“The Kite Runner” Soars as One City, One Story Selection

TUDENTS AND COMMUTERS, employees on lunch breaks, moms pushing strollers, seniors on treadmills: Everywhere you look in Pasadena beginning March 1, someone will be reading Khaled Hosseini’s gripping novel “The Kite Runner.”

The page-turner has been selected for Pasadena’s 2005 One City, One Story community reading project, a popular annual tradition that encourages literary reading citywide.

The novel "The Kite Runner"

Throughout March, you can find extra copies of the novel at Pasadena Central Library and all branches plus local stores. The book is also available in audio format at Central Library for people with visual impairments.

Once you start reading, log on to www.onecityonestory.com for a full list of book discussions, special events and activities planned citywide. This year’s line-up includes a book club summit Saturday, Feb. 12, at Pasadena Central Library; a kite-flying contest at the Rose Bowl Saturday, March 12; an evening with the author Friday, March 18, at All Saints Church; and more.

Hosseini’s first novel, “The Kite Runner” hit the New York Times Bestseller List, received the Borders Books 2003 Original Voices Award and was named a 2003 Breakout Book by Amazon.com. Told in three segments, it’s an epic tale of fathers and sons, loyalty and betrayal, set in Afghanistan over the past 40 years as a wealthy young boy named Amir flees then returns to his homeland. The author is an Afghanistan native whose family was granted political asylum in the U.S. after the Soviet invasion of their country. A U.S. resident since 1980, Hosseini earned a degree in medicine from UC San Diego and is married with two children.

Visit www.onecityonestory.com for more information or to volunteer, or call 744-4066.

Pasadena’s Collective Wisdom

Pasadenans are fortunate to live in a community that promotes learning and literacy. Pasadena’s libraries, schools, museums, churches, households and non-profit groups all contribute to our city’s “collective wisdom.”

Pasadena’s mayor will expand on that theme during his 2005 State of the City address Thursday, Jan. 20, at 7 p.m. at Pasadena City College’s Lillian Vosloh Forum (on Bonnie Drive on the east side of the campus).

The annual presentation will provide updates and future plans for a number of issues while tying in Pasadena’s commitment to lifelong learning.

Entertainment and refreshments will be provided.

Open to the public, the free event will be cablecast live on 55 KPAS and on the Internet (www.cityofpasadena.net) and will be repeated often. For more information call 744-4311.

ARTS Riders Get a Boost

ARTS BUS RIDERS, WE HEARD YOU! In response to requests from passengers, the city is rolling out several improvements to the popular Pasadena ARTS shuttle system beginning in mid-February. For just 50¢ a ride (or 25¢ for children, seniors and riders with disabilities), the buses operate on six routes, taking you nearly anywhere you want to go in Pasadena.

The most exciting change is that all routes will now start an hour earlier at 6 a.m. to help commuters connect with early morning Metro Gold Line rides. Another route will also be added to link residents in southwest Pasadena to the Metro Gold Line. This new Route 70 will run Monday through Friday from 6 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 8 p.m., covering Orange Grove Boulevard from Colorado Boulevard to Columbia Street and connecting to the Fillmore Station.

To further help the morning hustle, an extra bus will be added to the three busiest routes – 20, 31 and 40 – before and after school to help the buses stay on schedule and accommodate many more high school students trekking to and from Blair, Muir, Pasadena and Marshall.

Other routes will be changed to improve service. Route 10 will provide better connections at Caltech, Pasadena City College and the Gold Line Allen Avenue Station while providing stops along Del Mar Boulevard. (Route 10’s service will soon end two hours earlier on Friday and Saturday nights, at 8 p.m.)

Route 31 will provide direct service to the Metro Gold Line Sierra Madre Villa Station; its Pasadena High School stop will be switched from Sierra Madre Boulevard to Altadena Drive to eliminate duplication of service.

Route 32 will be changed to provide better service to the Sierra Madre Villa Station while discontinuing some stretches of Sierra Madre Boulevard and Hastings Ranch Drive that had few riders. Lower Hastings Ranch Drive will continue to be served by Route 60 in the morning and afternoon.

Route 60 will be revamped to tie the Sierra Madre Villa Station to Del Mar Boulevard, an area where, until now, there hasn’t been much bus service. The shuttles will run one hour longer, until 10 a.m., in the morning and start one hour earlier, at 3 p.m., in the afternoon.

You’ll find new routes and schedules at all branch libraries, www.cityofpasadena.net/trans/transit or 744-4055.

ARTS Busses

An extra ARTS bus will be added to the three busiest routes – 20, 31 and 40 – before and after school to help the buses stay on schedule.

City Hall Closed for Retrofit

PASADENA CITY HALL WAS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC in late July to prepare for the seismic retrofit that will keep city offices in other locations through summer 2007.

In January the City Council is scheduled to approve the general contractor for the retrofit. By spring a buzz of activity will begin. Then the buzz of activity will begin: A construction fence will be installed around the entire building, trailers will move onto the existing northbound lane of Garfield Avenue and construction materials will begin to be delivered on the Garfield side.

Heavy equipment will be brought in to dig holes for a “moat” that will surround City Hall, demolish walls throughout the basement and shore up the building while this work is being done. On the Euclid Avenue side of City Hall, everything that is dug out or demolished will be hauled away. An important part of this phase of the project will be dust control to protect City Hall’s neighbors.

Throughout the three-year project, the general contractor will be encouraged to consider hiring Pasadena subcontractors who are registered with the city and specialize in trades including earthwork, demolition, concrete, electrical, equipment, finishes, hazardous materials abatement, masonry, mechanical, moisture protection and more.

We’ll keep you updated in each issue of Pasadena In Focus about specific work that is being done at City Hall. For more information, including interim locations of city offices and answers to frequently asked questions, visit www.cityofpasadena.net and click on City Hall Project or call 744-7073.

Opening the Door to Your New Home

LEARN TIPS FOR BUYING YOUR FIRST HOME at a free seminar Saturday, March 5, from 9 a.m. to noon on the second floor at the Renaissance Plaza Shopping Center, 649 N. Fair Oaks Ave. (new home to the city’s Housing and Community Development Office).

You’ll learn all about down payment requirements, special assistance programs, how to reduce your closing costs and more. Lenders and realtors will be on hand to answer all your questions.

Seating is limited for this popular workshop, sponsored jointly by the city and the Pasadena-Foothills Association of Realtors. To reserve your spot, call (800) 925-2721. For more information on homebuyer assistance programs visit http://cityofpasadena.net/housing/housing/homebuyer.asp or call 744-8316.

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