You have to go back about 100 years — to the hair-raising rides on the Mount Lowe Railway — to experience the last mass transit ride from Pasadena to the San Gabriel Mountains.

On April 7, the next one begins.

Though not quite an E-ticket ride like the one provided by Lowe’s incline railway, this one also gets you to Pasadena via light-rail and then to the trail entrance in Altadena by bus for a hike up to the mountain named after the inventor and transit pioneer, Thaddeus Lowe. Lowe’s funicular from Rubio Canyon and railway ran up the San Gabriels front range from 1893 to 1936 and carried 4 million passengers before it was shut down.

The new bus service will connect from the Gold Line train’s Memorial Park Station in Old Pasadena to the Sam Merrill Trailhead at the north end of Lake Avenue at a site known as the Cobb Estate, said Daniel Rossman, Southern California director for The Wilderness Society, one of the sponsors.

Once on foot, hikers will crisscross the face of the mountain range, climbing into the higher elevations of the Angeles National Forest, passing the remains of the railway and the hotel Lowe built where visitors ate pies, drank beer and played tennis and rode his railway to get to and from the mountain retreat. The site is still popular for picnics and watching the sunset.

The six-month pilot program will run from April 7 to Sept. 30 at a cost of  $72,000, according to Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

Funding comes from three different sources: Edison International gave $12,000; city of Pasadena, $12,000 and Los Angeles County added $48,000, said Tony Bell, the supervisor’s chief of communications. The county dollars were approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors and will come from Barger’s discretionary transit funds, Bell said.

“This exciting partnership expands access to open space recreation and provides another option to improve regional transit connectivity for our residents in the Altadena community,” Supervisor Barger said in a prepared statement.

The shuttle service will be provided by Pasadena Transit Authority, Bell said. The fixed-route bus will run on Saturdays and Sundays between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.

“It is definitely one of the many connections we were hoping for along the Gold Line,” said Belinda Faustinos, executive director of Nature For All, supporter of open space and part of the Enviro-Metro group planning for permanent, low-cost transit connections to not only the Angeles National Forest, but the Santa Monica Mountains and the local beaches as well.

It will be the third attempt at building a car-less way to enter the San Gabriels, a goal of the collaborative group working with the U.S. Forest Service to increase access to the Angeles National Forest and the 342,177-acre San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.

The first, launched by the city of Duarte in April 2016, was a free shuttle from the Duarte/City of Hope Station to Fish Canyon, where a 4.8-mile round trip trek takes hikers past a tri-level waterfall. The Duarte-Fish Canyon shuttle was shut down after a fire in June 2016 closed the trail but is expected to reopen soon, Faustinos said.

The second, started by the Forest Service, was a short-lived shuttle service in October 2016 from the Arcadia Gold Line Station to Chantry Flat, a popular hiking spot with a single, crowded parking lot.

Each one is a step toward providing access to the mountains to those without a car, Rossman said. He said conservation groups are looking for funding to restart the Chantry Flat shuttle. Faustinos is talking to the city of Arcadia for a connection from its Gold Line station, she said.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is expected to adopt a transit-to-trails plan in August that will provide permanent funding for shuttles and buses into open spaces within the county, she said.

“We have to get out of our cars more and use public transit,” she said. “But we must make sure the public transit it reliable.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been edited to correct the city looking to re-establish a connection between the Gold Line and Chantry Flat.

LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump will be met with protesters when he makes his first visit as president to the Los Angeles area on Tuesday, and police said they are prepared to respond to any troubles.

“We are working with all of our local and federal partners to ensure that all security safeguards are in place for the president’s visit, both along his route of travel and at the locations where events will take place,” Los Angeles Police Department Detective Meghan Aguilar said. “We are not aware of any threats against the president’s safety.”

Aguilar said the president’s travel route, details of which are never fully disclosed for security reasons, will be set by the U.S. Secret Service. Local police generally issue an advisory to the public to alert motorists about areas to avoid during presidential visits, but those details have not yet been determined.

Trump is scheduled to fly into Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego County at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, then head to Otay Mesa to view the 30- foot-tall border wall prototypes that have been erected there.

After viewing the wall prototypes, Trump is expected to make a speech to members of the military back at Air Station Miramar. He will then fly to Los Angeles, arriving at Los Angeles International Airport at 3:30 p.m., according to the White House. He will then likely be flown via military helicopter to the West Los Angeles area.

Trump is scheduled to attend a Republican National Committee fundraiser in the Beverly Hills or Bel Air area Tuesday night. The location has not been disclosed. According to an invitation obtained by the Los Angeles Times, tickets for the event range from $35,000 just for the dinner up to $250,000 for the chance to meet Trump, attend a roundtable discussion and have a photo taken with him.

The fundraiser is being hosted by RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, national finance chairman Todd Ricketts and deputy national finance chairman Elliott Broidy, The Times reported.

A “Trump Out of L.A.” protest is being organized by the advocacy group Union del Barrio’s Los Angeles chapter.

“We call on all organizations who stand against fascism, imperialism, capitalism, racism and all forms of hatred to join this action,” according to an event posting on Facebook. The posting notes that the location of the 4 p.m. protest and Trump’s fundraiser has not yet been released.

The visit will be Trump’s first as president to California, a state with which his administration has clashed on issues of border security and immigration. But Sanders said Trump has a base of support in the state.

“While California may not have — he may not have won that state, there is certainly a lot of support for this president, not just there but across the country,” she said. “And he looks forward to being there and presenting a lot of the specific policies.”

Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, led a Monday afternoon rally in Beverly Hills in advance of Trump’s visit, denouncing the president’s plans for a border wall and his immigration stances. De Leon, a candidate for U.S. Senate, offered to show Trump parts of California other than Bel Air or Beverly Hills.

“I’ll take you to East L.A. and Boyle Heights,” he said. “We’ll go to Little Armenia and Koreatown. We’ll go off to Chinatown, Filipinotown and Thai Town. In fact, I’ll take you to my favorite taco stand in Lincoln Heights and see if you can handle the heat. Because I’ve got news for you, this is what America looks like and the future is bright.”

Gov. Jerry Brown sent a letter to Trump Monday, saying, “California thrives because we welcome immigrants and innovators from across the globe.”

“You see, in California we are focusing on bridges, not walls,” Brown wrote. “And that’s more than just a figure of speech.”

