We Get Letters: Wildfire Prevention?

To the Editor:

You report (8/4) that Pasadena’s proposed $22 million property parcel tax will “lead to improved wildfire preparedness.” Actually, less than 5% of the funding is allocated to wildfire prevention across the entire city. Nothing is earmarked to clean up dead trees and heavy brush in the Arroyo Seco park — property the city owns and has failed to maintain for decades. I support many of the proposed fire department capital improvements and new hirings but to say, as the city claims, this is a wildfire prevention measure is false.

Furthermore, the city has the resources and power to act now — without imposing any new taxes — by passing a resolution to draw funds for dead tree and brush clearance in the Arroyo Seco from either the city’s General Fund Reserves or the Emergency Contingency funds that total $51 million. The city set a precedent for this last November when it relied in part on the CEQA exemption to support goat grazing in the Arroyo necessary to prevent or mitigate a wildfire emergency.

Thank you for your commitment to local journalism.

Sincerely,

Claire Spiegel Brian