Repair Cafe Pasadena

Repair Cafe & Really Really Free Market

Saturday, March 26 — 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Pasadena Senior Center
85 E. Holly St., Pasadena

The Right to Repair

Repair Cafe was visited by three interviewers last month: Pasadena Now, an independent journalist and a USC grad student of Urban Sustainability. The movement to repair things is all around us and grabbing attention.

This week we heard more conversation about growing support for the concept called “The Right to Repair.”  Manufacturers who change screw heads for electronics to make them impenetrable without the proper secret tool–which they will not provide–or who refuse to share owners' troubleshooting manuals, are being questioned on their motives.  Could it be planned obsolescence? We have a relationship with a San Luis organization online called iFixit. They are offering such elusive tools and manuals for all to share. This freely sharing attitude is the basis of our work too.

The Repair Cafe Foundation in the Netherlands, our mother organization, sent a survey to us this week investigating these questions, looking for solutions that may involve changes in public policy, consumer protection, and protection of repair people. The responses we and other Repair Cafes have submitted will be analyzed and shared by The Center for Sustainable Design at the University for the Creative Arts in the UK.

We salute you, the folks who generously share your repair skills, who are changing culture, slowly but surely for the better...Better for people, better for the planet.

Next Repair Cafe Pasadena is:
3/26 at the Pasadena Senior Center, 10-1. 85 E Holly St, Pasadena. 

Repairs will be accepted 10-noon. The Really, Really Free Market will have a sale: 100% off everything! Bring something, take something.

— Therese Brummel

Repair Café Pasadena

Image provided by club125.greenbelt, cc-by-2.0.

GOOD TO-GO

Styrofoam Free Pasadena

Community Action

Polystyrene is toxic and a blight to our environment!  It releases toxins into our food and drink, it does not biodegrade, it poisons our wildlife and waterways.

93 cities in California have banned it and we should too! Pasadena has been studying the issue for over 18 months and our city has not made it happen.  Let's let them hear from us!

Join the GOOD TO-GO campaign, sponsored by Transition Pasadena and other local partner organizations.

1. Sign It: the Change.org petition to ban styrofoam in Pasadena

2. Say It: with a sticker!  Wear the Good To-Go sticker and attach it to your restaurant bill to let them know you want "good to-go containers", not toxic foam.

3. Do It: take the personal challenge to not use or accept any Styrofoam for thirty days (or longer!) 

Stickers, and posters and cards, will be available at the March 26 Repair Cafe at Pasadena Senior Center.  Other places and times will be posted on the Good To-Go Facebook page.

Please Follow us, Like and Share!

Styrofoam Free Pasadena and
Good To-Go Campaign

— Therese Brummel

Artwork by Ginko

Mulch For The People

Mulch Delivery Requested By Citizens

State of the Mulch 2 attracted an eager crowd to The Shed December 8, 2015. Panelists Leigh Adams of the Arboretum and Melanie Winters of Water LA and The River Project brought expert information about how homeowners in our watershed can use mulch in contoured yards to reverse the current huge waste of stormwater. Greg Jones of Long Beach Public Works described how his city created a job-training program as a way of staffing home delivery of mulch over the past six years and also mentioned the Arcadia home delivery program. For Pasadena Public Works, Kenny Graham described how Pasadena provides mulch pick-up sites and Gabe Silva mentioned that a new state law requires the City to inform private companies such as arborists that they now must recycle organic waste.
 
After a lively Q/A conducted by moderator Sarah Leone, panelists and audience together discussed how to get more mulch to more people. Ideas on funding, staffing and locating a Pasadena mulch delivery program predominated.
 
On March 2, 2016, Sylvia Holmes and Lin Griffith for Mulch for the People  met with Charles Peretz and Kenny Graham of Pasadena Public Works to see which ideas from State of the Mulch 2 might be workable. The meeting started with the happy announcement that, as a pilot project, the City will provide compost from Athens Services as well as mulch at the Victory Park mulch pick-up site on dates available at www.cityofpasadena.net/PublicWorks/MulchRecycling/

Then we explored the possibility of initiating a City mulch home delivery program. The main challenges are (1) a place to store mulch and (2) funding for additional staff.

For several years, Pasadena Public Works staff have been trying to identify City-owned vacant land that could be used as a “lay-down” area for storing and improving the quality of mulch. Crowd-sourcing could help here. If you can think of a bit of underutilized land not right next to any house and accessible by dump truck, please post a comment for us.
 
For staff and funding, we considered searching for grants available to cities for workforce development, water conservation or diversion of organic materials from landfill as required by new legislation. The existing Pasadena MASH program could possibly provide workers. Of partner organizations suggested, YouthBuild seemed to offer the best fit for providing workers. We welcome further ideas on these challenges.

Contact us by posting on our Facebook Page or email us at transitionpasadena@gmail.com

— Lin Griffith

Mulch For The People

Photo courtesy of Sylvia Holmes.

Throop Learning Garden

Notes from the Garden

Sundays, 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Throop Memorial U.U. Church
300 S. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena

Rainwater Catchment – A Short Update

Pasadena's mandatory ban on outdoor watering between February 25 and  March 10 has had minimal impact on Throop Learning Garden.

Thanks to the recent rains, we are using the stored water in our 1,320 gallon water tank to satisfy the needs of our vegetables, fruit trees, and recent transplants.

Many thanks to all who supported this endeavor.

— January Nordman

Throop Learning Garden

Photo courtesy of January Nordman.