Brown invited Trump to visit the Central Valley and see bridges and viaducts being built for a proposed north-south high-speed rail line.

Trump’s departure time from the Los Angeles area has not been announced. Trump is scheduled to fly to Missouri Wednesday morning, so he will likely spend Tuesday night in the Southland.

Work is already underway on an $8.9 million project to replace the Del Mar Avenue bridge over the Alhambra Wash in San Gabriel.

The 83-year-old bridge south of Valley Boulevard has been deemed structurally deficient and functionally obsolete, according to a statement issued by the city. Construction is already underway on the bridge’s sidewalk.

The bridge will not close entirely during construction. Instead, one lane of traffic will be open in each direction at all times until the project’s completion in 2020. That construction is set to begin after Southern California rains cease, city spokesman Jonathan Fu said.

The city has partnered with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, which will design and build the new bridge.

“This new bridge will enhance traffic safety for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists and will reduce congestion and pollution for our residents here in San Gabriel,” Kathryn Barger, Los Angeles County supervisor for the Fifth District, said in a statement.

The project is being funded with federal money and $851,500 from the city.

Detectives on Wednesday arrested a man they believe robbed a San Gabriel bank of $20, then left his identification card.

San Gabriel Police traced the suspect, 27-year-old Raymond Mendez of San Gabriel, to Los Angeles. Investigators saw Mendez leave a home and followed him as he drove off, Lt. Brian Kott said in a statement.

They stopped and arrested Mendez in the 300 block of West 38th Street.

Kott said Mendez was booked on suspicion of robbery as well as felony vandalism for damaging property at a business while fleeing after the March 5 robbery. He didn’t say what property was damaged.

Mendez is a gang member who is under post release community supervision for felony assault per A.B. 109, according to Kott.

A.B. 109 shifted thousands of felony convicts who formerly would have gone to state prisons and be supervised by state parole officers into crowded county jails and supervised by county probation officers upon release.

Police alleged the suspect entered the Bank of America at Las Tunas Drive and Del Mar Avenue just after 5 p.m. on March 5 and claimed he couldn’t get money out of the ATM.

Sgt. Rebecca Gomez said he shouted at a teller and grabbed the cash she was counting. During the struggle over the money, Gomez said the suspect managed to get $20.

He ran off  but left behind his ATM card and ID.

Mendez was being held without bail at Alhambra police jail. He is scheduled for an arraignment Thursday at Alhambra Superior Court.

There’s some anger festering in The Happiest Place on Earth, and you just know Walt Disney wouldn’t have liked it.

The voice of Marine Corps Sgt. Ernie “Gunny” Napper, one of Disneyland’s most popular, inspiring figures to veterans and their families attending the nightly Flag Retreat Ceremony on Main Street, has been silenced in favor of a pre-recorded message thanking veterans for their service.

No longer is he allowed to look veterans in the eye and repeat the words he’s spoken for the last quarter century with so much passion, followed by a crisp salute to honor them.

“To all who stand here today and have served our nation, on behalf of Disney Resorts and our grateful nation, thank you for your faithful service to America,” the 68-year-old Marine who served 21 years as a gunnery sergeant from Vietnam to the Gulf War, would say.

Now, as of about three weeks ago, a similar statement comes out of a faceless loud speaker so more people on Main Street can hear it.

“They’re sterilizing a very personal, powerful part of that ceremony where Gunny connects with the veterans,” says Susan Emslie, a self-proclaimed first-generation Disney kid who was in the park the first week it opened in 1955.

“It breaks his heart to know he has to stand there silent now.”

RELATED STORY: Retired Marine Ernie Napper adds life to Disneyland’s flag retreat

In a one-sentence statement from Disney Resorts, a spokesperson said, “For a more consistent guest experience, and to ensure all guests can hear the remarks at the Flag Ceremony, a new, pre-recorded message thanks those who have served.”

To fully understand why this change so rankles those who know Ernie and what he means to this solemn, nightly ceremony, you have to go back to 1992 when he retired from the Marine Corps and started working at Disneyland as a security officer on the swing shift from 3 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Walt Disney had already been gone 26 years, and there were many nights in those early years when Ernie thought the Flag Retreat Ceremony might go with him.

“Hardly anyone was there when we took down the flag for the night,” he said, in a 2013 Veteran’s Day column I wrote about him. “It didn’t seem important to anybody, but it was important to me. And I know it was important to Mr. Disney, too.”

RELATED STORY: Retired Marine Ernie ‘Gunny’ Napper’s flag retreat at Disneyland resonates with readers

What would the boss, as Ernie called him, think as he looked out his old apartment window on Main Street to see only a handful of people standing around a boom box playing the National Anthem? He wouldn’t have liked it, not at all.

But how do you get paying customers off the rides and out of the shows to spend 20 minutes watching a flag come down a pole? That’s not why parents take their kids to Disneyland.

That’s when Ernie got an idea that would have made Walt Disney proud. The Marine-Corps-sergeant-turned-security-officer took charge.

He went and talked to all the VIP’s — Mickey and Minnie, Cinderella and Snow White, Donald Duck and Alice in Wonderland — asking them to please stop by the flagpole at sunset, and bring the kids and their families with them.

Well, you know what happened next. The Flag Retreat Ceremony became an E ticket. From Adventureland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, and Frontierland, kids began lining up behind their favorite Pied Piper at sunset, and marching to the Main Street flagpole with their parents and grandparents in tow.

Ernie had breathed new life into a ceremony Disney himself started in 1955 when he opened the gates to his dream and let the world in.

After that, every night before he went home around midnight, Ernie would stop by the flagpole and look up at the only window on Main Street that never goes dark.

“Good crowd again tonight, boss,” he’d say. “See you tomorrow.”

Ernie’s reputation grew. Marine Corps officials came from Washington D.C. to personally meet and honor him. Disney officials awarded him the highest honor a cast member can achieve – the Walt Disney Legacy Award for consistently inspiring others.

The families of veterans began showing up every night at the flagpole to shake his hand and have a picture taken with him. Often, they bring a photo of a loved one killed or wounded in combat.

Ernie takes a long look at the young face in the photo, and slowly raises his right arm to give him a crisp salute filled with honor and respect. Not a night goes by that tears are not shed at that flagpole.

