February 2008 Archives

This letter ran today about the proposed developments in Rosemead. Do you agree or disagree with letter writer, Myrna Brown?

Not for development

I have lived in this area, the city of Rosemead, for most of my 63 years. I've seen it grow from an unincorporated area to cityhood, and have attended Savannah Elementary School, Muscatel Junior High and Rosemead High School. With marriage, my husband and I chose to settle in this city. After our four daughters came into the world, they grew and attended the same schools.

In the former days, what we strove for was decent housing, a good educational system, a good library, churches, community clubs, places of recreation and a place to go when we reached the point where we could no longer take care of ourselves. And through the years we have achieved all of those things and more.

The majority of the members of our City Council are taking us where we do not wish to go. I wish to speak for the longtime citizens of this city and a number of the newer ones. We have no desire to fill this area with commercial buildings. We do not want high-rise buildings in downtown Rosemead. We do not wish to invite more traffic into this area. Expansion is not on our agenda.

I voted for John Tran, our present mayor, who came to my door asking for my vote. He promised to clean up our city if elected. However, Rosemead today is still a large source of polluting trash and litter washing down to the sea.

It seems he was interested in something other than holding to his promises and maintaining what was already here. Then I voted for Polly Low, thinking that the Asian residents needed someone to speak for them. A two-time mistake for which I sincerely apologize.

Myrna Brown

Rosemead

Just saw this on the wire:

Former Councilman Pleads Guilty to Conflict-of-Interest Charge

LOS ANGELES (CNS)- Former Hawthorne City Councilman Louis Velez
pleaded guilty today to a felony conflict-of-interest charge involving a developer
whose wife owned a home he was renting.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert P. O’Neill immediately sentenced Velez, 34,
to one year probation and a $1,000 fine.

The plea, which was entered as Velez was awaiting trial, bars him from being an
elected official in California for life, according to Deputy District Attorney Max
Huntsman.

Velez, who did not seek re-election last November, was a Hawthorne
councilman when he was indicted last July 23.

The indictment alleged that Velez had “become financially interested in a contract
made by him in his official capacity, and by a body and board of which the defendant
was a member.”

Velez voted twice on an eminent domain project involving the developer -- first in
January 2005 after he had been given the keys to the property and again in March 2005
while renting the home, according to Huntsman.

 One of Velez’s attorneys, Joseph Vodnoy, said his client had “no criminal intent” and
entered the guilty plea because he “thought it was in his best interests to do
so.”
“It’s unfortunate that a young guy trying to do the right thing by the city winds up
with a felony,” he said.

Baldwin Park's Community Alliance for Redevelopment Accountability is bringing in the reinforcements in their fight against the city's proposal to use to eminent domain to build a downtown village with luxury homes, a hotel and upscale shopping.

Their holding a community forum on March 13 with the National Federation of Independent Business/California, the California Alliance to Protect Private Property Rights and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Those organizations are backing legislation that could limit the amount of power cities have in enforcing eminent domain.

NFIB/California Hosts Community Meeting for Property Owners on
Eminent Domain

Where: Baldwin Park Marriott
14635 Baldwin Park Towne Center
Baldwin Park, Calif.

These guys aren't messing around.

I received this e-mail from a reader obviously upset over a tentative settlement agreement reached between the county and firefighter Mark Nelson, from Whittier. Nelson alleged workplace harassment after he reported racial slurs to the department's employee relations division.

how can people of our city be so blind as to pay out money to a man with over 30 years of working & living together with dedicated firefighters that have to depend on each other to be able to perform their very dangerous type of work. i still can't understand that Mr. mark nelson - a los Angele's county fire dept. assistant chief, claiming of being harassed for reporting racial slurs about Latinos to the department's employee relations board.
citizens (tax payers), of Whittier. open your eyes! Mr. nelson, is opening the door for anybody like himself, to make such a way out of line claim of harassment, just to collect money from the people of the city he served. i use the term, served, because after stepping out with such a claim, he has violated the trust of all others that would have to work with him. "and he knows that"! to truly understand the world of what a firefighters life is all about, you would have to be part of it. work together in harmony, trust in each other, respect each other, and protect each other. with out any of that, a firefighter would not be able to perform his / hers job. it's also a job that not just anybody would be able to do. i say that with all respect. as for myself, a Latino, and a retired firefighter, all i can say to Mr. nelson, shame on you. i hope the money you walk away with from the people that had their trust in you, lets you sleep at night.
all i can say is, i would not have lived long enough to retire if it weren't for all the good people in the fire department that i worked with. i will always be thankful to all of them.

Montebello reporter Amanda Baumfeld tells us that the city has chosen a new police chief, Lt. Dan Weast. Other than questions about his educational background, Mayor Bill Molinari does not support Weast because Molinari believes that appointment is political.

Molinari said he believes the appointment of Weast is a "political payback" for Weast supporting council members (Kathy) Salazar, Robert Urteaga and Mary Anne Saucedo-Rodriguez in recent elections.

Weast was the president of the Montebello Police Officer Association during the election and he acknowledges that the association was in support of the candidates. But he says his appointment is based on his experience.

"I don't do paybacks," Salazar said. "This has nothing to do with politics, it's the quality of the man."

Hints of political paybacks weren't only about Salazar. At least one source reportedly told Amanda that Molinari voted against Weast because he didn't get what he wanted. What that was, exactly, we don't know. Also, the new city attorney, Arnold Alvarez Glasman, advised Molinari not to tell Amanda why he voted against Weast. Now why in the world would Glasman give such legal advice?

Ever wonder what the human resources employees in our local cities actually spend their days doing? Well, here's a clue.
This is an e-mail sent from a West Covina employee to the California League of Cities.

------------------------------

Traci R. Bailey-Hudson
Management Analyst II - Human Resources
City of West Covina
1444 W. Garvey Avenue, South
West Covina, CA 91793
Phone: (626) 939-8446
Fax: (626) 939-8673
Job Line: (626) 939-8452
www.westcovina.org

City Editor Frank Girardot got this message from recalled City Councilman Jeff Siccama. We haven't confirmed this information:

The Montebello City Council voted to destroy all records 7 years and older. This will cover up a lot of their handy work. Sounds like their new city attorney Arnold Glasman is taking care of loose ends as fast as possible.

Jeff

South El Monte city officials celebrated the completion of the first phase of 30, two-story homes. The homes sit on a parcel that used to be used a sluaghter house for rabbits. Here's what Supervisor Gloria Molina's office sent over about it:

SOUTH EL MONTE (Feb 27, 2008) --- Today, Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina announced a former industrial parcel on a 2.5-acre lot is being turned into the South El Monte Villas development which will consist of 30 two-story homes, with three bedrooms, two and a half baths and two detached garages. The homes are located on the 1600 block of Cogswell Road near Michael Hunt Avenue in South El Monte.

In addition, families will benefit from a community tot-lot and picnic area, and the 1,679 sq. ft. homes come with a 10-year warranty.Property owners will be part of a Homeowners' Association as part of
the development deal.

"Today we open the first phase of a 30-unit development, and half of the units will be made available to moderate income families," said Molina.

"This is an especially significant project as we try and alleviate the housing market crisis by placing families in affordable homes and creating home ownership opportunities."

The South El Monte Villas site is the former home of the El Monte Rabbit Company, which was used as a slaughter house for rabbits in 1956.

Most recently, the site was used by a manufacturing company, which fabricated concrete casting of garden and architectural items.

I know I know, it's from Carson. Why should San Gabriel Valley residents care about Carson? But anyone with a sense of humor will appreciate this...

Much to our surprise (do you sense my sarcasm?) the City Council appointed Baldwin Park Police Capt. Michael Taylor as interim police chief during a closed session meeting Tuesday.

On a side note, we are still *patiently* waiting for the resignation agreement signed by Chief Edward Lopez. That would have information as to Lopez’ retirement benefits and/or any severance pay he may receive.

I spoke with City Attorney Joseph Pannone this week and he said that because Lopez by law has seven days to revoke the agreement from the time it was approved (Feb. 20), it technically has not been finalized - thus the agreement is not subject to public disclosure.

The city adds an additional three days to that seven day period to allow for a mailed-in letter of revocation.
So, all days counted, the agreement won’t be ready for me to review until March 1. But that’s a Saturday — so I actually won’t be able to see it until March 3.

All this despite statements from public meeting expert Terri Francke that we should have been able to review the documents from day one.

Oh, the woes of bureaucracy.

Pasadena Star-News reporter Melissa Pamer wrote this story on Feb. 15 ago about developer Jason Chung and his problems in the city.

MONTEREY PARK - A developer's plans to build luxury condominiums targeted at wealthy Chinese immigrants met a roadblock this week.

Developer Jason Chung, who got initial city approval for the project last year, believes his 54-unit, six-story condo building will appeal to rich families emigrating from dense urban centers in China and Taiwan. He plans a high-end East-West fusion restaurant on the building's ground floor.

"A lot of wealthy Chinese buy in San Marino, Rowland Heights and Diamond Bar, but they really want someplace convenient where they don't have to drive a car," Chung said. "They can walk to get their dim sum."

And then this story ran today in the Los Angeles Times:

They used to call Monterey Park "the Chinese Beverly Hills," a suburb east of downtown Los Angeles that for three decades has been synonymous with the explosion of Chinese immigration and trade in the San Gabriel Valley.

But in recent years, some of the luster once associated with Monterey Park has moved east to newer communities including City of Industry, Walnut and Diamond Bar. And that's left city leaders debating the town's future.

Enter developer Jason Chung. He is offering the city the chance to lure jet-setters from Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong to a six-story, steel-and-glass condominium tower. He said residents at the 54-unit luxury complex could enjoy concierge and maid service and would be minutes away from scores of authentic Chinese restaurants.

For the past eight months, officials in Baldwin Park having been using “dire budget constraints” as reasoning behind a lot of things they CAN’T do: they can’t up the police officers’ salaries, they can’t pay their maintenance workers — who threatened to go on strike last year — more money, they can’t move forward with a public safety tax on the next ballot because it would cost the city too much to facilitate it.

Now, many cities like Baldwin Park that do not bring in the same kind of sales tax revenues as other wealthier Valley Cities (i.e. West Covina, Glendora) truly do work on limited budgets. But what I can’t understand is the comment Baldwin Park’s Chief Executive Officer made to me earlier this week after the city conducted its mid-year budget review.

I asked him how the session went and how things were looking financially for Baldwin Park.
He replied, “Good, good. Things are looking good for the year.” He went on to say that “things” were looking good for next year too.

I guess it must be raining money in BP.

Amanda Baumfeld reports that Montebello Councilwoman Kathy Salazar is pushing to keep local control of cops and impose an additional 1/2 to 1 percent sales tax for public safety.

My question is this: Why is Salazar such an advocate for public safety? Is there any personal gain that she would get out of it, other than, say, a safer neighborhood? Here's why she says these issues are important to her:

"This is what the city wants," Salazar said. "It gives the power back to the people. It's their city."

****

Salazar, who re-entered office in November, said she wants the sales tax measure on the ballot because during her campaign people said they would be willing to pay for public safety.

Nothing says more about the glaring differences between news organizations and public relations firms then this e-mail sent to my editor from BLAZE, a Santa Monica PR firm.

This past weekend was a cause for celebration in the city of La Puente. Mayor Pro Tem Dan Holloway joined with 7-Eleven to welcome store owners, husband and wife team Satwinder Sidhu and Ronnie Sekhon, to their new Sunset Ave. store at the grand opening celebration on Saturday, Feb. 23.

Mayor Pro Tem Holloway presented Sidhu and Sekhon with a Certificate of Recognition to honor their contributions to the La Puente community before officiating a ribbon cutting ceremony to christen the new store. This is Sidhu and Sekhon's second 7-Eleven in La Puente.

A 7-Eleven opening! So sorry I missed it.

Councilmembers Gary Taylor and Margaret Clark have served on the Rosemead City Council for a combined 51 years. During that time, they have received health benefits, retirement packages, and have been eligible for car and phone allowances.

Taylor joined the council iin 1974, and Clark joined in 1991.

A records request shows that over the past 15 years, Rosemead has paid Clark and Taylor nearly $225,000 each -- that is broken down to $15,000 a year in meeting stipends. That does not include the other perks.

Why do I bring this up now? Because a records request that I asked for months ago was finally ready, and I had the chance to review these yesterday.

This is just a taste of what I found when looking for all the expenses over a 15-year period. Councilmen John Tran and John Nunez did not join the council until 2005, so obviously their numbers are much lower. However, I did notice that the car allowance since they joined jumped from $250 a month to $500, and the cell phone allowance went from $80 a month to $150, including $300 a year for a new phone. Councilwoman Polly Low joined the counicl in 2007, so, again, her numbers will not reflect those of her colleagues.

South El Monte council members are given monthly cell phone allowances. For example, Hector Delgado was reimbursed $168 in cell phone charges in December 2006, and for $216 in January 2007. You would think, then, that the cell phone number would be on the council members' business cards.

Well, I'm staring at Councilman Hector Delgado's business card, and it's not there. Is he the only one? I don't know. Mayor Blanca Figueroa has her cell phone number, but I don't have the other three council member's cards? Do you?

Here are a few excerpts of emails I've received about the water district story that ran on Monday. I left the names out because when they sent them to me, it may have not been with the intention to print.

******

As a former ten-year employee of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) ... I am shocked and outraged by Director Murrray's agregious behavior; however, I am not surprised!

In fact, while on the West Basin Board, anticipating this potential for corruption, I tried to sponsor and have legislation intoduced that would have reformed this antiquated system by going to a flat rate of compensation and bring the water community into parity with other local governmental entities.

My proposal was vigorously opposed by the "Good 'Ole Boys of Water" and my legislation ultimately died in policy committee. In fact, the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA), the omnibus trade organization representing the water community in California, is on record as "vigorously "opposing the legislative proposal to reform the antiquated per-diem compensation system.

I hate to say it:"but I told you so!". Maybe now, the Legislature will take note of this antiquated system, reform it with a flat rate rate of compensation, and bring the water community in-to-line with other local jurisdictions.

******

Dear Editor:

All humans have the right to clean healthy water, people that live in California are humans, and therefore Californians have the right to clean healthy water. What gives the right to others in a seniority position throughout the San Gabriel Valley and Los Angeles County to take advantage of their privileges and steal nearly $1.6 million that were paid to directors for board meetings and travel expenses.

After having read this article on these two individuals, Willard Murray and Leon Garcia, that benefit from their job to the maximum, I am aggravated to know that they find devious ways to sum up their expenses and legally obtain more money than they should, simply for dining at prestigious restaurants, booking elegant expensive hotels, playing golf, and calling this “a part of their job”.

How is this possible, to let Willard Murray, director at the Water Replenishment District of Southern California attend meetings and take trips to Mexico City, and acquire close to $90,000, just for these “work trips”? If you ask me, this sounds more like an all expense paid vacation. Half of the population in California does not even make a yearly income of this amount.

I believe we should expose these crooks, and bring them to justice for the amounts of funds they are over spending, masquerading under a legal transaction. If we continue to permit people on these boards to abuse our funds this way, then I would not mind initiating a course of action that will bring them to justice.

******

Dear Ms. McLain,

Water-boarding the ratepayers is bad, but investigative journalism is good -- wonderful! -- after its long absence from the Star News.

Dear Jennifer,

This is what concerns us as taxpayers the most--are elected and appointed officials using our money for the people's benefit or for their own? In many cases (and you should really look at the expenses incurred by councilmembers and mayors, they are just as bad) they are poor excuses for free travel, hotels and food, etc by the elected officials and not for the benefit of the public at all.

These jobs are volunteer jobs that should have no benefits (health, cell phones, car allowance vs. actual mileage reimbursement) and very little for conferences and travel. It is bilking the public left and right and should be stopped.

Jennifer,

Thank you for the story. I wonder if there are any females on the water district boards. If not then maybe the Boards are good old boys club. Again thank you for your research covering this story.

The Pasadena City Council approved an estimated $65 million Huntington Hospital expansion plan Monday, Star-News reporter Fred Ortega reports. The plan calls for a 66,000-square-foot addition to the Valley’s only major trauma center.

Of course, nearby business owners say the expansion is going to have a negative impact.
Read on here.

Just as expected, Rosemead's meeting was a long one. It adjourned at 12:30 a.m. And it was PACKED! At least 200 people were there, filling the council chambers and the lobby. It was a pretty racially divided crowd. One white man -- who is not aware of political correctness -- leaned in to tell me, "Have you noticed that all the Orientals are for high density?" Another white woman who walked into the meeting at 6:30 p.m. said this when she saw that most of the seats were filled by a group of Asian residents, "Looks like we're outnumbered."

Race wasn't addressed head on during the meeting, but as one insider told me, "It's the elephant in the room."

So, what happened during this 5 1/2 hour meeting? Well, almost 35 people spoke both in favor and against the general plan; Councilman Gary Talyor asked Councilman John Nunez to write an apology letter to all female employees in City Hall - Nunez agreed, adding that he will address the letter to all men, as well; neither Nunez or Taylor will be censured; and a audience member spent about 10 minutes trying to get a picture of City Attorney Bonifacio Garcia sleeping -- although it can't be confirmed that he was sleeping because of the glare on his glasses, a source sitting close to Garcia told me.

I have a notepad full of comments -- both good, bad and funny -- but that entry will have to wait till tomorrow when I am awake. One of my favorites of the night came from Planning Commissioner Todd Kunioka, who used the definition of insanity to address one view on the general plan: "If we do the same thing and expect a different result, that's insane."

