 8676, La Crescenta, CA 91224-0676; or call me at (818) 464-5870.

On April 22 at 9 a.m., we will hold the Crescenta Valley’s 6th Annual Prayer Breakfast at Community Life Church, First Baptist (4441 La Crescenta Ave.). Please join us! Donation for adults is $10; students are free. The keynote speaker is Christie Frandsen, a gifted teacher, leader and speaker who has taught early morning seminary, and adult Scripture classes for many years in Southern California. She has also been involved in Girl Scouts for decades in many significant leadership capacities. She is the mother of 11 children and grandmother of 18. There will also be performances by the CVHS Charismatics and Hiza Yoo’s Korean Dance Institute. For information, please contact Danette Erickson at (818) 249-9577 or me.

In other news, at the Council’s general meeting in March, a majority of the council voted to recommend a six-month extension of the existing six month La Crescenta-Montrose street lighting moratorium currently set to expire this month while the County considers our earlier request “to work with the applicable County agency or agencies to create a survey of the whole community to determine their preference(s) for outdoor street lighting within residential zones.”

With the promotion of Captain Bill Song to commander, the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station welcomes a new captain. We want to thank Commander Bill Song for his nearly four years of service and dedication to our community, a community he grew up in having graduated from Rosemont and CV High. A barbecue will be held in his honor on April 29, which I and other Councilmembers who are available will attend to show our appreciation.

First Alternate Councilmember Kyle Studebaker and I attended the Special Olympics at CV High on Saturday, April 8 and I later joined Councilmember and Corresponding Secretary Sophal Ear at Two Strike Park for the Los Angeles County Dept. of Parks and Recreation annual Easter egg hunt.

Pivoting from egg hunts to dumping (or how to avoid it), it’s time to round up the junk and get it to the curb for free removal during the annual curbside cleanup by Burrtec Waste. This only applies to Burrtec customers who live in unincorporated La Crescenta and Montrose. Please place items at the curb by 6 a.m. of the scheduled event day.

If your Regular Pick-up Day is on: Your Annual Clean-up Collection Day will be:

Monday & Wednesday Saturday, April 22

Tuesday Saturday, April 29

Thursday Saturday, May 6

Friday Saturday, May 13

The following are examples of what will be picked-up:

Call Burrtec’s customer service at (800) 325-9417 if you have any questions.

Burrtec does not collect household hazardous waste (HHW). HHW consists of items such as paint, motor oil, paint thinner, turpentine, pesticides, herbicides that require proper disposal. For more information regarding the disposal of HHW, call 1(888) CLEAN LA or visit www.CleanLA.com.

Last, but not least, April is Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month. Why April? Many of the past century’s genocides began in April – Armenia, Germany (the Holocaust), Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Sudan. As many of you know, April 24 is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. The Ottoman Empire initiated an eight-year program of terror and mass execution beginning in 1915 that resulted in the deaths of more than 1.5 million men, women and children of Armenian heritage. This year marks the 102nd anniversary. Meanwhile, April 17 is the 42nd anniversary of the Cambodian Genocide, which resulted in 1.7 million deaths. Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) 2017 in Israel will begin in the evening of Sunday, April 23 and end in the evening of Monday, April 24. As has been the case in previous years, the Town Council will issue a proclamation on the occasion of Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day at its general meeting on April 20 at 7 p.m., when we meet in the community room of La Crescenta Library (2809 Foothill Blvd.) during which I and my fellow Councilmembers look forward to seeing and hearing from you.

Harry Leon, President

Crescenta Valley Town Council

  Harry LEON