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Thursday, August 18, 2016 - August 24, 2016
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COMPLIMENTARY COPY VOLUME 20, NO. 33
‘BOUTIQUE HOTEL’ PROJECT GETS GREEN LIGHT - DESPITE OVERWHELMING PUBLIC OPPOSITION Final EIR Approved for Kimpton Hotel/YWCA BY TERRY MILLER
A Pasadena women, dwarfed by Jackie Robinson’s statue across from city hall, reflects on the council’s decision to go ahead with a “boutique hotel” that will encroach on these historic sculptures of Mack and Jackie Robinson. - Photo by Terry Miller
Pasadena Unified Students Return to School An estimated 17,000 Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) students returned to school Monday, as the 20162017 academic year kicked off at the district’s 28 schools. “We are excited to welcome students and families to the new school year, which promises to ignite creativ-
ity by engaging children and youth in a rich area of learning opportunities,” said Superintendent Brian McDonald, Ed.D. “PUSD teachers and staff are ready to receive students and prepare them not only to graduate and be successSEE PAGE 13
Nominate Latino Heritage Parade Community Grand Marshal Know someone who would be a great Community Grand Marshal for this year’s Latino Heritage Parade? Nominate them by 6 p.m., Aug. 24, 2016. The 2016 parade is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016. It is sponsored by the City’s
Human Services and Recreation Department, www. cityofpasadena.net/HumanServices and the Latino Heritage Committee. This year’s theme is “Nuestros Heroes” (Our Heroes), celebrating the accomplishments of individuals from all professions within the Latino Com-
munity. Nominees for Community Grand Marshal must be residents of Pasadena in order to be eligible for selection. Please include the following information with
SEE PAGE 12
On Monday, the Pasadena City Council unanimously approved the final EIR on the much-criticized Kimpton hotel project. Council gave the developers the “thumbs up” early Tuesday which now means a sixstory luxury hotel will probably get underway in about six-months, despite some serious objections about not only the loss of land, but the loss of trees. Merely a week ago, nearly two dozen protesters and preservationists gathered Saturday morning for a “picnic protest” against the Kimpton Hotel project in Pasadena’s Civic Center. The building, which had fallen into neglect, was acquired by the city in 2013, after the YWCA moved out in 1997. Organizer Jonathan Edwards, of the Civic Center Coalition (CCC), insisted the project would destroy trees within the Civic Center’s “Sisters Cities Garden,” directly across from city hall and deems the hotel’s size inappropriate for the location. Marsha Rood, CCC member and a former ad-
SEE PAGE 13
SIP-tember: ‘A Celebration of the Cocktail’ Pasadena celebrates the cocktail during SIP-tember, with some of our favorite Pasadena Chamber member restaurants offering some of their favorite cocktails. SEE PAGE 12