Power Outages

La Cañada saw its share of troubling news in 2011, the most controversial being a complaint filed against a La Cañada High School teacher for having made ethnic slurs in her math classrooms. But there also were celebratory moments - for the victors in city council and school board elections as well as for individuals who achieved recognition in their fields. Taking advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, an ad hoc committee, giving a nod to La Cañada's unique ZIP code, organized a 9.10.11 weekend of events in September that drew participants across a broad spectrum of the populace.

Several La Cañada Flintridge residents started the new year with a power interruption due to Monday's heavy rains and blustering winds. "We did have several problems in La Cañada yesterday related to trees and tree limbs," Mark Olson, region manager for Southern California Edison, said Tuesday. Southern California Edison provides electricity to La Cañada streets, homes and businesses. The storm caused extensive power interruptions throughout Southern California Edison's territory, which includes 4.6 million customers in 430 cities in Southern California, Central California and coastal regions.

The Crescenta Valley Sheriff's Station is increasing patrols in La Cañada Flintridge in response to a spike in residential burglaries that has included at least four homes targeted during power outages. Deputies are working overtime and volunteers on patrol are putting in extra hours to canvass neighborhoods around the clock, Capt. Dave Silversparre said Wednesday. Silversparre has also sought help from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services to fund extra patrols throughout the month.

Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D- La Canada Flintridge) on Tuesday called for Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency for the San Gabriel Valley, stemming from a severe wind storm Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 and resulting power outages that still linger six days later. “The devastation in the San Gabriel Valley and the 44th Assembly District has been significant and dramatic,” Portantino wrote. “Residents of small and large cities need assistance and the towns and counties warrant the state's help in meeting the demand placed on them from this horrendous natural disaster.” -- Bill Kisliuk , Times Community News Twitter: @bkisliuk    

La Canada Elementary PTA announced its 2011-2012 Honorary Service Award recipients at a school Spirit Rally on Dec. 9. They are Mo Cornwell, parent volunteer; Elissa DeAngelo, principal; Lisa Marie DeLeon, third-grade teacher; Heather Ehrhart, parent volunteer; Marie Evelyn, second-grade teacher; Jennifer Neumann, school aide. In keeping with the Founders Day Ceremony theme of “You are the Light of Our Lives,” chairpersons Tamar Tujian and Ellen Portantino reminded the students how different their lives were during the recent power outages and how different the school would be without the efforts of the recipients.

La Cañada Flintridge Councilman Stephen Del Guercio was named to his third stint as mayor of the city on Monday, replacing David Spence.. Spence leaves the post after having served five terms, making him the longest-serving mayor in the city's history. But Del Guercio also has plenty of civic experience, as Councilman Donald Voss noted when he nominated Del Guercio. “I'd love to nominate a man who is entering his 12th year of distinguished service on the council, a two-time mayor and former planning commissioner [who has]

Over the past few months, there have been a couple of significant issues that have concerned or frustrated our residents and merchants and thus have received attention from the City Council and staff. Because of this, I wanted to apprise you of what the city has been doing to help bring about resolutions that we hope will address our community's needs. Southern California Edison Power Outages: Residents have been frustrated by the frequent recurrence of power outages, both prior to, and subsequent to, the windstorm of Nov. 30, 2011.

The weekend?s wet weather brought much needed rain to La Cañada and the Southland. What it didn?t bring to the area was flooding, mudslides, power outages or severe freeway accidents. According to Dave Ford of Southern California Edison, there were no significant power outages in the area. Officer Todd Workman of the California Highway Patrol said there were no major accidents in the area. This was a welcome change from the storms earlier this month, when a vehicle struck a woman as she walked across the Ralphs parking lot in La Crescenta and three accidents occurred on the same day in the same section of the Foothill (210)

I wish to take a slight exception to one point raised in Diane Isaacs' reasonable rant about recent power outages [“Time to speak up about power losses,” Our Readers Write, Jan. 26] - that being the use of land-line phones during same. Cordless phones that require power are useless when the power goes out. Our household has a set of cordless telephones that become fancy paperweights when Edison's equipment fails. (We lost power at 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 31 and it stayed out for 15 hours.)

On Jan. 25, the power in many of our homes shut off completely again. According to my records, this is the 18th time in two years. The Sunday before, there were two power outages lasting a few minutes. I was angry and disappointed. It is obvious that if power goes out, essentially everything that requires electricity, including gas pumps, banking, purchasing of food and other trading, stops. I wrote to Mayor David Spence. I complained about the last two years, which have been fraught with these many unexpected and unplanned outages.