One thing that I found especially interesting was each council member gave their opinion about the draft general plan -- basically a blueprint for future city develoment -- before hearing any comments from the audience. They just launched right in to what they thought about the proposed general plan. After the first of nearly 35 spoke on the issue, Mayor John Tran said that he had already made up his mind.

More later today about the specifics of those ammendments.

Only one person was escorted out by one of the three sheriff's deputies at the meeting.

Here's some follow up on an earlier post about Prodigy Athletic offcials still advertising Lutheran High School as the site of their spring camp.

I spoke with La Verne's community development director today - Hal Fredericksen - and he told me city officials were surprised to see the reference to Lutheran on the Web site, considering the city attorney sent Prodigy officials a cease and desist letter telling them they can no longer use the school's gym. Fredericksen advised them to take the information down.

Cameron Murray, who runs Prodigy, declined to comment this afternoon, but said if I check the Web site, the info would not longer be there. I did: at 2 p.m., at 2:30 p.m., at 3 p.m. and again just a few minutes ago. The information has yet to be taken down.

Residents are upset Cameron is still using Lutheran to promote his camp. Kim Hanke, who lives on Amherst Street had this to say about officials from Lutheran High School and Prodigy Athletic:

"I call it, that school, it's a pimp school. But they are entrepreneurs. They will rent it to anyone to make a quick buck."

UPDATE: Never mind, he wont be running.

Interestingly enough, my editor pointed out Lessig (see previous post) is considering running for a congressional seat. Read on here.

I’m reading this book called Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig for a class I’m taking about business strategies in media firms. The book is basically a 300-page argument for amending copyright laws. Regardless of your thoughts on the matter, there was one passage that struck me as both a journalist and a blogger.
I should point out the book’s copyright was in 2003.

Blog space gives amateurs a way to enter the debate — “amateur” not in the sense of inexperienced, but in the sense of an Olympic athlete, meaning not paid by anyone to give their reports. It allows for a much broader range of input into a story, as reporting on the Columbia disaster revealed, when hundreds from across the southwest United States turned to the Internet to retell what they had seen.
And it drives readers to read across the range of accounts and “triangulate,” as (Dave) Winer puts it, the truth. Blogs, Winer says, are “communicating directly with our constituency, and the middle man is out of it” — with all the benefits, and costs, that might entail.
Winer is optimistic about the future of journalism infected with blogs. “It’s going to become an essential skill,” Winer predicts, for public figures and increasingly for private figures as well.
It’s not clear that “journalism” is happy about this — some journalists have been told to curtail their blogging. But it is clear that we are still in transition. “A lot of what we are doing now is warm-up exercises,” Winer told me.
There is a lot that must mature before this space has its mature effect. And as the inclusion of content in this space is the least infringing use of the Internet (meaning infringing on copyright), Winer said, “we will be the last thing that gets shut down.”

A source pointed this interesting bit of information out to me yesterday afternoon.

You may all remember the story surrounding the Lutheran High School master plan, which was approved this month after heated debate over what the renovations would do to the neighboring residential community. Well, you may also recall that part of that debate was anger over the use of the high school’s gym by Prodigy Athletic — Cameron Murray’s basketball camp.

La Verne city attorneys sent a cease and desist letter at the beginning of February to the school and Murray, telling them Prodigy could no longer use the gym unless they go through a separate CUP process with the city.

But if you go on Prodigy Athletic’s Web site, the program is still advertising Lutheran’s gym as the location of its spring camp — which, I should add, costs $200 a player or $1,200 a team.

The camp starts in about two weeks. Wonder what’s going to happen to all those ballers come opening day?

Rosemead residents planning on attending the council meeting tonight should brace themselves for a long one. Between the general plan study session and the censure discussions, my prediction is that no one will get out of there before 11 p.m. And that's if we're lucky. I sure I hope I'm wrong.

What would you do: Spend $150,000 to figure out how to help the homeless, or buy the homeless $150,000 worth of beds or meals?

The Board of Sups will vote today on the issue, Alison Hewit reports:

Funding study on homeless debated
Critics say money should go to shelter beds, donated meals
By Alison Hewitt, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 02/25/2008 09:55:15 PM PST

Advocates for the homeless are divided over whether the county should use $150,000 to do a detailed analysis of the San Gabriel Valley homeless population and the services available for them.

The Board of Supervisors is slated to discuss approving the funds today. It would go to a team of consultants selected by the 31-city San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments and identify any gaps between what's provided and what's needed and to organize providers to fill those gaps.

Some local homeless services representatives praised the effort, but others asked if the $150,000 wouldn't do more good paying for shelter beds or donated meals.

"Unless you have good accurate information, we've seen for years that ... people would just want to do something and they'd just start feeding people without knowing what the need was," said Jan Cicco, chair of the 52-agency Consortium of the East San Gabriel Valley on Homelessness. "$150,000 is not a large price to pay to ensure that the greater sum of services goes where it's really needed." Read more.

 

UPDATE: The Board of Sups okayed a grant for a homeless study.

Alta Dena Dairy is spared. For now, Melissa Pamer reports.

MONTEREY PARK - The city's plan to build what officials say is a much-needed new fire station on the site of a 50-year-old drive-through convenience store has upset residents and the business's owner.

More than 600 customers of the the Alta Dena Dairy have signed owner Kimberly Yu's petition calling the store a "historical landmark" and asking the city to find another location for Fire Station No. 2.

The city purchased the dairy property in April 2006 for $625,000 with plans to begin demolition in early 2009, when Yu's lease is set to expire.

Officials say the store site is a good fit to replace an aged, nearby fire station. Read more.

About once a month I will get a person who I interview for a story ask me to read the article before it makes it to print. The answer: No. We aren't a PR group. We are a newspaper.

Just spotted this on the wire....

City News Service
LOS ANGELES - The 48-year-old owner of Glendale’s St. Ann’s Hospice pleaded not guilty today to a charge of making illegal campaign contributions.
Gladwin Gill, of Covina, was arraigned this morning in U.S. District Court in downtown Los
Angeles.
Gill agreed in December to eventually plead guilty to the charge, which alleges that he used friends and employees to make $26,000 in illegal campaign contributions to President Bush and other political candidates.
No new court dates have yet been set.

Waddya think of that?

This just in from Montebello reporter Amanda Baumfeld:

Montebello City Council is expected to appoint a new Police Chief at Wednesday's meeting. The city has been without a police chief since December when Chief Garry Couso-Vasquez. The item is listed under closed session so very little information is available.

I was reviewing a staff report for Rosemead's city council meeting when I came across my name. It looks like each time I call the Rosemead City Attorney Bonifacio Garcia, it comes at a cost. I'm feeling a little guilty now, knowing that my actions come to a $714 cost to Rosemead residents.

Here's how it broke down

Date             Description                                                                     Hours        Charge
4/11/2007      Phone conference regarding records request by Trib                 1.6           $336
7/20/2007      Phone conference with Trib reporter re: Brown Act violation       0.3           $63
8/22/2007      Phone conference with Jennifer McLain re: Mazone matter       0.6            $126
10/10/2007    Phone conference with Jennifer McLain re: Gary Taylor's           0.9            $189
                            recommendation to the Grand Jury

I got a call this morning about an incident that happened over the weekend at former La Puente Mayor Lou Perez’ house.
Apparently, the cops were called. But deputies with the sheriff’s department Industry station found no “criminal conduct,” so no arrests were made and no police report was filed, sheriff’s Sgt. Gerard Velona said.

Here’s Perez’ side of the story:
“My daughter was here causing some problems and so forth. She didn’t want to leave. It was a family gathering.”
Perez said he called the police on his daughter because she was causing a ruckus: “She’s always off the handle anyway,” he said.

All's well that ends well.

Two local water officials have incurred more than $170,000 in district expenses over two years for meetings and travel expenses, records show.

Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District board President Leon Garcia was paid $82,769 from July 2005 to July 2007 in meetings and travel. Expenses include a six-day trip to Hawaii and $1,155 for a stay at the Disneyland Hotel, 26 miles from Garcia's home.

 

Willard Murray, director at the Water Replenishment District of Southern California was paid close to $90,000 in two years for attending meetings and for travel expenses that included a trip to Mexico City.

Both board members' expenses are within their districts' policies.

Garcia's and Murray's expenses stand out in a records review of 12 local water districts and 60 board members, but their expenses represent only a portion of the nearly $1.6million paid to directors for board meetings and travel among the 12 districts, which provide water throughout the San Gabriel Valley and Los Angeles County.

I've already received a couple of calls this morning, asking whether I looked into other water districts. The truth is that when I started this story nearly three months ago, I thought that I was getting most if not all of the water districts, suppliers, and retailers in the San Gabriel Valley. But I soon realized there are many more than the 12 district that I came up with.

Hopefully, the story will bring on many more follow up stories. I welcome your comments and any direction you think that stories in the future could take.

FOLLOW-UP: And the previous post about the "Elected official does not want to be bothered" was about Leon Garcia. But if you notice, Garcia already said that was him in the comments section of that post.

Despite recent gang violence, a wave of nationwide foreclosures and a housing slump, Monrovia isn’t giving up on Colorado Commons.

Star-News reporter Melissa Pamer wrote a story in today’s paper about the long-awaited opening of the mixed-used downtown development. It includes 68 units and one- to three-bedroom homes ranging from mid-$300,000 to $700,000.

It feels like everyone is jumping on the “Go Green” bandwagon.

Star-News reporter Robert Hong reports about the city of San Gabriel adding three hybrids to their fleet of city vehicles. The cars - two Ford Escape hybrids and a Toyota Highlander hybrid - cost the city $83,000.

It’s all part of a bid by officials to purchase fuel-efficient vehicles whenever possible.

Read on here.

We've made reference before to Covina's For the Record page - a spot on the city's Web site where Covina officials make "corrections" to stories in the press. Mostly, they call out reporters from the Tribune. Sometimes they say we got the facts wrong. Other times, they offer supplemental information they feel will help residents be more informed.

A recent example stems from a February letter to the editor about the effects of Proposition 1-A on Covina. City Manager Paul Phillips sent this to our editors after that letter ran. Looks like they call out readers sometimes too.

Response to Letter to the Editor

Regarding “City revenues are up” letter of February 11, 2008, the author provides partial facts, but does not include complete and very important information. Readers interested in facts rather than skewed opinions have many ways to verify the information regarding the real impact of Proposition 1-A, passed by the voters in 2004, including independent web sites and numerous articles from newspapers all over the State. While the passage of this proposition was intended to prevent the State from continuing its practice of taking money from local governments to meet its other obligations, it does not reverse the previous actions that have taken a cumulative total of more than $17.8 million from Covina and shifted the money to Educational Revenue Augmentation Funds (ERAF) to help the State meet their Proposition 98 mandated school funding levels. This money has not been returned and is still being taken. Check with the local school districts' budgets and you will see that they are still relying on and collecting this ERAF money. Before the passage of proposition 1-A Covina received only 16% of the property tax dollar. After the passage, the same is true. What will happen this year with the State facing a $14 billion shortfall? Stay tuned! A “Fiscal Emergency” (one element needed in the complicated formula by which the State can maneuver around provisions of Prop 1-A) has already been proclaimed on January 10, 2008.

I've never seen any other city work so hard to save face in the paper. What do you think? Are these helpful tidbits of supplemental information that provide the REAL story? Or are these stabs at damage control?

Reporter Amanda Baumfeld wrote a story in today's paper about a community meeting Wednesday in Hacienda Heights that will address the area's master plan. Apparently, the plan - which essentially serves as a developmental blueprint for the area - hasn't been updated in 30 years.

More than 60,000 people reside in Hacienda Heights. The population is expected to exceed 70,000 by the year 2010, according to Southern California Association of Governments.

The original plan was adopted in 1978 and contains policies on transportation, environmental resources, housing and noise. It is the oldest plan in the county.

You would think with population in the SGV having grown steadily, the county would have thought about updating the plan a decade ago.

Better late than never I guess.

You’ve heard about ‘em. Now you can actually see ‘em!

Looks like web masters in La Puente have finally uploaded photos of council members Nadia Mendoza and Dan Holloway up on the Web site. They were elected to office in November.
Also, John Solis, Louie Lujan and Lola Storing have updated their mugs.

Go ahead, take a look. You know you want to keep an eye on them.

Some interesting items slated for Baldwin Park’s City Council during a special meeting on Wednesday. Looks like the city will hold its mid-year budget review. Also up for that night, an item titled “Public Employee Appointment” - interim chief of police and chief of police.

See for yourself.

Brace yourselves people. Millions of dollars in state moneys are on the chopping block.
Star-News reporter Fred Ortega looks at the effect these budget cuts will have on local schools and cities.

Officials are being cautious about the prospect of layoffs at district levels, and the impact a hiring freeze in state agencies is going to have on residents. We'll see what happens.

I’ve heard some talk at La Puente City Hall that a new city clerk could be coming on board soon. The position has been vacant since December, when Jessica Duban resigned after just three short months. Sources tell me she wasn’t quite cut out for the job. But before Duban, the position was also open for several months. Wonder why the turnover? La Puente isn’t the only one with this problem. Rosemead’s City Clerk position has also been notorious for being somewhat of a revolving door.

City officials say the position can sometimes be hard to fill. I can see why. City Clerks aren’t just record keepers or secretaries. There is a lot that goes along with the job, including the accountability of politicians and their finance statements. We ALL know how important that is.

Let’s hope La Puente’s newest prospect will stick around.

Looks like, $40,000 is the going rate, Mike Sprague reports.

The race for the April 8 Whittier City Council election is starting to turn ugly.

In a flier seeking support, incumbent Owen Newcomer asks for money because of an opponent targeting him.

And that same person, Jeanette Fasone, has responded with a letter to this newspaper complaining about Newcomer's comments.

"I was extremely disappointed and shocked that the mayor would accuse me of trying to `buy a seat on the City Council,"' Fasone stated.

And the bonehead move of the week goes to: Me.

Yes, that's right. We had to run a correction on my story this week. Believe me, I am not proud of it. But if I pay all this attention to elected officials and their screws up, I guess it's only fair I admit mine.

So, earlier this week I quoted a school official who spoke on behalf of Assemblyman Mike Eng's proposed bill that would promote tolerance in the classroom. The only problem: The quote I put in the paper was not the quote that she said. Here's how I wrote it in the story:

"We think that it is mandatory to teach kids about intolerance," said Adele Andrade-Stadler, President of the Alhambra Unified School District.

What it should have said was, "We think it is mandatory to teach kids about tolerance."

Doh!

The dumb thing is that I wrote it down correctly. My wires just got crossed when I was writing the story. And the really dumb thing is that if I would have been thinking when I re-read what I put in the story, I would have realized that that didn't make sense. I can only imagine what lessons would be taught in the "How to be intolerant class."

If you want some light reading, here is the 64-page staff report prepared for Rosemead Councilman Gary Taylor's request that the council discuss that Councilman John Nunez be censured.

It’s always interesting finding out what council members do — if anything — for a living besides representing our local cities.

In La Puente, John Solis has publicly said that he is a general manager for Los Angeles nightclub 740 Club and its parent company Entertainment Company LP1.

A couple of interesting things here. First of all, 740 Club has been known to be a hot spot for gang members and politicians — quite the crowd if you ask me.
And secondly, it was pointed out to me by a source that Entertainment Company LP1 doesn’t seem to exist in Los Angeles County’s DBA listing. But 740 Club’s liquor license is granted to The Entertainment Group TEG Inc. based out of Whittier.

Regardless of what the firm’s real name is, the issue brings up the question of whether council members should draw the line with certain lines of work. Is it completely professional for a councilman to run a night club known for drawing gang members? Is it professional for council members to be running nightclubs at all? What other jobs might potentially give off the wrong impression for elected officials?

I spotted this earlier on the wire. Heh. It has nothing to do with city politics. But at least it's local!

Associated Press

AZUSA -- Doggone it, my truck’s gone!

Police said Charles McCowan parked his pickup in front of a mini-mart Wednesday, leaving his 80-pound Boxer named Max in the passenger seat. When he came out, the truck and Max were gone.

McCowan called police, assuming the truck had been stolen.

When officers arrived, they found the pickup across the street in a fast-food parking lot but had no idea how it got there. In security video shown Thursday on KCAL-TV, the truck can be seen rolling backward out of the store lot and across the street, threading its way through traffic and out of view.

Police said that after McCowan left the truck, Max knocked the vehicle out of gear and sent it rolling backward. Both Max and the truck emerged without a scratch.

Here's an interesting story we overlooked from a few days ago. Only in a city like Pasadena would officials be concerned with raising $5,000 a pop to replace dying palms. The historical argument is convincing. But I just don't see this ever happening in those other parts of the San Gabriel Valley, where monopines are the way to go.

Iconic palms slowly dying off
Funding to replace trees along parade route falls short
By Janette Williams, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 02/20/2008 10:55:41 PM PST

PASADENA - Now they're hitting 100, the stately palms lining a portion of the Rose Parade route are showing their age.
They've been slowly dying off, falling victim to pink rot and diamond scale, among other diseases. A dozen or more of the trees, known botanically as Washingtonia filifera, have been recently removed because the city classified them as dead, decaying or dangerous.

But most of the dead fan palms, part of the original plantings from the turn of the 20th century, haven't been replaced, and aren't likely to be any time soon. The city doesn't have the funding to do it.

So, unless some private donors can be persuaded to pony up $5,000 per palm, the historic Orange Grove plantings may gradually disappear over the next decade, said Darya Barar, project coordinator for parks and natural resources in the city.

