Not So Real Estate

EVENTS FRIDAY MAY 1 THROUGH THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2009

Olivia — Fri, 01 May 2009 01:13:42 +0000

Pasadena Art + Design Open Market to Showcase World Class Talent

This one-day event, larger than any previous year, will host over 100 artists in the courtyard and alleys of One Colorado. The event is a rare opportunity for you to interact with emerging and established artists from Pasadena’s leading cultural institutions and is unique in that all proceeds go directly to participating artists, thereby supporting individual careers and artistic expression. See great art, meet great artists! Read Full Events Calendar Over 400 events over the next four weeks!

Community Events April 24 – 30, 2009

Olivia — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:38:05 +0000

Honor Your Mother…Earth That Is

With music, dancing, food and more than 70 exhibitors, you can’t help but have fun at Pasadena’s annual Greening the Earth Day Festival at Memorial Park, Raymond Avenue at Walnut Street, and Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N. Raymond Ave. This free, family event will showcase all things “green.” Since Pasadena Now is an \”all green\” publication (we are online only–we print nothing unless absolutely necessary) we wouldn\’t miss all the fun. Be sure to stop by our booth and find out more about this great resource on all things Pasadena! Read

Full Events Calendar (About 400 local events for the next four weeks!)

Community Events April 17 – 23, 2009

Olivia — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:32:17 +0000

The Showcase House is Ready for Viewing

This Sunday the Pasadena Showcase House will open for tours. This year’s house was completed in 1917 in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. The Stimson House is one of San Marino’s most distinguished historic homes, designed and built by George Lawrence Stimson for his father and mother George Woodbury and Jennie Stimson.

Tours are offered daily except Mondays.

Primetime ticket prices are $35.00/phone, online or mail, $40.00/door. Weekday Matinee tickets are $30.00/phone, online or mail, $35.00/door. Read More.

Full Events Calendar (About 400 local events for the next four weeks!)

Pasadena Community Events April 10 through 16th, 2009

Olivia — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:33:16 +0000

Happy Glorious Spring

Whether you observe Passover, Easter, both of them or none of them, this weekend is full of great events. From Easter Egg hunts at Descanso Gardens and The Langham Huntington Hotel, Easter Brunch at many restaurants in town, to community Sader Dinners at the Pasadena Jewish Temple and the Chabad of Pasadena, there is something for your religious celebrations or just for a celebration of spring. Here’s wishing you a glorious Passover, Easter and Spring from the editors of Pasadena Now.

Full Events Calendar

Pasadena Community Events April 3 – April 9, 2009

Olivia — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:57:17 +0000

Pasadena Convention Center to Hold Grand Opening Celebration

The Pasadena Convention Center will open its doors to the community for a grand opening weekend celebration of the newly-renovated $150 million center. From Friday, April 3 through Sunday, April 5, visitors can view the new center with free admission and parking to the 33rd Annual Home Show & Real Estate Expo. On Saturday, April 4 and Sunday, April 5, they can also enjoy live community entertainment. Free refreshments will also be available. Pasadena Convention Center to Hold Grand Opening Celebration

Full Events Calendar (About 400 local events for the next four weeks!)

Pasadena Community Events March 27 thru April 2, 2009

Olivia — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:17:04 +0000

Spring has Sprung
Spring has Sprung
Spring is here and with it the blooming of the California poppies in the Arlington Gardens. The gardens (on the corner of Arlington and Pasadena Avenue) are alive with orange blossoms. Why drive to Lancaster to enjoy poppy fields when we have this bit of heaven here in Pasadena? Another great suggestion for a spring day is to tour sites of the varied and fantastic architecture that abounds here. Pasadena Heritage will present a drive-yourself-spring-home-tour this Sunday. Gas up the car, put on your walking shoes and have a look-see! Read


Full Events Calendar (About 400 local events for the next four weeks!)

Pasadena Community Events March 20 – 26, 2009

Olivia — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 19:53:55 +0000

Community Events from Pasadena Living:

Over 8,000 runners, walkers and cyclists will converge on Sunday morning to compete in the marathon, half marathon, bike tour, 5K and fun run/walk. The full and half marathon will start at 6:30 a.m. Elite runners should complete the full marathon in approximately 2.5 hours with elite half-marathoners should finish the race in just over an hour. The bulk of the marathon finishers should have completed the race by noon. The start/finish line is located directly in front of Pasadena City College on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. Full Events Calendar.

