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.
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel | Destruction and Renewal
The early morning fire that tore through the church of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel last July hurt the heart.
It wasn’t the most tragic event the community endured during 2020 — the ravages of Covid-19...
Moffatt St Madness | City to Set Aside, Reconsider Controversial Decision
Under legal pressure for alleged Brown Act violations, the South Pasadena City Council will set aside and reconsider one of its most unpopular decisions, the approval of hillside development and tree removal permits for...
CalTrans Housing | SB-381 Hits Another Roadblock at Council Meeting
CalTrans housing stakeholders in South Pasadena will have a little more time to consider the terms of a senate bill aimed at ending decades of uncertainty over the status of dozens of properties in...
UPDATE: CalTrans Seeking to ‘Sabotage’ Property Sales to City, Attorney Claims
Original Publication on March 29, 2021. Updated on April 7 to include CalTrans statements.
CalTrans is trying to sabotage South Pasadena’s effort to inexpensively acquire control of dozens of dilapidated properties it owns within the...
Moffatt St Development | Opponents Sue City Over Alleged CEQA Violation
The aggrieved property owner who organized neighbors on both sides of the municipal line against plans for a controversial luxury housing development in El Sereno has made good on threats to sue the City...
UPDATE: CalTrans Properties | South Pasadena City Council Considers Purchase
UPDATE on March 19, 2021
After an 80-minute discussion Wednesday night, the City Council voted to 4-0, with Council Member Evelyn Zneimer abstaining, to support SB 381 subject to amendments that may be made after...
Court Rules City’s Termination as Retaliation | South Pasadena Must Re-instate Fired Fire Department...
In the latest of a string of adverse legal judgments, the City of South Pasadena must reinstate the former President of its Fire Fighters’ union because his dismissal was an illegal act of retaliation,...
$59 Million South Pasadena City Budget Saved by Voter Support, Cell Tower Lease
Unexpectedly reliable levels of property and sales tax revenue, voters’ approval of tax measures, and the city’s strategic renegotiation of cell tower leases combined during the past year not only to eliminate city staff’s...
Finance Commission | Median House Price Surpasses $1.4 Million in South Pasadena, Churches Get...
The median price for a detached, single family home in South Pasadena during 2020 was $1,445,500, an increase of 9.23 percent from 2019, according to HdL Coren & Cone, the City’s revenue management consultant....
City Council Gives Final Approval for Seven Patios
The South Pasadena City Council on Wednesday upheld the Planning Commission’s approval of the 60-unit, 6,100 square-foot residential and commercial Seven Patios development to be built without affordable housing units on the south side...
