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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.
New Interim City Manager is On-Board | Top Flight Expert Sean Joyce Tapped for...
During an open special at noon Wednesday, Sept. 23, the South Pasadena City Council will consider appointing Sean Joyce to serve as Interim City Manager. Mr. Joyce would serve pending recruitment of new permanent...
New Write-In Candidate for City Council | Stephen Rossi to File for Dist. 2
Stephen Rossi, whose exposition of discrepancies in the South Pasadena budget and signature plan to clean up the city’s finances by election day won him an appointment to finish out the 13-week term left...
City Council Elections | Donovan Disputes Mayor’s Report He Foreswore Appointment
This week’s late entry of popular finance expert Stephen Rossi as a write-in candidate for South Pasadena’s District 2 City Council seat came as a surprise to many, not least of all Jack Donovan,...
Public Safety Commission Rejects Charter Proposal | Downsizing of Subcommittee Meets Heavy Opposition
Everyone agrees that with the police reform debate sweeping the nation, the South Pasadena Public Safety Commission’s charter needs to be updated. But that’s where the agreement ends. The PSC completed a draft revision...
Assistant City Manager Ready | Elaine Aguilar Gets Tapped to Serve
Elaine Aguilar, a former interim South Pasadena city official, will be appointed at Wednesday’s City Council as the city’s Interim Assistant City Manager.
Aguilar will serve during the absence of Finance Director Karen Aceves, who...
Effective Immediately: Stephanie DeWolfe is Out | Fire Chief Riddle Named Acting City Manager
Embattled South Pasadena City Manager Stephanie DeWolfe has decided to retire from the city effective Saturday Sept. 12, the city said in a press release Sunday Sept. 13. Fire Chief Paul Riddle will assume...
Clouds Darken for DeWolfe | South Pasadena City Manager Development
With barely a day’s notice Saturday, the City of South Pasadena announced there will be a closed special session of the City Council Sunday, Sept. 13 at 4:00 pm during which the only agenda...
Clean Power Alliance | Two New Contracts Add Significant Solar and Storage
The Clean Power Alliance on Sept. 3 signed contracts for two new 15-year solar power projects, both of which feature significant storage capacity. Together they will add 365 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy, enough...
Al Fresco Dining Barricades ‘K-Rails’ Installed on Mission Street
Concrete k-rails started going up Thursday morning along portions of Mission Street between Meridian and Fair Oaks Aves. as the city rolled out Phase 2 of its Al Fresco Dining and Retail Program. The...
CITY COUNCIL SOUTH PASADENA | 10 City Employees Offered ‘Early Retirement’
The South Pasadena City Council on Wednesday authorized its staff to prepare a program of retirement incentives known as “Golden Handshakes” under which ten city employees, including City Manager Stephanie DeWolfe and Community Services...
South Pasadena City Council | Stephen Rossi Selected for District 2 Seat
Stephen Rossi, a corporate finance expert whose unsolicited report showing $14 million in discrepancies in South Pasadena’s proposed 2020-21 budget documents sent a lightning bolt through the city last June, was selected by the...
City Council Vacancy Applicants | Here Are the 5 Up for Consideration
Three attorneys, an astrophysicist and a business finance expert have submitted applications to serve-out the final seven weeks of the District 2 South Pasadena city council term left vacant by last month’s resignation of...
City Quickly Puts Schedule Back as Voted Upon | Empty Council Seat Process...
The City of South Pasadena on Monday belatedly released the names of applicants who will be considered to fill the remaining term of District 2 Councilmember Marina Khubesrian, who resigned Aug. 18. It has...
City Fails to Keep Timeline Commitment to Residents | Questions About Empty District 2...
Despite promises to do so, the city of South Pasadena on Saturday failed to provide the list of the candidates from which the City Council will choose to fill the remaining term of District...
Seven Patios | Mixed Style & Use Complex Heads to Planning Commission
At an imminent but as yet unscheduled “special meeting,” the South Pasadena Planning Commission will be asked for the third time this year to give its blessing to a major new mixed-use development downtown.
The...
