Preliminary results show Chair Nic Arnzen reelected, a three-vote margin in Census Tract 4610 and 385 votes cast across eight tracts

Altadena voters returned five incumbents to the Altadena Town Council, including Chair Nic Arnzen, and filled three open seats in the council’s annual census tract election, according to preliminary results the council’s Election Committee released Saturday.

The results are preliminary and will be certified mid-November at the upcoming Town Council meeting.

Preliminary results show that Theresa Fuentes won in Census Tract 4601, Anthony “Antonio” Becerra in Census Tract 4610 and Alexandra Kershner in Census Tract 4613.

The five returning members are Arnzen in Census Tract 4602, Vice Chair Milissa Marona in Census Tract 4603.01, Treasurer Darlene Greene in Census Tract 4603.02, ViEyvette Stewart-Gordon in Census Tract 4611 and Justin Mahramas in Census Tract 4612.

The committee’s announcement said the results would be formally certified at the upcoming council’s Nov. 17 meeting, after the deadline for written challenges before the Executive Committee.

The closest contest was in Census Tract 4610, where Becerra finished three votes ahead of Justin Graham, 30 to 27. Becerra said in his candidate statement that he represented the tract on the council from 2018 to 2020.

Census Tract 4601 drew the largest field. Fuentes received 58 votes to 19 for Martha House and 10 for Arezoo Khodayari. In her candidate statement, Fuentes said she practiced law for public agencies for 30 years, most recently in the Pasadena City Attorney’s Office, before retiring in 2024.

Arnzen defeated Angelika Erhard in Census Tract 4602, 56 votes to three.

In Census Tract 4612, Mahramas received 30 votes to 17 for Kathleen J. Becket. Mahramas has served on the council since July 2025, he said in his candidate statement.

Four candidates ran unopposed: Marona, who received 45 votes; Greene, 47; Stewart-Gordon, 18; and Kershner, 25. Kershner ran last year for the other Census Tract 4613 seat and lost to Sylvia Vega, 86 votes to 58.

The eight races drew 385 votes in all, with 13 candidates on the ballot. Last year’s election drew 890 ballots, which the council described as more than double its usual turnout.

Voting took place in person on Tuesday, Nov. 3, and Saturday, Nov. 7, at three polling places. Residents cast one vote for a candidate in their own census tract, and absentee and write-in ballots were not accepted.

The Altadena Town Council is an elected, nonpartisan, all-volunteer advisory body that represents unincorporated Altadena in dealings with Los Angeles County. Its 16 members serve two per census tract on staggered two-year terms, so one seat in each of the eight tracts is on the ballot every year. Under the council’s bylaws, newly elected members are sworn in and seated at the December meeting.

“One of the things that makes Altadena special is the willingness of its residents to get involved and make a difference,” said Vega, who chairs the 2026 Election Committee. “Whether you ran for a seat, cast a ballot, or volunteered your time, thank you for helping shape our community’s future.”

Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s proposal would engage 10 artists in a community artwork project overseen by the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture

Los Angeles County supervisors will consider a $59,000 public art proposal for Altadena on Tuesday, Nov. 10, that would involve 10 artists in creating artwork for utility boxes in the community.

The proposal from Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger would direct the county Department of Arts and Culture to enter into a sole-source agreement with consultant Austin Scott, according to Item 22 on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ published agenda.

Under the proposed agreement, Scott would be responsible for community engagement, artist selection, contracting with the 10 participating artists and delivering the utility box artwork project.

The $59,000 agreement would be funded through the Fifth District’s civic art pooled funds.

The recommendation also would authorize the director of Arts and Culture to execute necessary contract amendments, including change orders, and take other actions needed to deliver the project.

The proposed arrangement places responsibility for several aspects of the project, from community engagement through contracting with artists, under one consultant.

The county agenda does not identify the 10 participating artists or specify which utility boxes would receive artwork.

It also does not provide the number of utility boxes to be included or a schedule for installation.

Those details remain unspecified in the published recommendation.

The $59,000 figure represents the amount of the proposed consulting agreement. The agenda does not provide an itemized breakdown of consultant compensation, individual artist payments, production expenses or installation costs.

The proposal calls for a sole-source agreement with Scott rather than describing a competitive selection process for the consulting contract.