"I love the palm trees on Orange Grove, I've always seen the street as palms and magnolias, Barar said. "But my job is simply to maintain the urban canopy."

No donations toward replacing the palms have been received yet, Barar said. "A few people were interested, but at this rate we won't get any planted any time soon."

Because of a funding quirk, grant funds can be spent only on planting or replacing street trees that increase the city's environmental "shade canopy," and palms aren't shade trees.

Plans for a city partnership with Pasadena Beautiful - guardians of the city's street trees since 1960 - to raise money for the palms are "not ironed out," President Emina Darakjy said. She declined to comment on any plans to funnel donations through the nonprofit group.
Historically, the planting design for Pasadena's Millionaire's Row, that includes the Rose Parade route, was for alternating palms and magnolia grandifloras lining both sides of the street.

"Personally I think it's a very important design statement," said Peggy Stewart of the the Pasadena Garden Club, some of whose members have been disturbed by the gradual disappearance of the palms.

"I think in a city like Pasadena, that (values) both tradition and design, we ought to find the money," Stewart said. "No one has had time to think and make a workable plan ... We see the palm trees going down, we know they've been diseased and so forth, but I personally was assuming they would put the palm trees back in. What is going on here?"

The West Pasadena Residents Association would be "very supportive" of replacing the palms, said Vince Farhat, a longtime member. "I think trees are an important part of this streetscape," he said. "It's recognizable by people in community and people watching the Rose Parade ... the two lines of those types of trees made part of the history of the city."

Barar said between 15 and 20 palms have been removed, and five were replaced with relocated palms.

"But even when the magnolias are too close to plant another magnolia, there will still be room for a palm," she said. "There will never not be enough space, there will always be a place for the palms. It's a question of money."

Reporter Amanda Baumfeld tells me that Bassett Unified School District will consider cutting the consultant position, held by Jeff Schenkel and Davis Demog. It's a $31,000 gig. All the decisions should be made about cuts by March 20, she said.

Schenkel serves essentially as a community outreach consultant, and also represents the city of La Puente, and some boys club in La Verne. According to one article written in 2005, he has represented some 135 different clients. He is always calling us about some story he wants us to write.

This video ran awhile ago about the Montebello former interim city administrator's dog, Cammie.

Alright everyone, I was off work for a day (and I'm technically still off in my mind) but it seems Jennifer McLain was keeping the blog pretty interesting with posts about cranky political officials, strange license plates and FPPC fines.

Now let’s get back to Baldwin Park. As if you haven’t already heard enough about the police chief controversy, here are some words Baldwin Park Police Association President Joshua Hendricks had for the City Council Wednesday.

“Let me say this one more time so everyone here understands and there is no confusion. Chief Lopez was fired because he would not cut an additional $500,000 from the budget. Why would the city council ask Lopez to cut $500,000 from the budget you ask? Let me tell you why. I have with me an agenda staff report that will be discussed here later tonight. It is marked as agenda item No. 11. This agenda item is in regards to the completion of the Arts and Recreation Center. What’s interesting about this report is the fact that it shows the project went over budget by $465,632. Pretty interesting that this amount of $465,632 would be covered if there was a cut of $500,000 made to the police department.”

Is it just me, or am I sensing some real tension here? The Arts and Recreation center Hendricks is referring to cost the city more than $5 million. It was essentially a renovation of the city’s old Central School Auditorium on Pacific Avenue. Former Councilman David Olivas took a lot of credit for getting the project off the ground.
What’s more interesting though is that Councilwoman Marlen Garcia has said many times that she did not support the project at the cost.

I guess the city’s paying for it now. No pun intended.

Sports reporter Fred Robledo and editor Eddie Barrera were talking about the indoor soccer league they play with at West Covina Big League Dreams. The facilties are nice, they both said, but there is a $3 entrance fee.

I haven't checked it out yet. But the leagues I play in dont' have an entrance fee.

What do you guys think? Is the fee worth the facilities?

Rosemead's getting a new restaurant, Habachi-San, which is run by Andrew and Peggy Cherng. The Cherng's also own Panda Express, whose headquarters is in Rosemead. This is opening on one of the Wal-Mart pads.

BTW: The Cherng's gave a $2,500 campaign contribution to Councilwoman Margaret Clark in 2005. That was her single largest contributor.

Altadena sheriff's deputies got a $3,200 donation. What will they spend the money on? Sixty electronic voice recorders, four Tasers and 27 holsters.

As someone who has long ditched the idea of recorders because they are a hassle, run out of batteries and are a pain in the butt to listen to, here are the problems I imagine the deputies will encounter: The deputies will forget to turn it on, will forget it, will lose it, will not want to deal with it as he is writing a citation, or the batteries will die and it will get tossed in the corner somewhere.

Even the story says that they have them but its been a problem.

The station has provided recorders in recent years, but many of them have stopped working or were kept by deputies who have left the department, Young said

It's a good idea, in theory, but it seems like it's a waste of money.

OK. We see now that Lopez "retired."

According to Lopez's contract, the city will pay sworn employees 100 percent of their contribution to the California Public Employees' Retirement System program if they retire, as well as providing other benefits including a percentage of their salary.

But how much is he getting paid? Reporters Tania Chatila and Bethania Palma just submitted a records request to get that information. It seems that the city is making the Tribune jump through a dozen hoops to get information that should be at the city's finger tips.

I got this voicemail from an elected official, who I won't name until the story comes out in the weekend. I've called him a few times and spoke to him personally and he has refused to comment each time on how he is spending the public's money. Here's the message:

"Hello, Jennifer. You know, you've called a number of times, and not this time, but before you said, 'Oh, I have a deadline,' and twice you said that, and I haven't seen an article yet. I've told you, I have no comment. Clearly you don't understand that. Please understand that I have no comment. You run that story, that is your right to do that. But do not bother me anymore. I hope you understand that. Thank you very much."

I swear, this week I was thinking: You know, Rosemead is getting boring to cover. They are getting too civil with each other. And then I saw this on the agenda:

6. MATTERS FROM MAYOR & CITY COUNCIL

A. Councilmember Taylor has requested that the City Council consider the censure of Mayor Pro Tem Nunez for his role in the Mazone v. City of Rosemead sexual harassment case.

He also requests a list of information, including an investigative report prepared by Tess Elconin. But here's what the agenda says about that:

However, staff was advised by the City Attorney that even though the report was published by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the City is not allowed to disclose that report.
Therefore, we have not included a copy of that document as part of this report.

As if that won't be entertaining enough, here's the next item on the agenda:

Request to Consider the Censure of Councilmember Taylor

B. Mayor Pro Tem Nunez has requested the City Council consider the censure of Councilmember Taylor for the breach of closed session confidence.

I take it back. Rosemead is still may favorite city to cover!!! The council meeting is on Tuesday at 7 p.m. It's going to be a long one. They will also have a general plan study session.

Brown Act violation of the day, brought to you by reporter Bethania Palma:

Baldwin Park city officials refused to provide information regarding former Police Chief Edward Lopez’s resignation agreement because of a provision in it that says within 10 days it can be revoked.

“Based on our attorney’s advice the agreement will become public within 10 days,” said the city’s chief executive officer, Vijay Singhal. “I can’t say anything more.”

“That’s just flat wrong,” said Terry Francke of Californians Aware, an open government advocacy group. “The issue of whether it is to be honored or revoked is entirely different than the issue of whether the proposed agreement is public record or not.”

I just got off the phone with Sen. Bob Margett, R-Glendora. I gave him a call about a water district story I've been working on. But in the conversation, he also mentioned that he will be introducing legislation either today or tomorrow that would make sure all public entities divulge how much they are paying -- from stipends to meal costs to dental benefits -- to their represntatives.

"It will be applied toward all agencies," Margett said. "The public needs to know what the government is spending (its) money on."

I couldn't agree more.

I just got this email from a source:

News from the FPPC
Campaign Reporting and Recordkeeping Violations

Hector Delgado and Friends of Hector Delgado

Hector Delgado was elected to the South El Monte City Council on March 4, 2003. Friends of Hector Delgado was a committee controlled by Delgado, who also served as its treasurer. Delgado failed to disclose the source of a contribution of $100 or more in a post-election semiannual
campaign statement for the reporting period February 16, 2003 through June 30, 2003.

 

Delgado also failed to maintain the detailed accounts, records, bills and receipts necessary to
prepare the post-election semi-annual campaign statement for the reporting period February 16,
2003 through June 30, 2003, to establish that the campaign statement was properly filed, and to
comply with other campaign reporting provisions. $2,500 fine.

When I asked Delgado about this, he said it was an honest mistake.

"It was an oversight. Being a new candidate, it is a tremendous amount of information," Delgado said. He has already paid the $2,500 fine, he said.

.

This was one of our top read stories. This looks to me like an obvious enterprise story. You know, the type of thing that a reporter sees and asks why.

Line to In-N-Out causes flap
Bakery owner says driveway blocked by cars
By Kevin Felt, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 02/20/2008 10:57:53 PM PST

ARCADIA - It's mealtime and the line of cars waiting to order double-doubles from In-N-Out Burger on Santa Anita Avenue spills out of its driveway and runs into the street.

At the edge of the alley dividing In-N-Out from Goldstein's Bagel Bakery, a large sign proclaims: "Please Do Not Block our Neighbor's Driveways."

On Tuesday night, a single driver waited several minutes to leave Goldstein's because other drivers ignored this and two other signs asking them to leave openings for the two driveways at the bagel shop.

But Wednesday afternoon, a day after Goldstein threatened to sue In-N-Out for "millions of dollars," the restaurant sent two red-aproned employees to take food orders from the sidewalk and another to keep cars from blocking Goldstein's driveway. Read more.

TANGENT: I'm a Bay Area native. When I moved to Los Angeles about two years ago, I was in love with In-N-Out. But I'm over it. I've moved on to bigger and better burgers and fries, like those at Star's in Baldwin Park or Jim's in Whittier.

Emmy and Peabody Award Winning Journalist and Interviewer Charlie Rose was the "Distinguished Speaker" in Pasadena on Thursday. During his 1 /12 hour lecture, he dropped a lot of big-wig names, showed clips of some of his favorite interviews (Seinfield, President Bush, Bill Clinton), and spoke on the election, the decline of America and, what I found most interesting, questioning techniques.

He showed us a clip of him interviewing David Frost, an English television presenter who now works for Al Jazeera, and Rose was asking him how to ask the right question that reveals character.

"How do you get beyond all the questions about policy?" Rose said.

Frost responded that he asks, "Beguiling questions with potentially lethal consequences."

Could he be more specific?

Then Rose talked about lists of questions, such as those developed by French novelist Marcel Proust or American writer, James Lipton, who is host of Inside the Actors Studio. Here's a list of questions that Lipton uses:

1. What is your favorite word?

2. What is your least favorite word?

3. What turns you on?

4. What turns you off?

5. What is your favorite curse word?

6. What sound or noise do you love?

7. What sound or noise do you hate?

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

9. What profession would you not like to attempt?

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

Obviosuly, there is a time and place for these questions. For what Rose does, it works. For the type of stuff I report on, I have my doubts.

Just don't take it the wrong way when I see one of you at a council meeting and ask, "What turns you on?" I'm just trying out some new techniques.

Look for the full story in tomorrow's paper.

Teachers used union funds for personal trips, meals and more
By Molly R. Okeon and Caroline An, Staff Writers
Article Launched: 02/20/2008 05:14:54 PM PST

ALHAMBRA - The two women who used San Gabriel school teachers' union funds for personal trips, meals and shopping were thick as thieves, officials say.

Former Jefferson Middle School special education teachers Ava Shaw, 52, of Pasadena, and Jennifer Kathryn Boyd-Oliver, 36, of Duarte, pleaded no contest Friday to charges in the case. Both have been ordered to pay restitution.

Shaw was president and treasurer of the San Gabriel Teacher's Association and Boyd was secretary.

"Shaw vacationed a lot with Jennifer Boyd," said Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Donna Hollingsworth, who added that Shaw "footed the bill" for trips the two took to St. Thomas, Lake Tahoe and New York.

"They were at the same place together pretty much at all times," Hollingsworth said.

molly.okeon@sgvn.com

(626) 578-6300, Ext. 4496

caroline.an@sgvn.com

UPDATE: Some have suggested off the record that these women were a couple, but the District Attorney's office would not confirm this, and no one else has gone on the record confirming they were lovers.

This just in from Azusa reporter Bethania Palma:

The Azusa City Council gave the go-ahead to use eminent domain authority to take non-residential properties located in the area what was going to be part of a Goldline station.

But why the vote Tuesday after news that the extension through Azusa may not come for years, if at all?

Business owners pleaded with the city council to hurry up and do whatever they're going to do, saying they've been losing money and living in limbo since learning two years ago they were in redevelopment crosshairs.

More to come this weekend.....

"Controversial issues aside, there are some real gems in this community," Rosemead City Manager Oliver Chi said today.

I know, I know. Gems in Rosemead? It's true.

For example, Edison is based out of the city, so are the headquarters for Chinese fast food restaurant, Panda Express, which recently hit the $1 billion mark. Rosemead is also home to the rooster hot sauce, Sriracha.

Power, Chinese food, and hot sauce. What more do you need in life?

West Covina resident John Scheuplein's lawsuit against four members of the City Council was dismissed yesterday.

Scheuplein says his attorneys are asking the judge to reconsider, and that he's willing to appeal if he has to. City Attorney Arnold Alvarez-Glasman called the ruling a vindication and “a huge win.” The tentative written ruling explained that Judge Dan Oki was dismissing the complaint in part because Scheuplein filed it for his own interests, not for the general public, which Scheuplein denies. Tangentially, the ruling also found that “it appears that ... some actions taken by the City Council have been in the interest of some political contributors,” but that those actions were “not necessarily” illegal.

This has all been a big deal in West Covina because Scheuplein filed his suit right about the time that a similar lawsuit against the city by prominent local developer Ziad Alhassen was dismissed. Alhassen has been at odds with a majority of the council since about 2004. The city has been trying to show that Scheuplein was suing on Alhassen's behalf, and Scheuplein has argued that his case is much broader.

More on this in tomorrow's paper...

La Puente Library is getting some money for Teen Tech Week. See this press release below:

CHICAGO — The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the fastest-growing division of the American Library Association (ALA), announced La Puente Library a recipient of one of its twenty Teen Tech Week Mini Grants. The grants give La Puente Library $450 cash and $50 worth of official Teen Tech Week products to celebrate Teen Tech Week, March 2-8.

“We are very excited to receive this grant,” said Children’s/Young Adult Services Librarian, Monique Delatte. “Using monies provided by this grant, the La Puente Library will provide Teen Tech Week programming that bridges the gap between technology and the teens of La Puente.”

The La Puente Library plans to use the grant to fund four technology-oriented programs for young adults Tuesday, March 4 – Friday, March 7 of Teen Tech Week.

Wow, $450 in cash and $50 in products to fund FOUR programs? Sounds like library officials are really going to make that money work for them. If only local government could learn how to make taxpayer money strech like that.

This just popped up on our Web site about a Daily Bulletin reporter and videographer who died on Feb. 9. Apparently, he was remembered fondly by council members in La Verne.

LA VERNE - "If Leo had been running that, he'd have had it up and going," said Mayor Jon Blickenstaff, teasing a Daily Bulletin videographer on Tuesday night.

Blickenstaff and council members Robert Rodriguez, Don Kendrick, Steve Johnson and Donna Nasmyth swiftly shifted on Tuesday from a very short council agenda to adjournment in honor of the late Leo Greene, the Daily Bulletin reporter and videographer who once covered the city of La Verne.
"Those of you who were expecting a long meeting will be disappointed," the mayor warned, then went on to explain why the council meeting would be only 15 minutes long.

Greene lost his battle against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease, on Feb. 9. A celebration of life for Green is scheduled for 3 p.m. Friday at Claremont United Church of Christ, 233 Harrison Ave., Claremont.

Greene died much like he lived, quietly and still seeking information. Diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease in August 2006 and told there was no cure, the veteran newsman decided to use his struggle to help and inform others. He chronicled his battle in "Leo's Story," a series of columns and videos detailing his emotions, physical conditions, new treatments and the latest available data on the disease that usually claims the lives of its victims within two years of diagnosis.

Blickenstaff expressed pride in the fact Greene grew up in La Verne, graduated from Bonita High School and brought distinction to his hometown when he graduated from Stanford University. He had earned a bachelor's degree from Cal State Fullerton before receiving a master's in drama from Stanford and going on to success as a journalist, producer, college professor and videographer. He received two Emmys, a Peabody and numerous Society of Professional Journalists writing awards.

According to the mayor, Greene's family were also pioneers in business. "His family operated an unique business - McDermott and Greene, a family operated thrift store with new merchandise, mainly clothing," Blickenstaff reported. "They brought overstocked clothes and merchandise from stores all over the valley. It was a family version of Marshalls or Ross."

Greene was the first reporter Blickenstaff shared a personal relationship with and that friendship continued through emails after Greene was confined to a wheelchair and couldn't come to the newsroom or go out on assignments. Greene remained "thorough and thoughtful" to the end of his life, the mayor said. "He was very thorough and professional, but really calm and even kind," Blickenstaff said.

Hal Fredericksen, La Verne's community development director, later said he always found fairness in everything Greene reported. Even when residents and officials didn't necessarily like what Greene wrote, they were always impressed with his fairness and lack of bias, Fredericksen added.

