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Who We Are

We are a collective of concerned parents at St. Gregory A. & M. Hovsepian School, deeply alarmed by the proposed development of 214 residential units directly across the street from our school.

To date, parents and families at our school have been excluded from meaningful conversations with the developer and other key stakeholders. Despite being among those most directly affected, our voices have been overlooked in a process that will have serious and lasting consequences for our children, our school, and the surrounding community.

This development will impact more than 250 students and hundreds of families who rely on this school every day. Issues of safety, traffic, quality of life, and the learning environment cannot be addressed without the families who are most affected at the table.

We are calling on the developer to engage directly and transparently with our school community and work collaboratively with parents to ensure that any development reflects the needs, safety, and well-being of the children and families who live, learn, and gather here.

An Attack on Education. An Attack on a Historic Pasadena Community.

Fleeing genocide, war, and political turmoil in their native lands, Armenian families found open arms and a welcoming community in Pasadena. Here, they rebuilt their lives and worked tirelessly to create a brighter future for their children. Central to that effort was education. The Armenian-American community established schools where children could learn, grow, and thrive—schools that became pillars of cultural preservation, safety, and opportunity.

In recent years, however, this educational foundation has suffered repeated blows.

In 2020, AGBU Vatche and Tamar Manoukian High School in Pasadena permanently closed, displacing hundreds of students and families. Then, at the beginning of 2025, the devastating Eaton Fire engulfed Sahag-Mesrob Armenian School, delivering yet another tragic blow to Armenian education in the region.

Now, with the proposed development directly across from St. Gregory A. & M. Hovsepian School, we risk endangering yet another vital educational institution. The impacts—on safety, traffic, daily operations, and the overall learning environment—would fundamentally alter the landscape surrounding the school and place an unacceptable burden on the children and families who depend on it.

Once again, the needs of the Armenian-American community are being pushed aside. We cannot allow yet another school—another safe haven for our children—to be put at risk.

What We Need — and How We Take Action

We believe responsible development requires meaningful community engagement, especially when the safety and well-being of children are at stake. Our goal is not to block progress, but to ensure that decisions are made transparently, responsibly, and with the families most directly affected fully at the table.

TO OUR STATE LEADERS:
We are calling on Senator Sasha Renée Pérez and Assemblymember John Harabedian to take action in support of our families. They represent some of the largest Armenian communities outside of Armenia, and we hope they will stand with us to protect a long and rich educational and cultural legacy in Pasadena. Their leadership is critical to ensuring that state-funded development does not come at the expense of children’s safety or community well-being.

TO OUR CITY LEADERS:
We ask our city officials to recognize that our concern is not with affordable housing, but with the safety, security, and daily well-being of our children. Parents and educators have been overlooked by the developer, despite being among those most directly impacted. We need our city leaders to ensure that the developer is brought to the table and required to engage directly with the families and teachers affected by this project.

TO THE DEVELOPER:
We are asking the developer to approach this project with honesty, transparency, and good faith. To date, they have failed to engage a critical constituency. We are requesting meaningful, direct conversations with parents and educators to address safety, traffic, and quality-of-life concerns before irreversible decisions are made.

Let us be clear: engagement is not optional. If the developer continues to ignore the families impacted by this project, we are prepared to fully oppose the development, call on the State to withdraw its funding, and pursue all available legal remedies, including litigation, to protect our children and our community.

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