Ben Tansey

Ben Tansey
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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.

710 Bills Gain Approval | Clock Starts on ROD as ‘Closing the Gap’ Nears

In the state legislature’s annual purge of pending legislation Aug. 30, two bills related to the future of the SR-710 corridor were approved. Each takes a different approach to preventing the construction of a...

Police Shooting Body Cams Confirmed | Vanessa Marquez Coverage

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department this week confirmed that South Pasadena police officers present during the officer-involved shooting of actress Vanessa Marquez were wearing body cameras, and that they were both on and recording...
Vanessa Marquez killed by police. | Press conference at South Pasadena City Hall announcing wrongful death lawsuit.  "ER" Actress Vanessa Marquez was killed by police Aug. 30, 2018 at her South Pasadena home

UPDATE: Vigil for Vanessa Marquez FRIDAY | Questions Still Linger on Anniversary of Fatal...

UPDATE: A candlelight vigil has been organized to take place Friday evening at 7:00 p.m.. The memorial will take place in front of Marquez's former residence on the 1100 block of Fremont Ave in South...

Holden Looks to Save Bill | Ensuring 710 Removed from State Highway Plan

With only days to go before an Aug. 30 legislative deadline, Assemblyman Chris Holden is working to save AB 29, his bill to eliminate the section of State Route 710 between Alhambra and Pasadena...

Lawsuit Too Hot for LA Federal Judges | Local Political Group Claims Unfair Treatment

A lawsuit filed by the Pasadena Republican Club (PRC) against a public service group run predominantly by local judges and other legal professionals has been causing havoc at the downtown Los Angeles office of...

UPDATE: Caltrans Confirms Approval of 710 ROD | Decision to Trigger $300 Million in...

Caltrans’ long-awaited formal approval this week of its decision foregoing a tunnel to complete the SR-710 “gap” between Alhambra and Pasadena marks another milestone in the decades-long saga. But in addition to enabling the...

20 YEARS | The Injunction that Stopped 710 Freeway

An important milestone came and went July 19, 2019. It was the day, twenty years ago, when Judge Dean D. Pregerson of the US District Court for the Central District of California issued his...

Caltrans Fails to Meet Environmental Compliance Targets

In the latest review of its federal environmental law enforcement responsibilities, Caltrans failed to meet a third of the performance goals it set out for itself. Most notably, the agency said it came in...

CalTrans Housing Advocates Say Closing out NEPA is an Opportunity

The City of South Pasadena and allied cities and groups have a window of opportunity “to gain some control” over the sale and preservation of the properties in the former SR-710 North corridor, according...

SCE & CPA Ongoing Billing Problems | 100,000+ Customers Billed Wrong

The first half of the year was an exciting time for the Clean Power Alliance. The infant customer choice aggregator (CCA) was establishing itself as a major presence in Southern California’s utility industry, commencing...

City Council | Voters to Decide if City Clerk Should be Appointed

The South Pasadena City Council on Wednesday night voted to place a measure on November’s ballot asking voters to decide if the office of city clerk should be appointive. The seemingly simple question spurred...

Clean Power Alliance Signs Deals for Renewable Energy in Southern California

The Clean Power Alliance community choice aggregator (CCA) announced its board authorized two long-term power purchase agreements for 273 megawatts (MW) of solar capacity. It also signed a deal for the output of a...

Fireworks Ruled Out as Cause of July 4 Double House Fire

One hundred thousand dollars is the South Pasadena Fire Department’s conservative preliminary estimate for the damage done by a 4th of July fire at two houses in the 400 block of Hawthorne Street. And despite...

710 Freeway Fighters Leave Lasting Legacy

Every few miles along the drive up the Long Beach Freeway, cars pass underneath huge, green highway signs that span the roadway’s lanes: “Interstate 710 North,” they say. “Pasadena.” But Interstate 710 does not go...

