Through a Glass Wetly

I shot this on Monday at about 11:15 a.m. using a zoom through through the window of my office in the southwest wing on the second floor of City Hall.

There was a lull in the rain at that moment.

The Pasadena Robinson Memorial, seen through the branches of a magnolia tree, is highlighted with a splash of pink. The peach trees, in full blossom, commemorate the state of the Robinsons' birth: Georgia.

The bronze sculptures by Ralph Helmick, John Outterbridge and Stuart Schechter commemorate the lives of Jackie and Mack Robinson. If you've never taken a closer look, stop by sometime because the entire public art installation is extraordinary.

John Outterbridge is one of America’s most prominent African American artists who has another piece of public art in Pasadena: "Window with Ball." Ralph Helmick and Stuart Schechter are well-known artists from the east coast with commissions across the country.

Waverly Students at City Hall

I'll say it again: I love giving tours to school kids. Today more than 50 middle school students from The Waverly School arrived at about noon for a visit to our grand City Hall that lasted a full hour and a half.

Ordinarily I begin tours in the courtyard, but it was muddy and wet and cold.

So we headed straight to the Council Chamber where Mayor Bill Bogaard spoke to them about his duties and how local government ticks.


City Councilman Steve Madison invited the students to spread out around the dais so they could sit in council chiars and look out onto the audience. Speaking from the public podium, he provided an age-appropriate civics lesson and took questions from these extremely savvy youngsters. I was impressed with how well thought-out their questions were.


Then I took the students down into our basement where they were able to see our Traffic Management Center through a glass wall and learn all about digital traffic management from Joaquin Siques, one of our talented traffic engineers.


After coming back upstairs for a brief description of the building and its history, plus a little chat about the Robinson Memorial across the street, the students headed back to school, each with a City Hall postcard as a memento of their visit.

Thanks for coming, kids!