Ceremonials: Council Honors Marguerite Bogar, Highlights Eaton Fire Exhibit, Hears From Southern California Gas Representatives

The Pasadena City Council paused Monday night to honor a Pasadena native who passed away last month, promote a closing-day exhibit on Eaton fire survivors, and deliver a series of civic announcements and recognitions that framed the meeting’s ceremonial moments.

Councilmember Justin Jones asked the City to adjourn the meeting “in honor of Marguerite Bogar,” saying she “passed away peacefully on January 16 in Arcadia,” after being “born and raised in Pasadena” and attending Washington Elementary and junior high school before graduating from Pasadena High School. She was 71.

Jones told the Council that Bogar “will be remembered for her strength, generosity and unwavering love for family and faith,” and identified her as “the sister of a friend of the Council in Beverly Bogar, who was a long-time City of Pasadena employee.”

Mayor Victor Gordo responded that he would contact the family, telling the Council, “I’ll reach out to in writing and make sure the family knows that you made such a motion, so I would join in your request.”

Moments later, Councilmember Rick Cole spoke on a separate matter and urged residents to visit an Eaton Fire-related exhibit Ashes & Echoes before it closed, telling the Council he had visited the convention center display and that “the last day of that… exhibit is tomorrow from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. at our convention center.”

Cole added, “It’s not sponsored by the City,” and said he was “very moved by the quality and immersiveness of the exhibit and I think that it is worth a visit if people can work that in tomorrow.”

The meeting’s ceremonial content began earlier with a formal opening, including the mayor’s welcome and the Pledge of Allegiance, which the mayor asked Councilmember Tyron Hampton to lead.

Gordo also opened the public portion with what he called “a special presentation” from Southern California Gas Co., saying it was information residents would need to understand “involving infrastructure costs.”

Lanae O’Shields, public affairs manager for SoCal Gas “here for the City of Pasadena,” told the Council the company was “not charging customers for installing their… previously existing natural gas service to their properties,” and said SoCalGas had restored service to “more than 15,000 customers in the Eaton and Palisades areas.”

Curtis Frazier, New Business and District Planning Manager for SoCalGas, said customers could request reinstatement through https://www.socalgas.com/Rebuild or by calling 1-800-427-2000, adding that requests would be assigned to a planning representative who was expected to contact the customer “within five days.”

O’Shields later told the Council that “every single family and multifamily home can qualify up to $10,000 in incentives” through an energy efficiency fire rebuild program.

As the meeting ended, the City Clerk Mark Jomsky shifted to election-related announcements, saying the nomination period for City Council districts three, five and seven would open Feb. 9, and that the clerk’s office would host two candidate workshops—Feb. 9 at 8 a.m. in ouncil chambers and Feb. 11 at 4:30 p.m. in the clerk’s office, room “S 228.”

Jomsky said the nomination period would run through March 6.

Before the final adjournment, Gordo thanked Councilmembers and staff connected to the earlier State of the City event and said, “Johnna and Matt Hawksworth deserve a lot of the credit in preparing and assisted me to prepare for that presentation.”

He then asked attendees to stand for a final memorial adjournment, saying: “With that, let’s stand and adjourn in memory of our friend, resident, and contributor to the quality of life in Pasadena for its residents. Marguerite Bogar, the sister of Beverly Bogar and the Bogar family’s a long time family in Pasadena. Contributing greatly.”