Here’s one person’s solution to our economic woes!

Olivia — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:27:48 +0000

Subject: Recession Plan
 St. Petersburg Times Newspaper-Sunday-Business Section-asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy?" 
Here's one: 
 Dear Mr. President,
 Patriotic retirement:  There's about 40 million people over 50 in the work force -- pay them $1 million apiece severance with the following stipulations:  
 1) They leave their jobs. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.
2) They buy NEW American cars. Forty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed. 
3) They either buy a house/pay off their mortgage - Housing Crisis fixed. 
 Can't get any easier than that!

A new foundation takes shape.

Olivia — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:58:44 +0000

Summary to date:

We decided to remodel our home, not knowing that the economic climate was on the verge of signficant turmoil. We hired an architect, they drew the plans, we settled on a contractor, got our permits, and all this was not without significant pain and time, but filled with incredible rewards, too. Read on for the next chapter in an 18 month job to improve our living space:

Caissons and Grade Beams

We live in the hills, so any addition requires a lot of digging and creating what is called a caisson and grade beam system. It is a lot of deep holes filled with steel and concrete (caissons), and concrete tieing each hole to the next

Look carefully and you will see a worker in the caisson excavation. The worker is in the openig with a small shovel and others bring the dirt to the surface. Many truckloads of dirt were carried away.

one… that too loaded with steel (grade beams). We don’t have easy access to our property for heavy equipment,

so the contractor dug each of the 24 caissons by hand.

Small men would go into the holes with buckets, and load the bucket with dirt. These holes got to be 12 – 18 feet deep, so the small men ended up deep underground, dutifully filling their buckets until it was time to bring them up with ropes tied around their bodies. And before the contractor could dig, they had to demolish all that was in the way.

We had a choice of moving out to temporary quarters, or live at the site. We chose to live in the house while they worked outdoors so as to supervise the job more closely. We had heard (and it turns out to be true) that even with plans and work orders, things go wrong and must be redone. And inspectors often have different opinions on the work that the contractor thinks is perfect. It was painful but good for us to live at the site.

This is a 12-foot deep caisson, with lots of steel in place, ready for a concrete pour. There were 24 caissons to support the new addition, studio and new deck.This is the beginning of the demolition to make ready for the caisson and grade beam system.

California and other states are in trouble. What can be done?

Olivia — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:11:27 +0000

More than half the states faced budget gaps as of December 2008, for a combined total of nearly $30 billion. According to Lynndee Kemmet, AIER Visiting Research Fellow, in the February 2 Research Reports, the picture is only going to get worse. In fiscal 2010, total state budget gaps are expected to more than double to around $64 billion.

Maybe much of this shortfall could have been avoided had more state governments followed the recommendations of The Heartland Institute. In 2006, the Chicago-based research institute devoted to free-market solutions to economic and social problems published the booklet Ten Principles of State Fiscal Policy.

As states struggle to put their finances in order and increasingly look to the federal government to solve their problems, Heartland’s simple recommendations seem particularly relevant.

Above all else: Keep taxes low. The evidence is clear and has been for many years: High taxes hinder economic growth and prosperity.
Don’t penalize earnings and investment. Taxes on earning and investment income are particularly harmful to economic growth.
Avoid “sin” taxes. Taxes on specific goods and services are often unfair, unreliable, and regressive.
Create a transparent and accountable budget. Focus attention and resources on providing those services that are the core functions of state government.
Privatize public services. Privatization is a proven way to reduce government spending while preserving or improving the quality of core public services.
Avoid corporate welfare. Subsidies to corporations and selective tax abatement are questionable politics and bad economics.
Cap taxes and expenditures. A tax and expenditure limitation (TEL) protects elected officials from public pressure to spend surplus tax revenues during good economic times.
Fund students, not schools. States and cities that have experimented with school choice have seen gains in academic achievement.
Reform Medicaid programs. Spending on Medicaid can be brought under control without lowering the quality of care received by Medicaid patients.
Protect state employees from politics. State and local governments should be prohibited from deducting funds used for political purposes from the paychecks of public workers.

The complete booklet, which is part of Heartland’s Legislative Principles Series, can be downloaded for free from www.heartland.org.