The project would bring a county-funded public art initiative to Altadena, an unincorporated community within the Fifth Supervisorial District represented by Barger.

The proposal is among several matters affecting Altadena scheduled for consideration at the Nov. 10 meeting.

The same agenda includes an appointment to the Altadena Library District Board of Trustees and separate proposals concerning continued emergency contracting authority associated with recovery from the January 2025 wildfires, including the Eaton Fire.

Those matters are separate board actions and are not components of the utility box artwork agreement.

The art project appears among the board’s policy matters scheduled for consideration at Tuesday’s meeting.

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to meet at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in Board Hearing Room 381B at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, 500 W. Temple St., Los Angeles.

The meeting is open to the public. Registration for remote public comment is scheduled to open at 9 a.m. on the meeting day.

[Image courtesy San Gabriel Valley Mosquito & Vector Control District]

October figures show hundreds of pools remain under monitoring as public health crews continue mosquito control during wildfire recovery

The San Gabriel Valley Mosquito & Vector Control District is continuing to monitor 889 swimming pools affected by the Eaton Fire, according to its October 2026 newsletter, underscoring the ongoing public health challenges facing the Pasadena and Altadena area nearly two years after the disaster. 

The district initially identified 1,475 nonfunctioning swimming pools in the Eaton Fire burn area, where fire damage, disrupted utilities and abandoned maintenance created conditions for mosquito breeding. Although hundreds of those pools have since been restored, removed or determined safe, monitoring and treatment continue at the remaining sites. 

According to the district’s October report, 250 pools under supervision are empty and dry, while 47 receive larvicide treatments. The district also reported introducing approximately 17,000 mosquito fish into 590 affected pools to control mosquito larvae. 

The three reported categories account for 887 pools, two fewer than the district’s stated total of 889. The newsletter did not explain the difference.

The district’s response has involved monitoring standing water, applying products that prevent mosquito larvae from developing and introducing mosquito fish, known scientifically as Gambusia af inis, where conditions permit. 

Mosquito fish consume mosquito larvae before they develop into biting adults. Larvicide treatments are used in pools where biological controls are unsuitable or additional intervention is needed. 

The district has warned that a single unmaintained swimming pool can produce as many as 3 million mosquitoes in one month under favorable conditions. Stagnant water can support mosquitoes capable of transmitting diseases including West Nile virus and dengue. 

The response began after the January 2025 Eaton Fire, which severely damaged Altadena and surrounding communities. The district completed its initial treatment operation covering 1,475 nonfunctional pools by the end of June 2025, with assistance from regional and state agencies. 

Its continuing work has received $500,000 in state funding, according to the district’s Eaton recovery webpage. 

In a report published in May, Pasadena Now described the challenges of maintaining mosquito control in fire-damaged pools while restoration and rebuilding continued. The district explained that some pools initially contained water unsuitable for mosquito fish, requiring other forms of treatment.

The district advises property owners to keep swimming pools clean and functional or completely empty and dry. For pools that cannot yet be restored, residents can request inspections and information about temporary mosquito control measures. 

NEED TO KNOW: Property owners in the Eaton Fire recovery area can contact the district’s SGVpools program by texting “Eaton Enroll” to (626) 314-6006, emailing  swimmingpool@sgvmosquito.org or calling the same number. Residents can also report mosquito concerns through the district’s website at sgvmosquito.org.

Kären Bagnard lost nearly all of her original artwork when the Eaton Fire destroyed her Altadena home of 51 years in January 2025, years after she began losing her eyesight. Her newest work, layered paper collage made as her sight has nearly gone, now hangs in a solo show at the Pasadena Village office in Pasadena through the end of the year.

The exhibit, titled “And Another Door Opens,” is the 81-year-old artist’s answer to both losses. “Another door opening is a message. It’s my message to everybody. No matter what happens in your life, there’s still something good coming your way,” Bagnard said in an interview.

The show was hung Oct. 1 in a conference room that is frequently used, so visitors should call ahead. “It is open to the public, but they need to call ahead,” Bagnard said. Pasadena Village is at 236 W. Mountain St., #113, and can be reached at 626-765-6037. Bagnard said she expects the work to come down the first week after New Year’s.