Greene's integrity and character created a partnership with the city that was based on confidence and trust, Blickenstaff charged. "For lots of reasons, we're very honored to adjourn our meeting in Leo's memory. We are adjourned," Blickenstaff declared, hitting the mayoral gavel at exactly 6:45 p.m.

We’ve received word that a firefighter from Whittier who filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County and its fire department alleging workplace harassment has settled.

According to a court clerk at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse downtown, the case is set for a dismissal hearing on May 14.

Plaintiff Mark Nelson told me earlier today that the settlement agreement still has to be approved by the County Board of Supervisors before its made public — but he said it’s pretty much a done deal.
Neslon wouldn’t comment on the agreement or the case, but said the settlement was “amicable” for both parties.

Here’s the original story:

Fireman files suit against agency
San Gabriel Valley Tribune (West Covina, CA) - January 17, 2008
Author: Tania Chatila, Staff Writer
WHITTIER - A county firefighter who claims he was harassed on the job and retaliated against for reporting racial slurs has filed suit against the department, officials said Wednesday.

The suit, filed by attorneys representing Mark Nelson , a firefighter who works in Whittier and Pico Rivera, seeks an unspecified amount of damages. Named as defendants in the case are the Los Angeles County Fire Department and Deputy Chief Michael Bryant.

Fire officials and Bryant declined to comment on the case Wednesday.

"We will do our business in court," Fire Chief Michael Freeman said.

Nelson referred questions to his attorney, who did not return several calls. Nelson said he was hesitant to speak.

"I am fearful of more retaliation," he said. "There are rules and regulations in the Fire Department that I am bound to that prohibits me from discussing internal matters.

"I am sure (the department) would love to use that against me since I'm basically like a whistle-blower."

In essence, Nelson 's suit alleges that Bryant created a hostile work environment for Nelson after Nelson reported racial slurs about Hispanics to the department's employee relations division.

According to the complaint, in 2003 Nelson - a 33-year veteran with the department and an assistant fire chief - received written allegations that he and another captain had violated civil rights laws.

Nelson wanted to report the allegations to the department's employee relations division per departmental procedures, but he was advised by Bryant to withhold the allegations, the complaint said.

After Nelson finally reported the allegations to the department's civil rights liaison, he became a target of harassment and retaliatory actions by Bryant and other firefighters, the complaint said, adding that all the hostility was facilitated by Bryant.

The complaint further alleges that Bryant attempted several times to single out disciplinary action against Nelson in order to get Nelson suspended or fired, and that the Fire Department knew about this hostility and ratified it.

Bryant declined to comment on the case Monday and deferred all questions to Freeman.

"Certainly the Fire Department is aware of the details of the lawsuit, but I'm not going to comment about the lawsuit or anything related to it," Freeman said. "We don't do business like the plaintiff's attorney."

Nelson said he has tried several times to reconcile the issue outside of court, but has been unsuccessful.

A last attempt at a settlement began earlier this week and continued through Wednesday afternoon, according to a court clerk.

If a compromise is not reached, jury trial selection could begin as early as today or Friday, the court clerk said.

tania.chatila@sgvn.com

(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2109

Fire is the topic out of today's LANG papers.

Out of La Habra Heights, Mike Sprague reports that the city is searching for a location for a new fire house. One possible location could cost between $375,000 to $619,000, which is why the city decided to expand its search. But does the city even need another fire house? Sprague reports that the fire department gets about one call every six days from the east side of La Habria Heights, and there is about one call every two days for the entire city.

"The current response time is inadequate to the east side," said resident Karen Vipperman, who is the wife of Councilman Howard Vipperman, at last Thursday's meeting. "They're doing their best to get here, but it's too far."

Out of Pasadena, Robert Hong reported that the fire department will be charging for inspection fees. Would you pay it?

The inspections will cost $142 per hour and will be manadatory for buildings with three or more separate dwellings.
The inspections will be broken down into 15-minute increments so that shorter inspections of smaller buildings will cost owners less. A major reason for the inspections will be to test fire alarms systems, Fasick said.
"You get a false alarm and it wastes time and fuel," he said.

Like Pico Rivera - as pointed out in an earlier post by Jennifer McLain - Baldwin Park is also considering tonight doing away with any future check-cashing facilities, money-wiring businesses and freestanding ATM's in the city. The reasoning? They don't really go with the City Council's vision of turning their business district into an upscale, trendy, urban downtown village.

But where will residents get the funds they need to patronize this upscale, trendy, urban downtown village?!
Well, I guess there's always Pay It Back Check Cashing on Francisquito Avenue. Phew.

Pico Rivera placed a temporary moratorium on check-cashing businesses in the city, Airan Scruby reports. In the city, there are eight of these types of business, which one councilman called "abusive." Actually, that's really the only reason why the council said they needed such a ban.

Which brings me to the question I would have asked the councilman: Just because a business practice may be perceived as being abusive, does the government have the right to stop such businesses from existing? I feel abused each time an ATM charges me a $2 transaction fee. (For all those Flight of the Conchords fans, you know that Jermaine and Bret put that issue better in song than I can put in words.)

Also, I wonder how the number of these check-cashing businesses in Pico Rivera compare with other cities.

Payday loan store ban goes on By Airan Scruby, Staff Writer Article Launched: 02/19/2008 08:52:04 PM PST

PICO RIVERA - A temporary moratorium on check-cashing businesses in the city will continue for one year, officials said.
The ban, which prevents any new check-cashing and payday loan businesses from setting up shop in the city, has been established for 45 days, but was approved for an additional 10 months, 15 days. City staff asked for the extension to better investigate the need for restrictions on the establishments.

"This council should reserve the right to at any time legally neutralize any business," Councilman Gregory Salcido said at a Feb. 12 meeting.

Eight check-cashing establishments exist within the city limits, while there are just six traditional bank branches.

The businesses give short-term loans, to be repaid by customers when they receive their paychecks.

They also cash checks for a fee, usually based on percentage. The cost is between 10 percent and 25 percent of the amount borrowed.

Mayor Ron Beilke said he expected the extension to pass, because of the council's view of what the businesses do in the community.

"It was basically a given," Beilke said. "They're really abusive banking practices."

Beilke said he and other city officials would rather see residents use traditional banks.

Raul Murga, director of the Pico Rivera Community for Truth in Politics, spoke against the ban at the meeting.

"I do feel that this is too much intervention from government," Murga said.

First Amendment attorney Roger Jon Diamond said Tuesday he believes there is little that can be done about the temporary ban, but any permanent move in the city to ban check-cashing businesses could be successfully challenged in court.

Diamond said a permanent ordinance against any one type of business contradicts laws already on the books.

airan.scruby@sgvn.com
(562) 698-0955, Ext. 3029

Bad news and no news - which I'll take for good news - out of newsrooms as reported Tuesday.

First, the bad news: LA Observed reported  that layoffs are hitting the staff at Los Angeles Daily News, and buyouts have been offered at Bay Area Singleton newspapers. Yes, this includes the editorial staff.

The no/good news: I saw our editor interviewing a reporter for an open position on Tuesday, so I'm taking that as a sign that layoffs won't head our way. For now.

Glendora will be talking about a dog park Thursday's community services commission meeting so that adorable Jack Russels like Stewie, right, can have a place to play:

NEW BUSINESS

E. Dog Park Design. Establish community outreach dates.
Director Henderson - Commission Action Required

The meeting starts at 7 p.m.

I reported briefly in an earlier blog post that Baldwin Park City Council members would be meeting in closed session Wednesday to discuss details of the police chief’s position. Well, residents can also expect an official announcement in open session about Edward Lopez’ retirement, according to Mayor Manuel Lozano.

He said Lopez turned in his resignation and retirement paperwork on THURSDAY - interesting since council members last week didn’t seem to know what was going on with Lopez’ departure. I guess Lopez turned in his paperwork to the city’s CEO...so it must have taken a few days for the information to trickle downward, right?

Regardless, the council will publicize the retirement - or termination depending on what side of the camp your on and what you believe - Wednesday night. Lozano said he also hoped the council would be able to finalize an interim at that time. But I think we all know who that’ll be based on that little internal memo from a few days ago.

Just a few other tidbits on the matter worth mentioning: I had a lengthy conversation with Councilwoman Marlen Garcia on the whole issue today, and she had some not-so flattering comments about the police association’s leadership - whom, along with Councilman Ricardo Pacheco - are accusing the council of secretly firing Lopez two weeks ago.

Among the several things she said, Garcia called the leadership’s association greedy, and accused them of using this situation as leverage to get more pay. As you might recall, the association and the city debated for months over contract negotiations, and in the end, police said they still were not happy with the final contract. Garcia also said that during those negotiations, police asked the council to shut down the city’s teen center and other community facilities in order to give them the raises they wanted.

Monopines -- you know, those fake trees that have antennas attached that seem to be sprouting up all across the SGV -- and a proposed mini-mall near Wal-Mart. That's what's on schedule tonight for Rosemead's Planning Commission meeting:

PUBLIC HEARINGS

`. Conditional Use Permit 07-1111 – 9117 Garvey Avenue – T-Mobile USA has submitted a Conditional Use Permit application requesting to install a 50-foot an unmanned wireless 50-foot high Monocypress tree with six (6) attached antennas, one microwave antenna and one GPS antenna located at 7839 Emerson Place in the R-2 (Light Multiple Residential) zone.

2. Conditional Use Permit 02-882 (MOD) – 1717 & 1803 Walnut Grove Avenue – CFT Development and Permit Consultants have submitted applications requesting a modification to Conditional Use Permit 02-882 affecting Parcels 2 & 3 of the Rosemead Commercial Retail Center. The applicants wish to place a mini-mall on Parcel 3 instead of Parcel 2 of the previously approved “alternative design”, and increase the overall square footage by approximately 4,652 square feet.

When Congresswoman Grace Napolitano (D-Santa Fe Springs) requests a tour of a project she helped fund, I guess there’s no denying her.

Napolitano is scheduled to tour La Puente’s Community Center and Youth Learning Activity Center construction site on Thursday to see the energy efficient elements of the project.
Apparently, Napolitano provided nearly $200,000 in appropriations for the Youth Learning Activity Center. That equates to about 1.7 percent of the project’s entire price tag: $11.9 million (which I might add is about five times what it was supposed to cost).

Groundbreaking on the center took place in November, after it had been closed for about three years amid construction delays and litigation.
According to a press release from the city, Napolitano “is expected to be joined on the tour by 16 of her staff members.”
I guess everybody’s got an entourage.

La Verne Planning Commissioner Rich McKee, who is also the past president of the government watchdog group, Californians Aware, is at it again, only this time he is targeting Whittier:

Council to open stance on items Flap over removal of trees spurring change at City Hall By Mike Sprague, Staff Writer Article Launched: 02/18/2008 09:53:15 PM PST

WHITTIER - The City Council agenda should provide more information on some of its closed-session items, said City Attorney Dick Jones.

Jones’ comments came after open-government activist Richard McKee threatened a lawsuit in response to the Whittier City Council meeting in secret in January while deciding to cut down three ficus trees on Bright Avenue at Broadway Street.

The trees were at the home of a 3-year-old boy whose father, Peter Lennihan, said they posed a danger to his son’s health.

McKee also had criticized the city for not letting the public know about the issue in advance, including the location of the home in the 6200 block of Bright Avenue.

The Jan. 22 agenda stated the council would discuss a case of potential litigation, but didn’t identify the location or facts, saying “it would jeopardize the city’s position.”

“We probably have used that language much too liberally,” Jones said at last week’s City Council meeting. “We need more full disclosure of these items.”

Jones said the decision on what to put on the agenda should be discussed by the city manager and city attorney.

The law allows city councils not to disclose what they’re going to discuss if there might be litigation and the facts and circumstances are not yet known to the other party.

McKee, past president of Californians Aware, a government watchdog group, said the city is moving in the right direction.

“If they’re trying to tell the public they’re not going to use this unless they’re absolutely sure it’s correct, then I am pleased,” McKee said. Read more.

After about a month, I finally finished reading "Eat, Pray, Love," a non-fiction, soul-searching book by Elizabeth Gilbert. All I wanted to do was finish the book -- handed down to me by my step-mom -- so I could get back to the novels I prefer: those about journalists. (I realize this is lame to be a journalist and to want to read about journalists. You'd think I'd get enough being in the newsroom everyday.)

But "Eat, Pray, Love" wasn't bad. For all those soul-searching, recently divorced people that feel like the world is going to end, I would recommend this book. It ends on a happy note, which is maybe why I struggled through the last third.

The last book I read, "Amsterdam," by Ian McEwan, was way more dark, and it was about a newsroom. The book is about Vernon, the editor of Judge magazine. He thinks that publishing cross-dressing pictures of the prime minister, who Vernon had long hated, will destroy the guy's political career. Meanwhile, Vernon's friend, Clive, is working on his musical masterpiece. Vernon and Clive both have delusional ideas of their greatness, each to one another's demise. The ending is awesome.

After I read "Amsterdam," it prompted a newsroom discussion about news judgement and personal agendas in the newsroom. If you found pictures of a councilman cross dressing, you would run the picture?

Here’s what you can all expect from City Council meetings in the San Gabriel Valley this week:

La Verne council members are expected to give a last and final approval to the Lutheran High School master plan Tuesday night. It will include all the amendments discussed before: a 400-student max instead of 500, no stadium lighting, no Friday night football games, no non-school uses of facilities unless approved through a separate CUP process, and changes to the school’s public announcement system.

In Baldwin Park, council members will attempt to hash out details in the police chief mystery during closed session Wednesday. Mayor Manuel Lozano tells me the council expects to officially appoint an interim police chief, which they will announce later Wednesday night in open session: let me guess, Capt. Michael Taylor. Sorry, I know, my mother would say I'm counting the chickens before they hatch, but let's say I have a hunch.

Reporter Alison Hewitt tells me it should be an interesting meeting Tuesday in West Covina where the council will consider banning the sale of puppy-mill puppies, duplicating and bolstering existing state and federal laws; requiring businesses to create ID cards for employees who are in-home service workers (ie, cable guys) so that residents don't have to be scared to let them in; and expanding the number of streets where cars with "for sale" signs would be banned.

Some interesting things also out of Azusa Tuesday, including a whopping seven closed session items on property negotiations. Wonder what the plans are for those sites? As for open session, Mayor Joseph Rocha has an item about a former gun club site and the council will consider eminent domain on a few properties along Alameda and Azusa avenues.

And finally, planning commissioners will be the topic of choice in Diamond Bar Tuesday night where council members are expected to fill open positions on its commissions. Here’s a tidbit right out of the agenda: The City of Diamond Bar currently has three standing commissions that serve in an advisory capacity to the City Council. City Council Members are authorized to appoint one individual each to the Parks & Recreation, Planning, and Traffic & Transportation Commissions, respectively, to serve two-year terms. Upon the end of each term, City Council Members may choose to reappoint standing Commissioners or choose new appointees. February 29, 2008 marks the end of the current term. At this time, it is appropriate for the City Council to make their Commission appointments for the next two years.

I should not there are also meetings in Covina and El Monte, but nothing pressing seems to be on the agendas, according to Tribune reporters.

Monrovia tries to keep residents in the loop with gang violence. Here's the website: 

The following information relates to the recent wave of gang violence that has erupted in Monrovia and surrounding communities. It is being updated regularly to keep Monrovians informed of the facts.

“The recent increase in gang activity is directly linked to the release from prison of some very hardcore people. We are hitting back and will continue to push until the bad guys are put away and we have secured our streets. Be assured, our streets are going to remain safe.” – Mayor Rob Hammond, State of the City Address, January 8, 2008.

Here’s some food for thought: La Puente wants to set guidelines for individual council members seeking information from city contractors.
But they don’t want those guidelines to be adopted as law.

Apparently, officials want council members to tell the city manager whenever they’ve requested information from a contractor. And they want that contractor to provide the requested information to the city manager, so that it can be disseminated to the rest of the council.
But Mayor Louie Lujan said he wants the guidelines to be “memorialized” or adopted in the City Council’s policy and procedures manual rather than approved through a resolution.
Council members are not mandated to follow the guidelines in that manual.

Why then — you might ask — would officials want to adopt a policy, but not adopt it as policy?
Here’s what Lujan had to say:
“(A resolution) is a lot harder to undue if a future council feels a policy is not working for them at that time.”
“I think this new council we have is mature enough and adult enough to simply act in that manner if it’s done at request of council. It falls in line with a belief I have about people. I really feel that people, when asked to behave in an adult matter, they will. Yes, I am putting trust in human nature.”

We are constantly attempting to get documents — agendas, staff reports, receipts, policies, etc. — from cities, and there always seems to be a problem.
Here’s an issue reporter Amanda Baumfeld had to deal with this morning. Since last week, Baumfeld has been trying to get a copy of the Montebello Planning Commission agenda and packet in advance of the commission’s meeting Tuesday night.

On Friday, she put in a call to the city’s Planning Department to see if the documents were ready. They weren’t, so she asked when they would be available for pick-up. The woman over the phone explained to her that the agenda would not be completed until “after City Hall is closed.”
Hmmm, that doesn’t seem to help anything especially since City Hall was closed all weekend and is closed today for President’s Day.
Furthermore, the city does not have the agenda available on its Web site, though they do have old agendas from the city’s last council and redevelopment agency meetings.

In Montebello’s defense, City Administrator Richard Torres called Amanda late this morning to read her the agenda verbatim, but that was only after she hounded Mayor William Molinari about the issue.

Aren't there open-meeting laws out there that say these documents should be posted 72 hours in advance of a meeting? Now I’m sure this was done somewhere in City Hall within the required time frame, but is it really in the spirit of the law if it’s done when the public — and our reporters — can’t get to it?

