Altadena, an unincorporated community of Los Angeles County, has a Town Council that acts as a liaison between the citizens of Altadena, the County Board of Supervisors, and other County authorities. The Council thereby serves as a conduit providing information and addressing residents’ issues and concerns. Elections to the Town Council are held at regular intervals. Voting is by district, known as “census tracts” in Altadena. The next Town Council election will be held on November 4 and 7, 2023.

A candidate forum for the election was held on October 19. Candidate forums are grass-roots democracy in action, and citizens look to the League as a trusted, nonpartisan, and practiced arbiter. These forums are at the heart of the League’s mission to make democracy work. The community organization sponsoring the October 19 candidate forum, Neighbors Building a Better Altadena (NBBA), invited LWV-PA to moderate the forum, held at the Altadena Public Library. Moderator Robbie Davis led our team, which included Toni Cavanagh Johnson and Maureen Johnston as question sorters and Ruth Judkins as timekeeper. All present—candidates, NBBA volunteers, and Altadena residents in the audience—expressed their gratitude and appreciation to the League for outstanding work in managing a smooth and successful forum. You can view a video of the forum here. For more information on how and when to vote, visit the Town Council’s website, here.

We saw this event as good practice for the spring, when we will have a big job conducting candidate forums throughout our service area. Look for more on that subject in future issues of the Voter.

—Katherine Gavzy