In other news ...

The other news here in Pasadena is the All Saints Church building project, which has been on the drawing board for about the last three years and is now moving into public hearing, permit stages.

If you're interested about all the details, you can click here and go to the All Saints website for lots of great background.

We've gotten some "push back" from the Planning Commission, as reported in Monday's Pasadena Star-News but we're moving ahead to satisfy concerns and get the ground broken!
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Finally, here's a great Letter to the Editor that they printed in the Star News today in support of our project:

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Mixing styles works
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The fact that All Saints Church is one of Pasadena's best and most respected institutions is beyond question. That may not entitle that church, so wonderfully engaged in good works all around Pasadena, to a blanket pass on complying with building design standards, but it should give them firmly the benefit of any doubt.
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Mixing old Pasadena design styles with the best modern expressions that contemporary architects have to offer should be seen as the exciting plus that it is.
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That is especially true for All Saints, which has led in so many ways in preserving traditional core religious worship, music and cultural styles, while at the same time offering newer and innovative expressions of those styles.
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The adoption of fresh new design to coexist with its classic Gothic church architecture emphasizes this church's resounding commitment to contemporary life without sacrificing its essential beliefs.
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Pasadena's strength is its amazing diversity. We should all applaud All Saints' exciting new design that honors both the church's and the city's commitment to diversity. We should not have to judge compatibility through the lens of a fixed and a relatively changeless design, no matter how elegant and historical it may be.
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Anyone who has any doubt about the mixture of different architectural styles from different periods of history should see the splendor of the Harvard Yard, which combines old New England styles with the changing styles of over four centuries of its history, including even newer-style glass buildings. There are many other examples.
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As longtime admirers and former active member of All Saints, we urge the city to give the church that has been a beacon of service to the community wide latitude to create its own sense of place. Its good judgment and love for this city can be relied upon by all of us. If some limiting notion of a unifying theme must prevail, let it be through landscape architecture, even tied into the City Hall's, not through the design of the neighborhood.
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Bob Carlson
Maureen Carlson
Pasadena
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