No more walk-ins at City Hall, info on La Cañada coronavirus cases won’t be released
La Cañada Flintridge City Hall will close its doors to the general public beginning Thursday, allowing only city employees and visitors with pre-scheduled appointments to enter the building, to help combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Meanwhile, a special meeting of the City Council will be called in the coming days to keep residents informed of local measures being taken and determine whether and where further municipal action should be taken.
City Manager Mark Alexander announced in a council meeting Tuesday the reduced physical access will be in effect through March 31 and is subject to further extension.
Council chambers were nearly empty and furnished to allow for social distancing, while council members Jon Curtis, Terry Walker and Mayor Pro Tem Greg Brown participated via conference call. Public comments from people who did not physically attend Tuesday’s meeting were taken by email.
Alexander said all public events and nonessential city commission meetings, including a series of zoning code updates scheduled by the Planning Commission have been canceled.
Lanterman Auditorium will also be closed starting Thursday, and the city’s skate park will cease operation for as long as La Cañada Unified School District campuses remain physically closed.
La Cañada’s local response comes as cases of novel coronavirus have been identified in Glendale, Pasadena and Altadena. USC Verdugo Hills Hospital announced Monday a patient at the facility was being treated after testing positive for the virus that causes COVID-19.
As of Wednesday afternoon, 192 cases of the novel coronavirus had been reported countywide, with one fatality recorded.
Officials learned La Cañada Flintridge will not receive news about transmissions occurring inside city limits, after the Los Angeles Department of Public Health declared it would not report new cases occurring in cities with populations under 25,000 people.
“We’re not going to be informed that we have a case in La Cañada Flintridge,” Alexander told the City Council, adding that the decision was made to protect the individual identities of patients living in smaller cities.
The city is operating under a mandate made Monday by County Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer calling for the immediate closure of all gyms, bars and entertainment centers. The county has also limited restaurants to delivery, drive-through and take-out service only.
Alexander said complaints about violations should be made by calling the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station at (818) 248-3464, as it is the agency responsible for enforcing the county order.
Questions about the city’s response to the coronavirus can be emailed to covidresponse@lcf.ca.gov, and information will be available at the city’s website, cityoflcf.gov.
Also Tuesday, council members:
Approved a funding agreement with Metro in the amount of $3.288 million for the completion of the city’s Phase III sound wall project, which includes two walls along the Foothill (210) Freeway, from west of Vineta Avenue to an eastbound on-ramp east of Georgian Road and a northside wall from Baptiste Way at Vineta to the westbound freeway exit at Crown Avenue. Funding was initially approved in 2018, and an engineering firm is actively designing the three segments. A total of 12 emailed comments from residents supporting the project were noted by city officials.
Redirected $16,000 of unused Fiscal Year 2019-20 community development block grants, previously dedicated for sewer connection assistance, toward ADA parking lot and entrance improvements at the Community Center. Some $7,500 will be left in the sewer fund for connection improvement requests that may come in during the current fiscal year.
Learned that a traffic signal installation at the juncture of Oak Grove Drive and Berkshire Place being undertaken by the county’s Public Works Department is anticipated to be completed by April 9, just six days before the county’s current estimated start of the second hauling season of the Devil’s Gate Dam sediment removal project, which could begin as soon as April 15.
