Interviewed by KPAS at the Pasadena Conference Center

producer stuart johnson of KPAS interviewing me during election night coverage at the conference center. the tape had some audio problems so later we went live.

mahalo,

justin

VOTE!!!

just a friendly reminder for everyone to read up on the candidates for Pasadena City Council and Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education and get out there and vote today, March 6, 2007.
a note from Pasadena City Clerk Jane Rodriguez:
"Election results will be tabulated at the Pasadena Conference Center, 300 E. Green St., upper level (Room 211). The first run of Absentee/Mail ballots will be tabulated shortly after the close of the polls and I expect this information will be announced and posted on the Internet by 8:30pm Tuesday evening. Staff will be putting up a link on Pasadena's home page for ELECTION RESULTS (this will be a red side-bar button on the left side of the home page). Again information will be not be posted until after the close of the polls and ballots begin being tabulated. Home page link is www.cityofpasadena.net
After the first run of AV/Mail ballots there will be a lull until the poll ballots begin arriving at the Conference Center. It takes approximately an hour for the poll workers to close down the polls and do their paperwork, and get the ballots transported. As the poll ballots arrive and get processed, we'll be announcing those tabulations and posting updated information on the web page.
KPAS 55 will begin its programming at 8pm. If candidates are at the Conference Center, you may be asked by KPAS to do a brief interview on live TV."

Mr. Stewart Johnson of KPAS has asked to interview me sometime during the evening, so i look forward to that.

mahalo,
justin

PW first person narrative on AUSD

yo,
please check out my new article in the Pasadena Weekly. it's a first person narrative describing the progress of AUSD from my perspective, being the one who restarted the ATC Ed Committee to look into the idea of our own school district in Altadena.
enjoy:

http://pasadenaweekly.com/article.php?id=4375&IssueNum=61

if the link doesn't work, go to www.pasadenaweekly.com and find the link to my article.
let me know what ya'll think.

mahalo,
justin

ATC Ed Comm officially votes on AUSD

hello all,
about 14 months after the creation of the original Education Committee of the Altadena Town Council by me (unanimously approved by ATC), the new Ed Comm has taken a formal vote on Altadena Unified School District. at last night's meeting, wednesday, february 28, 2007, i made a friendly amendment to jerry rhoads' tabled motion from our january meeting, so the motion read more or less as follows, and contained three important points:

1. that the ed comm recommend to the altadena town council that they support the concept of an independent Altadena Unified School District as a possible option for the community in the future.
2. that the ed comm recommend to the ATC that they continue, through the ed comm, to support further investigation/study of an AUSD and continue to gather community input.
3. that the ed comm recommend to the ATC that they NOT support the current AUSD petition UNLESS the original chief petitioners are replaced by recognized civic leaders approved by the ATC.

don't know if the ATC will pass the motion as written, but the ed comm passed it 5-2, with one abstention by the Smile Lady. that last point was a victory for me and my allies, as it were. those of us on the ed comm who are also members of the group Altadenans for Quality Education/AUSD Steering Committee could/would not vote on any AUSD motion for the ATC that did not contain specific language expressing that we do not support Bruce Wasson's AUSD petition unless the chief petitioners are replaced. i would be fine supporting it as long as Wasson is replaced. his petition effort, in my opinion and many others, is a racist, elite, non-transparent, non-accountable movement that does not represent our diverse community. if we did not publicly state, through the above motion, that we do not support his petition, it could be mistakenly implied or assumed that we do support it, not to mention Wasson's "official" AUSD website (plagiarized from Rhoads' website in which Wasson also transferred my name and George Lewis' name as Endorsers of the petition without asking us; our names have since been removed after two phone calls and three emails, none of which were returned). whether or not ATC passes our motion as written, we are now on public record expressing that we do NOT support Wasson's petition, not unless he is replaced. the only reason we wanted to try to maybe salvage the current petition is because many people spent the last year gathering signatures (roughly 2,500) on volunteer time. what has happened to this once shining example to the world, in my humble opinion, is a tragedy for our community. i hope some good can come from all this.

mahalo,
justin