Tag: Pasadena

👓 How a Pasadena Book Publisher is Helping to Keep Books Alive | Pasadena Magazine

Read How a Pasadena Book Publisher is Helping to Keep Books Alive (Pasadena Magazine)
The demise of the physical book may well be exaggerated, thanks to the efforts of dedicated publishers like Pasadena’s Colleen Dunn Bates, founder of Prospect Park Books.

Following local Altadena and Pasadena News

I’ve been thinking more about local news lately, so I’ve taken some time to aggregate some of my local news sources. While I live in the Los Angeles area, it’s not like I’m eschewing the Los Angeles Times, but I wanted to go even more uber-local than this. Thus I’m looking more closely at my local Altadena and Pasadena news outlets. I’m a bit surprised to see just how many small outlets and options I’ve got! People say local news is dying or dead, so I thought I would only find two or three options–how wrong could I have been?

In addition to some straightforward journalistic related news sources, I’ve also included some additional local flavor news which includes town councils, the chamber of commerce, historical societies, etc. which have websites that produce feeds with occasional news items.

Going forward you can see these sources aggregated on my following page.

For those who are interested I’ve created an OPML file which contains the RSS feeds of all these sources if they’d like to follow them as well. Naturally most have other social media presences, but there’s usually no guarantee that if you followed them that way that you’ll actually see the news you wanted.

If anyone is aware of other sources, I’m happy to add them to the list.

Here’s the initial list of sources:

👓 Riding the Locals’ Favorite: El Prieto, Altadena, California | Singletracks Mountain Bike News

Read Riding the Locals’ Favorite: El Prieto, Altadena, California by Greg Heil (Singletracks.com)
El Prieto has been hailed by many as one of the best singletrack rides in the Los Angeles area. After hearing such accolades, I just had to check it out! And let me tell you: the reputation is not unfounded. To start the ride, park at the lot and head past the upper yellow gate on the paved road. Af...
It’s been a few years since I’ve ridden this trail, and I remember the trail itself being excellent, but don’t remember the ride up being as nice as described here–at least not in the open fire roads during the high heat of the day.
Excited to encounter my first print copy of ColoradoBoulevard.net in the wild in Pasadena. Congratulations to Wafic and the entire enterprise for making this happen!

I’ve seen lots of publications go from print to online, but rarely seen one go from being online to in print!

👓 Typhus Outbreak Spreads To SGV | South Pasadena, CA Patch

Read Typhus Outbreak Spreads To SGV (South Pasadena, CA Patch)
About 20 residents in Pasadena have been sickened with flea-borne typhus. LA health officials confirmed an outbreak Downtown as well.

👓 Pasadena’s “Darth Vader” Building to Be Demolished | ColoradoBoulevard.net

Read Pasadena’s “Darth Vader” Building to Be Demolished by Garrett Rowlan (ColoradoBoulevard.net)
Last Saturday, a 1936 film called The Shapes of Things to Come played at the Pasadena Main Library, and a block south, two days later on Monday evening, the City Council and attendees got a glimpse of those shapes, in predevelopment plans presented for two significant real estate projects.

👓 Prep, Poly, Westridge Ranked Among Top County High Schools | Outlook Newspapers

Read Prep, Poly, Westridge Ranked Among Top County High Schools by Camila Castellanos (Outlook Newspapers)
A trio of Pasadena-area high schools scored in the top five among private schools in Los Angeles County, while eight San Gabriel Valley campuses were ranked among the top 20 Catholic scho...

👓 Motels to House Pasadena Homeless? | ColoradoBoulevard.net

Read Motels to House Pasadena Homeless? by Garrett Rowlan (ColoradoBoulevard.net)
If the body politic were a real body, the body of Pasadena would be one plagued by itches and bruises that continue to irritate.

👓 8 First Things That Happened During 1966 Rose Queen Reign | ColoradoBoulevard.net

Read 8 First Things That Happened During the 1966 Rose Queen Reign by Carole Cota Gelfuso (ColoradoBoulevard.net)
A 19-year-old student at Pasadena City College, who almost did not make the tryouts because she lost her mom couple of months prior to the event, was named Rose Queen in 1966. Her name was Carole Cota Gelfuso, and that year turned out to be a year of many “firsts”.
Read 12 Cool Parks in Pasadena by Wafic Khalil (ColoradoBoulevard.net)
Pasadena has 25 parks and great natural open spaces. Since we published our “10 Cool Parks in Pasadena” back in 2015, it has gotten a lot of attention and recommendations. We took all that into consideration when we decided to update the list. Just in time for the summer (and any time of the year really), here’s the twelve of the coolest parks in Pasadena and surrounding areas.

IndieWeb-ifying ColoradoBoulevard.net

I’ve spent some time over a few days this month to help IndieWeb-ify my local Pasadena online newspaper ColoradoBoulevard.net. They can now send and receive webmentions and can backfeed their comments, likes, and other responses from their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

They can stand to improve their support for microformats v2 and do some more work on their h-cards and other related metadata, but the editor seems thrilled with the initial results–particularly having their conversations in other areas of the internet come back to the original article.

I know that individual journalists have brought their personal websites into the IndieWeb fold, but this may be one of the first online newspapers/magazines I’m aware of to begin using some of these principles and tools. With any luck and some testing, they could be one of the first journalistic enterprises to begin receiving “Read” posts of their articles via webmention! Update: read posts are working! See the first example here.

