The 818 Now

A portion of the proceeds generated by the Station fire charm bracelet will go toward re-planting efforts. (Photo/Raul Roa)

A contigent of La Cañada Flintridge residents are spearheading a grassroots effort to generate money and volunteers to assist in the re-forestation of Angeles National Forest.

The Foothill Communities Re-forestation Committee is trying to mobilize residents from all the Station fire-impacted communities to participate in an already existing volunteer program run by the U.S. Forest Service. The program trains individuals to plant seedlings and prune unwanted weeds.

In addition, La Cañada merchant Sue Stranger designed a Station fire bracelet, which is currently for sale in her store, Adobe Designs. The charm bracelets are $48, and $10 of the proceeds will go toward purchasing Big Cone Douglas Fir seedlings that will be used in the replanting.

“It doesn’t matter who started the fire, it matters who is going to get it done,” committee member Sheri Morton said. “Many hands make light work. We are always complaining about the government wanting out money, well now we are going to give them our hands.”

A last-minute donation push Friday allowed the Crescenta Valley Sheriff Station staff and volunteers to assist more than 160 families in need over the weekend as the station’s annual holiday Toy and Food Drive came to a close.

Dep. Jorge Valdivia said they received 2,000 toys — enough so that every child could be given more than one. Each family was also provided with a $20 gift card plus up to four bags of groceries.

“Friday was a big push, it was a Christmas miracle,” Valdivia said. “We had a great success this year The station volunteers did a lot of work this week.”

Crescenta Valley High School (photo via Glendale Unified School District)

Nice work, Crescenta Valley.  

U.S. News and World Report placed Crescenta Valley High in the top 3% of schools in the country. The rankings rely on Advanced Placement scores and demographic information.  

Its ranking as 44th best in California puts it within the top 6% of schools in the state, which includes public, private, charter and competitive admission campuses.  

Even though California is close to being a failed state — especially when it comes to education funding — the state finished third (behind Massachusetts and Connecticut) in terms of the percent of schools that ranked highest in the magazine’s College Readiness Index.  

California and Massachusetts are considered to lead the nation in academic standards.

(Raul Roa/News-Press)

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch today due to a third and powerful storm, which is expected to dump up to three inches in the foothills tonight.

The watch, which starts at 3 p.m., indicates that a downpour will go on tonight until Sunday morning.

County officials are bracing themselves for the third storm and have been making their rounds of the foothills.

While county officials have not ordered foothill residents to evacuate, they did issue an advisory today, said Bob Spencer, Los Angeles County Public Works spokesman.

The advisory alerted residents to be prepared to evacuate if county officials determine that tonight’s storm is posing a serious risk to them, he said.

“It is purely an advisory,” Spencer said.

Heavy rains are expected to start at 4 p.m. and last until 4 a.m. Sunday, he said.

Foothill debris basins showed little signs of weakening Saturday afternoon.

“The system is working,” Spencer said. “So far so good.”

Rain didn’t stop a group of La Crescenta community members who gathered at Two Strike Park in La Crescenta for three hours on Saturday to fill up sandbags for homeowners.

They filled up about 200 sandbags, which remained at the park for residents who needed them, said Kim Mattersteig, who was recently elected to the Crescenta Valley Town Council.

Rain has been falling steadily on the foothills today. But tonight’s rain storm will present the biggest challenge for residents.

“It’s raining a lot,” Mattersteig said. “It’s been raining consistently and heavily for hours and hours.”

From the La Cañada Valley Sun

Aggravated assaults were up in the foothills during the month of November, with five reported in La Cañada and La Crescenta, more than the total number of victims in all of 2009, according to a Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station crime analyst.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had that many aggravated assaults,” said analyst Barbara Hazard, “but the stats count numbers of victims.”

Hazard said there were three incidents involving five victims in November, the most of any month in 2009. There were single counts of aggravated assault reported in February, March, August and September.

Hazard also noted the aggravated assault charges are, for the most part, not related to domestic abuse.

For more of this story, read here.

Local foreclosure rates slid in November to match a statewide trend of steady declines in recent months, but the lower frequency of trouble for homeowners may only be temporary, experts said.

The amount of foreclosure filings in Glendale, Burbank, La Crescenta and La Cañada Flintridge fell a combined 19% in November, compared with the month prior, according to a report prepared for the Glendale News-Press by real estate tracking firm RealtyTrac.

Those drops translated into declines in the rate of foreclosure filings in each community.  Read the rest of this entry »

Mountain Avenue students celebrate their performance. (Photo via Skip McNevin)

Mountain Avenue Elementary School jog-a-thon by the numbers: 

-150 students 

-$24,500 raised for the school 

-10,345 laps 

Not bad. 

Funds will go to improving the computer laboratory and library, providing grade-level grants and upgrading technology and playgrounds. 

Students who raised $100 or more were invited to a special reception where 125 prizes were raffled off. 

