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Pasadena Press
MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2015 - JANUARY 18, 2015
pasadenapress.com
see page 2 for NEW YEAR’S EVE GOLF CART THIEF VOLUME 2, NO. 2
Crown City “Jewels” ($6.5M) Pilfered; First Black Pasadena Populace Perplexed Rose Queen By NICK KIPLEY From 1958 Following suggestions made in a 43-point audit report Snubbed by KPMG, the Pasadena City Council this Monday elected Twice in a to reconvene at a later date in order to form a committee on Lifetime risk and corruption. Monday’s special meeting was called for after Danny Wooten, management analyst of Pasadena’s Public Works Department, allegedly stole $6.5 million from a taxpayer fund and directed it to the Southern California Evangelist Jurisdiction Center and the New Covenant Christian Fellowship Center in Pomona, claiming it was used to bury power lines in the city of Pasadena. After the wake of the scandal, Pasadena’s residents were outraged by the council’s lack of accountability. Brian Weiss voiced his opinion on this lack of accountability at the podium microphone, “I’m a taxpayer in this system and I’m mad as hell. […] Six-point-four-million disappears and nobody seems to be responsible except for the people who are in jail.” Ms. Felecia Williams noted a different perspective, “It’s re-
By TERRY MILLER
Clockwise from left, City Manager Michael Beck, Mayor Bill Bogaard and Siobhan Foster, Pasadena Public Works Department director at last Monday evening’s public meeting regarding the scandal that is financially larger than that of Bell. Some members of the community are calling for Michael Beck’s resignation. – Photos by Terry Miller
ally sad to me that one person can overshadow, just, the really good work that one thousand nine-hundred and ninety-nine employees do,” adding, however, “Why was there one employee getting paid six figures to manage one fund? It should be multiple managers manag-
ing multiple funds. Because […] you get people looking in different funds and being able to compare them, and you also have cross-training with your employees so that they’re better trained when they move to
Joan Williams, 82, of Pasadena was selected as “Miss Crown City” by her colleagues in City Hall back in 1958 and was supposed to ride on the then citysponsored Rose Parade float. When city officials found out she was black, they revoked the honor saying, the city couldn’t now afford a float. Almost 60 years later, Williams did finally ride in the TOR Parade but on the opening banner float during the 2015 Rose Parade - very few, if any saw her, at least on television.
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Community Coalition Angered by TOR’s Silence Activist Dubs TOR “Tournament of Racism” by TERRY MILLER On New Year’s Eve, 2014, on the steps of Tournament House, Martin Gordon read a statement at a press conference alleging that the Tournament of Roses has adopted a racist policy in its executive branch. Flanked by one of his sons and Gene Washington, Mr. Gordon expressed dismay that the Tour-
nament had not responded to an open letter he sent to numerous media outlets, TOR and NFL. The Tournament told this newspaper that they’d respond to Mr. Gordon directly when we asked for their comment. At the press conference attended by only print and digital local media and one Pasadena
-Courtesy Photo
Police officer, Mr. Gordon said: “The Pasadena Community Coalition’s letter to the Executive Board of the Tournament of Roses, received in their offices on November 24, 2014, requesting that they address the lack of hiring of any
Joan Williams, the African American woman who was denied a chance to ride in the Rose Parade nearly 60 years ago, received warm wishes from the crowd as was whisked down Orange Grove the Colorado on
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