Politics & Government

NREC Cancels Special Meeting to Discuss Member's Accusations After City Attorney Intervenes

City Attorney Richard Adams II tells the commission that accusations made by John Silverthorn against Diana Mahmud in a local newspaper aren't city business.

The City of South Pasadena Natural Resources and Environmental Commission has cancelled a special meeting Tuesday to discuss the fallout from accusations raised by a member against another member of the NREC in letter to the South Pasadena Review.

The meeting scheduled at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the City Council Chambers was called to discuss a letter to the editor of the Review that NREC member John Silverthorn wrote Oct. 18, accusing Diana Mahmud, one of four candidates for two seats in the Nov. 5 South Pasadena City Council elections, of “publicly announcing the location for a community garden in a residential neighborhood without the knowledge of the affected residents” and “advocating with no supporting data, no public or private tree trimming in South Pasadena six month out of the year to protect the bird population.”

Pasadena City Attorney Richard Adams II reviewed the letter and determined that it “does not fall within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Commission,” city Water Conservation Analyst Debby Figoni wrote in an e-mail to South Pasadena Patch shortly after Patch posted a story about the special meeting.

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The agenda for the special meeting, which was to precede the NREC’s regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, was subsequently withdrawn, Figoni said.

Click here to read the Patch story about the special meeting.

Find out what's happening in South Pasadenawith free, real-time updates from Patch.


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