City Hall Scoop

The Public Works Department has reviewed requests to automate cross walks so that pedestrians are not required to touch the pedestrian push buttons.  Pedestrian push buttons at the traffic signals are required by ADA, they help visually impaired person to safely navigate thru the intersections. Removal of push buttons will put the traffic signals on a fixed cycle pattern, requiring the maximum green pedestrian time long enough for an ADA person to safely navigate the street will be continuously assigned to all approaches throughout the day irrespective of the street traffic volume and presence of pedestrians. This will potentially cause excessive and unacceptable delays to vehicular as well as pedestrians traffic. Pedestrians may not want to wait that long especially once the vehicular traffic is low and they see gaps between the traffic. This may result in increased pedestrian violations of “do not walk” signals, which itself will be a huge safety concern. Moving forward the City will be deploying technologies that will cater ADA requirements and at the same time will allow pedestrian to cross the street without the need to push the button. 

Shahid Abbas
Public Works Director

5/28/2020

Oak Tree trimming season is from June 1 to September 30.  As Oak tree pruning season is approaching, the Public Works Department would like to take this opportunity to remind the residents and business owners of South Pasadena that the City has a permitting process to prune these protected trees.  Permits must be obtained for trimming or pruning more than 10% of the live canopy of an oak tree. 

A private property tree trimming permit can be obtained in four easy steps:

1. Visit our website at: https://www.southpasadenaca.gov/government/departments/public-works/administration-engineering/permits, select the “Private Property Tree Trimming” application and complete the form.
2. Send the completed application including required documentation to: PublicWorksPermits@southpasadenaca.gov
3. Public Works will review your application for completeness and send you the online payment portal. 
4. Inspections are planned for Thursday mornings 7:30 am to 10:30 am. Once the inspection is complete and the arborist approves your application, the permit will be issued electronically.

Only hazard trimming of Oak trees shall be allowed from October 1 through May 30, so please make sure to plan your Oak tree trimming during the approved window of June 1 to September 30. 

If you ever need assistance, we are available Monday through Thursday 7:30 am to 6:00 pm at 626-403-7240 to assist with questions related to any Public Works related matter.  As a reminder our inspectors and field crews are still out in the City performing work in the community.  In an effort to keep everyone safe, please respect a minimum of 6’ to 10’ social distancing with staff in the field.   

Shahid Abbas
Public Works Director

5/26/2020