Pasadena Village, a nonprofit through which older adults support each other as they age in place, held a reception for the show Oct. 9, according to the organization’s newsletter.

The new pieces are decoupage built from art papers from Japan, the Middle East and France, with recurring images of Kintsugi-inspired moons, fire, underwater scenes, sunrises and line-drawn faces, the newsletter reported. Bagnard wants viewers to experience the work up close, even to touch it, and her daughter Anna, a fabric artist, collaborated with her on several pieces.

The centerpiece is “Another Door Opens,” a 36-by-60-inch canvas. At the reception, Bagnard told the audience, “I used images of foliage, nature and animals to represent an openness. The sunburst is my creative energy. The Dragonfly represents hope, resilience and spirituality,” according to the newsletter. Another new canvas is titled “Medusa.”

Bagnard said she became legally blind years ago and is now losing her sight completely. Blindness runs in her family. “My sister was blind, my brother’s blind, and it was my turn,” she said.

She has not done fine-line drawing for quite a few years, she said, and went through a terrible depression trying to figure out who she was as an artist if she could no longer draw. She turned to handmade papers and decoupage, which she had long loved. “I lost a lifetime of artwork, but I started the découpage years ago,” she said.

Within the first month after settling into the home where she now lives, she began a 36-by-36-inch canvas about the fire. “What I remembered, what stood out most in my mind about the fire is the incredible moon that night, and of course the orange glow,” she said. When she left her house, there was no electricity and the moon was almost full. “It was beautiful with the moon shining on it, but it wasn’t there in the morning.”

That painting, “Wolf Moon Sitting Shiva,” shows the Wolf Moon and the flames, with a foreground of foliage. Her architect commissioned a second version, and another buyer commissioned a third. The first two hung at Pasadena Village in “Art From the Ashes,” a show by Village artists after the fire.

The fire also burned the house she grew up in, two other Altadena houses she had lived in and her mural at Altadena Community Church, she said. “A lifetime of homes burned in one night,” she said.

One Danish plate, from her mother’s and grandmother’s collection, came out of the ashes with no chips or cracks. It shows the Danish mermaid in the harbor. The heat turned its finish rough. Mermaids have been the subject of her art most of her life. “I chose to take that as a sign that all will be well,” she said.

Bagnard said she counts herself among the lucky. “I am really and truly one of the fortunate ones because I had good insurance and I have the ability to build back,” she said. She and her children are rebuilding on Wapello Street with an architect, as an adobe mid-century modern house. They recently found craftsman doors at Pasadena Architectural Salvage, including a front door about 41 inches wide that came from a house in the Midwest.

On her block, nine neighbors are completing their homes and five, including Bagnard, will be starting, she said. After the fire, neighbors met on Zoom weekly, then every two weeks, then monthly for the first year. “One of the doors that opened for me after the fire is getting to know my neighbors, encouraging each other, sharing resources, giving each other hot tips on things we’ve learned,” she said.

After the fire, fellow Villager Beverly Braun offered her a place to stay and told her she could remain as long as she wished, according to the newsletter. Bagnard, a longtime Village member, coordinates art shows at the Village throughout the year.

The daughter of two artists and largely self-taught, Bagnard ran More Than Mermaids, her graphic design company, and created frameable art greeting cards that sold nationally for more than 34 years. She taught art for the City of Pasadena for about seven years, including an adaptive art class, and children came to know her as “the blind art teacher.” She first saw a show at the Pasadena Playhouse at age 7 and has designed covers for the Friends of the Pasadena Playhouse’s F.R.E.D. Awards for a number of years.

“Life isn’t easier as you get older, but it is richer if you allow it to be,” Bagnard said.

The Thursday evening information session at the Eaton Fire Collaborative focuses on the study of Altadena’s fire-damaged mutual water systems

Las Flores Water Company will hold an information session for its shareholders on a state-funded study of consolidation options for Altadena’s three fire-damaged mutual water companies on Thursday, November 12, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Eaton Fire Collaborative, 540 W. Woodbury Road, in Altadena.