He won’t lie. It does hurt having to stand there silent now, having his voice replaced by a recording. But he’s a soldier. He knows how to take orders.

Still.

“A recording doesn’t speak with passion from the heart,” Ernie says.

No, you get the feeling the boss wouldn’t have liked this, not at all.

Dennis McCarthy’s column runs on Friday. He can be reached at dmccarthynews@gmail.com.

A Pasadena health inspector shut down a sandwich restaurant last week after finding numerous live cockroaches in the space underneath the shelf with the microwave — and other locations in the kitchen.

The inspector visited Hey, That’s Amore, 27 E. Holly St., on March 6. In a report posted online, the inspector notes there also were:

• Four live cockroaches under the cabinet under the handwash sink
• One live cockroach on the wall above the janitorial sink
• One live cockroach on the wall next to the ice machine
• One live cockroach on the shelf above the three-compartment sink
• Numerous live cockroaches in the cabinet under the handwash sink

The inspector also found other violations, such as improper holding temperatures for salads in a cooler, cutting boards heavily stained and scored, and unapproved, non-commercial pesticides. The restaurant earned a score of 56 out of 100 and was closed.

After it being reinspected on March 8, it was allowed to reopen with a score of 97.

Restaurants and markets whose permits are suspended must close until another inspection determines the problems have been fixed. Closures can occur during routine and owner-initiated inspections, complaint investigations and reinspections.

Facilities are graded with a number and letter score much like school report cards. If a food facility is closed for a cockroach, rodent or fly infestation, sewage problems or for not having any water running through, the facility loses an additional seven points on top of the four points deducted for major health violations. Any time two major health hazards, such as unsafe food temperatures, are observed, the facility loses an additional three points in its inspection score.

Here are other food facilities that were temporarily closed between March 4 and March 10. Unless otherwise noted, the grades listed for the facilities were received on the same day they were closed.

Temaki

Location: 18558 Gale Ave., Suite 100, City of Industry

Closure reason: Cockroach infestation, flies

Closure date: March 8

Reopen date: March 10

Score: 85 (B)

Jasmin Garden

Location: 18508 Gale Ave. Suite B, Rowland Heights

Closure reason: Cockroach infesation

Closure date: March 8

Reopen date: March 12

Score: 80 (B)

Good Shine Kitchen

Location: 235 S. Garfield Ave., Monterey Park

Closure reason: Rodent infestation

Closure date: March 7

Reopen date: March 11

Score: 80 (B)

The Bagelry-Covina

Location: 239 E. Rowland St., Covina

Closure reason: Cockroach infestation

Closure date: March 7

Reopen date: March 9

Score: 80 (B)

Shanghai Bamboo House

Location: 933 W. Duarte Road, Monrovia

Closure reason: Cockroach infestation

Closure date: March 6

Reopen date: Still closed as of publication

Score: 80 (B)

Shanghai No. 1

Location: 250 W. Valley Blvd., Suite M, San Gabriel

Closure reason: Cockroach infestation

Closure date: March 6

Reopen date: March 8

Score: 80 (B)

When it comes to HIV prevention, African-American and Latina women – who are disproportionately affected by HIV infection – are left out of the conversation, says Sheri Bonner, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley.

And, she says, this is exactly why Planned Parenthood facilities in Pasadena, Alhambra, Glendora and Eagle Rock have now started offering Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, commonly known as PrEP, a daily pill that helps prevent HIV for those at high risk of infection.

The centers also offer Post-Exposure Prophylaxis or PEP, which is taken by those who fear they have been exposed to the virus.

“Women do get left out when it comes to HIV prevention and we intend to change that through provision of these services in a safe, non-judgmental way for anyone who comes in,” she said.  She added that there are few providers who offer these potentially life-saving drugs, especially in the San Gabriel Valley.

Where to go

Planned Parenthood centers across Southern California in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties are now providing these drugs, Bonner said. Patients can find a local center and make an appointment by visiting plannedparenthood.org.

These medications can be obtained only by prescription. When patients come into the Planned Parenthood centers, they will be screened and given information about the drugs including how to pay for them, Bonner said. After obtaining a prescription from Planned Parenthood, patients will then be directed to a pharmacy where they can get the medications.

Just over the last month, the four San Gabriel Valley centers have seen more than 40 existing patients for both drugs, and about one-third of the patients have been women. And this, they say, was before their marketing and outreach efforts.

Center administrators say this is the first time many of the patients had heard about the possibility of taking medication to prevent transmission of HIV.  Overall, many just expressed a sense of relief that they had these options to protect themselves.

Without insurance PrEP could cost about $1,300 a month plus the added costs of doctor office visits and lab tests. But it is covered under most insurance plans and the drug’s manufacturer offers payment assistance.

“It’s important for people to know that they should not be turned off by the cost of these drugs,” Bonner said. “There is funding available for those who cannot afford it.”

Women affected

As of 2015, about 15 percent of those who were affected by HIV in the San Gabriel Valley were female, according to a study by the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. The number has been steadily increasing since 2011, the study said, particularly among African American women followed by Latina women.

The LA County Department of Public Health estimates that African American women are nine times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than white women. Latina women are 1.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than white women.

Both PrEP and PEP have been “a huge benefit” to the LGBT community, says Rick Eisenlord, an openly gay Christian pastor whose Facebook ministry has thousands of followers around the world.

He has posted information about these HIV preventive drugs on his website because he gets a lot of questions from young men who are looking for information about them.

“These are certainly tools to help protect yourself,” he said.

Women likely don’t seek out these preventive drugs because they don’t know about them, said Dr. William M. Thompson, a Newport Beach-based infectious diseases physician who specializes in HIV treatment and primary care for gay men.

“I prescribe PrEP to about 200 men, but so far, no women have asked for it,” he said. “This is likely due to primary care physicians not knowing about these drugs or understanding them.”

Some providers even think it promotes promiscuity, Thompson said.

But PrEP has proven itself to be nearly 100 percent effective if taken as prescribed, he said.

Knowledge and awareness about these drugs is especially critical at a time when sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis are at the highest levels ever, he said.

“A lot of people today feel invincible and think they won’t be getting HIV,” Thompson said. “So they don’t use condoms.”

After a health inspector discovered at least 32 old rodent droppings and four fresh droppings at a popular boba shop in Alhambra last week, it was shut down.

