[ACT] Hahamongna Watershed Park Update: Road to a "new" (JPL) parking lot?

[Meb787 at aol.com]

Lori, 
The west parking lot would be "new" only in the sense that it would be a  new 
parking lot for park users.  It has been used by JPL employees for  23 years. 
 In 1986 it was put in during a JPL construction project as a  "temporary" 
lot for JPL employees with the pledge that it would be returned to  open space 
within five years.
JPL's use of the lot has not been a problem for the park in terms  of traffic 
because JPL has its own internal network of roads.
 
The language in the lease permitting joint use of the west parking lot  by 
JPL and park users is very worrisome for several  reasons:
 
1.  There is no way to get there from here!  There is no  way for the cars of 
park users to get to that parking lot unless a new road is  built through the 
heart of the park - either on the Hahamongna Annex or on the  perimeter 
trail.  
 
2.  Once the road is built through the park, who knows how extensive  will be 
the development that follows?  There is an extensive history of  development 
proposals for Hahamongna which many of you may recall.  More  about that 
later. 
 
3.  Until JPL goes public with its parking garage plans, how do we  know that 
the parking garage won't reappear on the west parking lot at some  later 
date?  You may recall that, during the Master Plan process, there was  concern 
that this parking garage would be used for Rose Bowl parking.  That  turned out 
to be a well-founded concern.  A technical report to the  HWP Master Plan 
prepared by The Natelson Company. which I only obtained  recently, discusses the 
use of the Hahamongna parking garage for Rose Bowl  parking in considerable 
detail.
 
I realize that JPL has a real headache in trying to find a place to park  
those 1200 cars which are now parked in the east lot.  Given  JPL's sensitivity 
to community concerns, I cannot believe that the lab  would agree to a solution 
which would degrade the park with traffic and new  roads.  They need to let 
the public know what their plans are, though, to  put these concerns to rest.
 
As Lori said, there will be much more about this in the months ahead.   If 
you know of anyone who is particularly interested in Hahamongna who may not  be 
on the lists, could you please email me his/her name?
 
I couldn't agree with Lori more that this is about the future.  This  is our 
chance to keep a few acres rustic and natural so that others may  enjoy the 
birds, the wildlife, the hikes and rides, all that we  have been privileged to 
enjoy.  The challenge will be to overcome a  development mentality that sees 
every bit of open space only in terms of the  short-term problems which it can 
solve - a mentality that sees no land as  off limits no matter how special it 
may be and no matter how much and how long  the community has insisted that it 
be protected.
 
We need your help.
Mary B.
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 1/19/2009 7:04:55 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
gaboon at sbcglobal.net writes:
 


*Available for cross-posting...  


Dear Neighbors, Trail Users & Those Who Care About Hahamongna  Watershed Park,


As the protracted and arcane planning for the future of Hahamongna  Watershed 
Park (HWP) proceeds with the City of Pasadena, there have been  numerous 
public workshops, advisory committee meetings, a major "charette" and  so forth. I 
have reported on only a few, but suffice to say that "public input  fatigue" 
set in long ago among those stubborn souls who have attempted to  follow the 
entire "process" over the many years.


It is time to bring a new matter to your attention.


After repeated and overwhelming opposition from community participants to  
Pasadena's plans to build additional parking lots and a new vehicular road  
within this natural wildland park, Pasadena continues to work towards such a  road 
while no one is looking. Most recently, the Pasadena City Council, at its  12 
January 2009 meeting, approved an amendment to the City's lease with JPL  
that includes public use of what is currently a JPL-only (within the Lab)  
parking lot on the west side of the HWP. For the public to access that  parking lot 
from outside JPL, a new road would need to be built across the  park, per 
prior plans opposed by the park users.