South Pasadena Review from South Pasadena, California • 2

SOUTH PASADENA REVIEW An Open Letter To Mayor Jones, Councilmen -Balk, Hancock, Osborne, Partsch Gentlemen: conclusion on the basis of the Paid Circulation Pays W. Tog Ericson, Editor and Publisher Sylvia E. MacLean, Associate Publisher J. Frank Sheehy, Plant Supt. Bill Ericson, Photographer Ruth S.

Holloway, City Editor Correspondent Vera Galbraith, Display Ben itzel, Bank Printing Ruth McGrath, Classified Member: Califorma Newspaper Publishers National Editorial Los AngelPs Community Newspaper Assn. The Official Newspaper of the C.ty of South Pasadena. Entered April 1, 1927, as Second Class Matter at the South Pasadena Post Office Under the Act of March 3, 1879. OFFICE: 1108 Fair Oaks Avenue, South Pasadena, California. South Pasadena Phone SYcamore 9-1161 Los Angeles Phone: MUrray 2-1412 Subscription Rate $4.25 per year (Delivered by Carrier and Mail) Adjudication Decree Number 601,549.

Date of Adjudication, July 31, 1952 Exact name of newspaper as shown in the Petition for Adjudication South Pasadena Review. Adjudication Decree Number 281,538. Date of Adjudication, July 31, 1929 Exact name of newspajter as shown in the Petition for Adjudication Foothill Review. Are You Patronizing The iMerchants Who Make This Newspaper Possible? tention and (lie people's to page 9. last four lines, of the green-cover Report on the General Plan.

Copies I understand are available at the City Managers office or at the Public Library. With reference to my statements on schools and park expansion condemning single family dwellings adjacent, refer to pages 17, 18, and 19 on schools, noting especially paragraph 4 on page 17 which I quote here; The General Plan section on schools is based on ultimate population figures because tlie planners feel that now Is the time to start acquisition of the needed land for the Inevitable expansion. It may take time but the goal must he visualized. Then the top paragraph on page 19 makes me think that we could have another Chavez Ravine deal here in South' Pasadena. condemning land in advance of need to insure its availability.

Condemnation on a speculative The park expansion proposed in the General Plan is covered on page 20. In sum, Mayor Jones, Councilmen Balk, Hancock, Osborn, Partsch, the City of South Pasadena, is at the cross roads of its future. All of the older residents of this town who have helped to make this community what it is, a wonderful place to raise a family; all of the newcomers who have bought homes with ful expectations of raising their families here and perhaps passing their homes in South Pasadena to families in the growing stages; all of these people Mr. Councilmen deserve full information of whats in store for them according to the new General Plan. Information from you who have by unanimous vote adopted the General Plan which bids fair to crowd this town full of a come-and-go population by replacing many single family dwellings with multi unit apartments as well as the aforementioned school-park changes.

Gentlemen of the City Council, I think you have made a big mistake by not informing the people of South Pasadena on the consequences of the General Plan. Surely something which involves a radical change in communitys way of life should be given to the people to decide. But in my opinion, this mistake is not beyond repair. LAW IN ACTION The Pitcher Entry Baseball The Los Angeles Dodgers are fighting the battle for all baseball. If they sign Drysdale and Koufax for a three year contract as an entry for any amount they will have given tip the hall club.

Next year the three outfielders or the Evers-Tinker-to-Chance combination of today could declare themselves an entry and not play any game in which all three are not on the field at the same time. Drysdale and Koufax forgot that the Dodgers paid Koufax his full years salary (a baseball year is a six months season) when his finger went numb in July; Sandy didnt say, I could not pitch, so deduct my salary for the months I did not pitch. It could he added that the services of the greatest Doctor in repairing athletes is Doctor Robert Kerlan of the Dodger staff. Last year Wally Moon, (whose moon-shots won the penant in was getting a salary of over $40,000. They used him as a pinch hitter in 1905 and he did not come to hat more than 40 times during the year; Moon did not receive a salary cut because he could not run to cover the outfield.

Tommy Davis, who broke his ankle in May, received his full salary last year and this year again received no cut, whether he can play or not. A pitcher goes on the mound every fourth day unless he is a relief pitcher, so the most games Drysdale or Koufax could pitch in a 162 game season would he 40 games, give or take a few; they would receive about $4 000. a game $1 per year for the wanted three year contract. The starting salary for most players in the major leagues is about $7,500. In our opinion the main reason that the Frisco Giants have had so-so seasons is because they pay Willie Mays way out of proportion to the other players on the team.

With Mays getting 100 Grand, Cepeda was getting less than $40,000, altho Cepeda had driven in more runs than Mays. The Giants just settled with pitcher Marichal for a little over $70,000. and Marichal won 2 more games in the last three years than Drysdale and two less than Koufax. Yet Drysdale and Koufax want MORE than DOUBLE the salaiv of Marichal, or take pitcher Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds who won 20 games last year and is one of the great pitchers of the National League: he signed for about $15,000. Is I) and each worth four times as much The wonder-boys-entry havent added that if they are hurt and cant pitch the deal is off.