I’d like to get them to a place where they can automatically syndicate to social silos and display their syndication links properly. In the end it would be really nice if their writers could own their own articles on their personal websites, syndicate them to the newspaper itself (as the rel=”canonical” link), and then both parties to be able to receive the appropriate backfeed, but this is a nice new baby step on the way to bigger and better things.

I did run across one interesting identity related issue that may need some addressing within this particular space. Some of their journalists prefer not to display photos (or even names) so that they’re not easily (or as easily) identified in person for the sake of doing online reviews or other sensitive reporting assignments.

📅 RSVP: Innovate Pasadena: Friday Morning Coffee Meetup–Coffee with the Mayor

RSVPed Attending Innovate Pasadena: Friday Morning Coffee Meetup--Coffee with the Mayor
Friday, May 4, 2018
8:15 AM to 9:30 AM
Cross Campus, 85 N. Raymond Avenue · Pasadena, CA

While Pasadena is consistently named one of the best cities to live year after year, City leaders also want to make it a great place to work. Mayor Terry Tornek and City Manager Steve Mermell will be stopping by on May 4th to check-in with Pasadena’s innovators and talk about the latest developments and initiatives happening in Pasadena. But, they’ll also want to hear from you! This is your chance to engage with local officials and share your thoughts on ways the City can make Pasadena even more attractive for business and talent.

Bio: Terry Tornek
Terry Tornek was born and raised in New York City and moved to Pasadena from Massachusetts in 1982 to accept the position of Planning Director. He was hired because of his history of neighborhood improvement and historic preservation while serving as Planning Director of Springfield, Mass. He also served as a member of the Springfield City Council. Terry was Pasadena’s Planning Director for 3 years and helped to rewrite the Zoning Ordinance, the General Plan and establish the redevelopment plan for Old Pasadena. After leaving city government, Terry built a career in real estate as a developer and manager of residential & commercial properties all over Southern California.

He remained active in Pasadena affairs through his 20 year service as a Board Member of Pasadena Neighborhood Housing Services, a non-profit organization devoted to affordable housing in Northwest Pasadena.

In 2005, Sid Tyler appointed Terry to the Planning Commission. He also served as a member of the Design Commission. He was elected to represent District 7 on the City Council in April, 2009, was reelected in 2013 and was then elected as Mayor in April, 2015.

Mayor Tornek serves as Chairman of the Finance Committee, is a member of the Municipal Services, Public Safety, and Legislative Policy Committees, is the City Council appointee to the Fire and Police Retirement Board, is Pasadena’s representative to the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, and is President of the Burbank Airport Authority. He is deeply involved in the City’s financial planning, affordable housing and the City’s planning and development decision-making process. Terry graduated from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School with a degree in Public and International Affairs. He also earned a Master of Science in Urban Planning from Columbia University’s School of Architecture. He served in the Army National Guard and Reserves for 6 years. Terry and his wife Maria have been married for 50 years. They have 3 children and 7 grandchildren.

Bio: Steve Mermell
Steve Mermell was appointed City Manager by unanimous vote of the City Council and assumed his duties February 15, 2016. As City Manager he is the Chief Administrative Officer of the City and is charged with supervising, coordinating, and administering the various functions of the City. He has direct responsibility for all departments, divisions, and offices of the City with the exception of the City Attorney/Prosecutor and City Clerk which are separately appointed by the City Council.

📅 RSVP yes to WordPress Pasadena General Meetup, March 2018 Edition! on 3/27

RSVPed Attending WordPress Pasadena General Meetup, March 2018 Edition!
Oh man! 2018! Welcome!!!! Who'd a thunk it? We made it out of 2017!! 2018 is another chance to see if we can ply our knowledge in the ever changing world of web tech. We're back at it again for our monthly WordPress user meetup. Come curious with your wonderful questions.
My Fall/Winter math class is over and I’m free to catch up with the gang again.

RSVP to Pasadena Startups: Past, Present and Future

RSVPed Attending Topic: Pasadena Startups: Past, Present and Future
Talk a walk down memory lane with Gene as he tells stories of Pasadena Startups Past, Present and Future. I am the Forrest Gump of Internet - I have worked in the worked with some of the pioneers and innovators all with origin stories to Pasadena: GoTo, Overture, Yahoo, YP, Chegg, WhatsApp, Tinder, Google Adword/AdSense/Photos, Sellbrite. So come take a seat on the bench and listen to my story. Pasadena tech is like a box of chocolates - you'll never know what you're gonna get. Bio: Gene is a software veteran and Internet executive known for his expertise in mobile, social, cloud, Big Data, search marketing and eCommerce. He is currently VP of Engineering at Sellbrite.com a eCommerce SaaS startup in Pasadena. Before that he was CTO of Synctree.com a Ruby/Node and DevOps-as-a-Service boutique development shop. He was the CTO of Oversee.net a $100M Consumer Mobile and Domain Monetization company. Before that he was Director of Engineering at Chegg, an online network for college students that offers assistance with homework, course selection and textbook rentals. He was also Executive Director of AT&T Interactive, building and leading teams for YP Mobile, Data Systems and Buzz.com. He also served as Director of Engineering at Yahoo Search Marketing/Overture where he built large-scale search marketing platforms. Gene is currently a on Board of Directors for Innovate Pasadena, a mentor for Mucker Labs, as well as advisor to mobile startups. Gene is a frequent speaker at tech industry events and has received numerous industry awards. He graduated Magna cum Laude with a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles and lives in San Marino with a very supportive wife Jacki and 3 kids.