Representatives Stantec Consulting Services, which the California State Water Resources Control Board contracted to conduct the Altadena Water Systems Consolidation Study, will give an overview of the study’s scope, explain what consolidation is and how the study will assess it, and invite shareholders to share their hopes, concerns and questions about potential consolidation, according to Las Flores.

The company says the session is being held for informational purposes and the meeting will not be a formal shareholder meeting.

The report results from a request by the boards of the Las Flores and Lincoln Avenue Water Company for technical assistance from the State Water Board, which agreed to oversee and fund the study through its Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience program at no cost to shareholders and customers, according to the study’s first fact sheet.

Rubio Cañon Land & Water Association did not take part in that request but has agreed to participate in the study and to consider its findings.

The study will evaluate three options: Las Flores and Lincoln Avenue consolidating into a single water company with one board, one staff, one physical system for delivering water and one set of finances, with Rubio Cañon remaining separate and independent; or, all three companies consolidating in the same way; or no consolidation, with the three systems remaining independent.

Each option will be judged on factors including system reliability, drinking water quality, long-term management and operations, regulatory requirements, cost and affordability, and the ability to implement it successfully.

The study will not approve consolidation plans, change water rates or the ownership of any water system, or result in immediate changes to water service or current rebuilding efforts, the fact sheet says. Final evaluations are anticipated to be presented to all three companies’ boards in January 2028. Any next steps would be up to the participating water systems and would require additional discussion, public process, regulatory approvals, agreements between the systems and funding.

Three mutual systems serve residents and businesses in Altadena: Rubio Cañon Land & Water Association, Las Flores Water Company and Lincoln Avenue Water Company. An April 14 motion by Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said those systems experienced damage, do-not-drink orders and reliance on emergency power after the January 2025 windstorms and the Eaton Fire. Las Flores lifted the last remaining do-not-drink advisory among fire-impacted water systems on May 9, 2025, according to the State Water Board.

Las Flores, the smallest of the three, lost reservoirs and approximately three-quarters of the homes in its service area. With operating revenue reduced to roughly one-quarter of pre-fire levels, its board adopted a multiyear fire recovery assessment to prevent insolvency, Barger’s motion said. The $3,000 assessment, effective April 1, is billed at $50 a month for 60 months, beginning when a shareholder’s water service is active, according to the company’s March notice to shareholders. The company remains in a critical water conservation status, in place since January 28, 2025.

Lincoln Avenue Water Company lost more than half of the properties in its service area and, according to the motion, implemented a combined rate increase to address the ongoing fixed costs of water service despite a significantly reduced customer base. Rubio Cañon Land & Water Association proposed an approximately 11 percent rate increase along with a new fixed monthly fire recovery charge. Its new rates took effect May 1, and its rate schedule lists a temporary $10 monthly Eaton Fire recovery fee.

The session takes place at The Collaboratory, the Eaton Fire Collaborative’s location on West Woodbury Road.

NEED TO KNOW: Shareholder Info Session on the Consolidation Study, Thursday, November 12, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Eaton Fire Collaborative, 540 W. Woodbury Road, Altadena. Open to all Las Flores Water Company shareholders. For more information, visit https://lasfloreswaterco.com/ or email info@lasfloreswaterco.com.

[photo credit; Pasadena Education Network]

The Friday tournament at the Pasadena Senior Center draws about 200 players each year.

Pasadena Education Network holds its 16th Annual Poker Tournament on Friday, November 13, at the Pasadena Senior Center, 85 E. Holly St., in Pasadena. The tournament is scheduled from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., with check-in at 5:45 p.m. and play beginning at 6:30 p.m. About 200 people play each year.

The $75 entry fee includes poker chips, and beer, wine, soft drinks and snacks are included, with food available for purchase. Prizes go to the top finishers, and the evening also features door prizes and raffles, with blackjack tables offering more chances to win. Players may re-buy during the first hour, with credit cards, Apple Pay and cash accepted. Beginners can still play and win prizes, and supporters who cannot attend can buy tickets that PEN will donate to their favorite school.

Table coordinators represent schools including Don Benito, Field, Jackson, Longfellow, Marshall, Muir and Norma Coombs. Sponsorship levels start at $300 and include tickets, dinner, signage and recognition at the event.

