“Altadena is the whole lot to me. I used to be born in the home that we misplaced,” shared Dr. William Syms, a lifelong Altadena resident and neighborhood advocate.
Referring to himself as a “baby of town,” Dr. Syms has labored tirelessly to counterpoint each the unincorporated space of Altadena and town of Pasadena. His roles have included seven years at Pasadena Metropolis Faculty, serving as program coordinator for Neighborhood Connections for the Metropolis of Pasadena, and dealing as a congressional liaison for California’s twenty ninth District.
On the morning of Jan. 8, the Eaton hearth claimed the Syms Household House. This was a multi-generational residence, the place Dr. Syms’ personal son spent a lot of his childhood — even the place he realized to journey a motorcycle. Luckily, Dr. Syms evacuated on the onset of the hearth.
“We may see the hearth on Tuesday in a manner that was too harmful to remain there, so I made a decision to get a lodge and are available again [in the morning]. We didn’t seize something as a result of we simply knew we may come again,” he recalled.
This was the story for a lot of households impacted by the Eaton hearth; they believed that their home can be unscathed, or, on the very least, not diminished to ash.
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“The plan was to return again at midday,” mentioned Dr. Syms, “however once we did, the whole lot of our neighborhood was diminished to rubble. It’s a devastation that I don’t have the phrases for. ‘Trauma’ doesn’t really feel just like the phrase for it.”
Reflecting on the non-public and collective significance of Altadena, Dr. Syms shared, “I’ve grown up locally, I participated in scouts and the police academy, performed youth sports activities, went to Jackie Robinson Faculty, rode the buses that Octavia Butler rode, joined the NAACP neighborhood.
“You look again on the historical past of town within the late 1800s and the Nice Migration — Black households from Texas and Arkansas had been shifting to Altadena. You’ve gotten households just like the Prince or the Hampton households that settled and constructed properties, constructed communities. This can be a place the place Black individuals may construct their lives and companies.”
Dr. Syms has been deeply moved by the neighborhood’s response. “There are too many individuals to call who’ve stepped in and crammed the hole.” Leaders of the neighborhood, the fraternities like Alpha Phi Alpha, Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma, Kappa Alpha Psi, sororities together with Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, First AME Church, Brandon Lamar, the Flintridge Basis, and NOBLE — the Nationwide Group of Black Legislation Enforcement —have all come collectively to assist the neighborhood who misplaced their livelihoods.
“Regardless of having misplaced the whole lot, they’ve stepped up to make sure that the neighborhood is complete and that we’re protected and that we are going to rebuild. I’m humbled by the assist,” he mentioned.
“We are going to rebuild and assist different households and anybody who needs to revive that land. We’re dedicated to preserving their land and saving it from any vultures who need to come be prospectors on that gold.
“We’ve readability about that. Planners, engineers, architects—we’re able to make this a Mecca. This will probably be a premier vacation spot for the county of Los Angeles.”
To assist the Syms Household, please contribute to their GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/rebuild-hope-for-the-syms-family
