Highlighting the Great Outdoors This Month BUSINESS PROFILE Massage Therapist Promotes Healthy Living Page 14
ENTERTAINMENT Jazz Guitar Legend Al DiMeola at The Rose Page 10
Page 13
SPORTS Spring Sports Roundup Our Top Picks! Page 30
Like Us to Win!
COMPLIMENTARY COPY VOLUME 20, NO. 22
pasadenaindependent.com
Your Voice, Your Community
Thursday, June 2, 2016 - June 8, 2016
Since 1996
Opposing Viewpoints Clash Over Police Budget Pasadena PD FY2017 Budget Hearing Set for June 6
Council Members Victor Gordo (Left) and Steve Madison (Right) call for more police officers, but certain statistics show Pasadena holds amongst highest police officer per capita ratio.
BY GUS HERRERA The public hearings regarding the City of Pasadena’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Operating Budget will continue on Monday, June 6. The joint meeting between the city council and finance committee will run from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and will cover the following budgets: public health, hu-
man services and recreation, information technology, fire, and finance. At 7 p.m., during council’s regular meeting, there will be a hearing on the FY 2017 police budget, which has raised controversy and opposing viewpoints from not only city council members, but also local attorneys Skip Hickambottom and Dale L. Gronemeier of
Gronemeier & Associates, P.C., who recently authored an opinion piece in Pasadena Now, titled “The Pasadena PD ‘Understafffing’ Myth.” The civil rights attorneys also happen to be members of the Coalition for Increased Civilian Oversight of Pasadena Police. According to the city’s 2017 Recommended Operating Budget (http://city-
ofpasadena.net/Finance/ Budget/), this year’s police budget of “$77,476,292 is $6,387,921 or 9.0 percent higher than the FY 2016 Revised budget, which is primarily attributed to anticipated increases to salary line items increased per union negotiations, as well as workers’ compensation and general liability increase based on prior years’ actu-
Randolph Churchill Helps Celebrate RMS Queen Mary’s 80th Anniversary BY TERRY MILLER The legendary Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Queen Mary celebrated a major milestone on Friday, May 27. For this was the 80th anniversary of the maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in 1936. Little did they know, at
the time, what adventures would await the fastest and most spectacular ocean liner of the day. On Wednesday, May 25, Beacon Media/HLR attended a media preview of a new documentary about the illustrious history of the “grey SEE PAGE 17
Yours truly shares a laugh with Randolph Churchill.
als.”
Compared to the FY 2016 revised police budget, there is a “7.1 percent increase of $4,778,551” that is recommended to be taken from the general fund this year, resulting from the “net of increases in personnel costs and decreases in services/supplies, capital outlay, and transfers,” according to the city’s recommended
– Photos by Terry Miller
budget. The police operating budget is divided amongst five expenditure categories: personnel, services and supplies, internal service charges, operating transfers, and capital outlay. Of the five categories, personnel is typically the highest and this year will see SEE PAGE 16
Civil Rights Complaint Filed Against City of Pasadena
- Photo by Terry Miller
On Thursday, May 26, Attorney John Burton and Attorney William M. Paparian filed a Complaint for Damages for Violations of Civil Rights and a Demand for a Jury Trial on behalf of Michelle D. Rodgers and Sélah Chavét. Defendants named in the complaint are: the City of
Pasadena; Pasadena Police Department; Police Chief Phillip Sanchez; Pasadena Police Sergeant Michael Bugh; Pasadena Police Sergeant Keith Gomez; Pasadena Police Officers Crawford; Tavera, A. Gonzalez and Lewis; as well SEE PAGE 16