The inspector with the Los Angeles County Public Health Department visited Bon Appetea, 7 S. Second St., on March 20. Besides finding the rodent droppings, all in an upstairs storage room, the inspector noted on a report filed with the county other health violations, including:

Organic growth on interior white panel of ice machine and unidentified stains on the interior of the ice machine, although ice was not in contact with the growth

• No indication of times when the boba was removed from temperature controls
• Egg salad and pesto chicken that was warmer than the required 41 degrees
• Improper cooling method for bulk cooked sausage

Bon Appetea was given a score of 75, a C, and was shut down. It was allowed to reopen March 22.

Facilities are graded with a number and letter score much like school report cards. If a food facility is closed for a cockroach, rodent or fly infestation, sewage problems or for not having any water running, the facility loses an additional seven points on top of the four points deducted for major health violations. Any time two major health hazards, such as unsafe food temperatures, are observed, the facility loses an additional three points in its inspection score.

Restaurants and markets whose permits are suspended must close until another inspection determines the problems have been fixed. Closures can occur during routine and owner-initiated inspections, complaint investigations and reinspections.

Here are other food facilities that were temporarily closed between March 19 and March 23. Unless otherwise noted, the grades listed for the facilities were received on the same day they were closed.

Luna’s Restaurant

Location: 343 S. Mission Drive, San Gabriel

Closure reason: Cockroach infestation

Closure date: March 21

Reopening date: March 23

Score: 82 (B)

M Park Cafe

Location: 3600 W. Ramona Blvd., Monterey Park

Closure reason: Rodent infestation

Closure date: March 20

Reopening date: Facility still closed as of publication

Score: 81 (B)

A-Market

14286 Amar Road, La Puente

Closure reason: No water/no hot water, no public health permit

Closure date: March 20

Reopening date: March 22

Score: 75 (C)

Monterey Hill Steakhouse

Location: 3700 W. Ramona Blvd., Monterey Park

Closure reason: Rodent infestation

Closure date: March 20

Reopening date: March 22

Score: 85 (B)

Jimenez Ranch Market

Location: 1670 N. Indian Hill Blvd., Pomona

Reason: Sewer overflow/discharge

Closure date: March 22

Reopening date: March 23

Market’s score: 86 (B)

Restaurant’s score: 80 (B)

Waba Grill

Location: 2500 S. Azusa Ave., Suite C, West Covina

Reason: No hot water

Closure date: March 23

Reopening date: March 23

Restaurant’s score: 92 (A)

By JULIA WICK

Where once the city of San Gabriel had a written agreement to cooperate with federal immigration officials, it now declares itself a sanctuary city.

The San Gabriel City Council voted 3-2 late Tuesday night to approve a “safe cities” resolution affirming the city’s commitment to its immigrant population. While the resolution language uses the phrase “safe city” instead of “sanctuary,” it is “our version of a sanctuary city policy,” Councilman Jason Pu explained in a tweet on Monday, the day before the council meeting

The resolution comes on the heels of a council decision in February decision to rescind the controversial agreement between city police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The resolution makes official an existing — but previously unwritten — policy that limits San Gabriel Police Department’s collection and reporting of information about undocumented immigrants and extends that policy to all city staffers, according to City Attorney Keith Lemieux.

It bars city employees from requesting or disclosing information about an individual’s immigration status while providing city services, unless otherwise required by law. The resolution also directs the city and its Police Department to comply with the provisions of Senate Bill 54, the so-called sanctuary state law, and to maintain a list of available resources that can help community members and businesses with immigration-related issues.

“Frankly, none of this would probably have come up if that issue hadn’t needed to be addressed,” Pu said Tuesday night, referring to the now-terminated cooperation agreement with ICE, which was inked without council approval.

The police partnership terminated by the council in February was made with the ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division, its arm responsible for handling criminal investigations. Collaboration agreements between ICE and local law enforcement agencies, such as the one signed by San Gabriel police Chief Eugene Harris in December, were once commonplace across Southern California.

But the agreements have faced increasing political scrutiny in the President Trump era, particularly after California passed “sanctuary state” legislation last fall that largely prohibits local collaboration with ICE.

The cities of Pasadena and Santa Monica both ended cooperation agreements with ICE last year.

San Gabriel Police Chief Harris addressing the council in regard to sanctuary ordinance https://t.co/CMwzI5fpcU

— Julia Wick (@sherlyholmes) April 4, 2018

“Beyond its specific terms, having this agreement paints San Gabriel as a place that’s unsafe for and unwelcoming to immigrants,” Pu said in February, before directing city staff to prepare the proposed safe cities resolution.

More than half of San Gabriel’s roughly 40,000 residents are foreign born, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s  2016 American Community Survey. The city’s population is more than 60 percent Asian and about 25 percent Hispanic or Latino.

Although Harris said his department had no official position on the sanctuary resolution, many opponents of the resolution cited law and order concerns as reasoning for their dissent.

Chuck Myers, a retired banker wearing a “Grassroots San Gabriel” badge, said the resolution defied logic. In Myers’ view, being a so-called sanctuary city and valuing safety were contradictory aims.

Camelia Vera, a Realtor who described herself as a San Gabriel “newbie” because she had only lived in the city 24 years, opposed both the resolution and the council’s earlier decision to dissolve its cooperation agreement with ICE.

“We’re going to be looked at as not hard on crime. Do we really want that?” Vera said. “I’m a real estate agent, so I want property values to stay healthy.”

But research has shown a correlation between so-called sanctuary jurisdictions and lower crime rates.  A recent study by University of California, San Diego professor Tom K. Wong found that there were on average, 35.5 fewer crimes committed per 10,000 people in sanctuary counties compared to non-sanctuary counties.

Val Loskota, a retired teacher who said she had taught music at five San Gabriel elementary schools, asked why none of the elected officials on the stage of the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse — where the meeting was moved in anticipation of larger crowds than City Hall can accommodate — had campaigned on making San Gabriel a sanctuary city.

As the night wore on, several individuals spoke in favor of the resolution.

Jonathan Fung, director of legal services for the Immigration Resource Center of San Gabriel Valley, described an elderly woman who approached him at a recent clinic where his organization was offering legal services. The woman was a live-in domestic worker who had fled from a sexually abusive employer.

