Fighting to Protect West Pasadena From Traffic and Overdevelopment

By Steve Madison

Steve Madison led the long and successful fight to prevent the construction of more than a thousand new condos on Orange Grove Boulevard. Instead, we now have a school and a church--preserving the historic campus buildings, including Ambassador Auditorium.

Saying NO to professional football in the Rose Bowl: When the NFL proposed taking over the Rose Bowl for professional football, Steve Madison did his job. He listened carefully to the pros and cons, then he took decisive action to protect our neighborhoods.

Steve concluded that any possible benefits would be outweighed by the additional traffic, damage to the Arroyo, and other environmental impacts on nearby neighborhoods. So he cast the deciding NO vote to kill the NFL deal. Then he actively campaigned against the pro-NFL initiative campaign. In fact, Steve Madison was the largest single contributor to that successful campaign.

But just saying no to the NFL wasn't good enough for Steve Madison. He and others have been working ever since to find another way to secure the Rose Bowl's future--and now we've succeeded!

Taking action to halt hillside development: When a proposed residential development threatened to destroy the Annandale hillsides, Steve Madison worked to find a better way. Steve worked with Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, neighbors and the developer to preserve the 22-acre site as new public open space. The land was purchased with a combination of grants and an assessment district on nearby property owners--including Steve Madison.

Putting neighborhood interests ahead of political expediency: On many issues (like the Annandale hillside development) the City Council acts as a "court of appeal" instead of a legislative body. When that happens, Council members must be careful not to show any bias. Otherwise, they will be legally barred from voting on (or even discussing) the development at issue.

That can leave the neighborhoods most directly affected with no voice at the table--as recently happened on the IDS project near the Pasadena Playhouse. The Councilman from District 7 couldn't resist publicly campaigning against the development. As a result, he was forced to disqualify himself and the district where the project is located had no vote in the outcome!

District 6 has never been penalized in that way because Steve Madison has the experience and the judgment to protect our right to participate, even when doing so is politically inconvenient. He knows there are times when grandstanding against a development--no matter how tempting--is legally disastrous. Never once has he jeopardized our district's best interests for short-term political gain.