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View Winners → Pasadena City Council Regulates Sidewalk Vendors
News Dec 13, 2018
After Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 946, legalizing and regulating sidewalk vending, Pasadena had to update its existing street vendor program to stay in compliance. – Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
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After Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 946, legalizing and regulating sidewalk vending, Pasadena had to update its existing street vendor program to stay in compliance. – Photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
Creates school-funding committee
By John Orona
The Pasadena City Council meeting focused on implementation Monday, creating an ad hoc committee to develop the parameters of Measure J and conducting a first reading of an ordinance regulating sidewalk vendors in Pasadena.
Measure J is an advisory measure approved by 72 percent of Pasadena voters that recommends that one-third of funds created by Measure I’s ¾ percent sales tax increase go towards public schools. Measure I was passed this November to generate revenue to reinvest in critical infrastructure and maintain essential services and is expected to bring in around $21 million annually, per city estimates.
The committee, made up of members of the council and Board of Education, will have 60 days to turn the public’s will to prioritize schools into a framework for action.
During the last meeting on Measure J implementation, there was discussion of using the funds as a guarantee that PUSD will have the 3 percent reserve requirement needed to keep the district from falling into the hands of the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE). However, with PUSD officials now confident they can meet LACOE requirements through additional staff reductions, the city now has “time to consider best [the] approach to a unique opportunity,” according to tis presentation.
“As we finalize the First Interim Report, we have been in contact with LACOE to ensure that we meet their requirements for fiscal stability so that we will no longer require a County fiscal expert,” PUSD governing board president Lawrence Torres wrote in an email to the city. “I would like to thank you for your partnership and support of Pasadena Unified students, and schools, and for placing Measure J on the ballot,” Torres wrote.
A staff report written by city manager Steve Mermell recommended the council consider the Measure I a “general revenue” and Measure J an extension of that. It also recommends the Measure J focus on PUSD and not funding public charter schools, reasoning that the city has a compelling interest” in its local district as it relates to property values and quoting a 2012 city Economic Development Task Force report as finding, in part, “The quality of local public schools is a major factor in attracting talent to Pasadena’s businesses.”
Although the city staff recommends a committee make-up of council and board of education members, the California Charter Schools Association has asked the council to include a representative for charter schools located within PUSD on the committee.
After Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 946 earlier this year, legalizing and regulating sidewalk vending, Pasadena had to update its existing street vendor program to stay in compliance before the bill goes into effect at the start of the new year.
The first read of the updated ordinance was introduced with language restricting stationary sidewalk vendors from selling at Brookside Golf Course due to an exclusive concession agreement and prohibiting all sidewalk vendors from operating within the Rose Parade route, adjacent streets and within 500 feet of the Post Parade showcase, according to the draft.
