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THURSDAY, JANUARY 17 - JANUARY 23, 2019
PASADENA APPROVES $1.3M IN HOMELESS RELIEF AFTER CLASH WITH COUNTY John ORONA
P
SEE HOMELESS RELIEF PAGE 11
PUSD: ACADEMICS V. ATHLETICS Are schools prepping students for the Ivy League or Major Leagues?
john.orona@gmail.com
asadena approved over $1.3 million in coordinated homelessness services contracts over the next two years using its entire share of Measure H funding for that period, despite contributing about $7 million per year to the county coffers through the measure. Measure H is a county-wide quarter-cent tax approved by voters in 2017 to combat the homelessness crisis over the next 10 years. The county administers those tax dollars on a pro rata basis based on percentage of the homeless population in each Service Planning Area. Pasadena will use its share to fund four homelessness initiatives identified by the county — homelessness prevention, rapid re-housing, coordinated entry, and emergency sheltering. However, the city would have liked to have been able to receive a block grant of funds and greater oversight over which initiatives were funded based on local need. “The initiatives don’t include our highest priorities,” Housing Director William Huang said when the funds were approved last October. “Because [the county] did not take into consideration our need or costs, there are some strategies we’ve had to decline,” Huang said,
VOL. 23, NO. 3
Since 1996
Terry MILLER tmiller@beaconmedianews.com
Mayor Terry Tornek described the funding situation as “fundamentally inequitable … infuriating and hard to explain.” John who is pictured here on Lake Avenue and the 210 Freeway probably agrees. – Photo by Terry Miller/ Beacon Media News
On Nov. 4, 2008 the voters in Pasadena passed a $350 million Measure TT bond initiative “to repair and upgrade Pasadena Unified School District’s (PUSD) aging and deteriorating campuses.” Measure TT objectives included: 1.Make all school campuses safe, secure, and accessible. 2.Provide equal access to high-quality learning and recreational facilities. 3.Enhance student and teacher access to technology. 4.Use green technology for healthy and efficient buildings. 5.Ensure strict independent oversight and accountability. And with most campuses between 50-70 years old: 6. Renovate, construct or reconstruct gyms and student locker rooms Last week, the beleaguered Pasadena Unified School District held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the newlyremodeled gymnasium at Pasadena High which was part SEE PUSD PAGE 10
Travelling Down History With ‘The Green Book’ Susie LING & Roy NAKANO GUEST CONTRIBUTOR The movie “Green Book” recently won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture. The real “Green Book,” however, was a project of Victor H. Green, a postal worker in Harlem. Like Martin Luther King did years later, Victor Green pursued a dream, but for the travelling African-American motorists. The first “Green Book” in 1936 listed service stations, restaurants, lodging, and barber shops in New York that would welcome an African-American clientele. This was a great service for newcomers to the city in an era when racial segregation was common across the nation. Mr. Green expanded his
listings yearly. He explains in the 25-cent 1940 “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” ”The white traveler for years has had no difficulty in getting accommodations, but with the Negro it has been different. Before the advent of Negro Travel Guides, he has had to depend on word of mouth and then sometimes accommodations weren’t available.” By the 1963-64 edition, the title evolved to “The Travelers’ Green Book, for vacation without aggravation.” Perhaps after Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the nation had turned a page and the need for “The Green Book” lessened. The last SEE THE GREEN BOOK PAGE 9
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Keeping the Peace
Guitarist Diana Rein Plays Arcadia Blues Club - Jan. 19
at Ambrose Cafe
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During the height of segregation, you could pick up a Green Book at an Esso gas station. – Courtesy photo / Smithsonian Collection
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