Recounting the top 10 stories of the year
Victor Espinoza reacts after crossing the finish line with American Pharoah to win the 147th running of the Belmont Stakes horse race at Belmont Park, Saturday, June 6, 2015. American Pharoah became the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed won it in 1978.
Wide-ranging events and newsmakers made their way into the pages of the Valley Sun.
As the city of La Cañada Flintridge closes the books on another calendar year, Valley Sun staff members leafed through a healthy stack of back issues in search of some of the top news items from 2015. What seemed like a relatively quiet year — compared to earlier, more disastrous ones evoking memories of fires, floods and accidents — upon closer inspection revealed the busy inner workings of a city at full hum as officials passed a slate of new regulations, La Cañada's academic excellence remained buoyed amid the state's transition to Common Core and as residents stepped up to play a more active role in water conservation and public safety.
"In general, we had a very good year," said Mayor David Spence, citing strong partnerships with county agencies, the completion of several public works projects and a strong financial outlook as key accomplishments in 2015. "When you really sit to put things down on paper, you start to realize we've been busy."
Here's a look at some of the highlights in La Cañada in 2015, in order of prominence.
- American Pharoah ends Triple Crown drought
- La Cañada neighborhood pieces together a tragedy
- Community conserves water in the wake of a state mandate
- LCF officials advocate against 710 tunnel
- Neighborhood watches on the rise
- An electionless election cycle
- La Cañada schools tackle Common Core — and win
- Sagebrush stalemate
- West Nile virus worries increase
- La Cañada High School earns national distinction
Victor Espinoza reacts after crossing the finish line with American Pharoah to win the 147th running of the Belmont Stakes horse race at Belmont Park, Saturday, June 6, 2015. American Pharoah became the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed won it in 1978.
Victor Espinoza reacts after crossing the finish line with American Pharoah to win the 147th running of the Belmont Stakes horse race at Belmont Park, Saturday, June 6, 2015. American Pharoah became the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed won it in 1978. (Kathy Willens / Associated Press)
La Cañada was pulled into the national spotlight in June when American Pharoah galloped into history on June 6 in Elmont, NY, claiming the Belmont Stakes and the third and most elusive jewel in the Triple Crown. Under the guidance of local trainer and La Cañada resident Bob Baffert, the 3-year-old American thoroughbred was the first to accomplish such a feat since 1978. "He's just a great horse," Baffert said in an interview immediately after the win. "It takes a great horse to win it."
Deputy Cecilia Hoschet, left, and Firefighter/Paramedic James M. Taylor. Officials said Hoschet was shot and killed by her husband, Taylor, at their La Cañada Flintridge home on Sunday, Sept. 6. Taylor then took his own life at a fire department building several miles away.
Deputy Cecilia Hoschet, left, and Firefighter/Paramedic James M. Taylor. Officials said Hoschet was shot and killed by her husband, Taylor, at their La Cañada Flintridge home on Sunday, Sept. 6. Taylor then took his own life at a fire department building several miles away. (Courtesy Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and Fire Department via Associated Press)
On the morning of Sept. 7, Paradise Canyon neighbors were shocked to learn that on the previous night a domestic homicide had occurred at a Crown Avenue home, followed shortly thereafter by the killer's suicide at his workplace. Sadness grew as details of the incident were brought to light, namely that the married couple had been county public safety employees and that they left behind a 6-year-old son, a first-grader at Paradise Canyon Elementary School.
In the days that followed, locals rallied behind the minor, helping establish a fund for him in his mother's name. "In times of crisis, our community's love and support of one another brings light and hope during the darkest of times," Paradise Canyon Principal Debra Cradduck wrote in an email to families. "We hope the family feels our community's support now and into the future."
A sign at the Union 76 gas station on Foothill Blvd. in La Cañada Flintridge notifies passersby of the need to conserve water amid the drought.
A sign at the Union 76 gas station on Foothill Blvd. in La Cañada Flintridge notifies passersby of the need to conserve water amid the drought. (File Photo)
In April, when Gov. Jerry Brown ordered Californians to reduce their water use by 25%, homes in La Cañada were using up to 350 gallons of water per person per day. The State Water Resources Control Board issued increased penalties for high-use districts, warning fines would be issued to agencies and homeowners grossly exceeding their limits.
Locals responded, sacrificing lawns and turning off taps. City officials purchased recycled water from Glendale to water its medians, and Descanso Gardens unveiled in April its own demonstration garden featuring low-water plants. The result? A steady reduction that's consistently floated past Brown's original mandate.
The terminus of the 710 Freeway at Valley Boulevard in Alhambra, as picture on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010.
