I dedicate this publication to my father, Louis Stephen Patrick, whom I love and respect forever, unconditionally —Happy Father’s Day.
On or about 7 pm, June 13th, 2011, six speakers came before the Pasadena City Council in the portion of the meeting that is customarily set aside to enable any members of the public to speak On Items Not On The Agenda. The audio and video archive of this meeting can be downloaded here: http://www.ci.pasadena.ca.us/CouncilAgendas/Video/
The first speaker is a representative of California Assemblyman Anthony Portantino. She advised the council that an Aids Awareness and Quick Check medical facility would be stationed at the Rose Bowl as an event to commemorate the anniversary of the discovery of the deadly Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
The second speaker is I myself, Dianne Patrizzi. My testimony is wisely redacted from this recording, as it may be used as part of discovery in pending and future environmental and public health litigation taken against the City of Pasadena and/or individuals named responsible for its decisions.
The third speaker is Thomas Holaday, a resident of Altadena, a world class photographer, documentarian, location manager, and MA in Film from Columbia University. His testimony is only partially redacted.
The fourth speaker is a man who doesn’t appreciate being forced to suffer the shock of a cold shower while walking down the street in Pasadena on a warm sunny day. His testimony is not redacted.
The fifth speaker is Philip Cobelle (spelling?). He was providing the council with some sort of legal notice. This was particularly disturbing to the lawyers on the council, as they did not seem to know what the speaker was referring to exactly. The speaker identified for the record all of the council members, staff, and persons that were seated at the dais for this meeting. My father would use the words “future depositions” here. His testimony is fully redacted.
The sixth speaker is Alexander Zajak (aka The Real Zajak), a long time blogger, student, and local intellect. His testimony is fully redacted.
Perhaps this is an innocent result of technical difficulties on the part of the City of Pasadena, but I surely hope it isn’t. Our greatest hope is that it means someone has awakened the city council. That their continued inaction from this point on, with regard to placing permanent protections on Hahamongna wetlands and watershed may constitute an unconscionable negligence, wherein elements of Environmental Law, Civil Liability, even possible criminal consequences may attach.
The next meeting is June 20, 2011. All evidence of harm can and should be brought before the city council. This includes any persons with health concerns over the incredible amounts of diesel fuel emissions expected to occur from the many trucks removing sediment from Devil’s Gate Dam, and from the pesticides that will be employed by any sediment dumped in Johnson Field (“LAKE” – a water purification and ground water reservoir) or at the location next to it that city council has planned for a soccer field. Many sports fields in the city currently have been equipped with plastic grass/turf to enable more usage by local athletic teams that pay a fee to the City of Pasadena for use.
Pesticides and plastic turf used to maintain sports fields in Hahamongna would leech into our water system in the Arroyo, polluting the ground water. If the City of Pasadena chooses to ignore this, as it seems to be pattern and practice for them to do since they were first notified of this danger (July 12, 2010), and they agree to allow sediment to be dumped on site, whether temporary or permanent, and find no other alternative than the use of diesel trucks on a grand scale to remove the sediment then they may be found responsible for the myriad of damage claims made against them, as a governeing body, and possibly as individuals.
Especially sensitive residents are encouraged to notify council. For instance, those suffering from CFIDS. To better explain the connection, here is an excerpt from a recent email received from a sister sufferer:
Thank you for the article which I have read and copied to take to my sinus surgeon.
http://news.health.com/2009/10/19/household-insecticides-may-be-linked-autoimmune-diseases/
About 20 years ago I accidentally breathed in the wet droplets of Black Flag — just an accident when I sprayed a spider outside my house. My nostrils burned all night and, stupid me, I didn’t go to the ER. I regret that decision every day. From that day forward, I have had sinus problems, including chronic sinisitis. I also developed an autoimmune disease — CFIDS — Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
This article purports that bug sprays can cause autoimmune diseases, mostly in women. I can attest to that. For years, ENT doctors poo-pooed me and thought I was fixated on this poisoning. I now have a good ENT surgeon who understands autoimmune diseases and what caustic substances can do to the sinuses.
Thanks again, Daddy.
LOVE always,
DeeDee
My father, his sister, and his brother George Patrick (circa 1978)
You see, my father loved Pasadena just as much as I do… only for different reasons.
A museum compared to the unfettered wilds of nature?
Joni Mitchell famously wrote:
They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum…
And they charge the people $23.50 just to see them.
Tonight, I wandered around the outdoor garden of the Norton Simon Museum. They don’t charge $23.50. I don’t know what they actually charge normally. Tonight’s admission was free, and the staff friendly, very smiley. It was the first time I had ever experienced the sculpture garden, the waters, the lily pads, the trees at night.
Photo by Thomas Holaday
In the light of day, everything is completely different there. The brightness washes over the garden with an undramatic equality. Nothing is highlighted. The feeling is similar to a walk in the Linda Vista neighborhood; where the delight is in the dappled trunks of sycamores, manicured lawns, strategically placed flowering vines, and bamboos… with the occasional awe of architectural detail, perfectly placed sculpture, and splashes of color from well tended roses. All very humanly thought out.
The sculpture garden at the museum was magically lit in low light, strategically placed, as if I were walking inside a living three dimensional canvas. Oddly, I saw things I had never noticed before in daylight. The way certain branches of trees reach out over the grass and water in a sort of protective position, a cuddling of these elements.
The residents of Linda Vista value human cultivation, so do the curators at the Norton Simon. Nothing is by accident. All is very well planned and executed to enhance the most extreme loveliness and character of nature’s creation with the sole purpose of highlighting the human creation therein. Its humanism isn’t wrong, but in the extreme, the philosophy has hurt our planet.
A family of raccoons has arrived on my front porch. They have come to eat the food put out for the feral cats. I am surprised to see a mother and her three tiny babies wolfing down the nutritious stew. Mother looked at me in shock when I told her that food was for the kitties. She simply grabbed the bowl in her nimble claws and carried it off to the overgrown and dying lawn. Do you suppose she is overly focused on her raccoonism to the exclusion of felines?
The wilds are unpredictable. They are cultivated not by a hand but by a force. A life force that is larger than any human aspiration, and with much more persistence, and steadiness. Nature has something we don’t have, ultimate power. It teaches us about balance and correction, which is what we try to emulate in our cultivations. That is what I find so enjoyable about the Norton Simon and Linda Vista; the biomimicry. A constant attempt to weave the organic human creative force with the strands of nature’s.
We are, after all, natural beings too. Then, why do we try so hard?
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Listening to Big Yellow Taxi
