Pasadena’s District 7 spans from the corner of Colorado Boulevard and Los Robles Street in the northwest over to Oak Avenue in the east and down past the Langham Huntington Hotel in the south. The district is home to the Pasadena Playhouse, Caltech, Pasadena City College and the Planetary Society.

Councilmember Jason Lyon currently represents the district.

What’s at stake in this race

The City of Pasadena is going to have some difficult choices ahead, including how to balance a budget with a growing structural deficit and how to use roughly 50 acres of land along an abandoned 710 Freeway extension.

The three City Council members to be elected this year will join four incumbent council members and the mayor to make these policy decisions and much more over their four-year terms.

What does a City Council member do in Pasadena? 

• Sets policies and passes ordinances: think local rules, regulations and fees
• Decides where to spend about $1.5 billion and how to pay for it by approving the city budget
• Appoints members to committees and hires the city manager, city attorney and city clerk
• Authorizes city contracts with labor partners and vendors
• Decides how city property (such as  the Rose Bowl) can be used or renovated

Here are some things Pasadena City Council members don’t do

• Decide who leads the Pasadena Police Department — the city manager does that
• Choose who leads the Pasadena Unified School District — that’s the Pasadena Unified School District Board, and they’re directly elected by voters

Fast facts about the Pasadena City Council

• After Measure PC was approved by voters in 2024, councilmembers are now limited to serving a total of five four-year terms
• In Pasadena, the maximum salary for a City Council member as of June 2025 was $23,290.02
• You will see a Pasadena City Council race on your ballot only if you live in Pasadena Districts 3, 5 or 7.

What’s on the agenda for next term

Balancing the budget: The most recent city budget summary (for fiscal year 2026) highlighted that the city’s finances are “stable but strained” and that “growing deficits are forecast for the foreseeable future.”

The 710 Freeway “stub”: In 2022, Caltrans returned about 50 acres of land to the city after a planned extension of the 710 was cancelled. The City Council will decide how to use the land and properties it owns there. The city has sold some homes on the land and the City Council will weigh a number of uses for the remaining property, including creating open space, building affordable housing or focusing on business uses.

Appointing a new city manager: The city manager has a lot of responsibility in Pasadena, and Miguel Márquez is retiring later this year once a replacement is chosen. The city manager oversees the city’s $1.5 billion budget, 15 city departments and about 2,200 staffers.

Negotiating major contracts: Not only is Pasadena in an ongoing lawsuit to keep UCLA football at the Rose Bowl beyond the 2026 season, but the city also is about to start a new round of negotiations with its 11 union labor partners. The City Council will give the final say on what can be approved in any new or amended contracts, and those decisions could change the services residents receive.

What it takes to win

A candidate will win the election if they receive more than 50% of their district’s votes in the June primary. If no candidate breaks 50% in June, the top two finishers compete in a runoff election in the fall.

The candidates for Pasadena City Council District 7

Jason Lyon, incumbent/attorney

Jason Lyon

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Courtesy Jason Lyon

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Jason Lyon was a documentary filmmaker in New York and L.A. before becoming a lawyer. He served on the  Silver Lake Neighborhood Council and  the East Area Planning Commission in the city of L.A. before graduating law school and moving to Pasadena in 2010. In Pasadena, he served on the  Historic Preservation Commission, the City Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals. He practices law as a business litigator at Hahn & Hahn.

In 2022, Lyon was elected to represent District 7 on the City Council. He told LAist that during his first term, he prioritized implementing term limits for the City Council (which was approved by voters in 2024) and working to  achieve completely carbon-free energy from Pasadena Water and Power by the end of 2030.

If reelected, Lyon said, he will focus on looking for potential cuts to city expenses while preserving Pasadena’s quality of life, finding a skilled city manager and working to bring down housing costs. He told LAist he and other City Council members are trying to identify funding for Pasadena to open a year-round shelter for unhoused people.

More voter resources:

• Website: JasonLyonForPasadena.com
• Endorsements: Rep. Judy Chu, state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez and Assemblymember John Harabedian
• Full endorsements list here.

Go deeper: 

• Guest Opinion | Councilmember Jason Lyon: Building on Progress, Meeting Challenges, Seizing Opportunities Pasadena in 2026 (Pasadena Now)
• Pasadena Councilmember Jason Lyon Appointed to Hollywood Burbank Airport Authority (Pasadena Now)

Alethea O'Toole, small-business owner/accountant

Alethea O'Toole

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Courtesy Alethea O'Toole

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Alethea O’Toole moved to Pasadena in 2009 from Hilo, Hawaii, where she worked for the Hilo Downtown Improvement Association, was on the board of directors for a local charter school and was an economic development committee vice chair at the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce. O’Toole has worked in accounting at Morgan Stanley and the Walt Disney Company since moving to Pasadena and also has written children’s books and worked as a writer and set designer in the film industry. She is now a small-business owner running an accounting practice.

O’Toole told LAist she was motivated to run for the City Council by her concerns that Pasadena has gone “downhill” in recent years, especially as she has seen longtime businesses shut their doors, a growing homeless population and what she sees as missed opportunities to display the city’s innovations in the arts and sciences.

If elected to the City Council, she said, she would lean into her accounting experience to use property and infrastructure resources Pasadena already has to take in more revenue and cut costs. She said she also would work closely with businesses, educational institutions and community organizations to make Pasadena an even more attractive place to live, work, learn and visit.

More voter resources:

• No website available or provided at the time of publication.

How to get involved

• The City Council has scheduled meetings 5 p.m. every Monday at Pasadena City Hall — 100 N. Garfield Ave., Room S249.
• Members of the public who attend City Council meetings in person or virtually are allowed up to three minutes to speak during a public comment period, starting near the beginning of each meeting — instructions can be found here.
• The city generally posts agendas for City Council meetings by 6 p.m. the Thursday before each meeting — you can find them on this calendar.

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