Change has Come

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Saying Good - Bye and Good Luck

Our own Michelle Keith who has been with the City of Sierra Madre for over 20 years will be leaving for greener pastures. She has accepted the job as the City Manager of Bradbury. The city with more horses than people, and only 3 employees. A true "contract" City.

We wish her well. The loss of experience and dedication as valuable City employees leave will not be easy for our small City to handle.

Michelle if you are reading us and would like to send a statement, we would love to hear from you!

Got Sandbags?

Recent rains and subsequent mud and debris flows demonstrate the need for property owners to protect their homes and properties from potential mud flow damage NOW.

The City of Sierra Madre is asking all homeowners to prepare for the possibility of a repeat rain performance in the coming months, and to retain filled sandbags at their own property for immediate re-use in the event of a storm forecast.

“Used” sandbags and covers are recyclable and should not be discarded or turned back in to the City. The City is not responsible for collecting used sandbags that have been discarded in the street so please help keep the neighborhood tidy, and plan to re-use your sandbags.

Trail Race

According to the City of Sierra Madre WEB site, the Mt. Wilson Trail Race will take place on 6-07-08, at 7:30:AM.

After much assessment and forethought, the Mt. Wilson Trail Race Committee has decided to postpone the race to June 7, 2008.

The Mt. Wilson Trail Race Pasta Feed will occur Friday night, June 6, 2008, at 6pm in Kersting Court.

More here and here.

Memorial Day Party Cancelled

Unfortunately Jacks pool is full of mud. The party is obviously cancelled. Jack if there is anything we can do to help out, let us know!!

MT. Wilson Trail Race Postponed

Following is the official announcement from the city:

After much assessment and forethought, the Mt. Wilson Trail Race Committee has decided to postpone the race to a TBD date, hopefully in the next three to four weeks.

While we are confident we could restore the trail after yesterday’s rainstorms, the rain that hit us last night and this morning make more work for us and compromise the safety of all participants. The ground above and below the trail is very saturated right now and with more impending rain in the forecast, there is a chance of a slide either before or during the race. While those on the committee are competitors at heart, we know that your safety comes first.

The thunderstorms that are predicted will also affect the pasta dinner tonight and the race-related activities tomorrow. We would rather wait until the weather improves and we have had a chance to get the trail more race-ready.

I apologize if this decision inconveniences you, particularly those who are coming in from out of town. We hope you can make it on the date we set, but would rather not refund entry fees and direct them to the additional costs we will have of setting things up again, and the expenses we will incur to restore the trail to race conditions.

So, everything will be the same, just a few weeks later. I knew you would appreciate more time to train!

Thanks again for your support. As much as we are ready to go with the race, we think we are doing the right thing.

Friday UPDATED

The City will be holding and Emergency Council Meeting today at 1:00 pm to declare a state of emergency.

Helicopters are the Fire Service watching the hillside according to the PD, I phoned them regarding this. They have been there since very early this morning.

Apparently the evacuations are voluntary, so someone needs to tell Code Enforcement, since they indicated to me yesterday the North side of Skyland was mandatory. Several slides have occured, my sources have said no structural damage.

Sandbags are available at the City Yard.

AM Update
For a morning update head over to Bill Coburns site. He has been monitoring the situation throughout the night. I woke at daybreak to the sound of helicopters, most likely the news crews trying to get footage of the hillside. Fairly heavy rains throughout the early morning hours.

According to Bill no additional flows have been reported. The am news however says today's weather will be much like yesterdays with possible thunderstorms this afternoon. Rain though Saturday, and sunny on Monday.

At this time no word on the trail race. However with the rain continuing I am sure they will be assessing the trail several times during the day and early morning before a decsion is made.