Sharing history

At first, thoughts of dirty diapers and the largest (and perhaps most anticipated) presidential inauguration in American history — an event expected to draw more than 2 million people, including three Pasadena City Council members, to Washington on Tuesday — may seem like a total mismatch.

Not so for Pasadena-area Democratic activist and blogger Lonnee Hamilton. She’s using her Web site, RoseCityObamaWorks.ning.com, to let fellow Barack Obama backers know that they can show support for the president-elect’s agenda on Monday by dropping off a fresh pack of Huggies or Pampers for needy area families at Pasadena’s Union Station social services center.

The diaper drive is one of several public service events taking place in the area over the holiday weekend — each responding to a call by Obama to turn Martin Luther King Jr. Day into a nationwide day of public service.

“I won’t just ask for your vote as a candidate — I will ask for your service and your active citizenship when I am president of the United States. … This will be a central cause of my presidency,” Obama, who also aims to expand AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps, said while on the campaign trail in July. This aspect of his candidacy prompted the creation of usaservice.org, where visitors can organize or sign up for any of thousands of inauguration-inspired public service events around the country.

Other local service events include a canned food collection for the pantry of Pasadena’s Friends in Deed that will take place Monday at a South Madison Avenue home, an effort to repaint preschool buildings at Altadena Christian Children’s Center, a blood drive by the local Red Cross, activism on behalf of shelter animals and a neighborhood trash cleanup effort.

Pasadena’s Kidspace Museum is looking for volunteers to staff its “Day of Tolerance,” which from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday will feature workshops and performances that promote values of diversity and equality among young people.

In Hamilton’s case, putting out the call to help local families was a no-brainer: “The idea is Barack Obama’s election is just one step … not the be-all and end-all. The goal is to get people involved. We wanted to have something doable but not overwhelming, contacted Union Station and were told they need diapers,” said Hamilton, who in early 2007 founded the Internet group Pasadena and Altadena for Obama.

Obama supporters who can’t make it to Washington Tuesday can attend an inauguration viewing party at All Saints Church (see 8 Days, page 42) or one at the Jackie Robinson Center organized by Pasadena Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, an early Obama endorser.

But like many local movers and shakers, Hamilton, niece of Pasadena philanthropists Ann and Robert Hamilton, is headed for Washington, where on Monday she will attend an afternoon reception at Schiff’s congressional office that will be open to all constituents.

Mayor Bill Bogaard, Pasadena City Councilman Chris Holden and Councilwoman Jacque Robinson are also headed to the inaugural, as are Pasadena Board of Education member Renatta Cooper and Pasadena Democratic Assemblyman Anthony Portantino. Each of them received tickets from Schiff.

“It’ll be an opportunity to see history made, but even if I didn’t have a ticket I’d go and just stand on the mall and share in the excitement,” said Holden, an early Obama supporter.

The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, chaired by California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, distributed 398 inauguration tickets to each senator and 198 each to members of the House of Representatives. Schiff’s office set aside a few tickets for community leaders and distributed the rest by lottery following thousands of requests by constituents, said spokesman Sean Oblack.

Bogaard will be attending the inauguration with his son Joseph, who is outreach director for the nonprofit environmental group Save Our Wild Salmon.

On Saturday and Sunday, Bogaard will represent Pasadena at an annual meeting of the US Conference of Mayors that will address economic and ecological issues. Speakers at that gathering are expected to include former President Bill Clinton, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, investors George Soros and T. Boone Pickens and incoming Obama cabinet officials.

Lena Kennedy, a member of the Obama campaign’s National Finance Committee and district director for Democratic state Sen. Carol Liu when she was a member of the Assembly, will also be mingling with some of the world’s most prominent people, attending one of seven official inaugural balls.

With forecasts of cold and rainy weather on Tuesday, joining the inaugural throng may test some, but “The energy and excitement is unbelievable, and it’s going to sustain people,” said Kennedy, who along with her brother, former Pasadena Community Development Committee Chair John Kennedy, is now working with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Although she isn’t nervous about the weather, Robinson, who like Holden served as a Pasadena delegate to the Democratic National Convention, admitted to being a bit anxious about being able to make her way through the masses that will gather on the National Mall.

Robinson won her council seat after participating in an Obama youth leadership training program and is also a member of Young and Powerful for Obama, a group of young professionals who organized and raised money during the campaign.
Pasadena’s 30-year-old District 1 council representative will take part in a group conference that weekend focused on grassroots lobbying and running local campaigns. It’s an effort she described as a response to Obama’s call for supporters to get involved in bringing about the kinds of positive changes they had in mind when voting for him.
“It’s not just about parties,”  said Robinson. “One of the tenets of the campaign is giving back,
and it’s continuing even after the campaign.”

The inauguration viewing party sponsored by Congressman Adam Schiff is from 7:30 to 10 a.m. at the Jackie Robinson Center, 1020 N. Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena. RSVP by calling (626) 583-8581.