Attendance Down at Final County Visioning Workshop

At the final of three Altadena Community Visioning workshops, attendees got a chance to offer comments on a draft report will offer ideas on potential policy changes for Altadena's future.

The workshop was more lightly attended than the last two - around 50 people showed up, compared to 85 or so in the second, and more than 125 in the first.

The workshop was in the format of an open house - participants went to stations where they evaluated various portions of the report, leaving comments on post-it notes and sketch pads for potential changes or additions to the draft report that the county consultants have written.

That report can be viewed in full on right.  We've got some .

The stations were attendees comment fell into the six categories of the report, which are listed below:

• Diverse, eclectic, unique character
• Views and access to the mountains and nature
• Town/district centers with thriving businesses
• Safe and peaceful neighborhoods
• Community cohesion and strong institutions
• Opportunities for walking, biking, hiking, riding, and play

Here are some observations on some of the comments that were left by participants:

• There were a lot of comments supporting the idea of restrictions on leaf blowers.
• There was another comment on Altadena needing an urgent care center, an issue not directly addressed in the report.
• One participant left a comment suggesting there should be restrictions on the hours of commercial filming (not between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.), though another participant left a comment disagreeing with the restrictions.
• There were a lot of comments added about the need to address speeding and pedestrian cross-walk issues.
• One comment suggested closed down school campuses like Burbank Elementary should have their sports facilities opened to the public.
• There were a lot of comments supporting new restrictions or a moratorium on new liquor stores.

Going Forward

The next step for the report is for the consultants (RBF Consulting) to meet with other members of the "Project Committee" to review the report.  The committee includes members of the Town Council and Chamber of Commerce, according to Susan Harden of RBF.

In response to a question from an audience member, Harden noted that the committee will not be reviewing the report for any factual errors, not to change any of the policy ideas suggested by workshop participants.

The county does not have any plan for when or even whether to make any of the changes brought up during the process.

The final report will be posted on a county website once it has been reviewed.

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