November 2009 Archives

WHITTIER - Robert Lee (Bob) Bates, a nationally known and locally prominent artist, died Saturday at his home with his wife, Valerie, and other family members at his side. He was 82.
Bates was stricken by what was believed to be a slight stroke some months ago. However, in the past few months he developed symptoms that grew progressively worse, until finally he was hospitalized about a month ago.
The prolific artist was nationally recognized, especially for his warm and patriotic folk artworks, many of them set on farms and during an earlier era of smalltown America.
He cheered up Whittier in 1987 by producing many colorful paintings on plywood fencing erected to hide ugly vacant lots where buildings fell in the Whittier Narrows earthquake.
A full story on Bates will be featured in this newspaper on Sunday.

It's taken a while but today at 5 p.m. is the deadline for developers to put in their bids to purchase the now-closed Fred C. Nelles Youth Correctional Facility in Whittier. Although today is a furlough day for the state, the project manager for the Nelles property sale will be present on at the state Department of General Services in Sacramento to accept bids until the 5 p.m. deadline, said Jeffrey Young, department spokesman.

Developers have had a couple of chances in the last several weeks to find out what a real estate firm thinks the 73-acre property is worth and what the city wants there.
The City Council recently said it favors a development alternative calling for 45 percent residential, 35 percent commercial and 20 percent other uses, such as medical offices.

Most expect this to be a more peaceful operation than what happened the last time the state sought bids in 2006. This time around, the relationship between the city and the state has seemed to be pretty good. That wasn't the way it was in late 2005 and 2006.

It started with the breakdown of negotiations between the city which wanted to purchase the property itself and resell it to its developer. But the city thought the property should be valued at $83 million and the state wanted $106 million. Then, Meruelo Maddux Properties put in a bid of $107 million. The sale was delayed when the city questioned the bidding process, saying the state should have had an independent appraisal over the value of the land.
Eventually, the city withdrew its request, but then on the day the sale was supposed to be approved, the state decided it still might need Nelles as a prison.

That set off a two-year fight that ended last summer with the state again putting the property up for sale.

There is an irony to all of this. Meruelo Maddux Properties has since filed for bankruptcy and it's possible if the sale had gone through the Nelles might be tangled up in that process.

Now with the final bids coming, we'll should learn soon how much the property is worth, which company is getting it and what its plans are. We should have a story in Tuesday's newspaper reporting what we can find out about the bids.

WHITTIER _ Carol Reza, founder of Bridge of Faith H.O.M.E., is one of the 10 national nominees for L'Oreal's Women of Worth.
Reza is being recognized for her extraordinary volunteer achievements and positive influence on our community.
If Reza becomes the national honoree, L'Oreal will donate $25,000 to the Bridge of Faith cause, namely to help at-risk women and foster girls find a leg up in society.
Visit www.womenofworth.com/Honorees/Honoree2009Detail.aspx?nomid=9ceecd55-ea21-4b97-8d44-b49fc1bb63dd to read Reza's profile and cast your vote.
The deadline is Tuesday.

In today's newspaper, we had a story about voter turnout numbers. We didn't have space to run a chart showing them all. So, here's the numbers, from highest to lowest: Read 'em and weep: 
Santa Fe Springs City Council                    29.2%
La Habra Heights Water District                  25.5%
Duarte City Council                                    24.2%
Valle Linda School District                          24.1%
South Pasadena City Council                      24.1%
La Canada Unified School District                23.4%
Duarte Unified School District                      22.4%
San Marino Unified School District               21.3%
Montebello City City Council                       21.3%
West Covina Unified School District            19.1%
Valle County Water District                        18.6%
La Puente Valley Water District                 18.5%
South El Monte City Council                      18.5%
West Covina City Council                           18.4%
El Monte City Council                                18.1%
Baldwin Park City Council                          17.6%
Baldwin Park Unified School District            17.6%
Diamond Bar City Council                           17.3%
El Monte City School District                      17%
Pico Water District                                    16.4%
El Rancho Unified School District                16.2%
El Monte Union High School District            16.2%
Pico Rivera City Council                             16.1%
Walnut Valley Unified School District           16%
Montebello Unified School District               15.7%
Little Lake City School District                    15.4%
Mountain View School District                    15.2%
La Puente City Council                              15.1%
Los Nietos School District                         14.5%
Glendora Unified School District                 14.2%
San Gabriel Unified School District             13.8%
Rosemead School District                          13.1%
Bassett Unified School District                   12.4%
Rio Hondo Community College                   12.4%
Mt. San Antonio Community College           12.3%
Citrus Community College                          11.7%
Temple City Unified School District             11.6%
Hacienda-La Puente Unified School District 11.5%
Covina-Valley Unified School District           11%
Rowland Unified School District                  10.8%
Pasadena Community College                   10.7%
Orchard Dale Water District                       10.2%
Charter Oak Unified School District            10.1%
South Whittier School District                     9.3%
Whittier City School District                        8.7%
Garvey School District                                8%
Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District     7.9%