La Crescenta Montrose

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission on Wednesday approved a proposal for a community-standards district in unincorporated La Crescenta and Montrose — propelling the proposal past its first major hurdle in tightening development standards in the foothills. The commission approved the proposal in a 4-1 vote. The vote recommended that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors hold a public hearing to consider the proposal. The Board of Supervisors will meet to act on the proposal in two or three months, Regional Planning Department Administrator Ron Hoffman said.

Karen S. Kim GLENDALE -- Unemployment in Glendale declined by 0.1% for the second month in a row during December 2001, but Don Nakamoto, city labor market specialist, said it's still too soon to call the decline a trend. "You would probably have to see it move pretty substantially up or down at least a percentage point over a six-month period," Nakamoto said. "Then you could conclude the momentum is going in one direction or another." Glendale's unemployment rate in December fell from 5.5% in November to 5.4%, or 5,480 people, according to numbers released by the California Employment Development Department.

Karen S. Kim GLENDALE -- The unemployment rate in Glendale bucked a two-month declining trend in January, jumping up 0.8%, and labor market consultants are attributing the rise to a number of reasons. Don Nakamoto, labor market specialist for the city of Glendale, said the sudden jump locally was caused in part by the new unemployment law that became effective Jan. 1. Gov. Gray Davis passed a law after Sept. 11 that raised unemployment benefits from $230 a week to $330 a week.

IRIS G. SCHRODER Iris G. Schroder, 84, died Nov. 12, 2003, in Auburn. She was born Oct. 14, 1929, in Redford, Mich., and was a La Crescenta resident. She served as president of the La Crescenta Woman's Club and was active in several organizations in the La Crescenta-Montrose area. She was also a member of the Sunland-Tujunga Seventh-day Adventist Church and served several terms on its school board. Mrs. Schroder is survived by her husband, Edward; son, Steven; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Local unemployment rates held steady in June, with numbers in Glendale and Burbank remaining under 10%, according to a report released today by the state’s Economic Development Department. While the percentage of job-seekers out of work stayed on par with May statistics in Glendale, Burbank, La Canada, La Crescenta and Montrose, the area’s workforce did shrink by a combined total of 200, according to the department. There are a total of 187,700 workers in the area, of which 17,000 cannot find jobs.

The Los Angeles County Regional Planning Department will not recommend a major rezoning of multiple residential property in Montrose in its report to the L.A. Board of Supervisors, according to a report mailed this week to local residents. Addressing concerns expressed by some groups and individuals over growth in multiple housing, the county had placed interim controls on local projects pending the study. Regional planning will answer questions and review the findings of the study in a meeting Sept.

Beneath a patchy canopy of cumulous clouds, the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Hometown Country Fair went off at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. “Man — at 5:30 this morning it was pouring!” said bass player “Boz,” of the world jazz band Esprit, which performed at the fair. But the weather didn’t hold off for long and by 1:30 p.m., organizers had to pack it in and head for cover. In its second year, the Hometown Country Fair is a festive demonstration of the tight-knit community of La Crescenta-Montrose, said Steve Pierce, a member of the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors.

The regional planning proposals for rezoning and a community standards district for La Crescenta-Montrose will be before the Board of Supervisors by March 1, an aide to Supervisor Mike Antonovich said this week. Planning deputy Paul Hackett said the interim controls which have slowed multiple residential development during the county study expire in March. County planners had originally set a date of December to conclude their study, which Hackett said they had accomplished by delivering the study to the regional planning commission.

I applaud the Adams Hill visionaries who opened up the former homeowners association to renters and business owners and formed a more inclusive neighborhood association [“Group widens reach,” Sept. 25]. I also share the Glendale News-Press editorial position [“Adams Hill association is ahead of the curve,” Sept. 26] that a group of all stakeholders is more effective politically than a mere homeowners group. The Crescenta Valley Community Assn. was formed in mid-2007 as a cross-jurisdictional organization representing stakeholders in the Crescenta Valley, including portions of Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge and Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated La Crescenta-Montrose.

DOWNTOWN — Unemployment rates in Glendale and Burbank jumped full percentage points in July, approaching 11% and mirroring a growth in joblessness seen across the region, according to a report released Friday by California’s Economic Development Department. Higher unemployment was also reported in La Cañada Flintridge and the La Crescenta-Montrose area, although each community’s half a percentage point rate increase did not match growth in Glendale and Burbank, according to the department The jobless rate rose to 10.9% in Glendale, up from 9.9% in June, and to 10.2% in Burbank, up from 9.2% in the same period, according to the department.

GLENDALE — Local unemployment rates held steady in June, with numbers in Glendale and Burbank remaining under 10%, according to a report released Friday by the state’s Economic Development Department. While the percentage of job seekers stayed on par with May statistics in Glendale, Burbank, La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta and Montrose, the area’s workforce did shrink by a combined total of 200, according to the department. There are a total of 187,700 workers in the area, of which 17,000 cannot find jobs, for a combined unemployment rate of 9%, according to the figures.

This year, the Gladiator exclusive recruiting area was expanded by the Junior All American Football Conference to include La Crescenta and Montrose in addition to La Cañada. Gladiator President Kevin Lacey is very enthusiastic about the coming season. ?We are coming off a terrific year that saw our Jr. Pee Wee team take home the Conference Championship. We are expecting great things again in 2009.? This is the La Cañada Gladiators? fourth Conference Championship since 2002.

“While the spirit of neighborliness was important on the frontier because neighbors were so few, it is even more important now because our neighbors are so many.” — Lady Bird Johnson   Let’s help our own neighbors of the Crescenta Valley this holiday season and shop local! What better way to give back to your community than to shop our very own merchants who throughout the year work hard to keep their doors open in the Crescenta Valley.

As his friends, family and neighbors in La Crescenta go about their daily lives — going to work, going out to eat, invariably driving along Foothill Boulevard — Marine Lance Cpl. Robert Larsen, 22, spends his days supervising and training Iraqi police at a checkpoint in Fallouja. Beyond routine calls to family, there are few links between Larsen and his foothill community. And regular trips along the town’s main commercial corridor came without direct reminders of the young men and women living amid distant military conflicts that most residents know only through a media lens — until Thursday.

Beneath a patchy canopy of cumulous clouds, the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Hometown Country Fair went off at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. “Man — at 5:30 this morning it was pouring!” said bass player “Boz,” of the world jazz band Esprit, which performed at the fair. But the weather didn’t hold off for long and by 1:30 p.m., organizers had to pack it in and head for cover. In its second year, the Hometown Country Fair is a festive demonstration of the tight-knit community of La Crescenta-Montrose, said Steve Pierce, a member of the Crescenta Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors.

LOS ANGELES — More than a year's worth of heated debate over property rights and community character in unincorporated La Crescenta and Montrose was put to rest Tuesday. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday in favor of the La Crescenta-Montrose Community Standards District, an amendment to the county's planning and zoning code that establishes building-design guidelines and development standards for multi-family buildings in high-density or R-3 zones for the affected communities.

The regional planning proposals for rezoning and a community standards district for La Crescenta-Montrose will be before the Board of Supervisors by March 1, an aide to Supervisor Mike Antonovich said this week. Planning deputy Paul Hackett said the interim controls which have slowed multiple residential development during the county study expire in March. County planners had originally set a date of December to conclude their study, which Hackett said they had accomplished by delivering the study to the regional planning commission.