I got this e-mail a while back from Pomona Mayor Norma Torres about a council member travel expense story Tania Chatila and I wrote. It was a very encouraging e-mail, with only one humorous error. This is how I received it:

"Thanks for the story, last year an appointed council member travel 7 cities in the 6 1/2 months he was in office. While another council member went to the atm and took several advances on the taxpayers dime, but the worse part of this is that when he ran out of money another council member back filled the expense account with an additional $5,000. These things happen because the staff protects the abusers. When I asked my city staff to report these abusers to the DA, the request fell into death ears. I don't know about you, but in Vegas if I don't know where to eat I find a buffet. It's a shame."

Norma Torres

 

 

This letter ran this weekend in the paper:

BP goes overboard

Baldwin Park is a city comprised of middle- to lower-income residents. Seventy-eight percent of the population is made up of Hispanics or Latinos. The City Council is proposing a plan to create a Westwood shopping atmosphere. The problem isn't the fact that they want to revitalize and improve the city. I agree that the city needs and can use some more tax revenue. The problem is that the City Council is proposing a plan to take away 200 or more homes from residents by eminent domain to build this shopping center.
There are a few problems with this proposal. First, there are at least two shopping centers within a five mile radius that are empty, vacant lots. Instead of displacing many of the city's first legal homeowners, why not work with what is already there and improve the conditions.

Second, people from the surrounding cities are not going to come to Baldwin Park to shop. If given the option, they will head toward Arcadia, West Covina or Montclair. The City Council should concentrate its efforts on working on the city's image before trying to attract customers.

Baldwin Park does not need a Nordstrom. Our Nordstrom is the Wal-Mart Super Center.

I have two uncles who will be displaced should this proposal go through. Both have lived in the city for over 60 years. In fact, the Metro Station in Baldwin Park was named after their father, who was one of the city's pioneer founding residents.

Although, this proposal will not affect my current living situation, it does affect many. It affects many of those who have bought and paid for their homes and are now retired, living on limited income. What can $330,000 buy?

Diana Dzib
Baldwin Park

While at softball practice Sunday at Covina Park, I heard the ice cream man pass by. But the song blaring out of the truck was unrecognizable. It wasn't the traditional, "Pop goes the weasel" song. No, this was something I'd never heard from an ice cream truck. All of us at practice looked at each, trying to figure out what the song was. Finally, the left fielder shouted it, "It's a Michael Bolton song!"

Whatever helps business.

I wonder if there will be an entrance fee for non-residents to enter the new garden at the Huntington Library in San Marino like the city charges on the weekends for non-residents at Lacy Park.

Huntington Library's new garden celebrates Chinese culture
Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times
By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 17, 2008

Far from the frenetic pace of modern China, hidden behind a Wall of the Colorful Clouds in suburban San Marino, a placid garden links botany with poetry and a scattered ethnic community with the elegant grandeur of its ancient civilization.

In the 12-acre site on the grounds of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, colorful carp glide through a shimmering lake. Chinese bamboo mingles with California live oaks. Hand-carved bridges, wooden pavilions and stone terraces feature China's centuries-old techniques of master craftsmanship. In flowing calligraphy, the garden is given life with poetic couplets and lyrical names evoking moonlight, verdant mist and jade camellias. Read more.

Campaign disclosure statements were due last month. I haven't had a chance to review them yet for the cities I cover, and I don't think I'll find anything interesting since elections are still a year away.

I love seeing these statements -- which, by the way, everyone can ask to review if they go to their City Clerk and ask to review a copy of the form 460s for the candidate or elected official of your choice. You can see who supports the candidates, whether its other elected officials, or attorneys or developers. Any time there is a project or a business that comes in that is not popular with the residents, reporters look to the campaign statements to see if any money was pumped in to any council member.

But whether that money plays a role in the council members' decision, we can never be sure. Each time I ask a council member if it did, they get very annoyed with me and then respond with something like, "I can't be bought." Some residents think that is BS. In Rosemead, Walmart's nearly $300,000 finanical support of Jay Imperial and Gary Taylor in the recall election is routinely brought up at council meetings.

What do you think? Are campaign contributions just a means to get a person elected, or does it display a pay to play attitude?

I got this tidbit of information from Baldwin Park City Marlen Garcia, who pointed out that it “went completely unreported by the SGV Tribune.”

Well, here it is:

The American Lung Association of California issued its first annual report card that graded eight-eight (88) Los Angeles County cities and thirty-four (34) Orange County cities, ranking their efforts to pass policies protecting residents from second-hand smoke in various outdoor air categories or multi-unit housing. Only three cities in the two-county area earned an overall "A" grade: Baldwin Park, Burbank & Calabasas (all in Los Angeles County).
Baldwin Park received this high ranking because of an ordinance unanimously passed by the City Council in 2007 that limited public exposure to secondhand smoke in public places within the City.
In 2006, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a report supported by over 40 years of research and scientific studies that states unequivocally there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Smoking costs more than $15 million each year to the state’s economy and healthcare system. These costs include direct and indirect medical costs, worker absenteeism and lost productivity.

About a month or so ago, I began receiving what have now become a string of frequent e-mails from Bisno Development Co. The firm is pushing a 125-acre renovation of Baldwin Park’s downtown area, with a proposed charter school, hotel, luxury condos and high-end retailers. The project has been met with HEAVY opposition from a core group of residents and business owners who say the city is trying to “push out the poor and bring in the rich.” They also claim the city has not been very open in terms of disseminating information to them about the project.

Looks like Bisno has caught on to this opposition, and is working their PR arm hard to garner support for the project.
Here’s an example of an e-mail I received Friday:

Baldwin Park residents balk misleading demonstrators efforts, support much needed revitalization project
Tens of hundreds of residents have pledged support for the Downtown Revitalization Project, still outreach to the Baldwin Park families and residents continues.

Currently special interests group outside of the area continue to misrepresent facts. Community members have noticed that residents from outside Baldwin Park, gather regularly to instigate an opposition for the project. Despite this intrusion, Baldwin Park Residents are getting informed and overwhelmingly support the project," said Jennifer Rodriguez Community Relations Director for Bisno Development Company, "We want to maintain dialogue to find solutions towards building a safe revitalized Baldwin Park."
 
While City Officials and Bisno Development are still in negotiation, the City assures residents that their ultimate goal is to look out for Baldwin Park's future by bringing necessary and much needed revenues to the city. 
###

The Baldwin Park police chief mystery just gets better and better.

We got our greedy little hands on this today.

City officials say no decisions or announcements have been made regarding an interim. And this is what Councilman Anthony Bejarano had to say about the memo:
"I haven't seen that memo and that's news to me. Define acting?"

We've just confirmed the District Attorney's Office is reviewing allegations that the Baldwin Park City Council violated the Brown Act.

The complaint was received this week, according to Dave Demerjian, head of the DA's public integrity division.

Demerjian wouldn't say who filed the complaint, but the Baldwin Park Police Association did: it was them. They claim the council violated open meeting laws last week when they fired Police Chief Edward Lopez in closed session and then didn't announce it.

City officials claim Lopez retired.

Beat changes among the SGV Tribune and the Pasadena Star-News. This memo came in today from managment:

Please join me in wishing Star-News reporter Todd Ruiz the best as he embarks on a new chapter in his life. Today is Todd's last day with us and he will be missed. Todd has done some really fine work since transferring to SGVN from the Bulletin. His stories on the Tommy Bowman case were among the best I've seen in a long time and he stayed on top of the Pasadena City Hall beat both in print and online.

Starting Monday, Tribune reporter Fred Ortega will move to Pasadena to take over the City Hall beat. Fred also will continue in his role as SGVN political reporter and will remain involved in special projects for the group. Please join me in congratulating Fred on his new role.

Residents in La Verne hoping for better cell phone reception are going to have to wait. The Planning Commission unanimously denied Wednesday a bid by Sprint/Nextel to build a cell phone tower at Oak Mesa Park, atop a flagpole.
Reasoning: area residents and parents of nearby Oak Mesa Preschool said they were concerned radio frequencies could be unhealthy for schoolchildren.
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reporter Will Bigham expands:

City rejects cell-phone tower
By Will Bigham, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 02/15/2008 12:00:00 AM PST

Cell service in north La Verne is spotty because the only tower north of Base Line Road in the vicinity is on county land near Leroy Boys Home, Fredericksen said.

Developer Jason Chung is getting some push back from the city of Monterey Park. The planning commission denied a time extension this week, and councilman Frank Venti appealed his luxury-condo project last year, Melissa Pamer reports.

MONTEREY PARK - A developer's plans to build luxury condominiums targeted at wealthy Chinese immigrants met a roadblock this week.

Developer Jason Chung, who got initial city approval for the project last year, believes his 54-unit, six-story condo building will appeal to rich families emigrating from dense urban centers in China and Taiwan. He plans a high-end East-West fusion restaurant on the building's ground floor.

"A lot of wealthy Chinese buy in San Marino, Rowland Heights and Diamond Bar, but they really want someplace convenient where they don't have to drive a car," Chung said. "They can walk to get their dim sum."

But on Tuesday, the Monterey Park Planning Commission voted 3-1 to deny a time extension for the mixed-use building slated for a busy commercial stretch of North Atlantic Boulevard.

Chung is no stranger to the community of Monterey Park. In May last year, he was honored for his efforts in funding the library.

Library Foundation Annual Spring Gala Honoring Jason Chung
Posted Date: 5/11/2007

MONTEREY PARK LIBRARY FOUNDATION
ANNUAL SPRING GALA
HONORING JASON CHUNG

The Monterey Park Library Foundation Spring Gala on Friday, May 18, 2007 at Capital Seafood, 755 W. Garvey Avenue, Monterey Park will feature “Changing Faces” by Wei Qi Zhong.

The Library Foundation will be honoring Jason Chung for his contributions to the library and the community.

Here's what la.curbed had to say about the project. They've got some cool sketches, too. And, here is a press release about it found on a construction website. But if the planning commission's decision is any indication, there's still a lot more "hoops," Chung said, to jump through before this project becomes a reality.

This week we learned that La Eme still has a stronghold in the San Gabriel Valley, that temporary restraining orders don't stop abusive husbands and that Monrovia needs a "gang czar." But there's more to the SGV than crime. No, really. 

We've also read that a Rosemead resident publicly called a councilman a "bastard," that eight demonstrators -- yes, that is including the organizer -- protested Whittier's plan to build a new police department and that an 84-year-old man told the Glendora council members that they should all resign.

Here's what else happened in your SGV City Halls:

The Rosemead City Council acted quite civil this week -- at least compared to meetings in the past. Council members asked for a new traffic study to examine whether there is a need for a stop light for Rice Elementary kids who have to deal with more traffic because of the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Walnut Grove.

The council also heard some grumbling from residents about changes to the general plan, which addresses development in the city. City officials expect that there will be a full on explosion at the next council meeting, where the council will vote on the General Plan.

And, most importantly, Rosemead had coffee for the first time at its meeting for the public. Too bad they still don't make their staff reports available to the public during meetings.

Glendora approved a 125-bedroom senior housing facility at Bonnie Cove and Gladstone. There was also zero discussion from council members about their newest employees, Planning Director Jeff Kugel and Finance Director Josh Betta.

In Montebello, the council is going to hold off on spending $5 million in redevelopment funds until March.

Pico Rivera said "No" to pot clubs, South El Monte said "Yes" to parks -- but don't expect to see any new parks for another two years -- and La Puente okayed City Attorney James Casso's raise. Also, Casso told me in a phone conversation that on Saturday, he made partner with his employer, Meyers Nave.

And in Monrovia, there has been a steady stream of community meetings wanting to solve gang violence in the city. But as we see in Foothill Cities Blog, Old Town merchants feel ignored.

That's all I got. But I'm sure you City Hall regulars attended at least one meeting this week, and saw or heard something ridiculous. We're all ears...

From Montebello reporter Amanda Baumfeld:

Jennifer McColm, president of California Certified Farmers Market, made a presentation to the council about the possibility of starting a Farmer's Market in Montebello.

After the presentation, council directed staff to work with McColm on drafting a proposal even though the city has not made any solicitations for interested companies to apply to run a farmers market. Councilman Robert Urteaga just so happened to have worked with McColm in the past. He did however encourage others to apply.

An interested and concerned community member questioned the city on what they were looking for in a farmers market applicant and left the impression she would like to submit a proposal as well.

This in from reporter Dan Abendschein:

Glendora mayor tries to silence gadfly and fails

During a contentious meeting over a proposed assisted-living senior development, Mayor Ken Herman took a bold and scary move (for those who like to get out of council meetings before midnight): he dropped the time limits on public comment, with the idea that each side would allow a single spokesperson to do most of the talking. It didn't work out that way, with many citizens getting up to heap abuse on the city for their perceived easy handling of the developers.

One speaker, an 84-year-old man was particularly thorny: he first called out Councilman Dick Tessitor and asked him how he would like the project in his neighborhood, then staggered over to a supporter of the project in the audience who had challenged its detractors to look a senior in the eye and tell him they were willing to reject a senior development. At that point, Herman repeatedly told the man to sit down and stop talking, since the clock wasn't going to force the worked-up speaker to stop talking.

But the old man would not stop. As Herman called the name of the next commenter to come to the podium, the speaker refused to stop talking. And eventually, since Herman was not about to get someone to drag an old man away from the podium, the mayor had to sit and listen to the octogenarian rant on. Eventually he winded down by telling the whole council it ought to resign.

You can watch it all here on the Glendora city web site, starting around 1:44:30

This has nothing to do with City Halls and their politics. Rather, this is a universal conclusion from a bitter woman who, once again, has to watch the parade of flowers that never seem to make a stop at her desk: Valentine's Day sucks. 

This is what I have to stare at.

Don't be fooled by the headline. La Puente has plenty of paper, but they don't want to use it.

The City Council has asked staff to draft a “paperless” policy. If adopted, it would essentially mean all council members and department heads would no longer receive hard copies of staff reports, agendas or other routine communications, unless requested. Documents will be distributed electronically instead.

To all you Brown Act activists out there, don't fear: as required by law, hard copies of those reports and agendas will still be available to the public in all the right places, according to officials.

Council members say this is part of it's iniative to "go green."
I should note that not everyone is completely on board though. Councilwoman Lola Storing didn't seem too thrilled, and had this to say: “That means every city council person has to have a computer. Does that mean we are going to buy everybody computers?”

They already get one for being on the council, according to Mayor Louie Lujan.

Breaking news everyone - the city of La Puente has received an award.

Yup, looks like their budget presentation met "the highest principles of governmental budgeting," according to a city press release.
Rean on:

The City of La Puente has received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the Fiscal Year 2007-2008 annual budget from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) of the United States and Canada.
“The award represents a significant achievement by the entity,” a spokesman for the organization explained. “It reflects the commitment of the governing body and staff to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting.”
The GFOA recognition requires nominees to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation in terms of how the budget serves as a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide and a communications device.
Budget documents must be rated “proficient” in all four categories to receive the award.
“Award recipients have pioneered efforts to improve the quality of budgeting and provide an excellent example for other governments throughout North America,” the
GFOA spokesman said.
The GFOA is a nonprofit professional association serving 17,500 government finance professionals throughout North America. The Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program is the only national awards program in governmental budgeting.
The City of La Puente covers a 3.5 square mile area and is home to more than 43,000 residents.
For more information, contact La Puente City Hall at (626) 855-1500 or visit the City’s web site at www.lapuente.org.

I didn't even know there was an award for this.

This just in from Montebello reporter, Amanda Baumfeld:

It was kudos to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and Whittier Daily News at Montebello's City Council Meeting Wednesday night. A community member approached the council and said an article that ran on the front page of our papers about a month ago detailing new survelience cameras in the city has discouraged taggers. He said graffitti has dropped in his area of the city by about 80 percent.

It's so nice to be appreciated!

That is the second time this week that the Tribune had an effect on crime. Earlier this week, West Covina reporter Alison Hewitt wrote a story about copper wire thieves, and how an earlier story pointed police in the right direction.

Tipster aids police in copper caper
By Alison Hewitt, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 02/11/2008 09:55:26 PM PST

Police strengthened their case against an alleged copper thief this week when a tipster told them where the electronic equipment found in one suspect's house might have come from.

James Lucero, 45, of Azusa and Randall Whitmore, 38, of Temple City were arrested Feb. 4 inside a storage room of West Covina's new 24-Hour Fitness for allegedly stealing copper and other metals.

Fuses, cables missing their wires and a metal-cutting saw were found at Whitmore's house, but didn't match any known copper-theft scenes. Without a known victim, the case would be harder to prosecute, said West Covina police Cpl. Rudy Lopez.

On Saturday, Detective Scott Fahey got a message from an anonymous man who read a newspaper story about Whitmore's arrest.

"The guy says, `I saw in the paper about the copper. Not only did Whitmore do that one, but ... he broke into a Coco's in Arcadia as well,"' Fahey said.

"I called the (police) watch commander in Arcadia, and he confirmed they had a lot of stuff stolen that matches the evidence we got from Whitmore's house," Fahey said.

Ok, our heads at the Tribune have grown. But that will change as quickly as today's news. 

It took nearly four years, but it looks like a 97,000 square-foot assisted living facility for seniors in Glendora has finally been approved.

Many of you may have been following this story. Project opponents have long argued that the facility is just too big for the neighborhood and will cause a lot of traffic in the area.

Read more in reporter Dan Abendschein's story, which ran today.

