Claremont Insider Outsources to India

Pasadena Now may still be waiting for their first stories from India (see below), but the Claremont Insider has already outsourced a hilarious post on Claremont news.

Bogaard's Bike Shorts

The PSN has a photo gallery up from yesterday's ride to kick off Bike Week. Take a look and compare their shots to reader AA's photos, which we posted a mere hour or two after the event (our greatest scoop to date, *wink*).

Reporting City Council Meetings

Well, the first Pasadena City Council meeting since the India brouhaha has come and gone (video here, click on the May 14th meeting). Unfortunately, coverage from the subcontinent will not be forthcoming, not this week anyway, as the AP notes:

[Pasadena Now] was planning to put the work from the reporters online this week -- but the plans have been postponed because of the reaction that has been received.

James Macpherson says he has been so deluged with media requests about the plan he hasn't had time to train the correspondents.

Until they do get trained up, Todd Ruiz will remain without much competition. So, what did he have to say in the PSN about last night's meeting?

With a school board loathe to air its dirty laundry and a City Council that tries to relegate the thornier issues to outside of chambers, Monday's meeting at the Pasadena Conference Center was mostly a recap of successful joint efforts.

Indeed. James Macpherson argued, via email, that such a perspective is something he could have added while editing the piece, a point made by Ed Barrera among others. Of course, we'll have to wait at least another week to see if that's really the case.

Arroyo Seco Swept

A reader who wishes to remain anonymous (what is with you guys?) forwarded us an email from the Arroyo Seco Foundation, touting the success of Saturday's cleanup in the Arroyo Seco.

The natural stretch of the Arroyo just above the Colorado Street Bridge was alive with energetic volunteers Saturday as the Arroyo Seco Foundation joined with Friends of the Los Angeles River for the 18th annual Great L.A. River CleanUp 2007, La Gran Limpieza. An eager crew of 116 volunteers waded through the stream and the shoreline to remove more than 900 pound of trash include an abandoned shopping cart, a manhole cover, a smashed tv and plastic, plastic and more plastic from the streamzone.

A manhole cover? How on earth...

Good on the ASF for organizing this.

The India Incident: Macpherson Responds

[NB: Post bumped to the top by reader request. Regular FC coverage continues below.]

By all accounts, James Macpherson got quite a bit more than he bargained for when he made the decision to hire a pair of Indian reporters to cover Pasadena's local news. Jill at Eye Level Pasadena has a massive list of everyone who's talking about the story in the blogosphere and the media. Our own comments got more of a response than we anticipated. To add to the folks we noted last week, LAist had an interesting post on the subject that included our thoughts and a Newsweek article featured some of our comments.

Between emails with these people and the comments, we've been having a great conversation about local journalism generally and Pasadena Now's situation specifically. But now, we can happily add the thoughts of the person at the center of this media firestorm, James Macpherson. While he has come in for some serious criticism in some quarters, perhaps his words will make the most bitter critics reconsider.

James Macpherson says:

I have been struggling for over two years to grow a website which will serve the public good and which will strive to present news and information without bias in a community which I believe is underserved by local media.

I have sold family heirlooms and given this effort my all, because I believe this community will be a better place to live in if we use the internet to connect the community. I have briefed public officials on the use of the internet to connect citizens and government, advocated for the arts, and given of myself to help this community become a better place.

I’ve struggled financially, and if people think I’m rich or greedy they haven’t bothered to check.

The idea of using writers based in India came to me as one of dozens and dozens ideas I’ve had over two years to keep my website growing on a non-existent budget.

Let’s be clear: This isn’t outsourcing in the sense it replaces employees (I’ve never employed writers); with a budget of only $400 a week it’s not like I can afford to hire too many.

My concept was to locate ghostwriters, educated and experienced writers who would follow my instructions, use my research and interview transcripts, and produce contents for me at my direction.

I’ve been asked if I tried to use local college student interns first, before I tied this. Answer: Of course I have. You should see all my correspondence with PCC, USC, Citrus College, Glendale Community College, Azusa Pacific, Cal Poly Pomona, and La Verne? I ended up finding a wonderful young woman from Azusa Pacific, who did well for us, plus four USC interns, of whom only one ever turned in even one article. I got in trouble from the Old Pasadena Merchants Association with that article, who demanded I remove it.

I had to work like crazy calling and contacting Professors and Job Centers at these Colleges and Universities to find prospective writers and it was – except for USC, which is very well organized – like pulling teeth to get any students to apply or return my telephone calls. I just gave up, I don’t have time for playing games.

