Guest Opinion | William Paparian: Measure I Delivered $220.9 Million. The Council Did Not Fund the Stations. Reject the Parcel Tax.

The Eaton Fire made long-standing problems impossible to ignore. Inside Pasadena city limits,185 structures were destroyed, including 117 single-family homes. Firefighters staffed every available rig and called the whole department back, yet limited battalion-chief capacity made it difficult to track every unit in real time. Call volume was already up 33 percent since 2012. Seventeen months later, Chief Chad Augustin presented a roughly $227 million, ten-year plan centered on replacing two stations flagged as deficient since a 2011 evaluation: Station 33 at 515 North Lake Avenue (built 1946) and Station 37 at 3430 East Foothill Boulevard (built 1957). Both lack modern seismic protection and sprinklers. The 2025 standards-of-cover report calls both “in poor condition” and recommends replacing them. Estimated costs are $30.5 million for Station 33 and $34 million for Station 37. Both remain listed as future unfunded in the Capital Improvement Program.

Measure I Already Produced the Money

In 2018 voters approved Measure I, a permanent three-quarter-cent sales tax. Ballot language said the money would maintain essential services including fire and “keep fire stations open.” It has generated $220.9 million life-to-date. Roughly $73.6 million went to Pasadena Unified under a 2019 memorandum of understanding that turned the advisory Measure J into a contractual one-third split. The city’s share—about $147 million—entered the general fund. There is no lockbox and no line item for either station.

What the city actually spent on the buildings is modest. Station 33 received a 2020 renovation and maintenance contract of about $780,000 and a later prefabricated storage building of roughly $589,000—under $1.4 million combined. Station 37 received stopgap tenant improvements such as kitchens, HVAC, and roofs under a multi-station renovations project. In 2019 the Council redirected a proposed $1.5 million Measure I design appropriation for Station 37 into short-term repairs. Other stations received more substantial seismic work. These two stayed on the unfunded list.

The Parcel Tax Asks Voters to Do What the Council Would Not

Measure PFD would impose a new 19-cent-per-square-foot parcel tax for 14 years, projected to raise about $22.1 million a year. It needs two-thirds approval because the revenue would be restricted. The Council added language guaranteeing seismic work at Stations 33 and 37 if it passes. That guarantee is contingent on the vote; it is not an appropriation. The capital program still does not fund either station.

The Council has had both the money and the legal authority, every budget cycle since 2019, to treat full replacement of these stations as a top priority and appropriate a meaningful share of Measure I proceeds toward them. It has not. Limited repairs totaling under $1.4 million at Station 33 and a redirected design check are not prioritization. A new restricted tax is being offered to accomplish what the unrestricted revenue already in hand was never required to do.

Conclusion

Pasadena does not need another tax to begin funding the stations Measure I was sold, in part, to protect. The city has already collected more than $220 million. The Council chose to contract one-third to schools and chose not to fund the full replacements of Stations 33 and 37. Those projects remain unfunded while a new parcel tax is presented as the solution.

Reject Measure PFD. Require the Council to make fire-station replacement a real priority with the Measure I revenue it already controls before asking residents for another dedicated tax. The choices of the last seven years are the strongest argument against the tax now on the ballot.

William Paparian is a former mayor of Pasadena (1995–1997) and a former East Pasadena councilmember (1987–1999).