Monday Morning

I evacuated at 12:30 last night. Big thanks to Bill Coburn for his round the clock coverage of the fire. **round of applause**

Also to all the other bloggers who are giving up to date information. The FCBLOG a repository of information for all of us. This morning when I had no Internet access I was lost as I think that the best source of news of this fire has been the local bloggers. I wanted to know if I had lost my house.

Sunday Evening - UPDATED 10:30 pm

Updated 10:30 p.m.

Its back. Just as I started to lay down and try to sleep, and thought it did too. Walked up to the top of the upper canyon. The ridge above the dam is full of flames again. The helicopters can be heard, but its media as NO water dropping is going on. Whats most ditressing is all the engines and crews that were all park in the canyon seemed to have left. Why?

UPDATED 4:30 p.m.


The ridge fire looks completely out, and there are now hand crews dealing with hot spots. It's pretty amazing to see these guys strung along a line on the ridge helping to save our homes from further danger. The fire up there was a big concern for this canyon.

It's like a ghost town up here with a few of us who decided to "wait" a bit longer before leaving. Just took a short walk around and spoke to one of the engines. They were all waiting it out, and seemed hopeful that the worst was over. But we still ahve to be watchful if the winds shift tonight.


Schools closed tomorrow, and there is a possibility of the evacuations being lifted by 6 a.m. if the weather and fire conditions continue to improve.


UPDATE 1:00 pm

Lots of trucks with hand crews arriving. Apparently laying hose for structure protection. I spoke to one of the guys on the engines, he said they have lots of resources. My only concern is that once night falls no air assault, so the ridge will burn where it wants. Wind is picking up slightly.

Update 10:30am:

Watching them hold the ridge above Skyland (upper canyon)as it trys to burn over. Earlier this a.m. I saw crews on foot in the lower canyon, it looked like they were protecting a home as the fire was getting quiet close. About 5 engines staged in the upper canyon. No one is allowed back in once they leave. Oddly enough no one knocked on my door to evacuate last night. I also ran into a guy on Idlehour lane. He and his family found out this morning that there was a mandatory evacuation.

No property loss. They are being very cautious. All the fire crews I spoke to on my walk said that the fire had spread alond the ridge, we can't see it really but it is there. That is why they are now doing more evacuations.

Earlier:
Just a morning update. Last night they evacuated the upper and lower canyon. I am still here until the fires pose an imminent danger. This morning it looks better, although there are still flames visible, and they are evacuating more homes today.

Last night the fire burned down the hillside towards the lower canyon. Watching the flames hourly, through the night that was unnerving.

There seems to be more of a threat to homes in the lower canyon, and it is raining ash. The air assault started at daybreak. Fire is only 5% contained.

The biggest problem last night was looky loos in the canyon, prior to the evacuation it was a traffic jam here. We started stopping cars and asking if they were local, if they were not, we told them to leave.

Now with the evacuation, its very quiet other than the helicopters.

Fire in Sierra Madre

Will post pictures as the direction changes. It practically in my front yard so I am not going anywhere

Its gettng late.

A Heli drop.

At Dusk.


View from my front yard at about 6:30 this evening.

The Lie that wouldn't Die

“Good Grief!” – Charlie Brown

Some stories are like the proverbial fish tale, always getting bigger as it gets passed on.

I recently received a mailer from the “Sierra Madre Citizens for Change,” which propagates a lie that has been debunked more than once, by more than one person. And yet it lives, it won’t die.

The mailer states: “Sierra Madre’s budget has ballooned from $7.9 million dollars in 2001 to $18.2 million in 2008. Why?”

This lie was also repeated in the April 5th Pasadena Star-News, in a letter to the editor. Click here for the full text of this letter.

This utter fallacy of the mailer’s statement was analyzed in an earlier piece, click here. A more thorough analysis, thanks to Bill Coburn, can be found here:

Early on, one could be excused for the “$7.9M to $18.2M” nonsense because of lack of understanding of how to read budgets. But the lie wouldn’t die, and it’s not because of a misunderstanding: it’s a deliberate attempt to deceive voters into believing that Sierra Madre’s budget is out of control, and that the incumbents should be turned out of office as a result.

There have been several apologists for this mailer, claiming that neither Mary Ann McGillivary nor Kevin Paschall were behind it. In fact, none other than “Sir” Eric Maundry, aka John Crawford, has been identified as the Treasurer for this mysterious group. Nevertheless, the mailer is an obvious attempt at distorting the truth to assist the challengers in the April 8th election.