No; just that the Dodgers will pay whether they pitch or not and for a ELLL three years. keeps the rest. 5. Some federal taxes are directly spent where they are collected. A proportion of the federal highway taxes go to the stale according to population.

6. Many of the state- expenditures rest on the population of a locality. For example, school spending depends upon daily average attendance. Welfare payments depend upon the demand, by population, in a given community. Some share of fine and fees collected for violation of State laws go directly to the local treasury.

7. Many of the special fund' fees and taxes go right back where they came from. Microdot Given Contract By Airlines Microdot Inc. announced the receipt of. the first contract, totaling approximately for its new, advanced cockpit voice recorder from Northeast Airlines, Boston, Mass.

Voice recorders will soon be mandatory on most commercial passenger aircraft to record the last 30 minutes of flight voice communications. Microdot has designed and now manufactures an improved unit which (provides greater resistance to shock, impact, crushing, piercing, and flames, according to Robert S. Dickerman, president. The unit meets all requirements demanded by federal aviation regulations. Its all solid-state construction is fully modular, its completely automatic signal conditioning assumes more intelligibility under difficult aircraft acoustic environments.

A distinctive feature is a built-in provision for additional future aircraft data recording WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO? Much tax money goes right to the locality from which it was collected. The amount spent for national defense cannot be traced directly but the State and Federal gov-ernments merely collect some tax money for the local community. 1. One cent of your sales tax goes right back to your county or city. The State tax rate is 3 per cent.

Almost all communities add 1 per cent. The state charges a small collection fee, but most of the 1 per cent goes back home. 2. Most of the car registration fees go back to the car owners county as a fiat $8 registration fee, plus an in lieu of local personal property tax on your car. 3.

Some of the gasoline and highway tax money goes back to the city according to its population. 4. Ninety per cent of the State Alcoholic Beverage Departments license fees go back to the city or county help pay for the police, and other government services where these alcoholic licensees do business. The state recent City Council overruling the majority vote of the home owners in the Orange Grove-Adelaine-Mission-Magnolia etc. area who did not want their blocks rezoned to multi apartments.

Then the City Council side-stepped the density requirements of the General Plan and almost doubled the number of units that will go into the new building. If the property owners of a subdivision cannot retain control over the zoning of their common interest on a majority rules basis what chance do they have against being prevailed upon by powerful outside interests? The second remarkable part of the matter is that the people have not been told by you Councilmen that they have a chance to prevent this tragedy by merely electing City Council members who do not want to change South Pasadena into an apartment town; Council members that will keep South Pasadena a family town; Council members who will stop the present apartment take over. (More than 53 of this communitys population resides in multiple dwellings!) Woven through the General Plan is talk of boosting the population to 40,000 people, calling for more schools, more parks, more administrative facilities. (At this point it is logical to show that neighbor San Marino has had a population increase of just 200 people in the last five years an average of 40 per They too have run out of vacant land hut just try to get them to put up apartments to make room for a population increase!) More schools, more bonds, more taxes, for a transient community. More park facilities, more bonds, more taxes, for a transient community.

What of the homeowners whose property is to be taken over by the high school expansion to accomodate 30 to 40,000 population? All of the homes on Diamond, Ramona and Rollins up to and including the north side of Oak StTeet has the City Council told them of this? What of the homeowners whose property will be condemned for the Junior High expansion? All of the homes in back of the school to Marengo and Rollins? Has the City Council informed them? What of the homeowners whose property will be condemned for each of the six grade school expansions? Have you told them? What of the homeowners on the east side of Garfield Park up and including the west side of Stratford? Have you told them? What of the homeowenrs on facing condemnation when the new park facilities are prepared? Do they know when the ax will fall? Mayor Jones, Councilmen Balk, Hancock, Osborn, Partsch, tell these homeowners concerned as well as their fellow citizens that the taking of these homes can start even now, if the City Council so desires. But tell them also in all honesty that this will not happen if the City Council has members who do not believe that this General Plan has to be South Pasadenas way of life. Ask them if our present 537-apartments and 477 single family dwellings is a good place to stop. That when the Freeway goes through there will be even less than 47 single dwelling homes. Then tell them that the Monterey Road widening on which you so fiercely fought the citizenry will also take 50 more homes.

Ask them if they realize that this coming election for Councilmen amounts to the point of no return for this 75 year old city. That the way of life as proposed by the new General Plan seems to be a commercialization of what many people expected to find by living in the present South Pasadena. Tell them that it really isnt necessary to keep ripping out small homes to make room for big apartments, schools that arent really needed, park facilities that arent really needed arent really needed that is unless the big apartment buildings keep taking over! With reference to my statements relative to conversion to apartment I invite your at It is with the greatest concern that I take pen in hand to inform you (and the people of South Pasadena) of information which just recently came to my attention. I make reference to the green-cover REPORT ON THE GENERAL PLAN. This information, in my opinion shows how cruelly indifferent the members of the City Council really are from the point of view of fair play.

In September of 1965 you five Councilmen unanimously approved (by passing a resolution to adopt) the General Plan. At this point I stop to call your attention to the following: Par. 2, Section 54950, Government Code, Government of Cities and Local Agencies which states: The people of this state do not yield their sovereignity to the agencies which serve tnem. The people in delegating authority do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining infoimed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.