PEN’s founders evaluated Pasadena Unified School District schools for themselves after meeting with parents, administrators and school board members and touring several campuses. In early 2004, the founding parents named their group Pasadena Education Network. Its early steering committee included Kristin Maschka and David Hitchcock and Maggie and Chris Brandow. The nonprofit promotes family involvement in public education in the district so all children benefit, and it describes itself as a network of more than 1,300 parents who support and send their children to Pasadena Unified schools. Today PEN is run by its board of directors, Executive Director Jennifer Allan Goldman, Program Director Susan Schwartz and volunteers.

Tickets and tables are available through Pasadena Education Network. For more information, call (866) 216-7334.

PEN’s 16th Annual Poker Tournament will run on Friday, November 13 at 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Pasadena Senior Center, 85 E. Holly St., Pasadena. For more information, call (866) 216-7334 or visit https://www.penfamilies.org/poker-tournament. Tickets: $75.

[photo credit: Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy]

The canyon property near Chaney Trail, pursued for more than two decades, will open for free guided tours Nov. 21.

The Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy announced last week that it purchased a 20.48 acre canyon property near Chaney Trail in Altadena, ending a more than two-decade quest, and established the Alzada Preserve, where small guided tours are scheduled to begin Nov. 21.

The acquisition follows a $1,203,600 grant awarded in February 2025 by the Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District to acquire the parcel for open-space conservation. The award came through the voter-approved Measure A program.

The property lies in a corridor that neighbors organized to protect in 1998 and that burned in the January 2025 Eaton Fire. Reached from Alzada Road, the land was described in its real estate listing as “right at the heart of Millard Canyon.” The surrounding Chaney Trail corridor is bounded on the north and east by the Angeles National Forest, according to the conservancy.

County grant and state funding

The County described the grant’s purpose as “the acquisition of a single parcel, approximately 22.68 acres, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the unincorporated area of Altadena, for open space conservation.”

The award was among 13 acquisition grants totaling $17 million announced in February 2025. The parcel is in the County’s 5th Supervisorial District, represented by Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

Barger said in the grant announcement that “investments by the Regional Park and Open Space District directly serve residents in every part of the County.”

Under Measure A rules, the conservancy must maintain the property in perpetuity, use it only for purposes consistent with the measure’s resolution, record a deed restriction and file a California Environmental Quality Act determination. Records reviewed by Pasadena Now did not establish whether the deed restriction and environmental filing had yet been recorded for Alzada.

Separately, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a budget bill in September that includes $3,575,000 for the conservancy through the state Wildlife Conservation Board. The conservancy said the money would go toward four properties it was pursuing in Altadena, Glendale and Shadow Hills.

The group credited Assembly members John Harabedian of Pasadena, Mike Fong of Alhambra and Nick Schultz of Burbank with securing the funding.

John Howell, the conservancy’s chief executive and general counsel, said in the September funding announcement that “the properties we identify as absolutely critical to wildlife are small — often less than an acre,” and that “securing those dollars for small urban parcels remains a consistent challenge.”

A property marketed since 2024

The Alzada land was first listed for sale in July 2024 at an asking price of $1.3 million. That listing expired at the end of the year, and Engel & Völkers Pasadena relisted the property in early 2025 at the same price.

The 2025 listing said the property had been “owned by the same family for over 40 years.” The seller was not identified in the public records reviewed by Pasadena Now.

The listing also said the parcel’s zoning would change from R1, single-family residential, to A1, light agricultural, by April 11, 2025, and that its land-use designation had been updated to Rural Land 5.

The County’s West San Gabriel Valley Area Plan, which covers Altadena, was adopted by the Board of Supervisors on March 11, 2025.

Conservation effort began with neighbors

The conservancy’s connection to the corridor predates the organization itself.

“In 1998, aerial survey markers appeared on Alzada Road and Chaney Trail in Altadena,” co-founder Nancy L.C. Steele wrote in an essay. “The neighbors were concerned. And when we found that the owners of these 15 acres of wild land had put the property on the market, we were alarmed.”

That campaign led the Trust for Public Land to buy the 15 acres on Dec. 31, 2001. The land was later added to the Angeles National Forest. The campaign also prompted the founding of what was then called the Altadena Foothills Conservancy.

The conservancy bought an adjacent 1.5-acre parcel on Chaney Trail in 2002 and changed its name in 2008.

