Congratulations are due to the newest group of Paramount Education Partnership scholarship winners. More than $70,000 was awarded to 24 Paramount students to help with their college costs this year. Over the past 11 years, nearly $600,000 has been distributed through the PEP scholarships.

The 2014 winners were recognized at the June 3rd Paramount City Council meeting by the Council, Paramount Unified Board of Education members and District officials, and the PEP Board of Directors. Below is the list of this year's PEP Scholars, along with their schools and majors.

The Paramount Education Partnership's 11th Annual Fundraiser, held on Friday, April 25, was a roaring success, with donors offering up an astounding $101,425 that will fund college scholarships for local students next year.

When combined with the contributions from Pennies for PEP that took place in March in the Paramount Unified School District, that figure jumps to $109,544.
In addition, raffle prizes worth thousands of dollars were contributed to the fundraising event.

Gov. Jerry Brown has proclaimed that California is officially in a drought. In fact, the state is in the midst of perhaps its worst dry spell in a century.

The Paramount Water Department suggests the following ideas to save water:

* When washing dishes by hand, don't let the water run while rinsing. Fill one sink with wash water and the other with rinse water.

* Soak your pots and pans instead of letting the water run while you scrape them clean.

* Run your washing machine and dishwasher only when they are full and you could save 1,000 gallons a month.
 

The City's Recreation Department newsletter for the summer is now available.The newsletter provides information about upcoming special events in town, aquatics, youth and adult instructional classes, summer sports leagues, offerings for seniors, and more. Click here to take a look.

You can also find a hard copy in the May issue of the Pulse Beat newspaper, at City Hall, and at the City Yard.

Did you know you can sign up for the City's Recreational activities online? Click on the Recreation Classes button in the upper right corner of this page to find out how.
 

To see a copy of the City's spring edition of the "Around Town" newsletter, please click here. This issue contains a historical story about Paramount's Hay Tree, information on disposing large/bulky items, where to find the City on the Internet, and information about our new Smarts, Arts, and Healthy Hearts celebration this June.
 

There are plenty of facts, figures, and details about distracted driving, but the California Office of Traffic Safety wants you to know the plain and simple ones:

• 80 percent of vehicle crashes involve some sort of driver inattention.
• Up to 6,000 people nationwide are killed in crashes where driver distractions are involved.
• Talking on a cell phone or texting is the number one source of driver distractions.

A line up of Paramount productions - from the city, not the movie studio - is now on the video-streaming website YouTube. Shows highlight such things as public presentations at City Council meetings, special community events, an oral history of the our town, and other Paramount profiles. Click this link to visit www.youtube.com/cityofparamount.

The City of Paramount was a finalist in 2013 for the Most Business-Friendly City in Los Angeles County Award given by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC). Paramount was in the 50,000-and-over population category.

Paramount was recognized for its promotion of business-friendly programs and services that encourage businesses to locate or expand in the city and its commitment to economic development as a top priority.

The LAEDC praised Paramount for a number of positive approaches to local commerce:
 

• Low licensing and permit fees relative to neighboring cities.
• Streamlined permit process.
• Fast-tracked permit approvals and next-day site inspections.

The City of Paramount's "To Your Health!" Salud Park, newly opened and located at the corner of Texaco St. and Somerset Blvd., features exercise stations, walking/running paths and tracks, and a plaza for yoga, pilates and zumba classes.

It provides the residents of Paramount with a "free outdoor gym," available for use seven days a week.

Salud Park was built on ten acres of Southern California Edison right-of-way property. Working closely with SCE, the City was able to produce a first-class facility of attractive open space in an urban area with little available land for new parks.

City Fabrick is a nonprofit urban design studio in Long Beach with a special focus on creative approaches to expanding open space. According to City Fabrick Executive Director Brian Ulaszewski, Salud Park is a great example of the kinds of projects the firm has been promoting, and "incredibly relevant to our work." Ulaszewski has written a blog posting about the park on the company's website. The article can be found at www.cityfabrick.org/lines-above-and-parks-below-paramounts-success/.
 

The Oversight Board for the Successor Agency for the Paramount Redevelopment Agency will meet at 3 p.m. on May 1, 2014 in the City Hall Basement Conference Room to consider Resolution No. OB 14:005, approving the transfer of governmental property and property for future development from the Successor Agency to the City of Paramount pursuant to an approved Long-Range Property Management Plan. A link to the complete public notice is shown below.

(Public Notice)

On February 26, the Oversight Board for the Successor Agency for the Paramount Redevelopment Agency approved the Recognized Obligations Payment Schedule (ROPS) for the period July 2014 through December 2014. The ROPS was approved by the California Department of Finance on April 9, 2014.
 

(ROPS-July 2014 through December 2014)

(ROPS-January 2014 through June 2014)

Additional information about the elimination of redevelopment agencies can be found on the California Department of Finance's website.

http://www.dof.ca.gov/redevelopment/