On May 27, 2021, the West Pasadena Residents’ Association held its virtual annual meeting and informational program. This year we took a deep dive into the current topic many people are concerned about: our state’s housing shortage and how it severely affects California’s urban centers.
Two video program versions were placed on YouTube for public viewing.
CLICK HERE for the replay of the entire annual meeting.
CLICK HERE for the housing content only without WPRA’s business segment.
We kicked off our meeting with Dan Beal’s president’s message…
…and then we presented WPRA’s Community Service Awards to Rosa Laveaga, former Arroyo Seco Project Supervisor and to Priscilla Taylor who recently retired from our board after serving 26 years.
WPRA Board Director, Joan Hearst & Rosa Laveaga 
WPRA President Dan Beal & Priscilla Taylor
We elected our 2021 to 2022 Board of Directors and moved on to our discussion topic: The Housing Crisis: How do we build our way out of the housing shortage, and especially affordable housing?
We started our focus on our local planning challenges within Pasadena, expanding the conversation to the LA County area and then widening the analysis even further to state legislation. Moderating was Avram Gold, WPRA Vice President of Communications. WPRA Treasurer, Blaine Cavena handled the webinar engineering as Tech Director.
Avram Gold, Moderator 
Blaine Cavena, Tech Director
Our lineup of introductory speakers were:
Pasadena Mayor, Victor Gordo
Pasadena District 6 Councilmember, Steve Madison
LA County Supervisor, Kathryn Barger
and our State’s District 41, Assembly member Chris Holden
Mayor Victor Gordo 
Council member Steve Madison 
LA County Supervisor,
Cathryn Barger
State Assembly member,
Chris Holden
We then followed these four reports with a panel discussion. Our special guest panelists were:
Our District 25 State Senator, Anthony Portantino
Pasadena’s Director of Planning and Community Development, David Reyes
Executive Director of nonprofit Heritage Housing Partners, Charles Loveman. Jr.
and nonprofit Abode Communities President & CEO, Robin Hughes.
Senator Anthony Portantino 
Pasadena Planning Director,
David Reyes
Non-profit developer,
Robin Hughes
Non-profit developer,
Charles Loveman
Topics discussed were: more production vs the reach for more land, the lack of current state funding and existing county subsidies, the struggle to finance affordable housing, state vs local control, gentrification, communication breakdowns in Sacramento, developer influence and lobbying, and ending with the question: Will there really be a reduced demand for cars in the future?
