Growth Initiative in Pasadena

In the Political Notebook column (Times, June 18), you erroneously state that Pasadena has in place a “no-growth initiative of 1989.”

You are speaking of the PRIDE Initiative, now called the Growth Management Initiative (GMI), and it is anything but no-growth.

This is the propaganda cry of the overdevelopment crowd to distract all from the residents of Pasadena’s overwhelming desire for responsible growth-rate limits that target development and provide citizen control of development.

The PRIDE Initiative has no limits on the following development:

All non-residential projects in the Northwest Enterprise Zone.

All new buildings or expansions of existing up to 25,000 square feet anywhere in the city.

All development within the Civic Center.

All affordable housing anywhere in the city.

All housing of any income level in all redevelopment areas.

All approved master plans for development--more than 25 areas, including Huntington Hospital, Caltech and Fuller Seminary.

This is clearly not “no-growth.”

What is controlled are the large commercial projects and multiunit expensive housing that have ignored the residents’ desire for affordable housing, jobs for Pasadenans and the retention of quality development, not quantity.

In November, Pasadenans will have to vote once more on GMI. We see a campaign full of the same rhetoric as that of Dr. Jacobs’ predictable outbursts.

MIKE SALAZAR

PRIDE (Pasadena Residents In

Defense of our Environment)

Editor’s Note: The article quoted from a speech by businessman Joseph Jacobs.