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Pasadena Independent /
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Thursday, JANUARY 24 - JANUARY 30, 2019
Will Pasadena Teachers Be the Next to Strike?
Pasadena_Independent Since 1996
Vol. 23, No. 4
Pasadena Student Speaks Up About Challenges Finding Affordable Housing During MLK Prayer Vigil alex CORDERO corderoalex82@yahoo.com
Communities in Pasadena are coming together to raise awareness, provide resources and share personal stories about facing difficult situations due to not finding an affordable place to live. The Greater Pasadena Affordable Housing Group sponsored a Martin Luther King Jr. prayer vigil for affordable housing on the MLK holiday. A young individual by the name of Mercedes (aka Mercy Young) took this opportunity to share her personal story about her experience with finding affordable housing, which has become a common topic among young adults in the City of Pasadena. “I am one of three family members left, out of four generations of African-Americans that lived, worked and went to school right here in this community” Mercy said. She shared that the reason why there are only a few family members left is because they could not afford to live in Pasadena. Her great-grandfather came to live in California back in the mid-1950s and signed a deed to purchase property in Altadena that read “No Negroes Allowed.” It was common to deal SEE AFFORDABLE HOUSING PAGE 4
Pasadena Online Application for Commercial Cannabis Permit Ends Jan. 31
LA teachers are off the picket line, but Pasadena teachers may be next John ORONA john.orona@gmail.com
A
fter seven days of striking and some all-night negotiations, more than 800,000 students and 25,000 teachers will return to class this week. But as the dust clears in the battle between Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), the stage is set for a larger education struggle across the nation and in
Pasadena. This week UTLA won a six percent pay raise, a fourstudent decrease in class size by 2021, 300 more nurse positions, more than 80 library teacher positions, 17 more counselor positions this year, a commitment to reduce testing by 50 percent and a future board vote on whether to cap charter school expansion. According to LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, the tentative agreement will, “strengthen the voice of SEE TEACHER STRIKE PAGE 9
In recent years the beleaguered PUSD has faced numerous fiscal challenges and the end result is always the same, the students suffer. - File photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
SAT.
February 2 10to 3ampm
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SUMMER Opportunities Fair
Terry MILLER tmiller@beaconmedianews.com
There’s been a great deal of confusion about pot in Pasadena. Whether it be smoking, selling, growing, eating or whatever. But the city is about to end the pretty strict application process for a handful of commercial permits the city will currently allow. The complicated and extremely long and involved application process seems to gear applicants of the higher-end market, if you’ll SEE CANNABIS PERMIT PAGE 4
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Only six permits will be issued, each at nearly $25K
ONE OF THE LARGEST CAMP INFORMATION FAIRS IN THE U.S.!
FREE admission! Summer programs for boys and girls ages 5-18. Live entertainment, games, food and more! For more information, visit Westridge.org/SOF