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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.
West Side Reservoir Near-Collapse | Replacement to Cost Millions of Dollars
“A ticking time-bomb.”
That’s how South Pasadena City Council Member Evelyn Zneimer described the condition of the city’s 2-million-gallon West Side Reservoir during a city council meeting May 5. It could cost over $10 million...
CalTrans Properties | Two Councilmembers to Lead New Subcommittee in South Pasadena
South Pasadena City Council Members John Primuth and Michael Cacciotti were named last week to serve on a new Council Subcommittee whose task will be to implement plans for the city’s disposition of Caltrans...
Investigation of the South Pasadena Police Department | Nine Officers Found in Violation of...
After nearly six months of investigating, the city has sustained 21 of the 53 complaints filed by nearly a dozen residents against South Pasadena police officers stemming from events starting with last summer’s Black...
New Police Chief Selected | Brian Solinsky Appointed for South Pasadena Police Department
Brian Solinsky, a 27-year veteran of the South Pasadena Police Department who is currently serving as acting chief, has been appointed to be the department’s permanent chief commanding 36 sworn officers, 15 full-time, non-sworn...
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel | After Nine Month Investigation, Fire is Deemed Arson
John David Corey Jr., 57, of San Gabriel, was arrested Tuesday for setting the fire which destroyed the roof and caused other damage to the church at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel during a July...
Caltrans Surplus Properties Bill | Transportation Committee OK’s SB-381 for South Pasadena
The state Senate Transportation Committee voted Tuesday to approve SB-381, a South Pasadena-sponsored bill to promote sales of dozens of Caltrans-owned properties for low- and moderate-income rentals in the city’s portion of the former...
626 Prospect Ave | City Prods Caltrans over Loss of Development Bid in South...
Stung from having lost a hard-fought effort to purchase and redevelop a 12-unit Caltrans-owned property to a Pasadena church, the city of South Pasadena on March 31 made its objections known to Caltrans. It...
City Manager Nomination for Jordan Withdrawn | Council to Vet Second Choice Candidate
Slammed by an onslaught of universal opposition, the South Pasadena City Council on Tuesday evening withdrew plans to appoint Christopher A. Jordan as the new City Manager. The announcement came less than 24 hours...
South Pasadena New City Manager Search | Prospective Candidate Has Experience, Baggage
The South Pasadena City Council on Wednesday is set to vote on the appointment of Christopher A. Jordan as the new City Manager.
Jordan, who served a total of 15 years as city manager in...
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...
Moffat St Development Gets Greenlight from City Council Despite Heavy Homeowner Opposition
Despite a universal wave of neighborhood opposition, the South Pasadena City Council on Feb. 17 upheld permits for a private extension of South Pasadena’s Moffatt Street that will serve a cluster of seven luxury...
New Developments in City Lawsuit | Smith Targets Ex-Mayor in Amended Claim
South Pasadena dance teacher Alison Smith this week accused former Mayor Marina Khubesrian of “intentionally” retaliating against her for comments Smith, accompanied by her three young children, made at an August 21, 2019 City...
City Council | Speed Bumps for Seven Patios; Jan 6 Insurrection at Capitol Condemned...
Citing a last-minute request from the developer, the South Pasadena City Council on Feb. 3 postponed for one month a vote on the approval of environmental certifications for the 60-unit, mixed-use Seven Patios development...
ER Actress Vanessa Marquez Police Shooting | Settlement Reached
Delia McElfresh, the mother of actress Vanessa Marquez, who was killed in the early afternoon of Aug. 30, 2018 by South Pasadena police during a “wellness” check at her second-floor apartment on Fremont Ave, has...
A Court Ruling Against South Pasadena | Judge Urges Parties to Settle
Superior Court Judge John J. Kralik, presiding over a costly and emotional legal battle between the City of South Pasadena and its own resident Alison Smith, dealt the city a blow Monday, denying its...
Attorney Highsmith Under Scrutiny | Lauren Rubin Settlement is Likely
Court documents indicate there is a settlement in the retaliation lawsuit filed one year ago against the city and two South Pasadena officials by a former Finance Department employee. Meantime, there is movement in...
Interview with New Mayor Diana Mahmud | Working on Making 2021 a Better Year
In a small city such as South Pasadena, “the position of mayor is overrated,” says 5th District Council Member Diana Mahmud, who was selected by her Council colleagues last month to serve as South...
SCAG Update | South Pasadena Appeal of Housing Allocation Denied
South Pasadena’s appeal for a 41 percent reduction in the 2,062 housing units it must plan for by 2029 under the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) was unanimously rejected Jan 11 by the...
COVID UPDATE South Pasadena | 1000 Cases and Growing
UPDATED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 14
Over 1,000 South Pasadenans have been infected with the novel coronavirus. The data mean that by week’s end, one in every 25 people in this city will have been stricken....
Griffins of Kinsale | Owner Sentenced in Court for COVID Violation
Griffins of Kinsale owner Joseph Patrick Griffin, who on March 17, 2020 became possibly the first person to be criminally cited for violating the LA County Health Department’s Covid-19 order closing bars and pubs...
SCAG Recommends Denial of RHNA Reductions | City of South Pasadena
Saying most of their arguments are precluded by law, staff of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is recommending denial of appeals filed by South Pasadena and six other San Gabriel Valley cities...