Oh, and the lovely young gal who was an intern at Azusa Pacific? She graduated and now will work only for $30,000 a year (for the first 30 days, then a review) plus wants health insurance and vacations. She also stipulated 9am to 5pm, please – Monday through Friday.

In the beginning, this was a simple idea to convert the raw material I gather – photographs, recorded interviews, notes, and background research – into articles that are crafted the way I prefer and reflect my goals of objectivity and accuracy.

It was a simple idea to serve my fellow citizens.

A lot of commenters have been asking "isn't there anyone around here who would do it?" It seems as if, even if there are writers around, they're hard to find.

Frankly, unlike many of the people who have emailed us, we don't have some kind of jingoistic aversion to foreigners covering our local news. In fact, given the James' troubles in keeping a dedicated local journalist, it sounds like there's a niche for writers who will do the serious grunt work (e.g. watching every minute of city council meetings) and write it up. With a good editor, as Ed Barrera has noted, there's no reason to think they couldn't cover a lot of the basic happenings in the city.

To Macpherson's credit, there really isn't anyone covering these kinds of local issues that thoroughly. If a city council meeting runs late, reporters have to make deadlines and people often leave. Having someone sit through every single meeting and looking at other happenings around the city with the same exhaustiveness is a service that isn't really being provided.

That being said, a lot of local news really is tied to an incredibly complex web of people and issues that often can't be or just aren't directly mentioned in the article. Those kinds of connections probably aren't going to be made thousands of miles away.

Enough of us pontificating, let's hear your thoughts in the comments.

Bill Bogaard Leads Bike Bonanza

To celebrate Pasadena Bike to Work Week, Mayor Bill Bogaard donned his biking gear and pedaled from One Colorado to City Hall this morning followed by a caravan of cycling enthusiasts. Reader AA sent us pictures from the event with the note, "Photos of this morning. No, I'm not emailing from Bangalore."

You're the soul of wit, AA (don't worry, he's a friend). Enjoy the photos.



Mayor Bogaard addresses the gather cyclists at One Colorado.



The Bicycling Buccaneer arrives, just before the cavalcade set off.



Bipedal and bi-pedaling officers of the law accompanied the group.



Even though speakers had emphasized how safe it was to ride to work, the cyclists had a car leading them, flashing lights, and stopping traffic, including our reader AA who followed in the car.

Russell Rustles Up Errors

Kelly L.C. Russell at WCGB had some criticism for a recent Pasadena Weekly article.

I am a fan of the Pasadena Weekly. But someone was asleep at the wheel when this article about CHAP (Community Health Alliance of Pasadena) was written.

The first three paragraphs are incorrect. Dr. Preedar Oreggio did not leave CHAP to work at Union Station. For the past couple of years, CHAP has employed Dr. Oreggio to work at Union Station twice a week, and pays him to do it.

I find it ironic that with all the hubbub about local news reporting (Look Ma! We’re on NPR!), even a simple item like this one got completely botched. I’ve no kind words for the writing style either.

No kind words indeed. But Russell caught a small host of mistakes, so it sounds like they are merited. Even more interesting is the response from the PW. Kevin Urich says...

For us I think it’s more of a problem with in-sourcing; pulling in real-life kids from the comforts of places like USC and PCC and La Verne and giving them a chance to do things that are sometimes a little above their present capabilities.

Woof, between Macpherson and Urich, local aspiring journalists have taken a real beating. Is it true? Are the kids not alright? And what about the editing/fact-checking? Who's responsible there? Read the rest of the post for more interesting comments.

Arroyo Seco Sweep on Saturday

For those interested in getting their feet wet and hands dirty, this Saturday, from 9AM to noon, the Arroyo Seco will be getting a spring cleaning, courtesy of the broader effort to clean up the LA River. Folks who want to take part in the Gran Limpieza of the Arroyo Seco (which is being headed up by the Arroyo Seco Foundation), should pop into the Lower Arroyo lot or Lot 1 at the Rose Bowl.

Unfortunately, we can't confirm whether any reporters from Pasadena Now will be there.

More on the Pasadena-India Connection UPDATED

We've gotten a huge response to the news that Pasadena Now is outsourcing its news coverage to India, and we've tallied up the latest on the web (and in the comments).

The LAT Business section wrote up the case, noting of the two reporters that "one lives in Mumbai and will be paid $12,000 a year. The other will work in Bangalore for $7,200." More importantly, Macpherson isn't content with just two: "Macpherson plans to hire half a dozen more Indian reporters." Half a dozen? He's hiring a veritable army.

