Ben Tansey
Ben Tansey is a journalist and author. He grew up in the South Bay and is a graduate of Evergreen State College. He worked in Washington State as a reporter in a rural timber community and for many years as an editor for a Western electric energy policy publication based in Seattle. He and his wife Karin, an arts administrator from El Sereno, live in South Pasadena.
New Mayor | Cacciotti Takes Over as Mayor as City’s To-Do List Expands
District 4 City Council Member Michael Cacciotti, the longest-serving South Pasadena City Council Member, was elected Mayor Wednesday on a unanimous vote of his Council Colleagues. The 2021-2022 mayoral term will be Cacciotti’s fifth...
Increased Crime Along Transit Lines | South Pasadena Opposes “Defunding Law Enforcement”
The South Pasadena City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a letter opposing a proposal before the LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority that, according to a city staff report, calls for “defunding law enforcement and...
Firefighter Reinstatement | City of South Pasadena Delaying, Haggling Over Court Ordered Payment
Nearly six months after the California Supreme Court put the kibosh on South Pasadena’s five-year battle to defend its illegal termination of the president of its firefighters’ union, the city is still haggling over...
Public Works Director on Leave Effective Immediately | South Pasadena
Shahid Abbas, who has served as South Pasadena Public Works Director since 2019, is on leave and Deputy Public Works Director Harold Theodore (“Ted”) Gerber has been named acting director of the department, the...
City Urged to Forego Recovery of Tax Revenue Scammed by SCE
Seeking to come to terms with a mixed appeal court ruling, South Pasadena City Manager Arminé Chaparyan this week is asking the City Council to “take action” to forego recovery of at least quarter...
City to Sell $352,000 of Bonds
Following a recommendation from its Finance Commission, the South Pasadena City Council on Oct. 20 voted 4 to 1 to amend its investment policy to divest from “businesses that refine and/or extract oil or...
BLM Protesters Sue City of South Pasadena Over Police Treatment
Two South Pasadenans who say their rights were violated by South Pasadena police officer have filed a lawsuit against the city and five of its police officers for “fail to carry out their mandatory...
Police Department Affirms Plans for ‘Organizational Assessment’
In what appears to be a response to public pressure, the South Pasadena Police Department last Friday announced an expansion to the scope of City Manager Arminé Chaparyan’s plan for an “organizational assessment” of...
“Unpermitted” SCE Utility Work in City’s Crosshairs
"Unpermitted", noise-ordinance-violating utility work around town by Southern California Edison is a “recurring” problem that “is absolutely getting more serious,” according to Mayor Diana Mahmud. The matter came up during the Oct. 7 council...
New Caltrans Houses Bill | Concerns Over Fair Process
With the Sept. 28 governor’s approval of SB 381, the city on Wednesday sought to get rolling on its ambitious plan to use its new authority exercise more control over the disposition of dozens...
