What We Need to Know to Slow the Spread This year has been long and difficult for all of us. More than 300,000 Americans have died from the worst pandemic in a century, and all of us have faced hardships and difficulties, large and small, as we seek to protect ourselves and one another. Thankfully, […]
An Open Letter to the Montrose Shopping Park Association Are you in danger of losing your business? Are you operating at reduced capacity? Are you waiting for a government loan or an unemployment check? Did you lay off some or all of your employees? Did you spend – or waste – thousands of dollars on […]
Was This Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus? On Friday, Dec. 4 in the early afternoon, my two friends and I drove into the handicapped space at Trader Joe’s in Montrose. The line to get into TJ’s was quite long. My one friend, who has a health problem, walked cautiously towards the end of the line. […]
Mountain Avenue Elementary Had Controversial Beginnings – Part 1 Mountain Avenue Elementary School is one of the gems of our valley. It’s a beautiful campus in a beautiful setting next to Pickens Canyon, with our magnificent mountains as a backdrop. But its transition from a grand private estate to an award-winning elementary school was a […]
My New Opportunity I’m very excited to announce that last week I was appointed by Speaker Anthony Rendon to serve as the chair of the assembly Transportation Committee. I am grateful for this new leadership opportunity and understand the great responsibility that goes with it. This committee has jurisdiction over the California High-Speed Rail Authority, […]
How History Can Repeat Itself This is a true story. It was during the winter when city residents started to sicken and die. At first, the illness was confined to a few people in one neighborhood, but over the next few weeks spread to more people in more places. The municipal authorities, responsible for the […]
With All Best Wishes for the Holidays and New Year! Dear Crescenta Valley Friends, Let me start this month’s column by congratulating all seven candidates who ran in the Nov. 13-14 Crescenta Valley Town Council election. We had a tremendous turnout with 468 votes counted spread over 287 voters … so many in fact that […]
Bizarre Suicide Attempt Elicited A Harsh Sentence I came across an account of a strange incident that took place in our valley in 1965. The results of the event illustrate how much has changed since then. Malcolm, a young man who was deeply disturbed, was living in an apartment on Florencita Avenue in Montrose. In […]
Train To Nowhere I admit it. As a community activist, I dropped the ball on California High-Speed Rail (CAHSR.) A decade ago, I decided to focus my efforts on the 710 Freeway tunnel, a project which thankfully was defunded in 2017, saving our communities the estimated 180,000 additional vehicles per day on the 210 Freeway […]
Before Crippen Mortuary It seems Crippen Mortuary has always been part of our community. Since 1928 it has provided service to the Crescenta Valley from its original building (now enlarged) at 2900 Honolulu Ave. Family-owned for its entire existence, it is like a familiar friend in a time of grief. It provides a warm, friendly […]