Many thanks to Larry Wilson of the PSN for making this good point:

thanks for the excellent reporting and commentary. for more (can't speak to the excellent part), you might see my column in today's star-news, and alex pham's story in today's times business section. one small point: the ap did not get this story by beating the bushes (or even getting a tip) locally. one of its new delhi correspondents saw it on the craigslist for india, not a site i find myself perusing much for pasadena news. larry wilson, editor, pasadena star-news

We were speculating ourselves as to how on earth anyone would find this story. As we noted yesterday, the contributor from the story is indeed in New Dehli. In this case, it seems he just got lucky, though one can imagine a fair number of journalists looking to change jobs might poke around on Craigslist. For Larry's take (which, oddly enough, makes no mention of our post), click here. He also was quoted in the previously mentioned LAT article as saying, "To pretend you can get the feel and the culture of a town as complicated and interesting as Pasadena by e-mailing and doing things over the Internet is nutty." You can't blame him for being unclear.

Reason Magazine's Hit & Run also picked up our comments, and their post elicited a great discussion in the comments. Check it out here.

Also, lots of other thoughtful folks have left interesting comments. Check out Ed Barrera, Jill, and all the other great comments.

Finally, to the list of "blogs with curious names that have linked us," we can now add Los Angeles Times Pressmens 20 Year Club (who also had some good things to say in our comments), Fancy Store-Bought Dirt and skippy the bush kangaroo.

UPDATE: Added LAT article info.

PasadenaNow Outsources Local News Coverage UPDATED

Yes, you heard that right. Our very own Pasadena Now has outsourced its local news coverage to India. No, I kid you not. The news is spreading, fast (hell, it's already in Boston).

Before I launch into a curmudgeonly tirade about the downfall of local journalism, let's give James Macpherson a chance to make his point, as quoted by the AP:

James Macpherson, editor and publisher of the two-year-old Web site pasadenanow.com, acknowledged it sounds strange to have journalists in India cover news in this wealthy city just outside Los Angeles.

But he said it can be done from afar now that weekly Pasadena City Council meetings can be watched over the Internet. And he said the idea makes business sense because of India’s lower labor costs.

"I think it could be a significant way to increase the quality of journalism on the local level without the expense that is a major problem for local publications," said the 51-year-old Pasadena native. "Whether you’re at a desk in Pasadena or a desk in Mumbai, you’re still just a phone call or e-mail away from the interview."

That's true, to a certain degree. The type of journalistic coverage Macpherson is talking about really could be done by someone in another country, largely because their "coverage" often consists of little more than glorified press releases and parroting of the local media.

To be sure, there's a lot of good work that can be done online. Lord knows the majority of our information comes to us online and we depend upon the web as invaluable research tool. But there are clear limits to using the internet to report on local news and politics.

At the least, it would be very difficult to understand the issues Pasadena faces, from a development perspective, without having your feet on the ground, without walking the streets of Pasadena. To understand why Robin Salzer and Jacque Robinson both emphasized neighborhood security in their campaigns, it helps a lot to walk up and down the streets north of the 210, just to get a feel for the neighborhood. And it's difficult to imagine anyone being able to offer original content on the renovation of Pasadena's City Hall without ever being able to visit.

Of course, that's not to stay that the state of local journalism in Pasadena and the Foothill Cities is just hunky dory. If anything, McPherson's decision demonstrates that the opposite is the case. Expectations for local reporting are such that it's not beyond the pale for him to hire someone in India. And as the proliferation of a local blogosphere demonstrates, from the Claremont Insider to your very own Foothill Cities, there are a lot of folks who want more.

Local journalism is entering into a tumultous transitional stage. From part-time bloggers like ourselves to the full-time efforts like Pasadena Now to the Pasadena Star-News, everyone is trying to figure out just what niche they can carve out, how they can contribute to local news coverage and debate, and (perhaps most importantly) how they can make a buck. How it will end up is anyone's guess, but we certainly doubt that it will end up in India.

One final ironic note: from what we can tell, this eminently local story was picked up by, of all people, an Associated Press reporter—not the local press. In other words, as things stand the local media already often takes its cue from outsiders. We don't fault MacPherson for simply being logical given the sorry state of local reporting, but clearly this isn't carrying the ball forward—its simply accepting the sad state of the status quo.