The disavowals notwithstanding, it is obvious that at least one challenger, Kevin Paschall, is at least a believer in the Gospel according to “Sir” Eric: on Paschall’s mailer, he claims he wants to “Stop Reckless Spending of Tax Dollars.” It is disturbing that a candidate for City Council has never taken the time to crack open the budget, read it, understand it, and taken informed positions on which to base his campaign platform. Instead, he simply believes what others tell him, and this is a dangerous approach to governance when that other person is the renowned liar himself, Sir Eric Maundry.

Maundry and his various alter egos and allies love to label those who disagree as the “dirts.” A clear case of the pot calling the kettle black!

“A liars punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.” (George Bernard Shaw)

Sir Eric and his Budget: The Emperor has no clothes

I could only shake my head in bemusement when I read a portion of “Sir” Eric’s post of March 31st, particularly this item:


“VERBOTEN TOPIC NUMBER 1: ‘Sierra Madre’s budget has ballooned from $7.9 million dollars in 2001 to $18.2 million in 2008.’”

We have all known for quite some time that Mr. Eric loves to stretch the truth so he can concoct silly conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, his tune never changes……he simply “cuts and pastes” his same old drivel over and over again, reorganizes it, and tries to pass it off as something original.

Several posters have tried to politely correct him, only to be flamed for their efforts. His presence – and those of his alter egos (for example, “Frank Discussion”) and his equally blinded buddies have stained the quality of discussion here.

Here’s a quote from his “verboten topic number 1:” “And as everyone should know by now (there have been notable exceptions), Sierra Madre’s budget for the year 2008 is $18.2 million.”

“Sir” Eric claims that the last audit filed by Sierra Madre was for the Fiscal Year 2000-2001; this is where he gets his “$7.9M” figure. This is wrong. The last audit was filed for Fiscal Year 2001-2002, and the equivalent figure is $9.4M. See this link.

Oh, but wait. The state is very clear that these annual reports are meant to depict general government revenues and expenditures. How about that? Which is to say, not all of any city’s several funds are included in this report. Did you know that, Eric? Of course you didn’t. In fact, in the FY 2001-2002 Sierra Madre budget – the audited one – there is a General Fund; 33 “Special Revenue Funds (otherwise knows as “Restricted Funds);” five Assessment Districts; two categories of “Proprietary Funds” (“Internal Service Funds,” which have five funds, and “Enterprise Funds,” which has 8 funds); a Capital Replacement Fund; and a Community Redevelopment Fund consisting of 3 funds. A total of 54 separate funds, totaling $18,897,553! But the state annual report only wants information from the General Fund and a few others, a total of $9,416,691. In fact, the Community Redevelopment Agency – about $4.3M all by itself, is required to file its own annual report separately. Did you know that too, Eric? Of course you didn’t.

The General Fund is the main operating fund for unrestricted resources. This is the fund that accounts for all the basic City services – police, fire, recreation, public works, planning, general government. This is the fund the consultants are paid out of, as well as legal services. In FY 2001-2002, the General Fund was $5,997,438.

What about these “Special Revenue Funds,” otherwise known as Restricted Funds, that Eric so lightly dismisses as fiction? Many of these funds are used for revenues from other government agencies that are restricted to a specific purpose. Under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP” – I’m sure Eric will dismiss this too, since it will be too complicated for him to understand), each revenue source must have its own fund. Other restricted funds include assessment districts. Examples of some Restricted Funds include transportation grants from federal, state and county agencies (such as ISTEA/T-21 federal grants; state gas taxes; “Proposition A” and “Proposition C” local transit grants; state park bonds, “Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants, etc. In FY 2001-02, these funds totaled $3,608,444. The amount of money Sierra Madre has in the Restricted Funds will vary from year to year based on grants the City is awarded as well as the fluctuations in formula-based funds (such as the state gas tax).

Very briefly, the FY 2007-2008 budget, the same General Fund is $6,199,494 (up from $5,997,438 in FY 2001-02). The total of all Restricted Funds is $18,246,539……..hey, wait! Isn’t that “Sir” Eric’s famous “18.2M” number?? Yup! He compares the FY 2001-02 General Fund to the FY 2007-08 Restricted Fund.

Hey, anybody could make that mistake, given the complexity of city budgets. But Eric has been corrected a zillion times over the last couple of months, and it never sinks in. He’s either addicted to his “cut and paste” fantasies (i.e., lazy), can’t read the budgets (stupid), or can’t tell the truth (liar). Given his persistence in repeating – oops, cut and pasting- his drivel, I think he’s all three.

None of this discussion relies on the lack of audits in the meantime – we’ve taken the last audited budget in FY 2002-02 and compared with the current budget, which can’t be audited until the fiscal year is over.

You can rant and rave all you want about what you dislike in the budget
itself – but try to understand what you’re complaining about.