The terminus of the 710 Freeway at Valley Boulevard in Alhambra, as picture on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)
Local activists joined city and school officials to oppose a 4.5-mile tunnel proposed in an environmental review of 710 Freeway extension projects released in March by the California Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
In addition to passing a resolution against the $5.6-billion tunnel project, La Cañada elected officials rallied with other anti-tunnel municipalities to examine and rebut findings of the environmental report and formed "Beyond the 710," a coalition that put forth alternatives to freeway completion.
"It's time that we built a project the entire region could embrace and support," former La Cañada City Councilman Don Voss said in a May 6 public hearing on the 710 options. "Let's build something that will make our grandchildren proud, not sick."
Determined to reverse a troubling upward trend in residential burglaries that began in late 2014, La Cañada homeowners formed neighborhood watch groups and began using social media sites to update and inform themselves on crime activity, suspicious goings-on and tips for keeping homes, cars and streets free of crime.
Although the effectiveness of the campaign is difficult to measure, a quick search on the online crime mapping service crimemapping.com shows only one residential burglary occurred this month, compared to 21 last December.
Under the direction of newly appointed Mayor Dave Spence, right, outgoing council members Laura Olhasso and Donald Voss are given a standing ovation at La Cañada City Hall on Monday, March 16, 2015.
Under the direction of newly appointed Mayor Dave Spence, right, outgoing council members Laura Olhasso and Donald Voss are given a standing ovation at La Cañada City Hall on Monday, March 16, 2015. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
This year, three seats on the La Cañada Flintridge City Council (Laura Olhasso, Don Voss and Mike Davitt) as well as two on the La Cañada Unified School District Governing Board (Andrew Blumenfeld and Ellen Multari) were up for grabs to any interested parties looking to lead.
In a rare turn of events, there were an equal number of contenders for both, causing cancellations — two from among 55 races canceled countywide in the Nov. 3 election cycle. New members were sworn in, leaving some community members wondering whether the absence of campaigning and the rigor of public debates might have affected the democratic process.
City Hall reports saving election costs of $85,000. The savings to LCUSD are less clear; the County Voter Registrar's office says election savings to the district totaled approximately $45,000 while LCUSD officials pegged the number at $100,000.
After being given years to prepare for California's transition to Common Core standards and the new, online assessments that would accompany them, La Cañada Unified School District learned its hard work and preparation paid dividends in September, when test results showed students in six of the seven grade levels who'd taken the new California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress tests last spring earned No. 1 rankings in English, while five grade levels placed in the top three statewide in math. Overall, 85% of students who were tested met or exceeded the state's standard in English, with 82% meeting or exceeding the math benchmark.
Mountain Avenue School in La Crescenta is one of the schools that would be affected if a plan to transfer the Sagebrush area to La Cañada Unified is approved. Unite LCF, a group of residents living in the Sagebrush area of La Cañada, announced it will move ahead with plans to collect signatures from residents in a petition that could eventually be submitted to the Los Angeles County Office of Education.
Mountain Avenue School in La Crescenta is one of the schools that would be affected if a plan to transfer the Sagebrush area to La Cañada Unified is approved. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)
Discussions between La Cañada and Glendale unified school districts over possibly transferring homes in westernmost LCF to La Cañada Unified hit a snag after GUSD Supt. Dick Sheehan left in May to take a position in Covina.
In June, La Cañada city officials took a seat at the table, chipping in one-third of the $15,000 required to hire a Sacramento consultant to help move the process along. With little progress made since, citizens group Unite LCF announced last month it would begin collecting signatures for a petition that could provoke the county to weigh in.
"We feel like we need to move forward," Unite LCF chair and Sagebrush resident Tom Smith said in an interview.
When city officials learned in August a mosquito sample taken by the county's Vector Control District near the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Oak Grove Drive tested positive for West Nile virus, they immediately set about warning residents to take precautions to prevent bites and infestation.
In the months that followed, two Glendale residents were stricken with the virus, resulting in one fatality.
"No matter where you are in La Cañada Flintridge, it's safe to say West Nile virus is actively circulating there," said vector control spokesman Levy Sun. "Mosquitoes don't really care about city boundaries — they'll go wherever the blood is."
La Cañada High School was recognized Sept. 29 as a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education.
La Cañada High School was recognized Sept. 29 as a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. (File Photo)
The LCHS community was pleased, if not entirely surprised, to learn in September the school had been named a National Blue Ribbon School, a designation bestowed by the U.S. Department of Education for academic excellence.
It was the third time the campus received such an honor (1992 and 2004 were also winning years), but administrators and staff were just as thrilled to travel to the nation's capitol in November to participate in a formal recognition ceremony.
"Receiving the Blue Ribbon Award is a wonderful way to recognize the remarkable dedication of our students, our faculty and the La Cañada community," LCHS Principal Ian McFeat said in an email on his way home from Washington, D.C. "This is another return on the investment which the La Cañada community has made in LCHS."
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