UPDATE:
Props to Kevin Roderick for the link. As he notes, the AP report was also printed in the SF Chronicle, which reveals that "Associated Press Writer Matthew Rosenberg in New Delhi, India, contributed to this report." It also links to the original craigslist advertisement, which says:

We seek one to two 500-word articles each day Monday through Friday (depending on news that is occuring) PLUS two weekly in-depth Special Reports which focus on the City Council's weekly Council Meeting ... The Council meeting is televised on the Internet.
...
We do not believe that geographic distance betwen California and India will present unsurmountable problems, and that working together with you will result in your development of a keen working knowledge of this City's affairs. This will result in accurate and authoritative News reports.

Surge Failing, Violence Rising

No, we're not talking about Baghdad. Violence in the Crown City is threatening to undermine claims of success for Operation Safe City. Mary Frances Gurton reports for the Star-News:

Escalated gang-suppression efforts by the Pasadena Police Department will continue indefinitely following the shooting deaths of two men this week in the most recent spate of violence in the city, officials said.

The three-month-long effort, dubbed Operation Safe City, began after a surge of six shootings left two young men dead in early February. It had been scheduled to end Wednesday, according to Pasadena police Chief Bernard Melekian.

But that deadline is now forgotten as the department tries to figure out how to quell the killings.

So much for Mission Accomplished. Unfortunately, the violence isn't limited to shootings.

Later, around 4:40 p.m., a stabbing was committed in the 700 block of East Orange Grove boulevard, said Cmdr. John Perez. The assailants were two male Latinos and the victim an African-American man.

Talking to a friend who lives in North Pasadena (not far from the recent violence) last night, I discovered that he was unaware of any of the three shootings or the stabbing. That fact seems hardly surprising given the coverage the shootings intially received and the general difficulty for average folks to know what's going on in their community (even people like ourselves who are keeping eyes peeled for this kind of news).

Bad News Unbearable?

Remember the recent shooting in Pasadena? It wasn't the only one in Pasadena. And the West Coast Grrl thinks the Star-News is burying bad news.

I didn’t go to “J” school (as journalists call it), but it strikes me as odd to put this “hard news” in Around Pasadena, buried on page 2 of the Local News section–right where the police (? say it ain’t so!) or the developers want it, no doubt.

Indeed. The Grrl's eyes are better than ours, because we gave the front page headlines a quick scan and missed page 2 entirely. While it's hardly news that gangs are operating in Pasadena, homicidal gang violence should always be. As the recent runoff election demonstrated, for some districts it's the biggest concern (yes, PSN, even bigger than traffic). Is it the nefarious pressure of public safety officials and/or developers? That is beyond our ken. But either way, the Grrl's point stands:

Pasadena residents will never be able to address complex issues of gang violence if they don’t even know there is gang violence in this city. Notice I say residents, because the police cannot solve this problem. C’mon Star-News, time to step up. I don’t want to read about how the Pasadena Fire Department is saving pets on page one of Local News (with color photos), then read about our dead and wounded young men on page two.

Read all WCGB's commentary here. The PSN's page 2 coverage can be found online here.

Ruiz on Renatta

It looks Renata Cooper is wasting no time in becoming a force on the PUSD Board:

It was universally assumed the school board would pick for its president member Scott Phelps, who was named vice president some months back when Peter Soelter appeared to game the system to ascend to that position.

Apparently newly elected member Renatta Cooper had something different in mind, as she nominated Esteban Lizardo when the question was brought. And with what had to be uneasy unanimity, everyone accepted that.

Sorry, Scott and Pete, but you know how it goes; the best laid plans...

Todd Ruiz has more at Under the Dome.

Even better, Ruiz also has the full list of tunes on those CDs Paul Little was passing out. Fishbone, Paul? Wow, you're a hipper than we would have expected.

Paul Little Defies the Man

That's right, Paul Little's an anti-establishment renegade. Why else would he listen to "The Wall?" Todd Ruiz describes the changing of the guard at Pasadena City Hall.

Paul Little won't be remembered as a politician of few words, but on Monday night he summarized his dozen years on the City Council with music.

"My City was Gone" by the Pretenders, Neil Young's "Crime in the City" and Pink Floyd's "The Wall" rounded out a home-made CD that Little gave to his colleagues as he made his bow with Councilwoman Joyce Streator and made way for their successors.

"When you're on your way home at night and it's 2 a.m., and you're thinking it was so much fun having Paul around, pop this into your CD player," he said, before apologizing to Mayor Bill Bogaard for not including a track from punk rockers The Ramones.

More in the PSN.

