u/AHPasadena

Anyone up for the challenge?

(Mods this is the Pasadena Star News w/ quote from Pasadena resident. Hope that qualifies.)

Abundant Housing Pasadena is meeting tonight at 6pm at Dog Haus in Old Pasadena, please come through!

Tonight we'll talk about the Parsons tower redevelopment in Old Pasadena. This 12-story office tower has been a reliable part of the Pasadena skyline since the 70s, and now there's a proposal to knock it down and build a whole new neighborhood in its place: five buildings with almost 1000 apartments.

Do we like it? Are there ways we could make it better? Let's figure it out tonight! Plus, some updates on safe parking, teacher housing on PUSD land, and more.

This week city council approved funding for a Ciclavia open streets event in November. A big stretch of Colorado from Old Pasadena to PCC and Raymond from Walnut to Del Mar will be closed to car traffic and open to pedestrians, bikes, scooters, skateboards, and rollerblades (do people still do that?)

This would be our first Ciclavia since 2015, I think.

Abundant Housing Pasadena and some friends and partners are pleased to welcome you to a free neighborhood tour through the Playhouse Village next Saturday at 10 am starting at Playhouse Village Park.

We'll talk about how new investments in parks, safe streets, and housing are helping residents meet their needs without driving and host an open discussion of ideas for how to make our own neighborhoods more vibrant and complete.

RSVP above. The walk will cover about a mile and last an hour and a half. Family friendly.

If you're a morning person, please join us beforehand at Tepito Coffee starting at 9:15.

Send a letter HERE. Background below.

On July 1st, state law SB 79 takes effect, legalizing five- to seven-story apartment buildings near rail stations, including the six A-line stops in Pasadena. Pasadena City Council is trying to use their limited power to block the bill to make all historic sites ineligible, as well as single family zones around our busiest metro stops like Del Mar, Memorial Park, and Lake.

Historic sites deserve protection, but if there's a vacant lot or single family home that wants to be an apartment building walking distance to the train, why should we stop it? Gas is seven bucks a gallon!

You can send a letter asking City Council to drop SB 79 exemptions for non-historic sites. Or you can comment in person or virtually Monday night with the real housing sickos using the instructions HERE. It'll be a long night. This probably won't come up until 8:00. But if you're commenting virtually you can send me your info and I'll tell you when it's starting.

There’s a bus rapid transit project planned to be operational by 2028 that would connect North Hollywood and Pasadena through Burbank and Eagle Rock.

Unfortunately, some in Burbank are trying to cancel construction permits for dedicated bus lanes which would slow down the whole system.

I’m looking forward to this one. If you are too, you can use the link to send a letter to Burbank city council asking them to move forward with dedicated bus lanes.

Want to replace this

this no longer sparks joy

with this?

people biking on Colorado not included

Then either send a letter or join us in person or virtually at the Design Commission hearing tonight at 6:30 at City Hall. 2155 E Colorado would build 212 units of affordable housing, including 59 family-sized 3 bedrooms, at the site of a vacant lot and empty auto repair complex. More information and ways to lend your voice here.

Then tomorrow, May 13th, also at 6:30, also at City Hall. The Planning Commission is trying out a sneak attack on transit-oriented development law SB 79, exempting single family and low density neighborhood from the law and blocking the possibility of midrise housing just like 2155 E Colorado next to the A line. Follow these instructions to stop this.

Tonight, May 7th, at 5pm, the Housing Homelessness and Planning Committee will explore a plan to make big parts of the city ineligible for SB 79, a law passed last year to legalize more height and density around major transit stops. The city plans to defer all historic resources, including entire landmark districts, as well as single family zones around three A line stops so that they wouldn’t be eligible until 2031.

We support protecting historic properties, but this exemption goes too far, and there’s no reason single family neighborhoods steps from the A line shouldn’t have apartments that working families could live in and reach jobs and services without a car.

It seems the city is going to try to push this through at the City Council meeting on May 18th, under the cover of an already packed agenda.

If you want to build a single affordable apartment building, you need at least six months of community engagement, open houses, hearings, and appeals. But if you want to block housing all across the city, all you need is a week and a half of debate tucked away in meeting agendas.

Rent is up. Gas is up. We need housing near transit. Can you send a letter or give comment to fight this?

Instructions, discussion points, and a letter template here.

Today, Pasadena's first design standards for residential buildings kick in on multifamily projects over 48 homes per acre (anything around four stories or taller).

Now anyone who wants to build something will just be able to go down a checklist of forms, materials, and design features the city has agreed on. There are two broad styles to choose from: an ornamented box design (similar to the 1920s multistory commercial buildings in Old Pasadena) and Mediterranean style.

Hopefully, this will improve the design of new buildings and lead to less arguing when Design Review comes around. But it does feel like a lot of great buildings could fall through the cracks.

I wish there had been a Art Deco option inspired by the Scottish Rite Cathedral on Madison. What older buildings do you think new buildings should take inspiration from?

https://preview.redd.it/r9kq81obu5zg1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fed2d557485406fe3ee07a1c7e6e8aa21ea016e4