LA MIRADA – The holidays get a spicy kick with the annual Chili Holiday Concert from 6 to 8 p.m. Dec. 11 at the Civic Center Plaza, 13700 La Mirada Blvd.
 
Chili, hot dogs and hot chocolate will be served. Children of all ages will enjoy making crafts, playing games and taking photos with Santa.
 
Traditional carols will be sung by students from local schools, and a holiday music performance will be provided by the Steve and Dan band.
 
Families are encouraged to donate non-perishable food items and new unwrapped toys to be used in creating gift baskets for families in need this holiday season.
 
For information, contact the Community Services Department at (562) 943-7277.
 

LA MIRADA – Phantom Project Theatre Group will stage “Tradiciones de Oro” at 7 p.m. Dec. 20 at the La Mirada Theatre, 14900 La Mirada Blvd.
 
Come experience the beautiful magic of Mexico’s golden traditions, “Antiguas y Nuevas.” The production features the Paso de Oro Dance Company, under the direction of Ms. Alicia de Mendibles-Vaca.
 
Tickets are $35. For information, call (562) 665-3931. 

You might say that in La Mirada in the next week or you will see trash companies coming and going.

On Tuesday, Consolidated Disposal Services will go before the council to make its last request for a rate increase. It’s rumored to be substantial.A week later, La Mirada city staff is expected to unveil their choice for a new trash provider in La Mirada. It’s expected to save residents money.

Staff is choosing between Athens Services of Industry and Edco of San Diego County. The winning company would get a seven-year contract with three one-year options and take over service on July 1, 2009.

NORWALK – Santa and Mrs. Claus will arrive by helicopter at noon Friday at Norwalk Town Square, located at the northwest corner of Pioneer Boulevard and Rosecrans Avenue.

A magical snow will fall as children and families welcome back the same Santa who has been at the center for two decades, Frank “Scooby” Sorkin.

The public is invited to celebrate Santa’s 20th anniversary starting with his arrival with Mrs. Claus in the KISS-FM helicopter.

For more information, call (562) 868-2291.

WHITTIER – A free, sit-down dinner will be offered to the community from noon to 1:30 p.m. Thanksgiving Day at St. Matthias Episcopal Church, 7056 S. Washington Ave.

Beverages, meals, desserts and appetizers are served “full service” style, prepared to order, by volunteers.

People throughout the community are invited to participate by volunteering, contributing food or making monetary donations. Volunteers are mostly needed from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. For more information, call (562) 698-9741 or e-mail stmatthiaswhittier@verizon.net.

WHITTIER – To thank all of its customers for their support, ARCO AM/PM is inviting the community to a free turkey meal from noon to 2 p.m. Thursday at the ARCO, 14000 Lambert Road.

There will be free turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, pie and beverages.

Last Friday, I blogged about a story about local merechants and lawsuits against them  that was going to run last Monday. Well, the local fires here bumped that story; so we’ll try again. This time it’s supposed to run Monday.

And here’s the same promo I wrote last week:

A number of merchants at the Whittier Boulevard-Broadway intersection are crying foul over several lawsuits a San Diego attorney has brought against them over disability issues.

Are the merchants right in saying the lawsuits are an attempt to hold them up for money or are the attorneys and plaintiffs correct in saying these businesses needed to make their locations more accessible? Read the story and you can decide.

It seems the news just keeps getting worse for college-bound high-school seniors.

The California State University system will be limiting its enrollment next year for the first time ever, in response to the state’s budget woes and the increasing numbers of applications it’s already received so far for the Fall 2009.

And that’s a major cause for concern among Whittier-area students, as the 23 CSU campuses are a favorite for higher education for many of our local students.

Local college counselors say the important thing for seniors to remember is Nov. 30 — that’s the deadline to turn in CSU applications.

Past that date, you can forget about any chances of getting in for the 2009-10 school year.

More on this in Monday’s paper.

Whittier City Controller Rod Hill is making the rounds talking about the budget crisis the city faces. He spoke at the Parks and Recreation and Commission Wednesday and will be doing double duty Monday night when he goes to the 5:30 p.m. meeting of the Social Services Commission at the Whittier Senior Center, 13225 Walnut St. and the 7 p.m. meeting of the city Library Board, in the history room of the library, 7344 S. Washington Ave.
Whittier — like many cities — faces budget problems caused by the national economic tsunami.

City Manager Steve Helvey has asked all of his department heads to come up with a list of cuts equal to 5 percent of their budgets. He plans to take this to the City Council in January 2009. But just maybe we’ll get a preview of the cuts at Monday’s meetings. That’s why I plan on being there and writing about it later.

LA MIRADA – Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market has donated $1,000 to the Whittier Salvation Army as part of its one-year anniversary.

The Whittier Salvation Army was selected by the store staff from neighborhood nominations made through Fresh & Easy’s Web site.

“We want to thank our customers for a fantastic first year,” said Fernadine Alfaro, Fresh and Easy store manager.