Jess Rivas - Pasadena City Council District 5

06/02/2026

05/22/2026

Packed agenda, but we had a meaningful discussion on Flock licensee plate readers that we will continue at future meeting. See full recording here: https://pasadena.granicus.com/player/clip/8541?view_id=35&redirect=true&utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio

05/21/2026

The Pasadena City Council voted this week to clear the way for new apartments for low-income fire survivors. But some council members noted their hesitancy to approve the project, saying their hands were tied by state law.

Mayor Victor Gordo joined the rest of the council in denying an appeal from homeowners opposed to the project that would bring 133 units of low-income housing to East Pasadena. But he expressed reluctance, blaming state lawmakers for pitting local elected leaders against the interests of existing residents.

The council vote upheld an earlier Design Commission approval for the developer’s plans, which include adapting a former office building into 50 units of permanent supportive housing for tenants including formerly unhoused people. A new five-story building will include another 81 units of income-restricted housing. Two units will be for property managers.

Members of the Lower Hastings Ranch Association appealed the project’s design approval, arguing the project was too tall, too dense and unsuited to the neighborhood.

Read more at the link in comments.

✍️ David Wagner
📷 Matt Gush/iStock

05/20/2026

The only thing growing faster than the artificial-intelligence industry may be Americans’ negative feelings about it.

In one poll after another in recent weeks, respondents have overwhelmingly voiced concerns about AI, a challenge to claims by industry executives that their technology would gain popularity by improving people’s lives.

Consumers resent energy-price jumps exacerbated by the spread of data centers. Workers fear widespread job losses. Parents worry about AI undermining education and harming children’s mental health.

In recent months, the wave of anger has brought protests, swayed election results and spurred isolated acts of violence.

Pollsters and historians say the souring of public opinion is all but unprecedented in its speed.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen something intensify this quickly,” Gregory Ferenstein, who conducted a recent poll with researchers at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, said of the backlash.

🔗 Read more: https://on.wsj.com/4dykx9L

05/20/2026

REMINDER: The public is invited to join the City of Pasadena and the Pasadena Veterans Day Committee at the Pasadena Memorial Day Remembrance on Monday, May 25, 2026, 10:30 a.m., at Memorial Park, 85 E. Holly St.

The Remembrance will include the Condor Squadron Missing Man Formation Flyover, military funeral honors with a flag presentation to a Gold Star family, and a 21-gun salute by the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment. Cadets from the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps (USNSCC) Pasadena Division and the Blair High School Army Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) will also assist with the ceremony.

This year’s keynote speaker is Lt. Colonel Steven Uziel, Inspector-Instructor for the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment since 2025. The Invocation and Benediction will be delivered by Chaplain Ted Saraf, Chaplain of American Legion Post 13.

View the full press release at Bit.ly/CityofPasadenaNews.