After making sure she was safe, Fung said he asked the woman if she had reported the crime to the police. “Is it safe to go the police?” Fung said the the woman asked him. In other words, sanctuary resolutions can help undocumented crime victims feel safe reporting crimes to local authorities, he said.

Joseph Berra, a clinical professor of law at UCLA, urged the council to adopt the resolution.

“It wasn’t long ago that California had the ignoble distinction of leading the country in anti-immigrant policies,” Berra said. “Thankfully, this is not how we have to define what America is.”

Ultimately, council members Pu, Chin Ho Liao and Denise Menchaca voted in favor of the resolution, with Councilwoman Juli Costanzo and Mayor John R. Harrington against.

Harrington had raised several issues with the resolution during the meeting and was hoping to table it to “produce the best document we can,” he said. But his motion to postpone was rejected, and the council voted to approve the resolution just after 11 p.m. Tuesday.

A man wanted on a warrant was bitten by a police dog and arrested Wednesday during a search in which officers initially mistakenly thought he was an attempted murder suspect.

Roughly after 10 a.m. Montebello police officers were in the riverbed area near Telegraph Road and Slauson Avenue to search for a person wanted for attempted murder, said Montebello police Sgt. Marc Marty.

Police attempted to detain a man who matched the description of the wanted person, Marty said.

Montebello police could not be reached Wednesday evening for further details about the attempted murder case.

The man, who police believed was the suspect, fled, Marty said. Authorities then secured the area where he was last seen.

San Gabriel police assisted Montebello with a K-9 dog because authorities believed they were dealing with an attempted murder suspect, Marty said.

Police found the man in the riverbed area and the K-9 dog was deployed when he did not comply with police orders to surrender, Marty said.

The man had ran from police because he was wanted for a no-bail warrant, Marty said.

He was taken into custody with minor arm injuries caused by the dog, Marty said.

Authorities then realized the man was not the suspect they were looking for, Marty said.

He was treated at a hospital for the bite marks and booked into jail, Marty said.

The man’s name was not immediately released.

What can be done to make a portion of busy Rosemead Boulevard more pedestrian and bicycle friendly?

To answer that question, Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis is asking the community to participate in an open house Saturday  and give input on ways to improve the busy state highway for all users from Rush Street in South El Monte to Gallatin Road in Pico Rivera.

Solis is asking participants to join walking tours, cycling tours and field surveys and drop their suggestions at “feedback stations” during the open house, which begins at 10 a.m. with presentations. Guided tours start at 11:30 a.m.

The event takes place at Whittier Narrows Park in Recreational Area D, 931 North Rosemead Blvd., South El Monte, CA 91733. It may be cancelled in the event of rain.

Those scheduled to speak at the event besides Solis include Mark Pestrella, director of Los Angeles County Public Works, and John Wicker, director of Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Department.

The Governing Board of the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments selected longtime employee Marisa Creter as its next executive director.

Creter has worked for the council for more than 11 years and served as assistant executive director and interim executive director. She was signed to a three-year contract.

“There are so many important initiatives occurring across the county, including implementation of Measure H and Measure M,” Creter said in a statement. “Over the past year, the COG has taken a leadership role in those efforts, and I expect that work will continue.”

Creter replaces Phil Hawkey, who served as executive director from October 2015 to September .

The council is made up of 30 cities, three water districts and three county supervisorial districts and examines issues common to the small cities in the San Gabriel Valley, such as the environment, water and transportation.

The council has worked on building railroad overpasses with its subsidiary, the Alameda Corridor East, as well as helping cities meet the state’s new AB 32 rules for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through energy-efficiency proposals.

When a driver inadvertently enters a pay lane on a Los Angeles County freeway, he is breaking the law and must pay a fine.  If he ignores the fine, he faces add-on delinquent charges and a hold on his registration.

The fines for illegal use of what Metro calls Express Lanes represented 36.4 percent of the revenues collected by Metro from 2014 to 2016, according to an audit obtained by this newspaper in a public records request. Total revenues reached $130.9 million, with $47.3 million from fines and $83.6 million from the actual paid tolls.

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member and county Supervisor Janice Hahn has introduced a motion that will reduce the number of fines charged to drivers and open up a punitive system to the occasional user. Instead of always requiring purchase of a transponder and registering your car with Metro, Hahn suggests the agency make the toll lanes more user friendly.

“I would like to decriminalize our Express Lanes,” said Hahn during an interview last week. “It’s this whole shaming thing just for jumping into an Express Lane that bothers me. I think people in L.A. feel like driving and parking have become a criminal activity.”

If someone is late for work or needs to see their grandchild in the hospital, there’s no reason why they can’t ride the Express Lane, even without the transponder, Hahn said.  Instead of sending them a violation notice, or a traffic ticket if caught by the CHP, Hahn wants to simply send them a bill for the toll and be done with it.

Under the current Metro Express Lane system, fines are $25 for the first violation. If not paid on time or ignored, a $30 delinquent penalty is added, bringing the fine to $55, plus the cost of the toll. If a motorist is pulled over by the CHP for illegal use of the toll lane, the fine is $341.

HOT lanes

Express Lanes exist on two freeways: on the 110 Freeway from the 405 Freeway to South Los Angeles and on the 10 Freeway between the 605 Freeway and the 101 Freeway in the west San Gabriel Valley.

After receiving a $210 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Metro converted the carpool lanes, known as High Occupancy Vehicle lanes to toll lanes, called High Occupancy Toll or HOT lanes in 2013.

The purpose was to give drivers the option of paying for a quicker ride, to reduce traffic congestion and reduce air emissions and greenhouse gas emissions. According to Metro, the two pay lanes reduced 118,844 kilograms per day of greenhouse gases, equal to removing 12,593 passenger vehicles per year.

The price of a ride fluctuates by time of day, costing more during rush hours and less during off-peak times. A round-trip during peak hours on the 10 Freeway Express Lanes is about $11. Besides a quicker ride for those willing to pay, the use of solo drivers in the car-pool lanes were supposed to lessen traffic in the general purpose lanes, although evidence is mixed.

Riders must pay $40 to $50 up front into a Metro account for each transponder plus a $25 security deposit. For each solo ride, money is deducted from the account. Cars with two or three occupants ride in the lanes toll-free.

