City Election

STORY ISU PARK

As Tuesday, Nov. 8 marked election day across the nation, the City of South Pasadena held a general municipal election for their five member legislative body. The positions open for election included two council seats for District 4 and 5, as well as the South Pasadena City Treasurer.

Candidates Michael A. Cacciotti of District 4 and Janet Braun of District 5 both ran unopposed for council. Cacciotti has been involved in South Pasadena and Los Angeles County politics for roughly 25 years. As deputy attorney general for the Department of Justice, Cacciotti allocated his support towards fighting environmental issues and the impacts of climate change.

The on-campus ADL Anti-Bias Training was introduced by former principal Janet Anderson in 2019, before the Anti-Bias Club (ABC) was formed. The ABC thought that on-campus biases were not being addressed properly. Students also thought there was a better solution.

“I found that a lot of people were lacking the vocabulary to have these conversations and I think that [is] where the…Anti-Defamation League came in handy, because they gave us the vocabulary to communicate our issues that we were having on campus,” ABC president senior Alexa Morales said.

Students are more involved in the ABC anti-bias training this year compared to previous years where there had

Janet Brain of District 4 has a past of leading local service organizations for nearly three decades, as well as serving as chair for both the Public Safety Committee and the Planning Commission. Braun pledges to support infrastructure issues and economic development within South Pasadena.

Additionally, South Pasadena’s Measure LL, “to maintain funding for the operation and maintenance of the South Pasadena public library, including technology upgrades, resources for students, and programs such as family story time and summer reading,” passed with 85.11 percent of voters voting “yes” on the measure.

The candidates for City Treasurer were Zhen Tao and Alan Ehrlich. Tao has served on the South Pasadena Finance Commission for two terms and has 20 years of experience in investment and finance. Ehrlich is a member of the South Pasadena Community Emergency

The ADL’s goals is to educate students on biased behavior and to explain the specific biases from students and how certain comments can be seen differently by different people.

“Their emphasis [in] our freshman year [of training] was very much, ‘If you say someone’s racist, what does that entail? And are they being racist or did they just have implicit biases from growing up?’” Morales said. The training they supply is a way for students to connect with their own explicit and implicit biases and understand others’.

The ABC will be going to Monterey Hills Elementary School to teach younger kids about biases beginning in January.

Response Team and has a background in financial management and budgeting.

After a week of vote counting, Ehrlich conceded and congratulated Tao on her win. Roughly 6,000 votes remained to be counted, but Tao was already in the lead by 65 percent.

Tao’s plans for South Pasadena aim to combat financial weakness and overall security of the city government.

“With 20 years of experience in investment and portfolio management, I am confident that as City Treasurer I can work together with all stakeholders to improve South Pasadena’s financial health and stability for the future,” Tao said in a statement to the South Pasadenan.

Tao will replace Gary E. Pia, who was elected in 2011, as the South Pasadena City Treasurer.