Sierra Madre Damage Inspected by State Officials, Gov. Declares State of Emergency for SM

Members of City staff, Council member Nancy Walsh with Assemblyman Anthony Portantino getting ready to inspect windstorm damage.

Originally posted 12/9/11, Updated 12/12/11

Follow-up update to story below: Assemblyman Anthony Portantino posted the following on his Facebook page Saturday, the day after we ran into him heading out to inspect wind damage in Sierra Madre…”Great News for cities in the San Gabriel Valley. The wind damage tour made a difference. One day after Secretary Dayton toured the wind damaged cities, Governor Brown Set to Declare State of Emergency. Secretary Dayton just called me to let me know that he appreciated the tour and looks forward to working with my office and cities in need of State’s help.”

You can read more about the Governor’s declaration here.

Original post – Happened to be walking into City Hall this afternoon as City staff was walking out the door accompanied by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino. Seems the Assemblyman and Cal-EMA acting Secretary Mike Dayton were in Sierra Madre to take a look around at the damage we suffered during the windstorm on Nov. 30th and Dec. 1st. At my request, staff and the Assemblyman allowed me to get a picture of them. Secretary Dayton was en route from Arcadia.  While Sierra Madre is currently represented by Tim Donnelly, not Mr. Portantino, according to an article in the Glendale News-Press on Dec. 7th, the Assemblyman is seeking the endorsements of two local Democratic organizations for a possible run against CA State Senate against Carol Liu in the new 25th District, which apparently will include Sierra Madre.  The News-Press article indicated that the Assemblyman did not respond to their inquiries before they went to press.