The broader Chaney Trail corridor contains more than 185 acres of open space, according to the conservancy, which says it had preserved 16.5 acres there before the Alzada purchase.

The conservancy says the front range “has been designated a Significant Ecological Habitat by Los Angeles County.” The County’s area plan identifies parts of northern Altadena bordering the national forest as falling within the Altadena Foothills and Arroyos Significant Ecological Area.

Fire damage and wildlife’s return

The Eaton Fire destroyed the trail cameras used by the Chaney Trail Corridor Project, according to Kristen Ochoa, a psychiatry professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who founded the project.

“Each one burned in the fire,” Ochoa told LAist.

She said the riparian area of Millard Canyon “did burn, but in patches.” Cameras recorded a mountain lion returning to the corridor on March 26, 2025.

Tours and stewardship

Free tours of Alzada Preserve are scheduled from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on three Saturdays: Nov. 21, Dec. 12 and Jan. 23. Each tour is limited to a small group.

The conservancy describes the outing as “a slow-paced off-trail walk” through “oak woodland, coastal sage scrub, and meadowland” along a seasonal stream bed.

The tours offer “a special opportunity for a sneak-peek at the Preserve, before we begin restoration efforts or public programming,” the conservancy says.

The Nov. 21 tour’s RSVP list showed 10 participants as of Sunday. The group is also recruiting volunteers for a stewardship group.

Alzada Preserve, near 4005 Alzada Road, Altadena. For more call (626) 796-0782. Tickets: Free.

Public Defender Ricardo D. García and District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman

Public Defender Ricardo García praises the governor’s decision, while District Attorney Nathan Hochman says California’s death penalty law remains in force.

Los Angeles County’s top public defender and district attorney offered sharply different responses last week to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to commute California’s 548 death sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, a move affecting the statewide justice system that includes Pasadena.

Public Defender Ricardo D. García praised the November 5 announcement as a step toward a more equitable justice system. District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman acknowledged the governor’s constitutional authority but emphasized that the decision does not repeal California’s death penalty or prevent prosecutors from seeking it in future cases.

The governor’s action covers the state’s existing death sentences, although some commutations require approval from the California Supreme Court before taking effect. Under California law, the court must approve commutations involving people convicted of more than one felony.

In a statement released by his office Thursday, García characterized the decision as a response to systemic problems in capital punishment.

“I commend Governor Newsom for this historic decision,” García said. “Public Defenders called for universal clemency because we see firsthand how unjust our criminal legal system is, and nowhere is that injustice more final than on death row.”

García argued that capital punishment disproportionately affects poor defendants and people of color. He also asserted that Los Angeles County has sentenced more people to death than any other California county, imposing substantial costs without improving public safety.

“Clemency is not leniency,” García said.

Hochman, in a separate statement issued the same day, focused on the continuing legal authority of prosecutors and the Legislature.

“The Governor has chosen to commute existing death sentences to life without the possibility of parole, as is within his constitutional power,” Hochman said. “But that power does not extend to eliminating the death penalty.”

Hochman noted that California voters rejected ballot measures seeking to abolish capital punishment in 2012 and 2016.

He said his office would continue reviewing death penalty-eligible cases individually, applying the existing law unless voters or legislators change it.

“My thoughts today are with the families of victims, who deserve a justice system that honors the law as it is written and pursues it with fairness and due process,” Hochman said.

California has not carried out an execution since 2006. Newsom imposed a formal moratorium in March 2019, preventing executions while leaving existing death sentences in place.

The latest action goes beyond that moratorium by reducing death sentences to life without parole, subject to the required judicial approvals. It does not overturn the underlying convictions.

For Pasadena and other Los Angeles County communities, the differing responses underscore an ongoing division among county justice officials over capital punishment, even as the governor moves to change the sentences of those already condemned.

Agency’s fiscal year 2025-26 report details countywide housing investments and disaster assistance, with documented relief for Altadena businesses

The Los Angeles County Development Authority released its fiscal year 2025-26 annual highlights Thursday, reporting progress in affordable housing, rental assistance, public housing improvements and wildfire-related business recovery. The agency’s work includes financial assistance for small businesses affected by the Eaton Fire in Altadena.