Every car must have a FasTrak transponder or face fines and penalties from an automated system that captures the image of a license plate and sends out violation notices and bills. Drivers of electric and plug-in clean air vehicles with white or green stickers can set their transponder on “3” and ride toll free.

Orange County

Four toll roads in Orange County, the 73, 133, 241 and 261 allow for the one-time user to drive the toll road without a transponder.

That driver will still be mailed a violation notice but that is easily waived by simply paying the toll within 30 days, said Sarah King, spokesperson for the Transportation Corridor Agencies.

“It’s pay-as-you-go,” she explained in an interview. “You don’t have to have an account. You can drive on our roads (and pay the toll). It’s for the infrequent user or the visitor here for the first time.”

Repeat offenders without an account are charged a penalty, she said. Cheaper rates are made available to those with transponders and have registered their vehicles.

Hahn has asked Metro to look at other systems, including those in the Bay Area and Orange County. She’s interested in implementing a “pay-as-you-use” model for all drivers, she wrote in her motion, which comes before the full Metro board April 26.

“I say if you want to use it, great but we will charge you. We don’t have to give them a ticket and make them feel like criminals,” Hahn said.

Audit

A 2017 audit of the Metro Express Lane program tagged the vendor, Conduent, with several accounting and collection irregularities. For example, Conduent could not provide the auditors with supporting documents of revenues on several occasions and its staff “were not familiar with the reporting capabilities” of the program. The auditors found contradictory written policies, including those regarding tolls, violations and fines.

After finding the vendor had recorded some revenues twice to Metro and only became aware of the error after the auditor pointed it out, the auditor recommended Conduent improve its records management process, oversight and review of Express Lane revenues.

Customers can get a credit on their bill if the speeds of the pay lanes were below 45 mph as required by federal law. But the audit pointed out that customers can only get a “trip speed reversal” upon complaint, meaning they would have to know the average speed of traffic at the time.

Poor execution?

The proper management of Metro Express Lanes will become more important as Metro explores adding pay lanes to the 105 and 405 freeways as a way of adding congestion pricing to areas of the county served by those two freeways.

Still, during an October board meeting, the topic of pay lanes remained controversial. Hahn said the freeway signage is hard to understand, leading drivers into innocent mistakes and getting fined for management’s poor execution.  She said many mistakenly think an HOV is a “high octane vehicle.”

Supervisor Hilda Solis said it can be dangerous entering and exit the lanes, due to a double-yellow line separating the Express Lanes from the general lanes used in LA County but not in Orange County.

Supervisor Sheila Kuehl is philosophically opposed to charging for freeways.

“What we are talking about is how we can make money for Metro. That is what the Express Lanes are about . And we do make money,” she said during the October meeting.

Total annual revenue from the two Express Lanes have increased, from $58.2 million in fiscal year 2015 to $72.7 million in fiscal year 2016, according to the audit. When first launched, Metro expected net annual revenues to be $8-$10 million. In just one year in 2014, the net revenue had reached $19 million. Board members then made the pilot program permanent.

At Omar Halal in San Gabriel, you walk through the door of a small, free-standing building, almost a bunker, into the dining room of a family-run restaurant in the northwestern Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang Uyghur — home of the Islamic Uyghur people of China, who eat no pork and insist their meats be halal, which is the Muslim equivalent of kosher.

It’s an experience in culinary time and space travel; outside is busy New Avenue, with its steady stream of traffic between the 10 Freeway and Valley Boulevard. Inside, the mom hand-rolls rough-cut noodles, while a barely teenaged server brings dishes without a smile or a word. (It’s hard not to believe that, like teenagers everywhere, he’d rather be anywhere else but working in the family restaurant. My heart goes out to him.)

Extra serving: 9 best burgers in the San Gabriel Valley and Los Angeles

Like pretty much every Islamic-Chinese restaurant, Omar is a multicultural, multiflavor adventure — a restaurant to take those who have been around the metaphorical block when it comes to the many worlds of Chinese food in the San Gabriel Valley.

Along with no pork, there’s no alcohol — just Coca-Cola, Sprite, Perrier and tea. The closest the beverages come to an alternative experience is with the Xinjiang Milk Tea, described on the menu as “Hot & Salty.” The truth in advertising is much appreciated, for hot, salty milk tea is up there with Vegemite as an acquired taste.

Omar also has one of the smallest menus of any of the many restaurants in the valley, where the option of 300 dishes and more is not that unusual. Counting the single dessert of Xinjiang Home Made Yogurt, there are all of 30 items. There are places in town with more than 30 types of dumplings. But at Omar, 30 dishes is probably about all the mom in the kitchen can handle. And that includes occasionally stepping out of the kitchen to roll and slice noodles.

Which she does for the dish called Lag Man Hand Pulled Noodles — mildly spiced, lightly cooked so that they’re decently al dente, and wonderfully irregular in width, girth and length.

There was some debate at my table as to whether our bowl of noodles consisted of just one really, really long noodle. I don’t think it did. But we had to carefully section it with a set of kitchen shears that came with the dish.

So, far as I know, it was one noodle, many yards long. The image of slurping that single long noodle made me feel like a character in a “Looney Toons” cartoon.

With such a limited menu, ordering can be pretty easy. But there’s still a good deal of rubbernecking to be done. I was busy having a field day with a lightly garlicked order of the garlic cucumber, a dish in which subtlety is not often expected or encountered; the cumin-heavy lamb kebabs; the hand-pulled lag man noodles; the equally essential Xinjiang cold noodles (I do love me the flavor of cold noodles, where the chill — which is really more room temperature — seems to bring out the essential noodliness of the dish); and a curiosity called naan, which bore little resemblance to the naan served in Indian restaurants.

It was an odd dish, a circle of pastry in search of a pie, a bit dry and much improved with a bath in one of the numerous sauces on the noodles.

Luckily, I noticed a fellow at a nearby table tearing into a pastry called meat pie (they don’t always offer much in the way of descriptives here), which would have gone over well in a proper British pub, an appealing, flakey crust with a complexity of meats, veggies and sauces within.

And then, my table caught sight of a dish ordered by an adjacent table — a foursome who seemed to have ordered the whole menu. It took up a lot of real estate on the table. It was called Big Plate Chicken with Noodle.