Marina Khubesrian’s Resignation Received & Filed | City Council Moving Fast to Appoint Replacement
South Pasadena is taking applications for candidates interested in an appointment to serve out the remaining term of Dr. Marina Khubesrian, the Second District Councilmember who resigned Aug. 18 after admitting to using fake...
Audit Promised Before Elections | South Pasadena Finance Issues
Citizens of South Pasadena will have about a month to pore over the city’s much delayed 2018-19 financial audit before voting on whether to make permanent the 7.5 percent Utility Users Tax (UUT), City...
Historic Resignation: Marina Khubesrian First to Happen in 61 Years for South Pasadena
Resignations from the South Pasadena City Council are rare.
When Dr. Marina Khubesrian submitted hers Saturday, not only was she the first woman to do so but, it appears from research of the records, the...
PREVIEW UPDATE: City Special Meeting Wednesday | Council Discusses Filling Khubesrian Seat After Resignation
NOTE FROM THE CITY OF SOUTH PASADENA:
Council Meeting August 19th, 2020 Will Not be Available on Time Warner Cable Channel 19 and AT&T Channel 99. Due to technical issues with the audio visual equipment,...
Marina Khubesrian Admits to Fraudulent E-mails | South Pasadena Councilwoman Resigns
“I alone was responsible for sending the emails from two email accounts using fictitious names in May and June this year,” South Pasadena City Councilwoman Dr. Marina Khubesrian admitted in a statement sent Saturday....
Donovan Poised to Replace Khubesrian | Candidates Drop Out of City Council Race
With two prospective candidates formally pulling out Wednesday, John (Jack) Donovan’s quest to succeed Dr. Marina Khubesrian as the Second District’s representative on the South Pasadena City Council has gone from a long slog...
City Demands Finance Report | Audit Now Anticipated Before Budget Deadline
South Pasadena City Manager Stephanie DeWolfe on Aug. 5 vowed to comply with the City Council’s direction not to resume work on the city’s postponed 2020-2021 budget until after staff completes the long overdue...
LA District Attorney Investigating Fake Email Allegation | Khubesrian Condemns Cyber Bullying
The City of South Pasadena on Monday asked the LA District Attorney’s Public Integrity Division to review a citizen complaint that District 2 Councilmember Marina Khubesrian “used fictitious email accounts to threaten a colleague...
Permanent UUT Goes to Ballot | Council Nixes Hotel Tax, & Defers Height Limit...
South Pasadena voters will be asked to make permanent the city’s 7.5 percent utility users tax Nov. 3, but will not -- at least for now -- be asked to consider a new 'hotel...
Strange Emails Sent to City Council | Veiled Threats to Cacciotti
Last May, South Pasadena Councilman Michael Cacciotti got what he describes as the “most unusual” email he’s ever received in his nearly twenty years on City Council. It accused him of corruption, of being...
EXCLUSIVE: Wrongfully Terminated 26-Year SPPD Officer Denied Apology & Honors
Former South Pasadena police officer Timothy Patrick Green says the city owes him and his family an apology. His case is persuasive. According to the litigated public record, Green got screwed.
Seven years ago, after...
SPUSD Sells its Historic Building | A ‘Monumental Moment’ Says Superintendent Geoff Yantz
The South Pasadena Unified School District has unanimously authorized its superintendent to sign a 21-page agreement under which it will sell its historic headquarter structure on the south side of El Centro St. It...
Planning Commission | Members Recommend Against Building Height Measure
In a decision that is bound to complicate life for the Planning Department, the city’s Planning Commission during a special meeting Tuesday voted unanimously against recommending the City Council support placing an increase in...
Meridian Ave Traffic Issues Addressed | Transportation Commission Forwards Recommendation
Members of the city’s Mobility, Transportation and Infrastructure Commission on Tuesday heard dozens of public comments attesting to the traffic carnage they have witnessed along Meridian Ave. in South Pasadena: speeding, parked cars demolished,...
2020 South Pasadena Elections | Twelve Candidates Pull Papers for City Council, School Board
It appears South Pasadena’s 17,414 registered voters will have three competitive city council races to vote on this November. Since prospective candidates began pulling the papers needed to run July 13, eight persons have...
