At that time, a commitment was made to release the identities of the advisory panel appointed to interview, evaluate and rank the semi-finalist candidates.

Consistent with that commitment, the following list of panelist names is being released: 

* Joyce Streator, former District 1 Pasadena City Councilwoman and Los Angeles County probation director (retired)

* Jaylene Moseley, Northwest Pasadena developer and president of Flintridge Operating Foundation

* Edwin Diaz, superintendent of schools, Pasadena Unified School District

* Alfredo Mejia, commercial real estate broker and member of one of six long-time  Pasadena families featured during the exhibition “Family Stories: Sharing a Community’s Legacy” at Pasadena Museum of History from May 2009 to January 2010

* Hall Daily , director of government relations, Caltech

* Bill Podley, Pasadena realtor and former president of Pasadena Chamber of Commerce

* Andrew Green, director of finance, City of Pasadena

* Michele Bagneris, city attorney, City of Pasadena

* Gena Persons, Pasadena Police Department police administrator, executive board member of National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and former employee of L.A. County Sheriff’s Department

* Jari Faulkner, Pasadena Police Department lieutenant in the Community Services Section, which includes programs for adults and children.

* Robert Mercado, Pasadena Police Department detective and president of Pasadena Police Officers Association

* Diego Torres, Pasadena Police Department sergeant and board member of Pasadena Police Sergeants Association

* Marilyn Diaz, chief of police, City of Sierra Madre , and former Pasadena Police Department commander

* David Snowden, chief of police, City of Beverly Hills , and former president of California Police Chiefs Association

* John Welter, chief of police, City of Anaheim , previously with San Diego Police Department

* Jerry Dyer, chief of police, City of Fresno , and former president of California Police Chiefs Association

The panelists represent a diverse mix of community leaders, local government officials and law enforcement executives.

They conducted interviews today and provided their top recommendations to Beck, who will likely make a final decision in late May following his one-on-one interviews with the top-ranked finalists and conducting extensive background checks, including visits to the jurisdictions they represent.

The panelists were provided a summary list of community comments about the qualities Pasadena ’s next police chief should possess and the local issues of which the chief should be aware.  The comments were generated during three public community forums and via the city website.

“I am grateful for the panelists’ willingness to serve in this important capacity,” said Beck.  “I appreciate the community’s understanding as I move forward with this very important decision.”

In keeping with common practices in executive recruitment processes, the names of the candidates will not be released by the city of Pasadena .

New moms and dads are often astonished at how much “stuff” tiny babies seem to need, and how many decisions they have to make, and how difficult it is to make the right choices. Wanting only the best for their kids, they find themselves entangled in long-running and passionate debates—reusable diapers versus disposables, plastic versus glass nursing bottles, and breast milk versus infant formula, to name only a few. The $7 billion industry in the US comes out with scores of new products each year, adding to the already existing confusion.

Kylie Cho, a local mom who sells baby products in her Pasadena store, Currant Baby and Mommy, believes that feedback from moms and dads who want only the best for their babies seems to have influenced the current trends in the baby product industry.

The burgeoning industry today features an increasing number of products that are greener, more practical, safer, stylish and specialized. Dual strollers that can be used by an infant and a toddler, for instance, have become exceedingly popular for parents who find it a huge help in caring for both children.

Cho is a strong advocate for safe baby products, and takes great comfort and pride in the fact that she can check and monitor closely the safety factor in her own store.   She avoids baby products made of plastic containing BPA or Bisphenol A which some authorities believe may have negative effects on the health of children. Instead she opts for BPA-free bottles that now come in bright and happy colors. She also opts for clothes made of organic materials such as toxin-free cotton, which benefits both the child who wears the garment and workers in cotton mills.  This is entirely in keeping with the growing awareness of people on environmental issues. Cho believes that “It’s all part of this awareness, of wanting to contribute to keeping the planet alive, that is influencing the baby product industry.“

Cho said the industry now provides parents with more choices when it comes to style. Many brands offer “adult colors” and “retro fashion” instead of the traditional baby pink and baby blue.  In really high end baby products, fashions for moms trickle down to the kids.

For most other people, comfort is more important. “I’m not focused on high-end products as much as just good products. There are some stores that are very high-end driven and it really attracts the high-end customers, but my focus is to bring in things for the store that are convenient and relatively economical.”

Cho says there are new inventions coming out almost every day that are mommy- or daddy-owned. There are many parents who wish they had something for the baby, and when they can’t find it in stores, they make it themselves, like the muslin wrap called Swaddle. But, she says, you really have to feel and touch this product to see what it’s really like and how it works.

“My  goal in my store is to have a sample of all my products,” Cho said. “So you can actually sit there and buckle up a car seat or wrap your baby in this ‘crazy’ wrap.”

Practical and safe and stylish baby products are the latest industry trends.  If parents had their say, they should have been, from the very beginning—not as trends but as constants in our search for the perfect products for our perfect babies.

Currant Baby is located in the Paseo Colorado at 289 East Green Street, Suite A-110, Pasadena.  Call (626) 577-7005 or visit www.currantbaby.com

“My lucky number is nine and one of my investors also, her lucky number was 9,” he shares. “I decided just to call it Studio 99.  It just made sense to me.”

Will his choice prove providential? Only time will tell but Granados is confident he has what it takes to rise above the crowd by telling it like it is.

“I’m very honest with my clients.  I don’t try to bs them about product or how to take care of their hair or anything like that,” he states. “I think that honesty builds up a rapport with me and my clientele.”

He adds, “I think what’s made me successful is that I’m really just down to earth.”

Granados admits his clients tend to be on the conservative side, but believes he and his team in Pasadena start their own trends too.

“We are trend setters here in L.A. and everybody that works for me is always either in hair shows, in classes.” He adds, “There’s always an ongoing education with us.”

Pressed to reveal trends for hair in the spring and summer seasons, Granados replies, “Summertime, people like to wear less clothes so we have to dress up more of the hair, go blonder, highlights color-wise.  My clients love that.”

But the best trend right now? Going green. Granados says his salon is stocked with natural, biodegradable products. “[It] is 90% organic-free and seems to be our number one seller at this point,” he says.

This man isn’t all about hair though. Giving back to the community is important to Granados. Through his business he’s able to work along side the Great Pasadena Aid Fund. “I supply them with Gift Certificates so whenever they have their events, they can sell those and keep the money for their organizations.” He adds, “We pick up a new client here and there because they either haven’t heard of us or want to come and see us.”

Aside from giving free cuts to underprivileged kids, he and his team are participating in a benefit that would support some talented kids on their way to play at Carnegie Hall.

It isn’t everyday you come across a businessman who give it to you straight. Granados, however, is one guy who lives by the motto, “No frills, no mush, no nothing, just the plain truth.”

Studio 99 is located at 117 West Green Street. You can reach Victor Granados at (626) 449-7272, or click on www.studio99ca.com.