Sales Tax Increase Will Go on the Ballot for South Pasadena

South Pasadena City Council members voted unanimously Wednesday night to declare a “fiscal emergency” and place a 0.75 percent sales tax on the November 5 ballot. The measure would require a simple majority and...

Bringing Home the Bacon | Mahmud Dogs County on Measure W Rules

It’s a small, obscure provision buried deep in a draft of a county public works ordinance. But it could affect how much South Pasadena and other small cities get from Measure W, the stormwater...

“No on 710” | Honored 710 Freeway Fighters Share Compelling Stories

A large crowd turned out June 7 in the South Pasadena Library’s community room to honor the 710 Freeway Fighters, the energetic group of South Pasadena residents, past and present, whose multi-decade struggle recently...

Dispute Over Tree Removal Goes to City Council

After what will likely be a lengthy meeting on the new budget, updated capital improvement program and a bevy of routine city business, the South Pasadena City Council on Wednesday will take up Maia...

South Pasadena Watermaster | Drought Still Driving Water Rate Increases

The ongoing need to replenish the San Gabriel Valley aquifer in the aftermath of the drought continues to drive enormous spikes in water rates. The increases are coming in conjunction with new fiscal year...

Tuesday May 28 | Public Comment Deadline for Rule on 710 Property Sales

Today is the last day that citizens have to comment on an “emergency rulemaking” process initiated by Caltrans. It’s at least the second time the agency has triggered the emergency rule making process in...

Senate OKs Bill on 710 Non-Profit Sales, Rent Increase Prohibition and Tunnel

The California State Senate on Wednesday, May 22 passed Senate Bill 7, putting the “formal legislative end” to the 710 Freeway extension by prohibiting construction of a freeway tunnel between Routes 10 and 210,...

House Fire in Alhambra | Residence Destroyed

At approximately 10:37 a.m. this morning multiple engines responded to a residential fire on the 2400 block of El Paseo in Alhambra. According to neighbors of the house's owner, the resident had lived in the...

A Rich Tapestry of Historical Churches | SPPF ‘Architecture of Faith’

Tours of churches are standard fare on trips to Europe. Domestically, the activity is decidedly less common, though you can take bus tours of cathedrals in Chicago, Cleveland and even the so-called “painted churches...

City Council | Council Directs Staff to Prepare Sales Tax for Ballot

South Pasadena City Council members formally gave the go-ahead Wednesday for staff to begin work to place a sales tax proposal on the city’s November ballot. The direction came after presentations on the city’s...

City Council | South Pasadena to Open Hearing on $28.6 Million Budget

South Pasadena’s revenue-challenged $28.6 million city budget will be on the agenda tonight as the city council opens a public hearing and begins discussing its draft 2019-2020 spending plan. Council will hear a presentation on...

City Council | Members Approve Big Surge in Development Fees for South Pasadena

Dozens of development fees charged by South Pasadena’s Planning Department will rise dramatically July 1 under a resolution approved by the City Council May 1. Fees for various types of conditional use permits and...

Big Lots Update | Lessor Working to Find New Tenant by Winter

Now that Big Lots has announced its move to the old Toys R Us building in Alhambra, the owner of the property at 1401 Huntington Drive in South Pasadena has laid out its objectives...

City Council | Curtain Won’t Close on South Pasadena Minimum Wage Proposal

Just as they did at their meeting two weeks ago, South Pasadena city councilmembers last night voted not to amend the city’s strategic plan to include an accelerated minimum wage schedule. But also like...

City Council | South Pasadena to Consider Fee Increases and Approve Spending for Public...

South Pasadena City Council members tonight will hold a public hearing on a new master fee schedule. The change will increase annual revenue by an estimated $300,000. The City’s departments of building, community services (that...

SPUSD | Board gets SEL Update, Seeks Program Monitoring Data

Efforts to integrate social-emotional learning (SEL) strategies in South Pasadena public schools are expanding, and school board members are interested in how the effects are being tracked. During an April 9 board meeting, Christiane Gervais,...
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