It will be at least another month until residents can return to Pasadena City Council chambers after local leaders voted to extend a pandemic-era ordinance Monday, June 20, that allows all subordinate bodies and non-profit corporations the ability to meet remotely over Zoom for most of July.
Councilmembers, commissioners and the surrounding community have been gathering virtually since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, but Mayor Victor Gordo previously predicted a return could occur as soon as this month.
“All members of the City Council should begin contemplating returning to the Council chambers,” Gordo said in May when the current ordinance was being extended. “I think there is a lot lost when we don’t have members of the public in the council chamber.”
In the weeks since, however, coronavirus case counts have continued to climb.
Pasadena’s 7-day average incident rate is more than 52 times what it was on June 22, 2021, jumping from 0.7 per 100,000 residents to to 36.8 per 100,000 as of June 22, 2022.
As a result, City Councils across the state have the ability to pass a resolution every 30-days that will allow the continuance of online meetings.
On Monday, Pasadena City Council once again voted to allow commissioners and other elected representatives the option to attend meetings virtually. But this week’s vote wasn’t unanimous, as the debate over when the public should return in-person heats up.
Residents like Emanuel Najera have called on Council in recent months both publicly and privately to return to meetings in-person.
“We had the vaccine for over a year,” Najera told the Council during public comment on Monday. “I don’t know why the city is taking so long to reopen the city chamber.”
As Gordo voiced a month earlier, Najera added he personally believes it’s best to see members of the public in person.
“We have a face and a voice,” he said.
Councilmember Jess Rivas noted shortly after Najera’s comments that she’s just as eager to return to Pasadena City Hall. But she asked her peers to sit through at least one more month of remote meetings.
Particularly so she, a mother of a 2-year-old, and others with young kids have time to get their children vaccinated.
Federal authorities approved the doses for kids as young as 6 months over the weekend. The approval applies to vaccines manufactured by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech.
COVID-19 vaccine doses for children younger than age 5 have begun rolling out in Los Angeles County this week, but health officials warned that due to shipping delays, the pediatric shots weren’t expected to be more widely available until at least Wednesday.
Pasadena isn’t expected to begin vaccinations until early July.
“I really do want to get back to public meetings. I think it’s important for the public to be able to come in person and for us to all be together in the same room,” Rivas said.
“But with that being said,” Rivas added, it’s important to consider all in the community who may have not been able to receive a vaccine for other reasons.
The Council voted 6-1 to extend remote meetings. Councilwoman Felicia Williams was the sole no. Councilman Andy Wilson was absent.
“I said in June that our goal was to have the public back in person, all of us back in person and I still believe that that is what we should do,” said Gordo, who’s a parent himself. “But I hear your request and I’m prepared to respect that request given the circumstances.”
