Pasadena Taking Stricter Approach To Enforcement As Pandemic Surges

PASADENA (CBSLA) — The city of Pasadena has started to take a broader and stricter approach to enforcing local health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic — starting with telling about 75 runners at the Rose Bowl loop trail they needed to wear face coverings over the weekend.

"We're not asking or suggesting, we're telling them you need to wear a mask," Lisa Derderian, city spokesperson, said. "A lot of people are cooperating, some ran away from us the other day at the Rose Bowl when they were asked to do that."

Code enforcement officers also shut down other local events — including soccer games at Victory Park and a car meet and motorcycle show, which had 50 attendees each.

"It's great to have that authority enforcing it so you don't have to be the authority for your loved one," La-Iya Tanedo, an Eagle Rock resident, said.

The enforcement actions followed the reinstatement of permits for three Pasadena restaurants previously shut down due to violations of the city's COVID-19 safety protocols. In total, five restaurants were ordered to close Saturday night, a city official said.

"A lot of people, we called it the super spreader event," Dan Nevarez, a Pasadena resident, said of this weekend's surge in outdoor dining. "It was kind of scary."

Nevarez and his family said they were concerned about how many people were eating out at restaurants over the weekend. Pasadena, which has its own health department, is the only city in Los Angeles County still allowing outdoor dining.

"One of the restaurants, easily 20 people deep just waiting to get in," he said.

Derderian said despite social distancing guidelines, code enforcement officers were still reporting seeing too many people gathering outside restaurants, at parks and in front of homes.

"We are looking at modifying our health orders tomorrow, mostly for gatherings," Lisa Derderian, city spokesperson, said.

The city said it knows many restaurants will not survive another full shutdown and urged people to adhere to local health orders to ensure restaurants could remain open.

"If they're doing the correct protocols, more power to them," Navarez said.