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According to a flyer which dropped a few days back: Mssrs. Steve Madison and Sid Tyler, representatives of the Playhouse District, southwest and southeast Pasadena on the City Council "invite you to a special community meeting" Wednesday evening re: "Our Imminent Water Shortage: How you Can Prevent Waste and Potential Penalties" with the inestimable Phyllis Currie, general manager of Pasadena Water and Power.

Here's the Cliff's Notes version, cribbed from PWP:

Take shorter showers - 5 minutes or less Turn off the faucet when brushing teeth or shaving Wash only full loads of laundry and dishes Install water-efficient fixtures and appliances - get rebates!

Don't over water lawns - twice a week at most is enough Promptly repair broken sprinklers, plumbing and toilet valves Use a broom - not a hose - to clean driveways and pavement Talk to friends and neighbors and ask them to help save water

Of potentially more interest is discussion item No. 2, "AT&T Project U-Verse."

To construct their U-Verse infrastructure, the megatelecom must install many ugly, above-ground "vaults" in residential neighborhoods. See picture from an installation in Geneva, Ill. They're ugliness is secondary only to how LOUD they are.

Now, Pasadena has long held its hands are tied by state pre-emption over approval authority when it comes to these boxes.

Much like with the state-protected unlicensed group homes and federally (Courts say Constitutionally) protected adult clubs which the council has risked significant liability and channeled millions of taxpayer dollars to fight. Pasadena's only response to AT&T has been a lot of 'QQ.'

What's different about group homes and strip clubs?

Some Nattering nabobs of negativism might go so far as to suggest such small businesses lack shareholders in positions of power.

I'm not sure what Madison and Tyler's talking points will be re: the Big Ugly Boxes, or BUBs. They are two of the wealthiest members of the council. I believe Sid tops that list.

For some reason, City Council meeting minutes are one of the only nonsearchable items on the city's site, but Tyler has had to recuse himself from discussing the matter in public meetings when it has come up, presumably because he is an AT&T shareholder. Sid maintains he is unswayed by his wallet, as per this Pasadena Weekly piece:

“You can read anything you want into my motivations for owning a particular stock of a company, but does it color my views with respect to issues I'm elected to vote on? I'd have to say that particular ownership of a given stock plays no part. A much broader issue is my business background, and that does,” said Tyler.

Madison - responding to intense, vocal pressure about two years ago - has gone to bat before to discourage an AT&T cell phone tower in far-west Pasadena. Yet he's also recused himself on other telecom-related matters, at least those related to Motorola.

The meeting is from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Braun Auditorium at Huntington Hospital. Free validated parking is allegedly available if you "take Pasadena Avenue north from Bellefontaine and enter the second driveway for the lot nearest Braun."