"Anthony Portantino has demonstrated his understanding that our economy and our children depend on a healthy environment. While others talk about protecting the environment, Anthony makes it happen. We urge all voters who care about protecting public health and building a strong, sustainable economy, to vote for Anthony Portantino for Assembly."

Portantino, who currently serves as Mayor of La Canada Flintridge, said he was both thrilled and honored to receive the support of CLCV:

"One main reason I'm running is to help California prosper in ways that protect and improve our environment and our quality of life. Those who know me already know these issues are close to my heart. Winning CLCV support will help spread the word to many new friends and voters."

"CLCV has been the political voice and conscience of California's environmental movement for a generation. People trust CLCV recommendations because they are not given lightly. I am thrilled to have the support of a group whose work I've long admired. I will work hard to deserve this honor."

Environmental activism has been one of the hallmarks of Anthony Portantino's public career. As a Mayor and City Councilman he has worked to create new parks, save Hall Canyon, and improve trails and access to forest areas. He has also helped residents in Glendale and Pasadena fight hillside development; helped open new parkland in South Pasadena; and worked to make trail and bridge improvements in Pasadena and Altadena.

Portantino is Vice-Chair of the Advisory Committee for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. He has worked with Rep. Adam Schiff, testifying before Congress in favor of funding the Rim of the Valley Corridor Study Act. He has also joined with Senators Boxer and Feinstein, and with the Sierra Club and the Wild Heritage Campaign, to protect California's wild rivers and wilderness areas.

The California League of Conservation Voters is the nation's largest and oldest state political action organization for the environment. Founded in 1972, the League is a non-partisan organization with more than 25,000 members. It mobilizes California voters to support environmentally responsible candidates and issues, and serves as a watchdog to hold elected officials accountable for their environmental votes.

A 150-foot-long historic bridge over Flint Wash in northwest Pasadena will be reconstructed now that a $375,000 grant from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy has completed the necessary funding for the $1.5 million project.

The Flint Wash crossing provided the original connection between La Cañada and Pasadena. Two previous bridges have been built in the same location. The first was destroyed by fire in 1937 and the second was removed in the 1980s for safety reasons.
The grant, generated from Proposition 40 (California Clean Water, Clean Air, Safe Neighborhood Parks and Coastal Protection Act of 2002) funds, will be added to more than $1 million in other secured funding. The existing historic bridge abutment from the first structure will be used in the project.

The bridge will connect the Flint Canyon Trail in La Cañada-Flintridge and the Oak Grove area at Hahamongna Watershed Park on the west to Devil's Gate Dam and the Arroyo Seco trail system on the east. This will provide diversified recreational uses including hiking, bird watching and horseback riding that have been limited because of the impairment to the trail. It will also offer improved security, ease of access and decreased emergency response time.

Most significantly, the bridge will protect the natural habitat of the reservoir basin where about 3,000 park users currently cross every week. Among many other benefits, the bridge will enable Jet Propulsion Laboratory's large number of bicycle commuters to travel a safe and well maintained route.

According to Rosa Laveaga, Arroyo Seco supervisor for Pasadena's Public Works Department, the new bridge will complete a missing link in the perimeter trail proposed in the Arroyo Seco Master Plan and restore a historic crossing that is needed to unify Hahamongna Watershed Park.

"There are a number of other bridge crossings in the Arroyo Seco, but none that afford such intimate proximity to the stream and canyon settings," said Laveaga. "No other crossing in the Arroyo Seco combines such a diversity of regional uses including equestrian, bicycle and hiking." The crossing will also offer a connection from Pasadena, Altadena and La Cañada-Flintridge to the Angeles National Forest and the regional trail network including the Rim of the Valley Trail system, which connects to the L.A. River trail system in the Santa Monica Mountains and to the Pacific Ocean.

Tom Seifert is Pasadena's representative on the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy advisory board. La Cañada-Flintridge City Councilman Anthony Portantino is that city's representative.

"It is a pleasure to work closely with representatives from Pasadena to preserve and enhance our regional trail network," said Portantino. "The Flint Wash Bridge is a project that has long deserved a positive, cost effective solution."

Portantino is also a member of the SMMC's Arroyo Working Group chaired by Pasadena resident Tim Wendler, who represents the Senate Rules Committee on the advisory board.

"Tim Wendler and the conservancy deserve a great deal of credit for focusing resources and attention on the arroyo area," Portantino added. "Through that regional approach we've been able to highlight important projects for funding and the hope is to continue working together to achieve even more for our region."

The Arroyo Working Group focuses on potential funding sources that will help in the planning of SMMC projects of regional importance to communities that surround the east end of the Rim of the Valley Trail. In addition to Pasadena and La Cañada-Flintridge, those communities include Altadena, Sierra Madre, Burbank, Glendale, Eagle Rock and several other areas. The Flint Wash Bridge is the group's second success; it followed a land acquisition for the city of La Cañada-Flintridge. The group continues to work collaboratively to identify projects that may merit funding from the SMMC.

"Our success in obtaining this Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy grant is a testimony to the regional importance of the Flint Wash Bridge in the Hahamongna Watershed Park area and the value of working with our neighbors to bring resources to Pasadena," said Wendler.

The bridge project, which is included in the draft Hahamongna Watershed Park Master Plan, recently received California Environmental Quality Act certification as part of the Arroyo Seco Master Environmental Impact Report. The Hahamongna Watershed Park Master Plan is a component of the Arroyo Seco Master Plan, which is in the final approval process. Project completion is anticipated in March 2005.

Other funding has been provided by the Caltrans/MTA Project of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the L.A. County Parks and Open Space District, the State of California Resources Agency, the Caltrans Local Assistance Agency, the city of Pasadena and other sources.

For more information call (626) 744-4321