Pasadena Shooting Update

The PSN account of yesterday's shooting can be found here. No word yet on whether it's gang-related, but we'd be very surprised if it wasn't.

Racism and the City Development Corp.

That's it, we've got to start attending city council meetings more regularly, if only to avoid hearing this news a week later.

A dispute on the City Council over a multimillion-dollar Northwest development project exploded last week with accusations of racism when a prominent African-American developer was not awarded exclusive negotiating rights.

The regular City Council meeting went into meltdown after nearly three hours of debate on whether to enter into sole negotiations with the Bakewell Company and its partner Century Housing for the contract to build Heritage Square, a residential and commercial complex on 2.82 acres at the northeast corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Orange Grove Boulevard.

The city paid about $9 million for the property, which staff now estimates is worth about $11 million.

Wait a sec? The city paid $9 million for this property? Why is the city involved? Last time I checked, commercial and residential development was a task that private developers were perfectly capable of handling. You want to build a new development? Buy the property, hire contractors/developers whatever you need, and then try to sell your new office space or condos. There's no reason for the city to be involved.

Unless, of course, the city is steering tax dollars back into the city through this "redevelopment," precluding those dollars from going through the Sacramento washing machine. I'd have no problem with that except it creates situations like this one: suddenly the city council is deciding what private developer gets to build on the property. What happens if the city picks the wrong developer and costs balloon? Who picks up the tab? Well, as history demonstrates, the taxpayers of Pasadena:

Mayor Bill Bogaard, along with City Councilmen Steve Madison, Sid Tyler and Steve Haderlein, said they weren't ready to award the contract exclusively because of concerns arising after an independent financial analysis by Keyser Marston Associates said Bakewell underestimated the project's cost and left a $5.12 million funding gap.

Some of their misgivings are fueled by Bakewell's development of Renaissance Plaza across the street, which required a significant municipal subsidy.

Let's not dress it up: "a significant municipal subsidy" is dollars out of the pockets of Pasadenans, to pay for a development that we had no say in. The incentive structure is all wrong here: when you're the owner of a development, you have a lot of self-interest to make sure that you pick the right person from an economic viewpoint. When you're a city councilman, you have lots of other competing incentives: perhaps one developer is a big campaign donor, or, as it's been alleged here, the council has a "preferred" developer.

The allegations of racism here, particularly given that they seem rather out of the blue, are secondary to a much bigger problem; namely, the city performing a function it shouldn't. I think we can all agree that "municipal subsidies" for developers is nothing more than a handout for business. Free market fanatics and anti-capitalists can both agree that's a bad thing.

Pasadena Blogger Meet 'n Greet

A bunch of FC bloggers got together over the weekend, at the invitation of Jill.

Some folks may have been under the impression we weren't able to make it. On the contrary! As the picture notes we had an excellent view of the proceedings from our vantage point on the far side of a nearby parked vehicle.

Ah, the curse of anonymity.

FC Has Bad Traffic; Star-News Gripes

File this one in the "So what should we do about it" category. The PSN has an editorial saying that traffic is the worst part of being alive and living in the FC.

That's right: worse than terrorism, worse than gangs ("Gang members tend to kill other gang members; only when innocents get in the way does the greater community take notice." Um, "get in the way?" Sounds awfully like they're blaming the victims), and worse than global warming (No! Impossible!).

So, what else is new? This traffic epidemic didn't just explode on the scene. And what does the PSN recommend? Massive public investment in infrastructure? Innovative new private toll roads to offer alternate routes? Deregulating the bus industry to allow better service and competition? Broader commitment to light rail?

Actually, no, all the unsigned editorial says is that "Southern California transportation officials ought to take note. We, too, have a crisis on our hands that demands swift, immediate attention."

Ah, yes, if only local transportation officials would just take note. Next time, guys, let's come up with some solutions, because folks in the Foothill Cities are aware of traffic. After all, we're the ones sitting in it.

Breaking News: Drive-By Shooting in Pasadena

From CBS:

One person was killed Monday afternoon and another was gravely wounded in an apparent driveby shooting in Pasadena, authorities said.

The gunfire occurred about 1:50 p.m. at 120 E. Washington Blvd., according to Lisa Derderian of the Pasadena Police Department.

It looks like the shooting took place in District 3. We'll see what city folks have to say.

Pasadena City Council Tonight

It's happening tonight: the old councilmembers will be sent packing, the election results formally approved and statements by the various city council folks. No massaging permitted, er, permits or similar fun. Guess we'll have to wait till next week for that.