La Cañada Flintridge Councilman Stephen Del Guercio was named to his third stint as mayor of the city on Monday, replacing David Spence.. Spence leaves the post after having served five terms, making him the longest-serving mayor in the city's history. But Del Guercio also has plenty of civic experience, as Councilman Donald Voss noted when he nominated Del Guercio. “I'd love to nominate a man who is entering his 12th year of distinguished service on the council, a two-time mayor and former planning commissioner [who has]

I wish to take a slight exception to one point raised in Diane Isaacs' reasonable rant about recent power outages [“Time to speak up about power losses,” Our Readers Write, Jan. 26] - that being the use of land-line phones during same. Cordless phones that require power are useless when the power goes out. Our household has a set of cordless telephones that become fancy paperweights when Edison's equipment fails. (We lost power at 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 31 and it stayed out for 15 hours.)

On Jan. 25, the power in many of our homes shut off completely again. According to my records, this is the 18th time in two years. The Sunday before, there were two power outages lasting a few minutes. I was angry and disappointed. It is obvious that if power goes out, essentially everything that requires electricity, including gas pumps, banking, purchasing of food and other trading, stops. I wrote to Mayor David Spence. I complained about the last two years, which have been fraught with these many unexpected and unplanned outages.

Over the past few months, there have been a couple of significant issues that have concerned or frustrated our residents and merchants and thus have received attention from the City Council and staff. Because of this, I wanted to apprise you of what the city has been doing to help bring about resolutions that we hope will address our community's needs. Southern California Edison Power Outages: Residents have been frustrated by the frequent recurrence of power outages, both prior to, and subsequent to, the windstorm of Nov. 30, 2011.

It was the squirrel that broke the restaurateur's back. And that of his next-door neighbor. There may soon be a citizens revolt. Taylor's Steak House proprietor Bruce Taylor reports that he lost business Jan. 25 when electrical power went out in La Cañada just as customers were settling in for lunch. Because we were struck by an outage at the same time here, I can attest that there was no warning, no blinking of lights. Just that unnerving silence that comes when darkness comes suddenly and TVs, radios and computers shut down.

An errant squirrel caused a brief blackout in La Cañada Flintridge today, as 1,260 Southern California Edison customers lost power for 11 minutes, according to SCE spokesman Paul Klein.  The blackout, which occurred from 11:26 a.m. to 11:37 a.m., affected customers within an area stretching from Altura Avenue on the north, Cherry Canyon on the south, Commonwealth Avenue on the east and Ramsdell Avenue in the west.  Klein said that a...

La Cañada saw its share of troubling news in 2011, the most controversial being a complaint filed against a La Cañada High School teacher for having made ethnic slurs in her math classrooms. But there also were celebratory moments - for the victors in city council and school board elections as well as for individuals who achieved recognition in their fields. Taking advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime occasion, an ad hoc committee, giving a nod to La Cañada's unique ZIP code, organized a 9.10.11 weekend of events in September that drew participants across a broad spectrum of the populace.

La Canada Elementary PTA announced its 2011-2012 Honorary Service Award recipients at a school Spirit Rally on Dec. 9. They are Mo Cornwell, parent volunteer; Elissa DeAngelo, principal; Lisa Marie DeLeon, third-grade teacher; Heather Ehrhart, parent volunteer; Marie Evelyn, second-grade teacher; Jennifer Neumann, school aide. In keeping with the Founders Day Ceremony theme of “You are the Light of Our Lives,” chairpersons Tamar Tujian and Ellen Portantino reminded the students how different their lives were during the recent power outages and how different the school would be without the efforts of the recipients.

The Crescenta Valley Sheriff's Station is increasing patrols in La Cañada Flintridge in response to a spike in residential burglaries that has included at least four homes targeted during power outages. Deputies are working overtime and volunteers on patrol are putting in extra hours to canvass neighborhoods around the clock, Capt. Dave Silversparre said Wednesday. Silversparre has also sought help from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services to fund extra patrols throughout the month.

Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D- La Canada Flintridge) on Tuesday called for Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency for the San Gabriel Valley, stemming from a severe wind storm Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 and resulting power outages that still linger six days later. “The devastation in the San Gabriel Valley and the 44th Assembly District has been significant and dramatic,” Portantino wrote. “Residents of small and large cities need assistance and the towns and counties warrant the state's help in meeting the demand placed on them from this horrendous natural disaster.” -- Bill Kisliuk , Times Community News Twitter: @bkisliuk