La Canada Real Estate

Places to Vote in La Canada (or anywhere!)

I frequently misplace my voting info that has the address of where I need to go vote. Mys husband uses his local business address and he always votes in a different location (and always knows where to go) so he is no help. A friend suggested I post polling places on the blog so I Googled it and found this handy site:

http://lavote.net/Locator/

Just type in your address and go!

710 Tunnel Update-Important Meeting

The MTA Board is meeting tomorrow, April 22 at 9:30. On the agenda is voting on launching an Environmental Impact Report (100's of millions of dollars from Measure R) to study the 710 tunnel. The President of the Board, Ara Najarian (Friend) is a vocal opponent of the tunnel but other Board members Gloria Molina and John Fasan (Foes) are all for extending the 710. If you have time and want your voice to be heard, please arrive at the meeting early and fill out an orange speaker card. If you can't make the meeting, please write the MTA Board to express your opinion.

April 22, 2010 - 9:30 am at the MTA Board Room, One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles, 90012

For more information and to receive email updates: jan@soohoos.org

Information on the Proposed Parcel Tax

I attended the workshop on Tuesday night hosted by the School Board. We reviewed a power point presentation by True North Research that basically presumed that while La Canadans would be on board for a $150 parcel tax for up to 4 years (a total of $600), the proposed $295 per year may not pass. One particularly disturbing factoid was that while San Marino already pays $295 per parcel and is looking at increasing the amount by $795 for 6 years, we don't really care what our neighbors are doing. There is this great skit on Saturday Night Live Weekend Update called "Oh Really?" that I thought of throughout this meeting. So to the fact that we don't care what our neighbors are doing..."oh really?" The fact that La Canada schools got edged out of the top 3 districts in the state doesn't bother us. Oh really? San Marino inventory remains historically low at only 32 active listings, while La Canada has 93 active listings. But that doesn't bother us. Oh really? San Marino sales prices have seen only a 10% drop, while La Canada is down an average of 20%. But lets not compare...oh really?

Instead of looking at the differences, lets look at the similarities. Both cities are beautiful with a  strong sense of community and a high quality of life. Both have excellent school districts, yet San Marino High is number 1 in the state. We need to realize that our greatest asset in La Canada is our school district. Whether you have school-age children (yes, I do) or not, the schools are what keep housing values up in the city. If we neglect the schools and trip over a dollar to save a dime, we will all pay with the equity in our homes. As an example: we purchased in 2006. A recent appraisal came in $500,000 lower, so would we pay $295 per year slow down the decline? I need about 1 second to think that over. In a nutshell, even if you don't utilize the schools here, you need them.

The most recent rumors are that the state is going to cut over $8 billion in educational spending from the budget. That could be catastrophic to La Canada schools and as a community, we need to come together and support the higher parcel tax. Oh really? Yes!