Also today were three letters that ran in the opinion section about Glendora's projects:

No development, again

Apparently, there is another plan in progress to develop 125 units in a 34-foot tall building in our neighborhood (at the corner of Gladstone and Bonnie Cove in Glendora). This sounds suspiciously like the same project we were assured did not pass several months ago.

This is exactly why the residents of Glendora have grown accustomed to suspecting potential corruption in our city government. The lack of consideration for what is obviously the desire of our community to remain a pleasant residential neighborhood has lessened the quality of this city.

James Holbrook
Shirley Holbrook
Glendora

No to retirement center

We are writing to let you know what we think of this project for the 125-unit retirement center on the corner of Bonnie Cove and Gladstone.

First of all, the three stories is way too much for a residential neighborhood and with only 24 parking spaces being provided for this facility. This is overkill for the neighborhood and with a minimal amount of parking, our streets will be jampacked continuously with automobiles.
We are opposed to this project as it stands due to the size. Just because we are south of Foothill Boulevard in what some call Baja, Glendora, we shouldn't have to put up with such a large facility in a residential area. So, we say a big "no" to this project.

Dale G.Thams
Sue Thams
Glendora

Listen to neighbors

The project at Bonnie Cove and Gladstone in Glendora is back, again. Why you may ask? The Arizona-based developers let their permits expire and they stated at a March 2007 planning commission meeting that they lost their funding.

The neighbors originally gathered 4,729 signatures in 2005 which opposed the height overlay of the building. The building was shrunk from 47 feet tall to 34 feet tall. All the mass has since been jammed along Bonnie Cove, so it appears to be a 34-foot-tall wall. The building is no longer being graded down. There will be limited open space. There is not an Environmental Impact Report. The developer is adding a few parking spaces, even though there will be more staff and visitor parking in the area. There is an archaic traffic study from 2001, which was done prior to a nursery leasing out 10 acres in the South Hills Wilderness Park and driving their semi trucks on the Bonnie Cove hiking trail, prior to the Foothill (210) Freeway expansion, prior to the Diamond Ridge development, prior to the Costco being built in San Dimas, etc.

What is the city and the developer trying to hide? What's the harm in requiring the Arizona based developer to do an EIR, a new traffic study, or listening to the neighbors?

All the neighbors have been asking for from the beginning is for the proposed building to fit in with the homes surrounding the project. To date, no planning commissioner or council person has been to any meeting with the Arizona-based developer and the neighborhood. At these meetings, the developer would just simply tell the neighbors how the project will be while input from the neighbors was ignored.

In order for the issue to be heard by the City Council we, the neighbors, had to pay $2,000 for the appeal. Unbelievable, but it figures since the current City Council members were the ones who approved the fee hike. It is quite apparent the city of Glendora charges this amount in order to discourage the average resident from appealing a planning commission decision. In nearby cities, the amount of an appeal is a fraction of the amount, for example: Claremont, $100; San Dimas, $150; Irwindale, $150.

All we want is to be listened to and represented by the elected Glendora City Council members. Please do not let an Arizona-based developer destroy our neighborhood.

Erica Landmann-Johnsey
Glendora

Pico Rivera's newest second assistant city manager, Jeffrey Prang, is also a West Hollyhood city councilman. Maybe it's just me, but I'm having a hard time understanding how Prang ended up in Pico Rivera. It just seems like such a random gig in a random city.

Here's an article in InMagazine. Or, read about his civil union.

Pico Rivera hires a second assistant city manager
Prang expected to help ease staff jam, assist on projects
By Airan Scruby, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 02/08/2008 07:38:04 PM PST
PICO RIVERA - The city has hired a second assistant city manager to ease staff workloads and to provide new expertise during new development projects, City Manager Chuck Fuentes said.

According to Fuentes, Jeff Prang, mayor pro tem for West Hollywood and special public affairs assistant to Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, brings new skills to the city's management staff.

"We're looking forward to getting lots of good service out of him," Fuentes said.

Prang, 45, will be paid an annual salary of $136,716 for his services to the city, the entry-level salary for an assistant city manager. While Fuentes and Assistant City Manager Debbie Lopez say they believe Prang will be worth the extra cost to the city and that his services are necessary, some say the city does not need a second assistant city manager.

"I don't see a need for a second city manager," Councilman David Armenta said. "When you have a lot of construction, when we're building, you have a need. But the developments are pretty much coming to an end."

Armenta said he would rather see the city hire a construction manager, who could be paid a more reasonable salary and would be a short-term hire, for any major development project that might occur.

Fuentes dismissed concerns that the hiring was unnecessary, and said he was confident that Prang would benefit the city, especially in efforts to develop the sports arena site and Bicentennial Park areas.

"I'm at the helm," Fuentes said. "I'm not really concerned about so-called public reaction or reaction from other agencies or whatever."

Fuentes said 30 applicants expressed in- terest in the position and he interviewed eight, but chose to go with Prang because of his experience and the rapport he already had with Fuentes and others in the city.

"I've known Jeff for 20 years in different capacities," Fuentes said. "I have a huge regard for him. It came down to being a pretty easy decision in the end."

Prang, first elected to the West Hollywood City Council in 1997, serves on the California Council on Criminal Justice and the California Council on Interstate Adult Offender Supervision.

Prang also serves as a member of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, the American Russian Medical Association Advisory Board, Los Angeles County Assessor's Community Advisory Committee and the West Hollywood Community Redevelopment Commission.

He said he plans to resign from most of his positions on boards and commissions now that he has been hired in Pico Rivera.

"My primary responsibility will be to my career, to my position," Prang said. "I consider it a tremendous honor and privilege to serve the people of Pico Rivera."

Prang graduated from James Madison College at Michigan State University and completed the Program for Senior Executives in Local and State Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He said he considers himself "a professional public servant."

Lopez said she is looking forward to working with Prang when he starts work on Monday, and hoped he could fill any gaps in the skills already represented at City Hall.

"Jeff's going to be able to help us really take a bite out of those new projects," Lopez said. "It complements both Chuck and myself."

Prang said he is ready to follow the city manager's lead in a city with a strong sense of community.

"My philosophy is that the City Council and the city manager, they steer and the staff rows," Prang said. "I'm proud to get in the boat as one of the rowers."

airan.scruby@sgvn.com

(562) 698-0955, Ext. 3029

I just saw this on Baldwin Park's Web site:

Annual "State of the City" Address
The community is invited to join the Mayor and members of the City Council for the annual "State of the City" address scheduled for Friday, March 21, 2008. During this presentation, residents will have the opportunity to listen to details of recent achievements and goals as it relates to the future of Baldwin Park. This year's "State of the City" address will be held at the Performing Arts Center, located at 4640 North Maine Avenue at 8:30 AM. A complimentary breakfast will be served to all in attendance before the address. Please RSVP to (626) 813-5204 by Thursday, March 6.

Wonder if they'll address the state of the police department too?

The county Board of Supervisors arranged a tempting program Tuesday to encourage county employees to go green: discounts ranging from $800 to $1,438 off a new Toyota Prius. Almost makes you want to join the ranks of the roughly 100,000 people employed by L.A. County, doesn't it?

The staff report says Longo Toyota agreed to a deal with the county to give county employees a discount on three hybrid cars: the Prius, the Camry and the Highlander. The report doesn't say where the dealership is, but we do have a Longo Toyota in El Monte. The supes also gave authority to the Internal Services Director to add on any other dealerships that want a piece of that 100,000 customer base.

It's all designed "to lessen the environmental impact of County of Los Angeles employees work commute," the report says. "Longo Toyota was selected as the initial dealership based upon their award in 2006 of the County's solicitation for hybrid vehicles."

The discount is also open to “immediate family members” of the employees, the report says. Right before the board approved the employee discount program, Supervisor Yvonne Burke asked for a report back about whether the program could also be extended to county retirees, contractors and subcontractors. Nuts – that still doesn't include me.

Not everyone likes this latest effort by the county to go green in any way they can. Arnold Sachs, who usually comments on and often criticizes multiple items at every board meeting, is worried about how the rest of us will get our own hybrids.

“I'm very concerned about you offering incentives to county employees, especially with a limited product (like) fuel-efficient cars,” he said. “The cost of the vehicles is rising because of the inability of the manufacturers to meet the needed quantities of people that are going to buy the vehicles ... I don't mind (county employees) driving fuel-efficient vehicles, mind you, but if it's going to create more of a hardship for the public as a whole ... who gets the car first?”

Sachs had his own suggestion for, er, "helping" county employees find greener ways to commute.

“I'll tell you an incentive,” he said. “Take away their parking privileges and put them on the bus!”

I stopped at this gas station on the border of Arcadia/Monrovia. Who knew that gas stations still offered full service? The last time I saw that was when I was traveling in Jordan.

Reporter Alison Hewitt tells me that each week, District 5 Supervisor Mike Antonovich brings in a cute pet to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor meetings that needs to be adopted. Last week, it was 8-week-old Peewee, who "looks like a guinea pig but ... is a real little puppy." Here's the video clip. Oh yeah, and you could also watch the whole meeting on the web.

Scroll down to the bottom to get a look at Peewee: Los Angele's County Board of Supervisor's website

Flourony: "Gary, shut up."
Audience: "Throw Jim out."
Flournoy: "Throw that bastard out," addressing Gary Taylor.
Taylor: "Which one of us is a bastard?"

Lt. Mike O'Shea then escorted Flournoy out, but after a talk with Mayor John Tran, Flournoy was told he could stay if he behaved.

The above exchange was prompted after a discussion about the general plan, developers and mixed-use projects.

(Heh. Notice the falling apart "No smoking sign in the above picture. That is just one reason why the council is upgrading its chambers.)

Just when you thought things had died down in La Verne, we received a news tip that tonight’s Planning Commission meeting might get heated over a cell phone tower proposal.
Here’s the language straight out of the staff report:

CASE NOS. 126-07PPR & 127-07CUP SPRINT/NEXTEL
OAK MESA FLAG POLE
5400 WHEELER AVE.
Eric Scherer Principal Planner

A request to install and operate a wireless telecommunications facility designed as a flagpole to be located at Oak Mesa Park.
RESOLUTION# 984
Environmental: Negative Declaration
Vote Required: Majority of Quorum
Action Required By: 6-11-08

Just in case you wondered, Oak Mesa Park encompasses about 9.5 acres and features a playground, baseball field and soccer field, according to the city’s Web site.
We’ll keep you posted on what happens.

View Larger Map

I got this e-mail today from a reader obviously baffled over the conflicting stories behind Baldwin Park Police Chief Edward Lopez' departure:

I'm as stumped as he is.

Fourteen city staffers got a break from their cubicles at Rosemead City Hall and instead went down to Palm Springs for a two-day retreat last month. The cost: Between $2,500 to $3,000. Last year, the retreat was held at a local hotel for a day. City Manager Oliver Chi said that unlike last year, however, there was no consultant -- which had a price tag of up to $7,000 -- hired to lead the retreat. So why Palm Springs? "It allows us to focus on the global picture," Chi said.

City of Rosemead

2008 Integrated Business Plan Development Retreat
January 30 – 31, 2008
Hotel Zoso
150 S. Indian Canyon Drive
Palm Springs, CA

"We are the leaders that we have been waiting for."
Hopi Indian Nation

Retreat Overview

Wednesday, January 30, 2008
2:00 p.m. – Arrive At Hotel Zoso

2:30 p.m. – Introductions & Retreat Overview

3:30 p.m. – Where We Have Been

4:00 p.m. – Where We Are At

4:30 p.m. – Where We Are Going

5:00 p.m. – Break To Get Ready For Dinner

6:00 p.m. – Meet In Hotel Zoso Lobby For Group Dinner In Palm Springs

Thursday, January 31, 2008
7:00 a.m. – Breakfast At Hotel Zoso

8:00 a.m. – Discussion Of Mission / Vision / Values

9:00 a.m. – Review & Finalize Overall Business Priorities

9:30 a.m. – Break

9:45 a.m. – Introduction & Overview Regarding Development Of Integrated Business Plan

10:00 a.m. – Break Into Individual Business Units To Develop IBP’s

12:00 p.m. – Working Lunch At Hotel Zoso

1:00 p.m. – Each Business Unit Presents IBP To Entire Group

3:30 p.m. – Next Steps, Concluding Thoughts

4:00 p.m. – Retreat Concludes

Expectations & Commitments

It is expected that all leaders participating in this retreat commit to the following:

Check any and all egos at the door.
Be honest.
Keep in confidence what is said during the retreat.
Consider new and uncomfortable ideas about our operations.
Think outside of our own day-to-day operations.
There will be no sacred cows, everything is up for discussion and debate.
Fully support all of the consensus decisions that are made.
Turn off our cell phones while we are in session.
Treat each leader in the room with respect.

This just in from La Puente Mayor Louie Lujan:

Looks like city staff members have received confirmation that Congresswoman Grace Napolitano’s (D-Santa Fe Springs) appropriations request of $250,000 for the city’s proposed Nature Education Center has been approved and signed by President Bush.
As a result, the city will be drastically cutting the amount of funding it will receive from from the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy for the project. La Puente was pegged to get $425,000 from the conservancy group. Now, they will be getting only $175,000 — that equals a $250,000 savings!
How nice of the city to give up money it doesn’t need.

And just in case you wanted to know, here are some specs on the nature center —

NAME: Puente Creek Nature Education Center
LOCATION: 22 acres on Nelson Avenue between Nelson Elementary School and the Puente Creek Channel
ESTIMATED COST: $1.9 million
DETAILS: A nature park and educational center featuring a climbing wall, trails and educational exhibits

Dan Abendschein reports this on the hiring of Glendora's new finance director, Josh Betta:

City poised to pick finance chief
By Dan Abendschein, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 02/11/2008 11:39:30 PM PST

GLENDORA - The City Council will consider approving the appointment of a new finance director today.

Josh Betta, who has been the finance director for South Pasadena for the last seven years, has been selected for the position. He spent 12 years working in Monterey Park when Glendora City Manager Chris Jeffers was the top executive there.

Betta said that the chance to work with Jeffers again motivated his decision to leave South Pasadena.

"My respect for Chris Jeffers, and my enthusiasm for working with him again are major factors in wanting to take the job," he said.

Betta's tenure at South Pasadena drew the ire of city staff during a brief period in spring 2006. They claimed Betta created a "hostile work environment."

The complaint alleged that Betta had made staff uncomfortable during a heated argument he had with another staff member.

South Pasadena Mayor Michael Caccioti said a city investigation revealed no problems.

"Nothing serious ever happened," said Caccioti. "Betta has been an excellent finance director."

The complaint was aired by a union representative at a meeting where Betta had a $10,000 raise approved by the city. The timing, said Betta, was not coincidental.

"The raise came at a time when the unions hadn't seen a pay increase for three years," said Betta. "It made me a target."

Betta described the incident as him "yelling at an employee behind closed doors."

He dismissed the idea that he had created a hostile work environment.

Yolanda Vasquez, a South Pasadena city employee and union leader, seemed to mostly remember the union's displeasure about his raise.

"Our main conflict with the city was that the kept saying they didn't have any funds," Vasquez said, "then they gave this huge raise to Betta."

She did recall that several staff members had complained about an "outburst" from Betta.

However, Jim Luttrell, a retired city union representative, said the complaints were minimized.

"Betta's a tyrant," said Luttrell. "Half the city employees were terrified of him ... I'd see people come out of his office crying."

Luttrell said he had pushed local union members to make a complaint to state agencies.

Jeffers said he had heard about the complaints, but based on a background check and recommendations from supervisors and co-workers in South Pasadena, he thought Betta was the best candidate for the job.

Glendora Mayor Ken Herman said he had not heard about the incident, but that any potential problems with Betta would be discussed at today's meeting.

"The negatives will be discussed fully," said Herman. "I don't want to buy anyone else's problems."

dan.abendschein@sgvn.com

(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2105

City officials out of La Puente have released this:

Manuel Dueñes, a resident of La Puente for nearly 50 years and a long-time city employee and member of the Planning Commission, died last Wednesday (Feb. 6) at the age of 81 following a lengthy illness.
“Manuel Dueñes exemplified the finest tradition of public volunteerism and service,” said Gregg Yamachika,

La Puente Assistant City Manager and former Community Development Director. “He touched the lives of many people in the community throughout the years and will be genuinely missed.”
Dueñes served as an employee of the city’s maintenance department from 1965 to 1988 and served on the city’s Planning Commission from 1992 to 2001.

An Army veteran who served in both World War II and the Korean War, he served the community in many other capacities through the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1944, American Legion Post 75, and the Boy Scouts of America.
He also volunteered many hours at the La Puente Senior Center, Nelson Elementary School and at numerous other community facilities and events.

Dueñes is survived by his wife Elisa, three children, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Private memorial services were pending.

I received an e-mail today from someone who is apparently close to the Baldwin Park Police Chief situation. The source took a picture of the chief’s office and had this to say:
"'Does this desk, and the empty shelves look like the office of a man who, to quote Mayor Lozano, "is expected to be in his office on Monday morning'??”

We’ll keep on this developing story. But for now the two camps remain on their respective sides: The Baldwin Park Police Association and Councilman Ricardo Pacheco say Edward Lopez was fired. Everyone else in City Hall says he retired.

Last week, I reported that La Puente officials tacked on about $80,000 to their budget during the mid-year review for miscellaneous items. More than half of those additional funds are going to increased attorney’s fees for City Attorney James Casso - $50,000 to be exact.

