Foothill Boulevard

A rash of vehicle break-ins late February on Foothill Boulevard prompted the La Cañada Flintridge Chamber of Commerce to send out an e-mail Tuesday asking local businesses and residents to be increasingly vigilant. . Capt. Dave Silversparre of the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station noted the recent rise in burglaries at the City Council meeting Monday night, requesting the chamber use its contacts to get the word out. “We’ve had a series of burglaries in the past, but this series has occurred at gyms and businesses on Foothill Boulevard,” said Capt.

If you?re tired of creeping slowly through the one-lane of traffic along Foothill Boulevard these days, the good news is ? construction is almost completed and most work should be finished by the end of May, city staff said during an update at Monday night?s City Council meeting. That?s really good news for John Yeghiaian, owner of Berge?s Sandwiches, which has lost between 30% and 40% of its business in the past few weeks while construction work continued on the boulevard, Yeghiasian said.

AREA 1 4400 block of Cloud Avenue: A vehicle trailer was stolen from a Glendale Unified School District parking lot on Feb. 18. 3000 block of Foothill Boulevard: A male suspect was arrested for being drunk in public on Feb. 9. That section of Foothill Boulevard is by Briggs Street, close to the Crescenta Valley Sheriff?s Station. 2200 block of Foothill Boulevard: The passenger side front window of a vehicle was smashed in at the Yuki Yama parking lot on Feb. 19. 3100 block of Foothill Boulevard: The passenger side rear window of a vehicle parked in the Star Sport Gym parking lot was smashed in on Feb. 19. AREA 2 1900 block of Foothill Boulevard: A wallet and purse were stolen from a vehicle parked in the YMCA parking lot Feb. 19. The vehicle?

A local school was vandalized over the Presidents? Day holiday. Palm Crest Elementary in the 5000 block of Palm Drive had three windows cracked, but nothing appeared to be stolen. According to Crescenta Valley Sheriff?s Station report, it appears that the windows were broken with rocks. This follows on the heels of last week?s vandalism of several businesses along Foothill Boulevard. Four burglaries occurred overnight on Feb. 10-11 along Foothill Boulevard; three in La Crescenta and one in La Cañada.

The eastbound lanes of Foothill Boulevard were closed down from Gould Avenue to Oakwood Avenue Tuesday afternoon due to damage to a gas meter. The incident occurred shortly after noon on a sidewalk along Gould Avenue south of Foothill Boulevard. According to Mike Ciani of Southern California Gas Company, a truck apparently ran over the meter, causing damage to the [gas] service line. The fire department advised the Crescenta Valley Sheriff?s Station to close the area until the gas line was shut down.

The Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station is on the lookout for a female burglary suspect who targeted a TJ Maxx store in the 600 block of Foothill Boulevard this afternoon. “The suspect came in and took some baby clothes,” said Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station Sergeant. Scott Gibson. “The employees chased her through the parking lot where the suspect fled the scene on Commonwealth. We don’t know which way she went on Foothill Boulevard." TJ Maxx employees described the suspect’s getaway car as a blue, four-door SUV. They also managed to get a partial license plate, to which Gibson said the sheriff’s station was processing.

I am amazed and appalled that the Presbyterian Church is contemplating the removal of the protected sycamores (five total-two large and three small) on the northwest corner of their property, directly across Foothill Boulevard from the La Cañada Plaza. Aesthetics is such an integral part of the city and its image. We are known as a "Tree City" and our logo is brandished throughout. It's hard to believe our planning commission would entertain the thought of removal to satisfy church leaders.

Area 1 2600 block Pontiac Street: A woman left her house on Aug. 27 at 10:30 a.m. When she returned several hours later she found that a laundry-room window had been forced open and an engagement ring was missing. The total loss and damage was estimated at $2,305. 2500 block of Teasley Street: A woman left her house on Aug. 28 at 2 p.m. She returned three hours later to find the home had been burglarized. The intruder apparently entered through an unlocked window at the rear of the residence.

It began as an average evening. We came home from work and noticed the shredded cardboard. What had happened? Suddenly, we realized, Miss Audrey Hepburn had ingested half of a chocolate cake. Not just any cake. This was a dark chocolate birthday cake with fudge icing, secured, so we thought, in the cupboard. Not just any dog. Miss Audrey Hepburn has a history. She came to live with us in March 2004. Our son Andrew was home on medical leave from the Marine Corps. He felt that a dog was an important addition to the family.

Wow! What a dramatic change we had over the weekend. At the beginning of last week, when the thermometer was in the high triple-digits, we were gasping for a breath of fresh cool air. Then, by Sunday we were shivering when there was an over 30-degree drop in temperature. There was a crispness to the air and it made me feel like autumn was certainly on its way — hooray. This year's Music-in-the-Park series was a wonderful one. The Valley Sun co-sponsors the concert series with the city, and has for several years.

It began with a case of what is known as "drop foot. " In early 2009, La Cañada Flintridge resident Bonnie Hine found herself unable to flex her toes, and then her ankle, in the routine motions used during walking. Her balance suffered, and she found herself falling while performing common household tasks. The problems persisted, and Hine, 68, knew that whatever was going on, it was more than the result of natural aging. She repeatedly searched the Internet for clues to her symptoms and eventually made an appointment with a neurologist.

Ten Years Ago A 22-year-old La Crescenta motorist was killed on the 210 Freeway near the Rose Bowl when his car was hit head on by a wrong-way driver. The local man, who worked at a Pasadena restaurant, was traveling in the westbound lanes of the freeway at about 2 a.m. Aug. 29, 2000, when the collision took place. The wrong-way driver survived the crash.   Twenty Years Ago La Cañadan Frances Linke, who under her professional name of Nina Bara played "Tonga" in TV's "Space Patrol," died of cancer at the age of 70. The show debuted in the 1950s and returned in the 1960s.

On July 15, the Los Angeles Times published the first reports of the inflated salaries of the city of Bell employees. On Aug. 4, Valley Sun reporter Megan O'Neil followed up on the bloated pensions for recently retired city of Bell employees. ("There may be some possibility that La Cañada Flintridge could be responsible for some small, tiny portion of former Bell employees' pension benefits, but it is so uncertain right now," said Daniel Jordan, our city's director of finance.

LCF Merchants will host a citywide sidewalk sale Saturday intended to stimulate business in the typically quiet month of August. The sale will include discounted retail prices, free food and drink samples and an opportunity to meet and mingle with local business owners, said Sue Stranger, owner of Adobe Design and head of the LCF Merchants. More than 30 businesses will participate, Stranger said. "It is [an effort] to create a little stimulus for the merchants because August tends to be dark," Stranger said.