Up for grabs: a Lakers backpack complete with an autographed photo of Kobe Bryant.

As rains could bring mudflows to La Cañada and La Crescenta, an evacuation center is in the works if the L.A. Fire Department orders evacuations, said spokesman with the city of La Cañada.

“There is no center open right now,” said Peter Castro, public safety coordinator for the city of La Cañada, “[because] no evacuations have been ordered yet.”

If an evacuation occurs, officials will chose a center based on proximity to affected areas.

“There are a few places an evacuation center could be set up — in the city, out of the city — but that will be established after the evacuation is ordered,” Castro said.

Students measured water displacement and volume using graduated cylinders (image by WikiMedia Commons)

Teachers say the days leading up to Thanksgiving can be among the least productive of the school year.

Students are busy daydreaming of sleeping late and bingeing on mashed potatoes.

Not so at Dunsmore Elementary School on Monday and Tuesday.

Fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders spent hours on science and math experiments in a Math Science Investigation that was both informative and messy.

“The objective of the event is to have the students use the scientific method to explore the world of the metric system,” said teacher Cindi Gardner. “Algebraic formulas are very abstract for them, but they have hands-on experiments, like this, they can bridge into the concepts.”

Students created tools to measure volume, water displacement, mass and more. There were eight stations devoted to scientific experimentation — students had a trill and learned something too.

“Whatever number’s left on the graduated cylinder, we subtract that from the starting number… that’s how much water the cup will hold,” said Amy Lim a sixth-grader.

“I think.”

Residents reported multiple bear sightings overnight in La Crescenta neighborhoods, prompting Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies to put out an alert and search the area with a helicopter, authorities said.

Despite the reports, deputies on foot and in the air did not find a bear around residences near the Foothill (210) Freeway. The area is a surprising distance from the mountainside neighborhoods where most wandering large animals are typically sighted, said Sgt. Gloria Young, of the Sheriff’s Department.

Two residents called authorities at about 7 p.m. Tuesday reporting bear sightings near the 4400 block of Ocean View Boulevard and a third caller reporting seeing a bear at about 2 a.m. at the 2700 block of Prospect Avenue, Young said.

“I was surprised,” said Young, later adding, “I don’t know that we’ve every had a bear sighting this low in the city.”

Young said the bear, if there was one, could have wandered into La Crescenta from the burned areas of the Station Fire and likely found its way back to the Angeles National Forest before officials could find it.

In the most competitive race in recent years, two incumbents lost their seats on the Crescenta Valley Water District Board of Directors Tuesday.

Creative Commons

Challengers Kerry Erickson and James Bodnar and incumbent director Richard Atwater won the three available seats on the district’s five person board.

The 11,725 registered voters living in the unincorporated areas of La Crescenta and Montrose were eligible to vote for three candidates.

According to the Los Angeles County Registrar, the vote counts were:

• Kerry Erickson, challenger: 888 votes

• James Bodnar, challenger: 697 votes

• Richard Atwater, incumbent: 695 votes

• Charles  Beatty, incumbent: 508 votes

• Wendy Alane Smith, incumbent: 404 votes

• Vasken Yardemian, incumbent board president: 343 votes

The board makes policy decisions for the district, voting on everything from water conservation efforts to customer rates and capital improvement projects.

The five directors serve four-year terms, with three directors elected in one group and two directors in another.

Check back later for updates.

Katie Park, Sally Chun and Jenny Lee of the Crescenta Valley High girls’ golf team will take part in the Pacific League’s Individual Final at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Harding Golf Course in Griffith Park.

Read the rest of this entry »

Area residents got a first-hand look at the devastation at Deukmejian Wilderness Park in Glendale and learned what the city is doing to curtail mud flows in the coming rainy season.  For a photo gallery, click on the photo.

Area residents take a tour of Deukmejian Wilderness Park, the first time since the recent Station Fire, in Glendale on Saturday October 10, 2009. Residents learned what the city is doing to curtail mud flows in the coming rainy season. (Raul Roa/News-Press)

Neighbors got a leg up on the coming winter storms by filling about 1,000 sandbags in about 2 hours at Dunsmore Park in La Crescenta on Saturday, October 3, 2009.

Wendy Hart of La Crescenta helps her community get a leg up on the coming rains by filling up sandbags at Dunsmore Park in La Crescenta on Saturday, October 3, 2009. About 30 people helped fill about 1,000 sandbags in less than 2 hours. (Raul Roa/News-Press)

Read the rest of this entry »

32nd Annual Oktoberfest in Montrose on Honolulu Avenue, Sautrday, October 3, 2009.

Jana Wunderlich, from Dickson Podley Realtors, waits for beer orders during the 32nd Annual Oktoberfest on Honolulu Ave. in Montrose on Saturday, October 3, 2009. Raul Roa/News-Press)

Read the rest of this entry »