La Puente City Manager Carol Cowley tells me that Casso is currently raking in $155 an hour for city attorney fees, and that number is sometimes higher depending on the project.
If approved by the City Council Tuesday night, Casso’s new rate fee will be as follows (according to a city staff report):
$190 an hour for city attorney services
$225 an hour for legal services for the Community Development Commission
$275 an hour for property acquisition or disposal services

According to Cowley, the city does not expect to use the additional $50,000 it budgeted for Casso. We’ll see.

As reporter Jennifer McLain pointed out in an earlier post, Casso works for Oakland-based Meyers Nave and also represents South El Monte’s redevelopment commission and the Water Replenishment District of Southern California.
Busy man. I should also point out Baldwin Park City Councilman Anthony Bejarano works for the same firm.

Alright, City Hall fans. It’s that time again. This week’s theme: new employees and their salaries.

In Glendora, Josh Betta will be introduced as the new finance director, and Jeffery Kugel as the director of planning and redevelopment. Betta, who was once investigated for vulgar outbreaks, comes to the city from South Pasadena. Kugel is a Glendora resident, and previouslyworked for Covina.

Also on the agenda is the discussion of an 125-bed assisted living facility proposed at Gladstone and Bonnie Cove.

Sierra Madre will also welcome a new staffer: Danny Castro, set to be the city’s new development services director. Sierra Madre-centric blog posted this about him last month.

Alhambra City Council is considering changing its firework ordinance. It will also vote on whether to reinstate the currently frozen position of Deputy Director of Utilities. The salary will be $65,680.

In La Puente, reporter Tania Chatila points out that the city attorney stands to get a raise. The city’s budget was adjusted to include an additional $50,000 for legal fees for City Attorney James Casso. Casso also represents South El Monte’s redevelopment commission and the Water Replenishment District of Southern California.

Odds and ends:

I spotted this on Duarte’s agenda for Tuesday’s meeting: “7. FITNESS WARM-UP. Donna Georgino.” Reporter Bethania Palma tells me that the council and audience member do stretches before their meetings. Really?!?!?!?! Also on the agenda is a resolution designating an additional assistant city attorney.

Following the path that most San Gabriel Valley cities have already wandered, Pico Rivera will consider adopting an ordinance prohibiting medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.

In Rosemead, Wal-Mart is back on the agenda. Only this time, it’s about a traffic light. Residents want a traffic light and the traffic commission agrees that one is needed. But after a traffic study, the city staff is saying there is no need for a traffic light because traffic is, well, light. If the Council approves the traffic commissions decision, it could cost the city “six-figures,” said City Manager Oliver Chi.

With nearly 15 cities meeting this week, I'm sure I left some highlights out. Let me know!

On Saturday, while visiting Glendale with colleague Tania Chatila, she pointed out this on a Glendale light pole:

The city is looking to settle with Montebello Councilwoman Kathy Salazar, who sued Montebello claiming she was wrongfully ousted from a citizen patrol group, Amanda Baumfeld reports.

This isn't the first time Salazar took Montebello to court. According to a Tribune story on June 6, 2007, "Salazar filed a complaint in 2006 asking for a court order directing the Montebello City Council to hold a special election on her group's initiative petition, which would require voter approval before the Montebello Fire Department could be turned over to the county."

Two months later, a judge ruled against Salazar's effort. Residents had mixed feelings on the the fire issue, as we see in this love-hate dialogue on a Montebello forum on topix.net.

Lawsuit filed by Salazar lingers
Settlement trial set for August
By Amanda Baumfeld, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 02/09/2008 10:50:44 PM PST

MONTEBELLO - A trial is set for August to settle a lawsuit between the city and Kathy Salazar.
Neither party could agree on a settlement in the lawsuit that the councilwoman filed a year ago at a conference Thursday.

Salazar is suing the city of Montebello and former police Chief Garry Couso-Vasquez, claiming she was wrongfully booted out of a citizen patrol group in February 2007.

Both parties meet at the Federal Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles in effort to reach an agreement.

There are currently no future settlement conferences scheduled. A "discovery trial is set for August 19," according to Irma Rodriguez Moisa, the attorney representing the city.

Rodriguez Moisa said they are disappointed that the suit is still ongoing.

"This will result in additional city expenditures to defend the city and retired Chief Couso-

Vasquez," Rodriguez Moisa said. "The ball is in Ms. Salazar's court as to whether it will settle."

Salazar's attorney, Michael McGill said the city is using a statue that is preventing the settlement.

"I think it's nonsense she wants to move on and put this behind her," McGill said.

The statue is a government code that prohibits a public official from participating in an official capacity in a public contract in which the official has a financial interest.

Rodriguez Moisa says because of the statue they can only offer Salazar what the offer was when she was not an elected member.

"The offer was 99.9 percent of what she demanded last summer," said Rodriguez Moisa. "We thought we had a deal.

McGill says Salazar's offer is fair and she is not asking for emotional or economic damages.

"This is not a high-paying case, but the city is making it by dragging it out, McGill said."

Salazar has a different outlook on the decision.

"Life is too short to be disappointed," Salazar said. "I will take things as they come and see what happens. It is nothing to get worked up over."

The lawsuit stemmed for an opinion piece that Salazar wrote criticizing the city for not investigating a citizen's complaint. The citizen said she was physically and verbally attacked by an employee of a tow trucking company that contracts with the city.

amanda.baumfeld@sgvn.com

(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2108

We got a tip on Leftovers a couple of days ago informing us that Josh Betta would be getting the finance director position in Glendora. Reporter Dan Abendschein confirmed that Betta is a candidate, and is working on a story about it for next week. In true reporter fashion, he did some digging, and here's what he came up with:

Star-News (Pasadena, CA)-March 26, 2006
Author: Gene Maddaus Staff Writer

SOUTH PASADENA - The city's finance director is under investigation for alleged "boisterous and vulgar outbreaks," according to a labor negotiator.

An outside investigator began to look into multiple complaints against Finance Director Josh Betta this week. The investigation was first disclosed by Jim Luttrell, a labor representative for the South Pasadena Public Service Employees' Union.

"The issue is a hostile work environment," Luttrell said in an interview. "When he goes on one of these tirades, it's heard throughout the whole building."

Betta declined to comment. City Manager Mike Copp and Assistant City Manager Marc Castagnola confirmed that the investigation is under way, but declined to get into specifics.

"We are in the very early phases," Castagnola said. "As usual, any investigation we do is totally confidential."

It is the second investigation at City Hall in as many months. An outside investigator was hired for $10,000 in February to pursue an allegation that Councilman David Margrave had created a hostile work environment within the city's planning department.

Margrave apologized to the department on March 15, and promised that he would deal only with the city manager in the future.

Luttrell revealed the existence of the second investigation on the same day.

The council was considering whether to approve a $10,000 raise for Betta. Several city firefighters said at the meeting that they had been told there was no discretionary money for fire department raises. They argued that approving the raise for Betta would be unfair.

Luttrell, who represents non-safety workers, made a similar argument and then added that Betta should not be given a raise because he is under investigation.

The council approved the pay raise, noting it was necessary to match market-level salaries.

In a follow-up interview, Luttrell said that there were at least two complaints from city employees against Betta. He expected more employees would be interviewed by the investigator.

"There was a closed-door argument with the city manager," Luttrell said. "It got so loud, that it brought people out from offices in the immediate area. He was yelling and screaming profanities."

Castagnola said it was too early to say when the investigation would be completed.

(It's not clear what the results of the investigation were - JM)

Arcadia council members commented this week on an $11 million City Hall upgrade project:

"It's not terrible," Arcadia Mayor Mickey Segal said about a proposed architectural design for the Arcadia Civic Center.

And the comments get better, or, well, worse.

"What can you do with a civic center?" Councilman John Wuo said. "Most civic centers I've seen (are) pretty much like this."

Kevin Felt reported that Councilman Robert Harbicht seemed the most unsatisfied with the preliminary plans.

"It doesn't represent what I think of when I think of Arcadia," he said. "We only design a City Hall every 65 years or so, so I don't imagine I'll get another shot at this."

He thought the building looked too much like a "square box."

"It looks like something you'd see in `The Jetsons,"' Harbicht said, comparing the design with the nearby police headquarters, which he dislikes. "That's personally not something I want to see."

I think what they're saying is they don't like it.

Alison Hewitt reports that there is a predicted $2 million budget deficit in West Covina. I wonder whether the Big League Dreams project had anything to do with this deficit?

Deficit expected for W.C. budget
$2 million shortfall to bring mandated cuts
By Alison Hewitt, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 02/09/2008 12:10:51 AM PST

WEST COVINA - A predicted $2 million budget deficit will require tough decisions, council members said this week.
The city had a balanced budget for the past two years after overcoming five consecutive deficit years, but West Covina is headed back to the red, Finance Director Thomas Bachman said. Dropping sales tax revenues and slumping property taxes are the main culprits, he said.

Although property taxes are simply expected to grow slower than in previous years, sales taxes from sources such as shopping malls and new-car sales are down 12.5 percent compared with this time last year, Bachman said.

"That's far worse than expected," he said.

His November report to the City Council predicted deficits in 2008-09 and warned of pressures on the current year's budget, but did not definitively forecast deficits this year.

"This does concern me. There is not a quick fix," Councilman Steve Herfert said at Tuesday's council meeting. "I think that when we work on the budget this year, we're going to face some tough decisions."

Bachman expects sales taxes to fall $1 million short of budget predictions, and anticipates $1 million for unbudgeted projects will be needed this year, creating the $2 million shortfall. Read more.

I've been working on a story about the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department consent decree, which stemmed after a gender discrimination lawsuit in the 1970s. So I got to thinking about gender discrimination in the newsroom. No need to contact any lawyers. But one question came to mind: Why does the women's bathroom have couches and the male bathrooms don't (not that I've been in the guys bathroom, but reliable sources tell me there's no couch)?

Enter the mysterious world of the ladies room ...

What does your employer's bathroom look like? (You might want to make sure there's no one in the bathroom before you strat snapping pics. Otherwise, you've got some explaining to do... Not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything,)

Spotted this flier on the counter of my favorite chicken joint, Dino's. Interesting thing about the venue of this wrestling event, at 4315 N. Vincent Ave. I don't see wrestling championship anywhere under the list of events:

A few weeks back I did a story about the Baldwin Park City Council approving an ordinance that will require all businesses with shopping carts to install a containment system. Their take is the stranded shopping cart issue in Baldwin Park is getting out of control.

Today, I received this letter snail mail from a reader commenting on that story. When I first opened the letter, I figured it was the average letter to the editor until I noticed who it was from: a seventh grader.

In a time when teens are overloaded with entertainment news and apathetic - to say the least - about anything remotely political, I found it refreshing that a seventh-grade student actually took the time out to read a newspaper article and then type up a letter voicing her opinions.

Take a look.

What $25,000 can get you: A police escort to the hospital (if you are Britney Spears) or tagging removal.

The Los Angeles Police Department reportedly spent $25,000 for police cars, motorcycles and the helicopter to help Britney Spears get to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation last month.

Funny. That's exactly how much the West Covina City Council approved this week to boost its graffiti prevention and removal program, reporter Alison Hewitt tells me. Look for her story about it in Tuesday’s paper. The pic below is found off of West Covina's website.

This isn't really a surprise, but the Monterey Park City Council is split on who it wants to bring on board as City Manager. Councilmen Frank Venti and Mitchell Ing want Adolfo Reta, and the other three want a different person -- who is still unnamed. Anyone know who that person is?

Council divides over city manager
Unnamed candidate apparently has job
By Melissa Pamer, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 02/07/2008 10:29:23 PM PST

MONTEREY PARK - The City Council has voted 3-2 to offer the permanent city manager position to an unnamed candidate.

In the closed-session vote Wednesday night, council members split into their traditional camps: Frank Venti and Mitchell Ing voted no, while Mayor Sharon Martinez, David Lau and Anthony Wong voted yes.

The vote came after a tension-filled regular council meeting in which one speaker threatened a recall campaign over the city manager issue, and Ing and Venti called vociferously for greater openness in the hiring process.

Martinez's wing of the council sited state law prohibiting members from discussing details of closed-session personnel decisions. California statute allows hiring negotiations to be made behind closed doors, and council members could be breaking the law if they reveal what is said in those meetings.

Wednesday's vote authorizes the city to begin contract negotiations with the chosen candidate. The council will vote Feb. 20 in open session on the contract. The candidate's name will be revealed at that time.

"At the next meeting, fireworks will come out," Venti said Thursday. "We'll be able to speak our piece."

Venti and Ing have voiced support for interim City Manager Adolfo Reta, who has held the post since the July departure of Chris Jeffers for the top administrative job in Glendora.

The search for Jeffers' replacement recently narrowed to Reta and an unknown candidate from outside the city, Reta has said. The split vote indicates the council likely selected the outside candidate, although no council members would confirm that.

This just in from Assemylam Mike Eng's office:

ASSEMBLYMEMBER MIKE ENG SEEKS NOMINATIONS FOR DISTRICT WOMAN OF THE YEAR

El Monte, CA – Assemblymember Mike Eng (D-Monterey Park) is seeking nominations for the 49th Assembly District Woman of the Year. Every year, in honor of Women’s History Month, legislators are invited to select one woman from their respective district to be recognized as Woman of the Year in a formal ceremony on the floor of the Assembly. The selected Woman of the Year honoree is noted for her outstanding contributions to the community.

The nominee must reside, work in or provide services to the 49th Assembly District. The 49th Assembly district includes the cities of Alhambra, El Monte, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel, San Marino and South El Monte.

Nominations are due by Tuesday, February 12, 2008 by 12:00 noon. The nomination form, which is printed below, is also available at the district office: 9420 Telstar Ave., Ste. 103, El Monte, CA 91731. The completed form may be returned via e-mail to Jacqueline.Ruiz@asm.ca.gov or via fax to (626) 450-6117.

“The 49th Assembly District will celebrate and honor the contributions of an outstanding woman who has contributed to the prosperity and quality of life in the San Gabriel Valley,” stated Assemblymember Eng.

Got this email from Hills for Everyone:

You Are Invited to a Workshop!

You've heard of EIRs (Environmental Impact Reports).

You've heard that the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA - pronounced Seequa) could maybe help your effort to save land or prevent traffic from becoming even more aggravating. But you are not sure what it is all about. Have we got a deal for you!

On Saturday March 1, Hills For Everyone is partnering with the statewide Planning and Conservation League Foundation (PCLF) to offer a training for citizens, advocates, and governmental staff. The workshop will teach you how to effectively use CEQA to influence development projects. PCLF just revised its Community Guide to CEQA that offers helpful tips to empower you to participate in the environmental review process.

The workshop will be held at the AQMD headquarters in Diamond Bar at 21865 Copley Drive from 9:00 - 4:00 PM. The registration fee is based on a sliding scale and covers morning coffee and a copy of the Community Guide (valued at $35). Community members pay only $35 for the Guide and Workshop. What a deal!

Come add this important planning tool to your arsenal. Registration is required. Learn more about the daylong workshop at www.HillsForEveryone.org

Hills For Everyone
P.O. Box 9835
Brea, California 92822-1835
714-687-1555

Land deals, money and a pushed-out police chief. Those seem to be the topics this week out of the SGV.

The most confusing story this week comes out of Baldwin Park, where police and city officials can't seem to agree whether Police Chief Edward Lopez was fired or if he retired, Tania Chatila reports. Lopez wouldn't comment. He was with the department for 27 years. Call it what you want -- retirement or firing -- but one thing is for sure: Lopez is out of a job. My only question: Can we see his severance package and or retirement plan? Because my guess is either way, he's taken care of.

Tucked away in the Tribune on Thursday was a little brief about Covina, which has a City Hall that is full of the most persistent people I have ever met. (Just read their "For the Record" page on their website, and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.) The city's utility tax, which expires in 2009, was declined for renewal by voters on last March's ballot. But it could back. A petition signed by 2,300 residents seeks to get a measure that would extend the city's $5.5 million utility tax. At Tuesday's council meeting, Amy Turner out of the city clerk's office said that it could be placed on the June 3 state and county ballot, or they could call a special election. My only question: Who spearheaded the petition?

UPDATE: Reporter Dan Abendschein tells me that the husband of the city's PIO, Bobbi Kemp, spearheaded the petition.

In La Verne, the City Council unanimously approved the Lutheran High School expansion, despite two-hours worth of testimony from residents speaking for and against the project, Tania Chatila reported on Tuesday.

Out of Arcadia, a land-swap deal will allow the Church of Arcadia to remodel -- as well as get a $3.6 million paycheck from the city -- and offer expansion opportunities to the city's largest sales-tax revenue generator, Rusnak Mercedes-Benz. Last year, a Rusnak employee said the dealership planned to move elsewhere because of its inability to expand in the city, Kevin Felt reported on Thursday.

And Alison Hewitt reported on Thursday that developer McIntyre Cos. got the agreement to construct a retail center at the base of Big League Dreams sports park in West Covina. McIntyre offered $2.9 million for the land, more than double what the other two bidders proposed. Councilman Mike Touhey recused himself from the vote because Touhey's consulting company has contracted with McIntyre in the past. McIntyre also gave campaign contributions to all council members, Hewitt reported. My only question: How much money in contributions are we talking about here?

Well, those seem to be the highlights. What did I miss?

.

Gunman Kills 5 People at City Council Meeting
Tom Gannam/Associated Press

Five people were fatally shot and two others wounded on Thursday evening by a man who opened fire as a City Council meeting began in Kirkwood, Mo., a generally placid suburb of St. Louis, the authorities there said. The gunman was shot to death by police.

