Members of the U.S. military concluded a noisy overnight training exercise in northeast Pasadena Thursday that drew the ire of some residents and at least one city councilman.
In announcing the multi-agency urban warfare drill, which began Wednesday night and was centered in the area of the abandoned St. Luke Medical Center property in the 2600 block of East Washington Boulevard in the northeast section of the city, Pasadena officials advised that the public might hear limited helicopter activity, controlled explosions and simulated weapons fire.
Some witnesses reported seeing soldiers being dropped off on a rooftop by a U.S. Army helicopter.
The Pasadena Police Department assisted with pedestrian and vehicle safety in the immediate area during the exercise, which was closed to the public and media.
A city spokeswoman told reporters noise from the drill would likely begin about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday and that the exercise would be over by 1 a.m. Thursday, but according to a number of media reports, it went beyond that time.
Some residents complained about helicopters hovering past midnight and decried not being informed of the drill until a few hours before it began.
Pasadena City Councilman Rick Cole said on social media he was “outraged” by the lack of transparency, adding that city officials got late word of the exercise and even then, were embargoed from sharing the information.
“The city was informed today and was told to not release information until 5:30 p.m.,” he wrote Wednesday. “That is absurd and ridiculous, and typical of the current administration’s contempt for citizens of this country.”
He said choppers were still swooping through the sky at 2:10 a.m. Thursday.
An attempt to reach Cole was not immediately successful.