Iraheta, Alba
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Nina Chomsky < >
Friday, March 11, 2022 3:33 PM
PublicComment -AutoResponse
Subject: City Council Meeting 3/14/2022 ; Agenda Item 14 -- Water Rates Increase CAUTION: This email was delivered from the Internet. Do not click links or open attachments unless you know the content is safe. Report phish using the Phish Alert Button . Learn more ....
Linda Vista-Annandale Association
Pasadena, CA
Re: City Council Meeting 3/14/2022; Agenda Item 14 -- Water Rates Increase Mayor Gordo and Councilmembers,
The Linda Vista-Annandale Association (LVM) defers to all of you whether or not to raise significantly Pasadena 's Water Rates as proposed by PWP.
However, we note, and ask you to consider, that once again Pasadena 's public Urban Forest, essential to the character of our City and to our quality of life, is being ignored in the Water Rate increase context just like it is in the development intensity context.
How? New "baby" public Street Trees in Pasadena are watered regularly by the City for only three years after planting .
Then , the City "transfers " the obligation to water the City's Street Trees to adjacent residential and commercial property owners . Are property owners aware of this obligation? Typically , no, and, after three years, Pasadena 's Street Trees usually are on their own. And, what about corner property owners who bear responsibility for Street Trees on two public streets? As water becomes scarce , and rates significantly rise becoming ever more expens ive, how can the City justify encouraging property owners (and tenants) to ignore their responsibility to wate r adjacent mature Street Trees? When will this matter receive attention?
Perhaps , this transfer of responsibility was not that important before the current long-term drought and the current impacts of climate change when the "rainy season" actually provided significant rain and enabled our Street Trees to survive hot periods. This situation is not true anymore , and Pasadena's mature Street Trees are in notable decline . Lack of watering leads to poor Street Tree growth and development and leads to significant Tree health issues.
What is the answer? Taking into account property owners using their private water at their private cost to water Pasadena's public Street Trees within the Water Rate structure does not seem to be feasible but should be considered .
L V M and others in the community think that the real answer is for the City to design and implement a City-wide program to permanently water Pasadena's publicly owned Street Trees , including acquiring necessary equipment and assigning necessary Public Works or other staff to this very important public responsibility . We further suggest that this matter be given attention in the upcoming City Budget process .
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Thank you for considering our concerns and comments .
Sincerely ,
Nina Chomsky, LVAA President
cc: LVAA Board of Directors
2 Iraheta, Alba
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Joei Graham < >
Friday, March 11, 2022 3:32 PM
PublicComment-AutoResp onse
Dyson, Darla
Subject: Implementation of Water Rate Adjustments , City of Pasadena, CA CAUTION: This email was delivered from the Internet. Do not click links or open attachments unless you know the content is safe. Report phish using the Phish Alert Button . Learn more ....
Dear City of Pasadena and PWP-
I am against the increase of the water rates that you are cinsidering doing in April 2022 and January 2023.
Please do NOT incr ease our water rates.
How can you justify building thousands and thousands and thousands of new condominium and apartment units in this city (ruining it) when we don't have enough water in the first place?!? Many Pasadenans want an answer to this question! And then you go and try to increase the rates too?! This is WRONG and a very outrageou s decision! It is obvious that Pasadena is being greedy and they want more and more money to come into the City to put in their own pockets (ie, salaries & retirement).
You don't even explain or clarify WHY you are increasing these rates. You don't provide any paperwork showing how much has been spent to run that department and how much money you are taking in. How do we know WHY you need to do this? No information is provided to show if, if, if there's a problem. And don't make us look it up, you should provide it as backup for what you are trying to do.
Having gone thru the pandemic, small busine sses going bankrupt, many people dying due to covid, lockdowns, masks, horrible decisions made to keep us all in control etc. and this is what you want to do to us ... charge us more!?! In light of ALL the new people Pasadena is trying to cram into our city, you will be making more and more money, you're incom e WILL increase. Doe s this mean you'll decrease the rates since you' ll surely get that increas e in revenue? I doubt it.
Furthermore, even during the years we've had plenty of rainfall since the drought, you send us these monthly "report cards" to tell us how we are doing with water use . You even go so far as to compare us to our neighbors, supposedly comprable, yet how do we know that those people have the same size yard as ours?? True manipulation & a good way to get people to snitch on neighbors that use more water than themselves (I refuse to snitch creating bad juju with people we live by). There are only three houses in this block that have a yard as deep as ours, and yet, you probably compare our water use to some body that has 40 ft less which is not a fair comparison at all! I doubt that you are doing this "rude" comparison accurately. I just throw away your "report card" without even looking at it. I've asked you to stop sending it and yet you don't care to even listen ...
I am against you increa sing water rates now or next year, please do not do it! Joyce I. Graham
District 2
P.S. Darla Dyson, please make sure my council person gets this too. I do not have her email address. Thank you.
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P.P.S. PWP ... how do we even know what meter size we have!? Is it available somewhere ? The information on the blue paper you sent out is not useful unless we know. 2