The violence began about 7 p.m., when the man approached a Kirkwood police officer in a parking lot near the police station and shot and killed the officer, a spokeswoman for the St. Louis County police, Tracy Panus, said late Thursday.

Moments later, the man appeared inside City Hall, a short walk from the Police Department, shot and killed another police officer and then fatally shot three city officials who were inside the council meeting, officials said. Two others at the meeting were also shot and wounded, one critically, Ms. Panus said.

“We have what we believe to be our suspect,” she said. “We do feel like we have everyone accounted for.”

Witnesses told of chaotic scene in Kirkwood, a middle class community of about 27,000 people with a main street lined with shops and restaurants and many grand homes. As officers from departments from suburbs throughout the region swarmed into Kirkwood, many residents expressed disbelief and anger that such a thing could happen in there.

The authorities would not identify the dead late Thursday.

According to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which had a correspondent at the meeting, the Pledge of Allegiance had just been recited and Mayor Mike Swoboda was starting the meeting when the gunman rushed inside the council chambers and opened fire with at least one weapon. Mr. Swoboda was injured.

Some witnesses said they had heard at least 15 gunshots, maybe more. About 30 people were believed to be at the meeting. Some tried to fight off the gunman by throwing chairs

The authorities did not identify the gunman, but The Post-Dispatch reporter and other witnesses identified him as Charles Lee Thornton, an independent contractor known as Cookie. Mr. Thornton was said to have often come to council meetings and to have had repeated disagreements with Kirkwood officials.

“He came from the back of the room,” Janet McNichols, the correspondent, told The Post-Dispatch. “He kept saying something about, ‘Shoot the mayor,’ and he just walked around shooting anybody he could.”

On the newspaper’s Web site, Ms. McNichols said she had looked up to see a police officer shot in the head, then saw the gunman shooting at a public works official. “After that, I was on my stomach under the chairs,” she said. “I laid on my stomach waiting to get shot. Oh, God, it was a horror.” .

Kirkwood was in the news just about a year ago when a local pizza cook, Michael Devlin, was accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting two boys and holding them captive in his garden-style apartment.

In late January, a federal judge tossed out at a lawsuit Mr. Thornton had filed against Kirkwood and its officials. He contended that they had violated his free speech rights by prohibiting him from speaking out at meetings.

In an interview with a local television station, Mr. Thornton’s mother said that Kirkwood officials had kept after her son, “giving him tickets for everything they could.”

She said she never suspected that her son would be violent but described the events as “an act of God, just like a storm or a tornado.”

Mr. Thornton’s sister-in-law, Doreen Thornton, said he had had a 17-year-old daughter and said she could not understand what had happened.

“Cookie never got mad,” Ms. Thornton said. “He was a people person. Cookie was known through his church to be a No. 1 kind of man.”

Mr. Thornton turned 50 in December, Ms. Thornton said, and there was a surprise party. “He was shocked,” she said, “That’s the last time I saw him in person.”

The Rev. Robert Osborne, the chaplain for the Kirkwood police department, told television reporters that the shooting of the first police officer, a 20-year veteran, in the parking lot was random, a matter of happenstance.

“This doesn’t happen in Kirkwood,” Mr. Osborne said.

Susan Saulny contributed reporting.

Public documents are a crucial part to our stories. They are also a pain in the butt to request, pick up and then pay for. Take my story on Aaron Raigoza, for example. Here's a guy that police are considering a person of interest in the murder of his estranged wife. So, after going to the crime scene yesterday in Monterey Park and coming up basically empty handed, Crime Scene blogger and City Editor Frank Girardot told me that he got a tip that the divorce records should be revealing. Well, why not, I figured. I was already in Montery Park, and downtown LA was only 10 minutes away.

Getting there was easy enough, and finding a $20 parking spot across from the Superior Court was simple -- although I hate paying that much for parking. Even finding the documents, the money quote and revealing information was easy. After I scribbled down my notes from the case, I just needed to make copies. I figured it would be 25 cents a page, which is already significantly more than most cities charge. I think the average is about 15 cents a page, which I still consider too much. But when I asked the records clerk how much copies were, she said it was 50 CENTS A PAGE! Now, state law says that cities cannot charge more than the direct cost of duplication fees for agenda packet items, such as staff reports.

Brown Act, Section 54954.1:The legislative body may establish a fee for mailing the agenda or agenda packet, which fee shall not exceed the cost of providing the service.

But I'm not sure how that applies to other entities, such as the California Superior Courts.

Obviously, I am biased here, but I believe that all municipal and state agencies should waive the copying fees for journalists. (With the recent issue of what constitutes a journalist, I know that raises a whole other can of worms.) Our stories serve the public's interest. I can't tell you how many times I have delayed in picking up public documents simply because I don't want to front the money. I have outstanding requests today in three seperate SGV cities, totalling about $100. If the cities would just waive those fees, we would see the stories in the paper that much faster. But some of these stories wouldn't be so flattering, so I could understand why they would gouge me every chance they get.

As I was wrapping up my story yesterday, managing editor Steve Hunt came out of his office looking for an answer -- which isn't a good sign. Peering up from my computer, I was relieved that the question wasn't for me, but for my colleague, Fred Ortega, the politics reporter who runs the Election Countdown blog. Hunt thought what he read must have been a mistake: That there were no votes recorded in the City of Industry. Even Irwindale, a city similar in size but with twice the number of residents, had voters come out.

Industry has only about 700 residents, although, like its name, is home to dozens of jobs and corporations. It is also where developer and billionaire Edward Roski is looking into placing an NFL stadium. But there are only about 60 registered voters. Even so, Hunt said yesterday, that's strange. That would mean that not even Mayor Dave Perez casted a vote -- unless he did it by mail.

Could there be some other explanation as to why not a single voter turned out in Industry?

I’ll give you a hundred bucks (figuratively of course) if you can figure this one out:

Two official camps are making very different claims as to how Baldwin Park Police Chief Edward Lopez’ departure went down Wednesday night.

Councilman Ricardo Pacheco and the Baldwin Park Police Association are saying Lopez was fired in a closed session performance evaluation at the City Council meeting.
Everyone else in the city and on the council says Lopez retired.

About a week ago, I got a tip that the council was looking to terminate Lopez over his refusal to make more budget cuts to the department — a claim the police association backs.
Today, officers told me when Lopez left City Hall chambers Wednesday night, he told his men he had been “fired.”

Still the council — except Pacheco — stands by their retirement claims, and Councilman Anthony Bejarano said the association was “regularly misinformed.”
None the less, Lopez was not at work Thursday and city officials seemed to be confused as to when he would be back in, if at all.

Look for more in tomorrow’s paper.

During Monday’s La Verne City Council meeting, dozens of angry residents made several heated comments against an aggressive plan to expand Lutheran High School.
Among their complaints — namely traffic, parking and noise — at least one woman said she was concerned with construction site security, if the project ever got that far.

Here’s how resident and Lutheran supporter Sal DeGrassi responded:
“Come on guys. These people are worried about burglars hotwiring a forklift? I didn’t hear people complaining when the freeway was going in. There is going to be dirt, there is going to be dust, yes. We’ll deal with it.”

Hmmm, I wonder how much a forklift is worth in the black market anyway?

I was reminded the other day of a call I received months ago (before this blog had come to fruition) about the true definition of politics.
Sifting through my notes, I was able to find the quote I jotted down.

According to the woman who called, this was her husband’s definition of the word: “Poly comes from the Greek word many. Ticks are blood-sucking parasites. Hence poly-ticks - politics.”
No pun intended.

So this isn’t really city-hall related, but I thought I’d throw it in here anyway since it does have to do with politics.

Making my way to class last night (I’m a masters student at USC) I noticed a large crowd had gathered inside the Annenberg school, where all my class are.
Turns out, Dan Rather — former CBS Evening News anchor — was hosting his HDNet show Dan Rather Reports from inside Annenberg’s lobby. It was a four-hour live broadcast all about the elections.

I spent about 30 minutes before class, 10 minutes during my break and another 20 minutes after class watching the broadcast from the second floor.
Aside from all the glitz and glam associated with a live broadcast — makeup, perfect lighting and about a thousand assistants making sure there were no slip-ups — the most interesting thing I discovered Tuesday night was the power of the press.
Students who were not even associated with Annenberg’s communications and journalism programs were lining up to a get glimpse of the anchor legend.
Even if they weren’t too familiar with the elections, the candidates and the voting process — and even if they normally wouldn’t have cared — they stood gazing, almost mesmerized, by Rather and his roundtable of expert guests.

And while the live broadcast isn’t going to change their lives or drastically shift their news-gathering habits, most of the students walked away with a new tidbit of information.
Just goes to show you what the press can do to people — like maybe teaching them a little something they didn’t know before, even if it wasn't intended.

Yeah. Because I always use a trumpet for protection...

This just in from Alison Hewitt:
WEST COVINA - The trial date for former Planning Commissioner Carlos Thrasher was postponed today.

Tuesday's planned pre-trial readiness hearing was postponed to April 4. At the same time, the proposed Feb. 7 date of the trial was pushed to April 8, according to prosecutor Jonlyn Callahan.

The postponement came at the request of defense attorney Kevin McDermott, Callahan said. McDermott has also filed a motion to have the charges dismissed.

Thrasher faces charges of perjury and conflict of interest. He is accused of failing to disclose that he owed money to local developer Ziad Alhassen and then spearheading a vote against one of Alhassen's projects despite that conflict.

As reporters, we are constantly getting calls from city officials complaining that the paper never runs any positive stories about their municipalities.

Well, here's one out of La Puente.
Don't say I never did anything nice for them.

Everytime I pass this on San Bernardino Road in the West Covina, I see this sign and it cracks me up. I always have a vision of a homeless person riding around in a donated yacht. I'm sure there's a reason why someone would donate their boat; I just wonder who gets it.

Ahh, how I love the sounds of frantic voters descending upon the polls in an election year.

That’s right folks, it’s Super Tuesday and according to the latest Rasmussen Report, John McCain has an 89 percent chance of winning the Republican presidential nomination.

Things are not so clear for the Democratic bid however. Rasmussen is reporting that Clinton and Obama are in a tight race for California’s vote and the Democratic ticket.

We’ll have to wait and see.

Just an update for all of you out in cyber land, who I'm sure are clinging to your computers right now waiting to know what happen at the La Verne CC meeting - here it is:

After nearly three hours, the La Verne City Council approved the Lutheran High School master plan and the details of the first phase of the project.

City Council members made it pretty clear that the school's hopes for expansion were understandable. But the council was not without its sympathy for resident concerns - hence a laundry list of conditions attached to the plan's approval.

We'll expand more in Wednesday's paper.

That's the question everyone's asking in La Verne. I'm blogging from a City Council meeting in progress right now at La Verne City Hall where residents are out in full force both for and against Lutheran High School's expansion plan.

The school has big ambitions: they want to build new classrooms, a new library, renovate their gym and construct a state-of-the-art football field. But residents say it's WAY too big for their liking. We've gone through about two hours of testimony so far of speakers on both side of the fence (there are more than 125 people present).

It seems the interested parties either believe - or don't believe - that bigger means better. School officials say a bigger, more premier campus will mean more students and better facilities.
Opponents say bigger just means bigger parking and traffic headaches, and that the school doesn't need all their asking for to provide a quality educational environment.

Any comments?

Look for more in tomorrow's paper. Also, look out later for a post on the final vote.

This is the latest in a series of emails with a public official, with whom I am requesting an interview. The public official refuses to be interviewed unless I send over a copy of the questions I am going to ask. Here's the latest email:

Hi Jennifer,

I understand that all organizations have rules and regulations and a
"Corporate Culture". I also have principles that I live with and one of
them is never to speak to a reporter without written questions and the
second principle is never to meet with an FBI agent without legal counsel.

To be fair, I have written questions. I just have no intention on sending them over. The request is very unusual, as I explained to this elected official in the previous email. Elected officials should be prepared to be held accountable at any time, not just after they confer with their "legal counsel" -- which is likely at taxpayer expense.

It looks like several SGV cities are bracing themselves for resident complaints at their council meetings this week.

The city council that will probably see the most action is La Verne, reporter Tania Chatila tells me, regarding the construction at Luthern High School. Now with a post like this, how could you muster up the strength to tell these poor kids no?:

These are exciting times at Lutheran High School of La Verne, with school enrollment up 40% since 2003, and our vision of reaching students for Christ while giving them an academically excellent education; we are looking to the future expansion of our campus in order to fulfill our mission and vision.

Jeremy Lowe
Executive Director/Principal
Lutheran High School of La Verne

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus... Romans 8:1.

But when it comes to traffic, noise, and parking, kids come second. Will it be a full house tonight? “Oh God yes,” Tania told me.

No regular city council meeting this week for Rosemead, but it will have one of several general planning workshops, including at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Who should go? Well, if anyone is upset about development in Rosemead – such as commercial buildings that seem out of place for the neighborhood or an increase in mixed-use facilities – then this is the place to speak up. Meeting is at 8838 E. Valley Blvd., Rosemead.

In Azusa, there is a scoping meeting at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. The topic: A 4.1-acre Target store, slated to be built at 809 N. Azusa Ave. Again, if you’ve got an opinion about the store, this is your time. Meeting will be at 213 E. Foothill Blvd., Azusa.

In Monterey Park, council will have a public hearing for ordinances that would extend the time limits of the redevelopment plans on projects including at Atlantic and Garvey.

UPDATE FROM COVINA REPORTER DAN ABENDSCHEIN:
Wendesday night in Covina will be a review of the Masonic Home senior housing project.... a hotly contested project to stop the group from building more senior housing.

Despite being awarded the Darkness Award, Glendora is the only SGV city I've seen so far post the most recent campaign statements, which were due on Jan. 31.

Darkness Award / City of Glendora
CFAC also announced the 2007 winner of its Darkness Award, given to cities, agencies or individuals who stand against the goals of free speech and access to information. This year’s Darkness Award, presented last Friday, went to the City of Glendora, CA for its disregard of the California Public Records Act. According to CFAC, Glendora city officials required the public to pay excessive copying fees, created a mandatory records request form, demanded explanations from requesters as to the purpose of their requests—all in violation of state law.

Alison Hewitt reports on former West Covina planning commissioner Carlos Thrasher, who is preparing to face trial on perjury and conflict of interest accusations. Here's what the preliminary hearing Judge Bruce F. Marrs had to say about it:

"It does appear to me from the evidence that the offenses as charged in the complaint have been committed," Marrs said.

Thrasher is the president and CEO of a financial planning company, Thrasher & Associates.

Here's what his bio says about him:

Carlos M. Thrasher, President/CEO, founded Thrasher & Associates, Inc. in 1994. He is a registered representative with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. He holds insurance licenses in California, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. Carlos graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Hawaii Pacific University, while serving on active duty in the United States Marine Corps. He currently holds the rank of Chief Warrant Officer-3, United States Marine Corps Reserve. Carlos participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, Operation Enduring Freedom in 2005, and Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

Carlos is an active member of the Financial Planning Association, Society of Financial Service Professionals, National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors. He strengthens his military ties through participation in the Marine Corps Association, Marine Corps Mustang Association, is a Life member in the 1st Marine Division Association and a member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Carlos is a former Planning Commissioner and Personnel Commissioner for the City of West Covina. Carlos stays active in the city of West Covina through participation in different social organizations and is a business sponsor of many community events including the Veterans Day celebration and is the founder of the West Covina Toys For Tots Golf Tournament.

(The picture was found off of West Covina Councilwoman Sherri Lane's endorsement website.)

Sal Hernandez, who filed a complaint with the District Attorney's office about the Irwindale City Council, won't be getting the Person of the Year award like he thought:

Just got this press release from AQMD. Looks like Louie Lujan is the biggest loser, after all. Look for the complete story tomorrow by Tania Chatila.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 1, 2008

SOUTH PASADENA MAYOR CACCIOTTI JOINS AQMD BOARDTo Represent Cities in Eastern Los Angeles County

South Pasadena Mayor Michael A. Cacciotti was sworn in today as the
newest member of the South Coast Air Quality Management District's
Governing Board.

Cacciotti will represent 34 cities in eastern Los Angeles County on the AQMD
Board.

Cacciotti is mayor of South Pasadena and a deputy attorney general with the
state of California Department of Justice. He joined the city council in 2001
and is currently serving his second term as mayor.

As a member of the city council, Cacciotti has worked to raise awareness of
environmental issues. He hosted AQMD's electric lawn mower and leaf blower
exchange programs in the city. His efforts led to a low-emission vehicle
purchase policy in South Pasadena. In 2006, the city of South Pasadena won
an AQMD Clean Air Award for Model Community Achievement.

He serves on the Los Angeles County Sanitation District Board, the Santa
Monica Mountains Conservancy and the San Gabriel Valley Council of
Governments.

Cacciotti has served as a deputy state attorney with the California
Department of Transportation and an attorney for the speaker pro tem of the
California State Assembly. Before becoming an attorney, Cacciotti taught
high school in Miami.

AQMD Board members serve four-year terms. He will fill a newly created seat
on the AQMD Board to add one additional representative for the cities of Los
Angeles County, and he will serve a four-year term ending Jan. 15, 2012.

In other action today, the Board:

* Swore in reappointed Board Members Jane Carney and Miguel Pulido to
terms ending Jan. 15, 2012. Carney was reappointed by the state Senate
Rules Committee. She has served on the Board since March 2000. Pulido
was unanimously reappointed by the Orange County cities selection
committee. Pulido, mayor of Santa Ana, represents the cities of Orange
County and has served on the AQMD Board since January 2005.

AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major
portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.