September 2007 Archives

I picked up a copy of the Rosemead Community Newsletter and Recration Program, and turned to Page 10.
http://www.cityofrosemead.org/Portals/0/pdf/Rosemead%20Brochure.pdf
I got excited there for a second because I thought I finally found a basektball league I can play in. But upon further inspection, it seems that I'm out of luck in Rosemead.

ADULT SPORTS
MEN & WOMEN BASKETBALL
LEAGUES:Men Recreational Open Tuesdays
Men Intermediate Open Wednesdays
Men “C” Open Sundays
Men’s Tuesday September 4
Men’s Wednesdays September 5
Men’s Sundays September 9
FEES: $225 which includes: score
keepers, weekly stats and First and
Second place Individual Awards &
League Leader Awards. ($22 official’s
fee is required per game to pay
officials per team)
WHEN: Men’s leagues begin Sunday,
October 7. Sunday evenings with
game times from 12:30 – 9:30 pm
Men’s Intermediate league begins
Wednesday, October 3, with games at
6:30, 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30 pm.
Men’s Recreational leagues begin
Tuesday, October 2, with game times
at 6:30, 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30 pm.
LOCATION: All games will be played at:
GARVEY GYM, 7954 Dorothy Street,
Rosemead, CA 91770.
For more information call
(626) 569-2266 or (626) 569-2265.

So, what days does the women's league play?

Rosemead provides copies of staff reports for its council, redevelopment and planning commission meetings. The only problem: The public can't view them during the meetings because the staff reports sit on the counter behind a locked door.

City officials often travel to conferences and reimburse their expenses by submitting their receipts, including for dinner, lunch and breakfast, to the city. Sometimes alcohol sneaks into the receipts, but it is usually paid for separately and not reimbursed by tax-payer dollars. But an expense check that was submitted by Industry City Manager Phil Iriarte included the following on a receipt dated Aug. 21, 2005 at 7:37 p.m., from the San Francisco bar, The Mandarin Lounge:

1 Smirnoff $7.00
1 Seagram's VO $7.25
1 Belvedere $9.00
1 Bombay Saphire $8.50
1 Perrier $3.95
Gratuity $7.00
Total: $45.74
Tax payer money, hard at work.

A recent review of a debate whether the Rosemead City Clerk should create verbatim minutes of an April 3 council meeting show the advantages -- and disadvantages -- of having word for word transcribed:

John Tran: He wants the minutes - Mr. Taylor wants the minutes to be verbatim.

John Nunez: Can I - before we vote, can I also say a, the kind of problems that perbatim, perbatim, excuse me.

John Tran: Verbatim

John Nunez: Verbatim minutes have caused the City Council in - the problems that we have minutes that were like, oh, I don't know, Nina could probably help me how late they were coming in and things like that. Because it was perbatim, there were stacks this big and if somebody really wanted to hear what somebody said, they can come and listen to the tapes. And (inaudible) and then, and then for a while there, we had a, minutes, prescribed, prescribed by yourself and not and then give them to us, and we still had to actually read, read them and go over to make sure they were correct through the, through the a, through the tapes and sometimes they were and

Gary Taylor: And they...

John Nunez: I imagine most the times they were...

Gary Taylor: I'm glad you said that.

In the end, the council voted to get the minutes verbatim. John Nunez and John Tran, however, voted against it.

La Puente reporter Tania Chatila couldn't find a place in her story for this quote by Councilman John Solis on why the city should be concerned that residents are complaining about Los Angeles County Animal Control services in La Puente:

"It's getting to the point where we're seeing more and more dog bites. A dog mauled a kid, a dog ate another dog, a dog ate a whatever. It's coming [out] more on the news."

Area cities remembered the attacks on Sept. 11 by having a 21-gun salute, candlelight ceremony and prayer services, Bethania Palma reported.

But in La Verne, they had a "Yankee Doodle good time” by hosting a wine tasting event with performances from a local band, The Brats. http://www.ci.la-verne.ca.us/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=61&year=2007&month=09&day=11&Itemid=145 Here's why they picked Sept. 11 to have their Taste of La Verne annual event, at $25 a person:

“We picked September 11 for a reason. Six years ago the United States was attacked and a lot of innocent people lost their lives and families have had to live with that heartache every day since. We are going to honor these people and all the people who serve this country so we can remain free and enjoy the freedoms these people protect for us. This will be a special, very patriotic night and one you will enjoy, remember and be proud to have been a part of for years to come. This will be a Yankee Doodle good time!!"