Hahamongna Hoopla

Photo Attributed To SaveHahamongna.com

As most of you reading this are aware, the situation at Hahamongna Watershed Park has grown critical.  The County Of Los Angeles, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that this quiet piece of heaven near our foothills needs to be disrupted by huge, smoke-belching trucks hauling out debris from behind Devils Gate Dam, 400 of them a day, five days a week, for the next five years.

We can't say much more than what's already been said.  Please read (and listen to*) our friends Petrea Burchard and Karin Bugge have to say about this at this link for Petrea's post, and this link for Karin's post.  In both, you'll find a link to the Indiegogo campaign to help offset costs for the lawsuit against the County filed by the Arroyo Seco Foundation and the Pasadena Audubon Society. We urge you to donate - there are some great perks you can get if you do!  Hoopla! Emporium is delighted to be able to help out with a hyper-local and Fair Trade basket of goodies for the $150.00 donation tier, and we're beyond proud that it's been snapped up already!  Here's a picture of what's inside it:

 

 

This basket includes some wonderful Fair Trade items (the bracelets, the wood sculpture, the note cards and the perfume oil) and locally made products like the Pasadena-centric notecards from Julie Hill, exquisite jam from LA Farm Girl, wonderful olive oil from Beyond The Olive, and an Altadena-centric candle block made by Cheltenham Road.  Also included is some fabulous, organic body lotion from Southern California company, Glow*Ology (although their products are distributed by Demdaco, they are made in Carson, CA). We sincerely hope that the esteemed $150.00 donator enjoys all these great products, but more than that, we're just flat-out thrilled that someone donated that amount to the cause, and that we were asked to contribute!

Please do what you can to support the Arroyo Seco Foundation and the Pasadena Audubon Society in their efforts to fight what the County Of Los Angeles has planned for beautiful Hahamongna Watershed Park.  We can all get involved, however we're comfortable doing it - it doesn't need to be monetary, although that's certainly appreciated.  Word of mouth helps, too.  Tell your neighbors and your friends, because you never know where that will lead.  Here's a huge thank you from Hoopla! Emporium!
*Petrea has voiced a video explaining what's going on at Hahamongna, which you'll find on her post.

Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace

Hope all of you are enjoying your Sunday evening and are ready to start a new week. It's certainly been an interesting week over here at WFS! With new merchandise on its way in and coming into the week of Halloween, we're looking forward to getting the fourth quarter shopping season started.

This next week will see Halloween come down and holiday 2010 go up. We're also excited about a few things we've got in the works....there's a book signing with local author Hugh Bonar scheduled for Nov. 13th and a special Thanksgiving wine tasting with our favorite wine experts, Anne L. Bannon and Michael Holland. The date for the wine tasting is yet to be set, but we're thinking November 20th.

I wanted to bring a couple of discussions taking place on other venues that might be of interest to you. Michele Zack, Altadena historian, award-winning author and outstanding citizen, is currently writing a series of articles on Altadenablog, http://wwww.altadenablog.com, dealing with the future of business in Altadena. Simultaneously, in another newsblog, Altadena Patch.com, http://www.altadena.patch.com, has posted an interview with Richard Bruckner, the new planning director for the County of Los Angeles, which details his plans for Altadena. I recommend reading both articles and all the comments....it certainly is an eye-opener! Of course, you'll find my comments there as well, so I'll leave them off the blog. Those of you who've been following me know how I feel about Altadena, know my plans for our business district here and are hopefully aware of the precarious situation for our businesses. I urge you to read both articles and ask that you weigh in with your thoughts. If we don't make our desires known now, then we stand to let others define how our community will develop in the future.

Thank you, my friends.....Scott and I wish you a pleasant week ahead!

Lori & Scott