At $23.99, it cost twice as much as many of the dishes on the menu. And it was, as described — a big plate, with oddly chopped chunks of chicken over noodles. Missing from the description were the peppers. So many peppers, turning the chicken with noodles into a fiery pile of wonderment.

We ate all we could. Which wasn’t much, since we also had an order of the cumin lamb ribs coming. It’s worth noting that among the four soups, including lamb soup, lamb noodle soup and special noodle soup for starters, is haggis soup, making this perhaps the only Scottish-Uyghur restaurant in the world.

Yogurt probably would have been a fine dessert, especially after the fire of the Big Plate. But Fosselman’s was just 15 minutes away. And their Rocky Road cried out to me. It often does.

Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Send him email at mreats@aol.com.

Omar Halal

Rating: 2.5 stars

Address: 1718 New Ave., San Gabriel

Information: 626-570-9778

Cuisine: Northern Chinese

When: Lunch and dinner, Wednesday through Monday

Details: Tea. No reservations.

Atmosphere: A small, free-standing building, with the bathroom outside, antiques on the walls and brusque service by family members who arrive quickly with very large orders of potentially very spicy food — the halal cooking of northwestern China.

Prices: About $12 per person

Suggested dishes: Vegetable Salad ($6.99), Garlic Cucumber ($5.99), Spicy Cold Chicken ($8.99), Spicy Cold Lamb ($6.99), Lamb Kebabs ($8), Lag Man Noodles ($13.99), Chow Mein ($14.99), Xinjiang Cold Noodles ($7.99), Meat Pie ($13.99), Pilaf ($9.99), Braised Lamb Shank ($14.99), Cumin Lamb ($14.99), Cumin Lamb Rib ($16.99), Naan ($6.99), Lamb Soup ($9.99-$13.99), Big Plate Chicken with Noodles ($23.99)

Cards: Cash only

A popular Italian restaurant in Pasadena closed after a health inspector discovered live cockroaches behind the pizza oven and other locations.

An inspector with the Pasadena Public Health Department visited Il Fornaio, 24 W. Union St., on April 10 and, according to a report filed with the city, observed “numerous live cockroaches in the following:

1. Under the two-compartment prep sink/table area in the back
2. In the compartment behind the pizza oven
3. Between the grout, on the floor, the space between the stainless steel sheet and the wall at the back cook’s line”

Other problems noted were cheese being held at too-high temperatures and an accumulation of dust and debris on the fan guards of the walk-in cooler. The restaurant received a score of 60, a D, and was shut down.

The inspector returned each day for three more days. On April 13, the eatery received a score of 100 and was allowed to reopen.

Facilities are graded with a number and letter score much like school report cards. If a food facility is closed for a cockroach, rodent or fly infestation, sewage problems or for not having any water running, the facility loses an additional seven points on top of the four points deducted for major health violations. Any time two major health hazards, such as unsafe food temperatures, are observed, the facility loses an additional three points in its inspection score.

Restaurants and markets whose permits are suspended must close until another inspection determines the problems have been fixed. Closures can occur during routine and owner-initiated inspections, complaint investigations and reinspections.

Here are other food facilities that were temporarily closed between April 9 through April 13. Unless otherwise noted, the grades listed for the facilities were received on the same day they were closed.

Kaiba Japanese Restaurant

Location: 816 S. Atlantic Blvd., Monterey Park

Date of closure: April 10

Date reopened: April 12

Reason for closure: Rodent infestation

Score: 83 (B)

Gomachi

Location: 708 E. Las Tunas Drive, Suite D, San Gabriel

Date of closure: April 10

Date reopened: Still closed as of publication

Reason for closure: Cockroach infestation

Score: 86 (B)

1810

Location: 121 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena

Date of closure: April 9

Date reopened: April 13

Reason for closure: Cockroach infestation

Score: 58 (F)

SAN GABRIEL — Three suspects were arrested Friday night following a chase involving Los Angeles police that made its way to San Gabriel, where one passenger ran into a hospital.

The chase began at 8:47 p.m., though it was not immediately clear where, and ended 20 minutes later in the area of Santa Anita Street and Live Oak Avenue, near San Gabriel Valley Medical Center, according to Officer Drake Madison of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The driver and another passenger were taken into custody, but police established a perimeter around the hospital in an effort to contain and locate the outstanding suspect, Madison said.

That outstanding suspect was arrested just before 11 p.m., according to reports from the scene. No injuries were reported.

Normally, it’s the homeless person who joins a soup line when hungry.

The people at Family Promise of San Gabriel Valley have turned the tables by providing donors with a variety of soups donated by restaurateurs in exchange for a donation. In addition, local artisans handcraft all the ceramic containers used for the meal as part of the nonprofit’s seventh annual Empty Bowls event from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday.

Participants choose a bowl, get some soup and enjoy a meal, along with live entertainment. There also will be chances to win prizes. But after the event is over, you get to keep your soup bowl as a reminder that some people have an empty bowl not by choice, but by unfortunate circumstances, according to organizers.

Or the participant may gift the bowl back to families who are graduating from the Family Promise program and moving into new homes.

“Empty Bowls is a great opportunity for us to meet each other and realize how much our volunteer community does to help our families through their struggle to regain homes,” Karen Roberson, acting executive director of Family Promise SGV, said in a statement. “Our alumni families love to come and see all who were there for them in a time of need.”

In Los Angeles County, about 58,000 people are homeless. Today, more and more Southern California children and families are experiencing homelessness than ever before, Roberson said.

Sip soup – and help families like Lupita's to regain their homes. Join us at Empty Bowls 2018! https://t.co/cQ4gAtLBgT pic.twitter.com/05Hlw6mKD4

— Family Promise of San Gabriel Valley (@FamPromiseSGV) April 13, 2018

Family Promise of SGV, a nonsectarian, nonprofit organization uniting faith congregations, a school district and other groups, has provided more than 16,000 bed nights and 48,000 meals to families, keeping 150 children off the streets, the organization reported. Of the families who have gone through the program, more than 65 percent have secured permanent housing and 78 percent of the group’s adult clients have secured stable employment.

Admission to Empty Bowls, which takes place at Sierra Madre United Methodist Church, 695 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, is $30 in advance through Saturday or $35 at the door. To obtain advance tickets or learn more about the event, go to FPSGV’s registration website at http://bit.ly/EmptyBowls18. For more information, contact Natalie Poole at napoole@earthlink.net or by calling 626-792-4886.

