Town Council Recap: State of the State, PUSD Redistricting, and More

State legislation, redistricting, a Woodbury Road median improvement project, and the transfer of a top Sheriff's Department officer out of the were among the issues discussed at Tuesday's meeting.

Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge, gave his annual report to the Town Council.  Among other things, he discussed his t and , the passage of his , and the veto of a .

Portantino also told the Council he believes the state budget is threatening education spending unnecessarily, his reason for voting against the budget.  He also voiced strong sentiments for state prison reform, noting California's high recidivism rate.

Also at the meeting:

• The county is planning to narrow medians on Woodbury Road and bring in substantial landscaping improvements.  The project will start in the late summer of 2012 and could mean single lane traffic at times between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.  The project is slated to take five months, and will also include a bike lane, one of the improvements listed under the county's
• Lt. Joe Dempsey of the Altadena Sheriff's Station is transferring to the county's Narcotics Bureau.  Dempsey had one of the top jobs in the station and was closely involved in department outreach and interacting with the media.
• The Town Council heard a report on PUSD redistricting - members of the committee involved in developing the proposal to move PUSD from electing members at-large to smaller sub-districts, answered Council questions and discussed the process, which .  At this point, the committee is looking to do "aggressive outreach" to inform more people of the process.  Richard Moon, one of the two members of the committee, also mentioned one of the reasons to consider going to sub-districts would mean that a board candidate would not have to do as much fundraising as she would be able to do outreach in just one district 1/7 the size of the area PUSD covers, rather than trying to appeal to voters in all of Pasadena, Altadena, and Sierra Madre.
• Phlunte Riddle, the Pasadena Police Department officer who ran , told the Council that 2,500 people showed up to the event.
• The County Parks and Recreation Department has an opening for a recreation services officer at Altadena parks.
• The Council voted to send a letter to the County Department of Public Works favoring a route in the that would lead to trucks hauling the dirt out the La Canada Flintridge side of the park.