Would You Improve Anything About South Pas in 2013?

Bob Reid January 4, 2013 at 01:03 pm

Get rid of the corner curb pop outs that now prevent right hand turns and only add to traffic congestion.

Holly Viel January 4, 2013 at 01:18 pm

Replace all the city trees that were ripped out by last years storm and never replaced.... after all... wasn't this one named one of the Tree City's??

marcia ellinger January 4, 2013 at 01:31 pm

better communication between City Hall and retailers,

Betty Jean January 4, 2013 at 03:48 pm

Reconfigure Pasadena Ave at Monterey Rd so traffic can pass easily and freely!!!!! Cars are now cutting through the neighborhoods and killing them. The city just resurfaced Pasadena ave. A four lane street that is barely used now because of Metro. GOOD JOB, CITY HALL!

Donna Evans (Editor) January 4, 2013 at 04:44 pm

Thanks for posting all these suggestions, folks. Have any of you approached the city about any of your ideas?

Jennifer Leckliter January 4, 2013 at 05:19 pm

Repave more roads! There are too many potholes to count!!

Dominique Heffley January 4, 2013 at 05:21 pm

Thought the same thing as soon as I read "Improve".

Betty Jean January 4, 2013 at 05:26 pm

Absolutely, Donna. The city, city council, and sppd all know. It's been YEARS!

spidra January 4, 2013 at 05:41 pm

Three things: (1) Develop a comprehensive city-wide plan to return South Pasadena to being more walkable/bikeable (I grew up here... it used to be safer to walk and bike here). (2) Amend the anti-community garden zoning code that was passed suddenly in 2009. (I think it was 2009... it was relatively recently) (3) Save the Rialto and attract good locally-owned indie small businesses to South Pasadena's old Fair Oaks Ave. "downtown".

Betty Jean January 4, 2013 at 06:45 pm

Excellent, Spidra!

spidra January 4, 2013 at 07:14 pm

The findings of this study show that #1 can help support #3. http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2012/10/24/report-bike-lanes-pedestrian-plazas-good-for-businesses/

Janet Cartwright January 5, 2013 at 12:10 pm

Yes! The bulbouts are awful. Too many of them for one thing. So many close calls at Fair Oaks and Mission in front of the music school. People naturally expect a right turn lane off of Mission to go south on Fair Oaks, hello!

Janet Cartwright January 5, 2013 at 12:12 pm

Our roads are in such terrible shape it's embarrassing. Also, better street lighting at night would help. I hate being blinded by high-beams.

Jones Foyer January 6, 2013 at 08:14 pm

Ditto! They should have just filled potholes with nickels if they needed to close out the budget.

Janet Cartwright January 6, 2013 at 09:59 pm

I grew up here too. Lot less people in general here in the '60s! The streets were nearly dead, lol!

spidra January 7, 2013 at 03:43 am

While I'm sure there were fewer people here in the '60s, Janet, the infrastructure here in South Pasadena is generally less friendly to pedestrians than it was when I was growing up. The sidewalk on El Centro between Fair Oaks and Mound was destroyed to build the Mission Oaks car parking lot. Several crosswalks were taken away on Fair Oaks near the Middle School. Many of the light signals on Fair Oaks and Fremont ignore pedestrians. I've pressed the button while the light is red only to have the "walk" sign NOT go green for me when the light goes green for car traffic going the same direction. This is not because of a left turn light. At night many ped walk lights don't last long enough for a healthy person to walk across in time, much less the disabled and elderly. None of these things were true when I was growing up here.

Elias Baldwin January 7, 2013 at 06:53 pm

Exactly, especially dangerous for those of us who ride bicycles frequently. If you don't ride, you might not have considered this, but when you are travelling East/West on any of the streets crossing Fair Oaks that have these curb bubbles, you are forced to swerve from your "bike lane" position on the right hand side of the road, right into the flow of traffic of cars going straight on your road or turning in the same direction you are travelling on your road. In traffic conditions I am often forced to chose between navigating about a 12 inch wide zone between the curb swell and moving traffic, and shooting up onto the sidewalk around pedestrians. It's really a ridiculous design, it's intent being to calm traffic... I sure haven't noticed, if anything it's more congested as people can no longer use the right lane to turn right on red. I've seen some close calls with bikers and this issue, experienced a close call once myself too. It really is just a matter of time before this design directly causes a bicyclist and a car to meet unfavorably for the bicyclist. I can only imagine the city's direct liability here based on this poorly thought out design.

Marvion January 8, 2013 at 04:31 am

Get rid of star bucks.. Off world’s worst tasting cup of nonmonetary unit.

Andreea B. January 9, 2013 at 05:27 pm

What is disturbing me most about the city of South Pasadena is the colossal number of Nail Spas, Massage Parlors and Dry Cleaners. Parts of Fair Oaks, Huntington Dr., and Mission St. are obliterated by signs and not so tasteful window displays of these institutions.
On the same note, I find unappealing for the image of the city the tendency of some stores to board their main street windows to increase shelf space on internal walls (e.g.: Fair Oaks Pharmacy). I personally think they diminish one of the most valuable marketing tools they have.

T.L. January 10, 2013 at 04:08 pm

Good god, I hate those things with the fire of a thousand burning suns. A pox on whoever approved them.

B. Chuck January 12, 2013 at 01:44 pm

Two thoughts: The city should get an artist to paint the water tower (like Boston's tower, which was painted by Corita Kent). Also, we should follow through with the plan to turn the power line path into a bike path.