A Baldwin Park man was sentenced Tuesday, April 24, to 25 years to life in prison for killing a man who threatened to expose his marijuana growing operation if he didn’t pay back money he owed.

Authorities said Andy Chen shot Min Gu, 30, of China, at a Temple City grow house on Feb. 19, 2016 then placed the body in the trunk of a Lexus, which he left in Monterey Park. Police discovered the body a month later when residents called about a foul smell coming from the parked car.

Chen’s sentencing was Tuesday at Alhambra Superior Court.

A jury last month convicted Chen of murder and of cultivating marijuana. Ricardo Santiago, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, said over 1,000 marijuana plants were found at Chen’s grow houses in Arcadia and Temple City.

Chen owed Gu money but the prosecution didn’t say how much.

The younger man threatened to expose Chen’s marijuana operation to the police if he didn’t get paid, according to Santiago.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide detectives said Gu was last seen Feb. 19 in San Gabriel and reported missing three days later.

On March 21, 2016, residents complained about a smell coming from a Lexus parked in the 200 block of South Lincoln Avenue in Monterey Park. Officers found Gu’s body in the trunk.

He died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Detectives later found Gu’s DNA at a home in the 5500 block of Sultana Avenue in Temple City. Chen was renting the home and growing marijuana there.

Morbidly obese, Debbie Edger had heard her doctor tell her repeatedly she must lose weight, eat healthier and exercise to ward off such life-threatening diseases as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

So the 60-year-old Monrovia woman made the necessary lifestyle changes, including a rigorous, nightly walking routine. Her weight dropped from 350 pounds to 195 pounds.

But her mortality risk? That’s still fairly high but for a different reason.

A plan to make walking, biking safer

As any pedestrian knows, walking in an urban area dominated by automobiles is dangerous.

The number of pedestrian fatalities in Southern California has risen in the last 10 years. There were more pedestrian deaths in the state in the first half of 2017 than in any other state, with Los Angeles County ranked No. 1 in 2016, according to a recent report.

Monrovia, along with Glendora, Irwindale, La Puente and Montebello are working with a nonprofit group to develop safe pedestrian and bike plans.

It’s a difficult task for these car-dominated east county burbs hemmed in by hundreds of thousands of vehicles on nearby freeways and regional highways every day, with few safe crosswalks and little-to-no bike lanes.

As Bike San Gabriel Valley attempted to put the finishing touches on five interlocking plans, Edger and a handful of others provided last-minute feedback at an open house Wednesday night at Bike SGV headquarters in El Monte.

For Edger and her husband, Gregory Smith, who walk their Monrovia neighborhood together for two miles every night, a blueprint for pedestrian walkways and marked bike lanes could be considered a matter of life and death.

On a recent evening, she was walking in front of a fast-food restaurant driveway on Huntington Drive. She made eye contact with the driver of a large pickup truck steering across the sidewalk from the parking lot.

“First she stopped. I went. Then she ran her truck into me and I found myself rolling in the street,” she recounted.

Aside from a few bruises, she was OK. She asked the driver why she hit her and she told her she couldn’t see her.

“Well I told her then you shouldn’t be driving,” Edger quipped.

What can be done?

The plans identify intersections that need better signage or striping. Often, pedestrian walkways are needed at places in between intersections.

For example, Pasadena has added flashing crosswalks on Marengo Avenue near Fillmore Street. The result has been an 80 percent yield rate, said Wes Reutimann, executive director of Bike SGV.

“They could be walkways or existing crosswalks that make them more visible to cars or easier to navigate,” he said.

Bike SGV received a $640,000 grant from the California Active Transportation Program in 2015, right after the group finished similar plans for five other San Gabriel Valley cities.

Of those five, San Gabriel, Baldwin Park, El Monte and South El Monte have projects in the ground, Reutimann said. The fifth city, Monterey Park, is at the early stages of designing a bike lane for Monterey Pass Road.

The latest plan is seen as an extension of the first Bike SGV plan, designed by Alta Planning + Design, a bike and pedestrian planning firm. The current effort is being designed by the same group but will try to plan for bike lanes and paths that connect across city lines. This plan also considers pedestrians and greenways, he said.

“It is basically a follow-up to that plan, to plug some gaps in the region,” Reutimann said.

Transit connections

Next, the plans will help identify paths that connect passengers to and from a Gold Line train station, a Metrolink station or a major park-n-ride facility.

For example, Monrovia could use more bike paths or bike lanes that fan out from its existing Gold Line Station, he said.

Peter Garra, 72, of West Covina, said he often takes his bike on the Gold Line light-rail train at the Irwindale Station when he travels to Pasadena or downtown L.A.

But once again, finding a bike lane is tough to impossible, he said.

“From my house there are no dedicated lanes. So I ride the sidewalks a lot,” he said. “On Irwindale Avenue near City Hall it is really narrow.

“There’s not much space between me and a car.”

Rivers and washes

This plan has identified 300 miles of potential greenways, basically concrete washes that feed into the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo river bike paths. Planners envision adding bike lanes to the sides of these washes that can loop into streets, malls and workplaces.

For example, West Covina, preparing its own bike and pedestrian plan which could come up for approval in summer, is considering a bike path along Walnut Creek that will connect to Baldwin Park and the San Gabriel River trail, he said.

The plan will identify the top 50 miles of washes, storm channels and creeks for transforming into bike and walking trails.

The five city plans will be finalized by early summer and are expected to be approved by their respective City Councils by fall, Reutimann said.

A fire heavily damaged a strip mall in San Gabriel Wednesday, but no one was hurt, authorities said.

The fire was reported about 6:30 a.m. at the Valley & New Center mall at Valley Boulevard and New Avenue, a fire dispatcher said.

The flames burned through the roof of the structure, which collapsed, and firefighters went into a defensive mote, surrounding the building and pouring water on the blaze to keep the fire from spreading to other structures.

Firefighters had the flames largely extinguished within about two hours but continued their efforts to douse hot spots. Firefighters from San Gabriel were assisted by personnel from Alhambra, Montebello and Pasadena.

Traffic was routed away from the area as a precaution, the San Gabriel Police Department reported. The cause of the fire was under investigation.