In its Nov. 5 announcement, the agency reported 1,643 new Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher leases, 2,501 veterans housed through the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program and $22.3 million in public housing upgrades across Los Angeles County.

The report also identified 16 new affordable housing developments that received certificates of occupancy during the fiscal year, along with 346 housing units remediated for lead hazards.

For Altadena, the agency’s wildfire recovery efforts provide a documented local connection to the countywide report.

In a separate announcement issued in November 2025, the Development Authority reported that its Altadena Disaster Relief Small Business Loan Program had approved 16 loans, with 14 accepted, providing more than $1 million in financial assistance.

The program, launched May 6, 2025, offered working capital loans of up to $75,000 to qualifying businesses affected by the January 2025 Eaton Fire. It targeted businesses in designated unincorporated areas associated with ZIP codes 91001 and 91104.

The agency’s newly announced annual highlights state that emergency response funding for wildfire-impacted small businesses was fully disbursed during fiscal year 2025-26. However, the announcement does not identify how much of that funding went specifically to Pasadena or Altadena or provide updated local recipient totals.

Beyond disaster recovery, the Development Authority reported monitoring 348 projects funded through Community Development Block Grants and providing home improvement grants to 128 households.

It also reported that 54 first-time homebuyers closed escrow and 21 families graduated from self-sufficiency programs.

The agency recorded 92,935 customer service interactions and received 3,733 online inquiries during the reporting period.

According to the agency, its continuing operations serve more than 10,000 property owners and 28,000 subsidized households, while maintaining more than 3,000 public housing units.

The Development Authority administers housing and community development programs throughout Los Angeles County, including unincorporated communities and participating cities. Its commissioners are members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

Executive Director Emilio Salas said the annual highlights reflect the agency’s collaboration with public agencies and nonprofit partners to support housing stability and community resilience.

While the annual report provides countywide performance measures, it does not offer a separate accounting of how many Pasadena or Altadena households received housing vouchers, home improvement assistance or other services included in the figures.

[photo credit: Altadena Library District]

The district will mark 100 years of independent library service with a storytime, public ceremony, birthday cake and activities at the Bob Lucas branch

The Altadena Library District will celebrate its 100th anniversary as an independent special district Saturday, Nov. 7, with a community gathering featuring stories about the library’s history, a ceremonial birthday cake cutting and activities for families at the Bob Lucas Memorial Library and Literacy Center.

The celebration, scheduled from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2659 Lincoln Ave. in Altadena, will commemorate a century of locally governed library service. Library officials are inviting community members to participate in an event that combines the district’s institutional history with the experiences of residents who have used its facilities over the years.

According to a Nov. 5 announcement from Brin Wall, the district’s marketing specialist, the program will begin at 11 a.m. with a family storytime featuring author and educator Blair Imani in the branch’s children’s area.

A ceremony will follow at noon, bringing together local elected officials, historical organizations and community members to share stories and memories about the library and its place in Altadena.

The ceremony will conclude with the cutting of a birthday cake, according to the district’s announcement.

Visitors will also be able to explore a historical display and participate in a craft activity. Attendees who complete a short survey will receive a commemorative promotional item marking the centennial, while supplies last, the district said.

The anniversary marks the establishment of the independent library district in December 1926. Library service in Altadena began earlier, in 1908, with a collection of donated children’s books housed in a schoolhouse on Calaveras Street.

Saturday’s gathering will take place at a branch that reopened in August 2025 following a 16-month renovation. That project added approximately 1,000 square feet to the building, including expanded children’s and literacy facilities, tutoring rooms and an outdoor reading garden.

The Bob Lucas branch is also serving an expanded role while the district’s Main Library at 600 E. Mariposa St. remains temporarily closed for renovations.

The district’s centennial program brings together its historical anniversary and its continuing library services in a community that has experienced substantial disruption since the January 2025 Eaton Fire.

The event is open to all ages.

NEED TO KNOW: The Altadena Library 100th Anniversary Celebration is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Bob Lucas Memorial Library and Literacy Center, 2659 Lincoln Ave., Altadena. Family storytime begins at 11 a.m., followed by a public ceremony at noon. For information, call (626) 798-8338 or visit altadenalibrary.org.