May I repeat the one portion that tells you gentlemen where you are remiss? The people do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. Why, Mr. Councilmen, in the name of heaven, shouldnt the home owners in this city be told that many of them will have to give up their homes for school and park expansion? Are you going to wait until the city is ready to step in and condemn and then let the newspapers inform these homeowners like the Council did on the Monterey Rd. Widening? And then when perhaps these indignant people get an initiative petition circulated you can just pigeon hole it and trust that their own human inertia will defeat them? And, pray tell, where will these homeowners move to after their property is con: demned and taken away from them? Move to Alhambra? To San Marino? Or move instead into a South Pasadena apartment in a multi unit building? These apartments seem destined to take over many of the single family homes in South Pasadena according to my interpretation of the new General Plan which furnishes you the legal basis on which to change this community into an apartment town at the expense of the people who own single family dwellings the single family dwelling owners the backbone and stable element of our city. And no one on the City Council has taken time or effort to give notiee of this to the people, especially these homeowners.

Gentlemen of the City Council, I think you are not, I repeat, are not being honest with us citizens in South Pasadena. Our little old houses seem to be a pain in your tax base crow and just have to be done away with somehow, is that the problem? Because there is no more land to build in South Pasadena and inflation makes the land on which our homes rest inflatedly more valuable, does that mean we have to submit to the forces that want to make this an apartment city? Why dont you tell the people that the only way this can happen is with a City Council in control that espouses this philosophy? That piecemeal, it seems you gentlemen are changing this city into an apartment town because the new General Plan gave you the power and you failed to make sure that the people understood what this new plan really has in store for them. Who, pray tell, built that philosophy into the General Plain? Who, pray tell, is keeping these vital facts quiet? The remarkable part of this entire matter seems to me to lie in the fact that everyone who owns a home west of Fremont to the Los Angeles boun-dry and south of the Arroyo Seco to include both sides of Monterey Rd. can expect to be pushed out to make room for an apartment building or to have a multi unit building go up next door to them or in back of them without the owners on the block concerned being recognized. I arrive at this Fish and game licenses fees, for instance, mostly go to develop wild life.

Park and recreation fees go back to the beaches and parks. KEEP GLASS CLEAN Keep all the glass in your car. clean for good vision, ad- vises. the National Automobile i Club. Note California lawyers offer this column so you may know about our laws.

The voters of this community can make the real decision for themselves at the coming couneilmanic election as to whether South Pasadena goes transient population wise or whether many homeowners including those who will have to underwrite the transition by surrendering their homes will choose council representatives who will keep South Pasadena a solid community. I feel that your collective refusal to honor the citizens petition on the excessive widening of Monterey Road is not only compounded by your failure to honestly inform all of the homeowners in advance of direct and indirect involvement in General Plan condemnations, but is topped off with implementation of the General Plans radical change in our way of community life, without so much as a by-your-leave A concerned citizen Joseph J. Biesek 411 El Centro Street South Pasadena, Calif. Medicare Blanks At Post Office Acting Postmaster Joyce Turney announces that application blanks for supplemental Medicate benefits are available at the parcel post window of the South Pasadena Post SURE YOURE PRESIDENT FOR LIFE! i Remember When? The first Iiillion Dollar Budget to pass Congress was in the 1920s. We remember our Congressman came home and told of the disasterous thing that they had done in the past Congress: They had voted a Billion Dollar Budget.

Congressman Knutson then figured out how much that was a minute since the birth of Christ, hut he said that the sad part was that once the first Billion Dollar Budget was passed it would forge upward at a faster rate. It surely seems that this was true as Congress is being asked to AGAIN raise the National Debt, this time another BILLION Dollars to place that debt to about $334 BILLION. In 1958 California had less than a Billion Dollar Budget but now, only eight years later, the Budget submitted to the Legislature by Governor Brown is $4.6 Billion. The Federal Government Budget, submitted by President Johnson the firnt of the year, was $112 Billion for 1966-1967; this will not include the Billions being passed these past weeks for the War on Poverty; Foreign Aid; Welfare; We do agree that the money needed for the War in Vietnam should he passed whether it be in this Budget or the next. But there is no need to claim that a Budget of $112 Billion is an economy one.

Remember the interest on last years debt was $11 Billion. If we do not reduce the National Debt during boom times how will it he done with a depression of any duration? It seems that people living on Social Security, or who will he in a few years, have little interest in the National Debt; every one seems to think that what they get from the Federal government is for free. We are all running around with a credit card, payable by those in their 20s or less. The application blanks are being made available as the Social Security Administra- tion seeks to contact 3.1 mil- i lion senior citizens before a March 31st deadline imposed by the Medicare law. President Johnson has proclaimed March as National Medicare Enrollment Month, and has urged all federal agencies and all citizens to co operate in enrolling senior eiti- zens in the program.

Senior citizens who reached 65 before 1966 face a two year delay if they do not sign up i by March 31. The application forms are preaddressed to the Social Security Administra- tion and may be deposited di-rectly in the mail with post- age prepaid..