By Charles Cherniss
Columnist

CAN'T argue with the Pasadena City Council about this one.

Well past Monday's midnight which makes it early Tuesday a.m. the council made clear the 15-year-old practice of using major chunks of the Arroyo Seco Fund on the Brookside Golf Course and the Rose Bowl still stands.

Some arroyo neighbors and nature-lovers want that money created by a 10 percent fee on Brookside greens fees spent on other parts of the arroyo.

We're talking about a pot in the low millions. I'd certainly pick it up if I saw it lying on the ground. In fact, I'd pick up the $1.2 mill that hasn't been spent or even the $290,000 annual income.

NEIGHBORS and nature-lovers correctly point out the central arroyo seco has been too long neglected. Too much maintenance has been deferred from playground equipment to restrooms to wall repairs and field renovations and beyond.

Since I spent major chunks of childhood and young adulthood on those fields, I have to agree.

The question, however, is from which pot the money should come.

STEVE MADISON, whose council district includes the west side of the arroyo, made a motion for all future Arroyo Seco Fund money to be spent on things other than the Rose Bowl and golf course.

That failed 5-3, with Mayor Bill Bogaard and Sid Tyler going along.

Joyce Streator, whose district includes the east side of the arroyo, noted the Bowl and course bring in big bucks and, "You cannot operate viable businesses unless you put some money back in."

Besides, loans borrowed for the Rose Bowl partially depend on Arroyo Fund money.

Council ended up saying the Bowl and course are eligible for Arroyo Seco Fund bucks.

Council now needs to put its collective head to work finding money for those other projects.

...

BACK TO BOWL: like the 710, maybe its worth to the city treasury demands a ballot vote to find what the public wants.

-- Reach Charles Cherniss by snail mail at the Pasadena Star-News, 911 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91109, by phone (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4501, or by e-mail at charles.cherniss@sgvn.com.