Monthly Archives: January 2009

Ed Chavez mulling Solis’ seat

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The race for Rep. Hilda Solis’ seat just keeps getting better.

Now former Assemblyman Ed Chavez has formed an “exploratory committee” to decide whether he will also throw his name in the hat for Congress.

Chavez ran unsuccessfully in 2007 for the Mt. San Antonio College Board of Trustees, and is currently serving on the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District. Chavez is the husband of former La Puente Councilwoman Renee Chavez, who was ousted in 2007.

Here’s a copy of the press release he sent out:

chavez002.pdf

Let there be light

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Many of you may very well have a received a notice in the last few days informing you of scheduled power outages on Tuesday, Jan. 20.

That’s because Southern California Edison had planned for 37 outages that day in its 50,000-square mile territory, which includes the San Gabriel Valley.

But oh, wait, it’s Inauguration Day.

Oops.

Edison spokesman Steve Conroy said the Rosemead-based power company will now be deferring all of those outages to a later date, unless they are related to public safety or a customer wants the service completed.

“(We did this) because of the inauguration and the historic nature of the inauguration associated with our next president,” Conroy said.

I’ve talked to a few SGV residents already, who received notices saying their power would have been out from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. They were pretty upset, considering television networks will be covering most of the inaugural activities all day long.

Guess they won’t have to worry anymore.

One more candidate up for Solis’ seat

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Baldwin Park Unified School District President Blanca Rubio just told me she’s running for Congress.

“After much consideration with my family and members of the community, I am going to throw my name in the hat for (Hilda Solis’ seat).”

Solis was recently tapped to be President-Elect Barack Obama’s labor secretary. Since then, several local politicos have jumped in and out of the race to fill her vacancy.

Rubio will be going up against heavy-hitter Judy Chu, who is chariwoman of the Board of Equalization, as well as some others. But Rubio isn’t fazed.

“I know I can do it, I know I can,” she said. “No disrespect to anybody, but I’m from Baldwin Park.”

And the El Monte Mayor police report saga continues….

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Gina Aguirre, assistant city prosecutor for El Monte, left me a message last night about my most recent request for the full report detailing Mayor Ernie Gutierrez’ Nov. 18 arrest:

“I believe my secretary is sending you out the notice for the additional time and we should have a response for you shortly.”

I haven’t received any notices yet, though Aguirre’s message could count as verbal notice. At least this time around I got a response within the 10-day period outlined in government code.

La Puente residents beware

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It appears unauthorized street curb painters have invaded the city.

I just spotted this flyer on the city’s Web site that says some residents have “received flyers
indicating street addresses will be painted on the curbs in their neighborhoods.”

The only problem is the city hasn’t authorized these people to do the work.

Day laborers, supermarkets and trash, oh my

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It’ll be a busy meeting next week for members of the Baldwin Park City Council, who will me discussing several interesting agenda items.

Among them is a proposal to bring Superior Market into the city, work out a deal with the day laborers to build a day laborer site, discussion of a trash sorting facility bordering Baldwin Park and Irwindale, and an innovative plan to encourage contractors to hire city residents for construction jobs.

Straight from the city’s mouth:

***APPROVAL OF POLICY TO ENCOURAGE HIRING OF CITY RESIDENTS / BUSINESSES FOR CITY-FUNDED CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS
Staff recommends City Council approve a policy to encourage the hiring of city residents or businesses by contractors of city-funded public works projects and direct staff to develop guidelines as to when these incentives become applicable: a) if a contractor of a City-funded capital project hires a city resident or business for a substantial portion of the work, the contractor is entitled to the following incentives: 1) City will expedite the payment of contractor’s invoices by fifteen days (instead of payment in 30 days after approval, the payment would be 15 days after approval) and 2) City will provide a cash incentive of $100 per resident/business hired; b) in addition the following language shall be included in City contracts: PURCHASES OF SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS AND USE OF RESIDENTS WITHIN BALDWIN PARK. For work performed, Contractor agrees (i) to seek bids for supplies and materials from businesses located within the City of Baldwin Park, with the intent to make purchases from those businesses if such purchases can be made at competitive prices; and (ii) to employ residents of the City of Baldwin Park to the extent feasible.

 

***Request for Council consideration and discussion to repeal Ordinance No. 1290 and reconsider the Superior Market Urban Downtown Development project. Due to the recent withdrawal of the Bisno Development proposal the Council must proactively pursue other development alternatives. Direct staff to place on the next City Council agenda the repeal of Ordinance No. 1290 and staff report on Superior Market development proposal for review; and

 

***Request for Council consideration and discussion of the proposal from Jornaleros Unidos of the San Gabriel Valley to sign a non-binding community agreement with the city to organize and implement a Day Labor site plan. Direct staff to place on next City Council agenda a staff report with agreement and designate Jornaleros Unidos of the San Gabriel Valley as site organizing committee

 

***PROPOSED RECOMMENDATIONS RELATING TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF A MATERIALS RECOVERY FACILITY AND TRANSFER STATION WITHIN THE CITY OF IRWINDALE IMMEDIATELY ABUTTING THE CITY OF BALDWIN PARK (LOCATION: APN: 8535-001-911)
Staff recommends City Council 1) direct staff to explore options to protect residents and visitors from the negative and adverse impacts as a result of the construction and operation of the MRF/TS in the city of Irwindale; and 2) consider forming a City Council ad-hoc committee to monitor the city of Irwindale’s activities and proceedings directly related to the MRF/TS and strategize and conceptualize potential directions to oppose the MRF/TS; and 3) waive further reading, read by title only and adopt Resolution No. 2009-002 entitled, “A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BALDWIN PARK EXPRESSING OPPOSITION TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF A 322,972 SQUARE FOOT MATERIALS RECOVERY FACILITY AND TRANSFER STATION WITHIN THE CITY OF IRWINDALE IMMEDIATELY ABUTTING THE CITY OF BALDWIN PARK.”

More public input expected

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Just got this from City Manager Robert Griego about the proposed materials sorting facility in Irwindale.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

PROPOSED MATERIALS RECOVERY FACILITY IN IRWINDALE

This letter is in response to the article published on January 14, 2009, titled “Residents Trash Talk Athens Proposal”. Athens Services is proposing a Materials Recovery Facility and Transfer Station (MRF) on a 17-acre site at the intersection of Live Oak Avenue and Arrow Highway in the City of Irwindale. The facility will receive residential and commercial waste, green waste and construction waste from the San Gabriel Valley region, up to a capacity of 6,000 tons a day. All waste will be sorted and then distributed to recyclers, landfills, and compost facilities. All loading, unloading, and sorting activities will take place in completely enclosed buildings incorporating state-of-the-art technology. For example, air from the building will be vented through the roof after it passes through odor-neutralizing scrubbers. As with any other MRF operations, the disposal of hazardous materials is illegal and prohibited.

This proposal will only be considered after a thorough Environmental Impact Report (EIR) has been prepared. The EIR provides information about potential impacts to traffic; aesthetics; air quality/odors; greenhouse gases; water quality; land use as well as other related matters. The EIR should be ready for public review and comment by June. The City will continue to be open and work with neighboring cities about the process of this proposed project. At least one more public workshop on the project will be held before the EIR is released for public review and comment.

The Puente Hills Landfill is scheduled to close in 2013 and solutions need to be found for future solid waste disposal. The proposed MRF will meet this critical need for trash disposal for the San Gabriel Valley.

Please call the Irwindale Planning Department at (626) 430-2208 if you have any questions, comments or concerns about this important regional project.

Robert Griego
City Manager
City of Irwindale

Tales from Gary Miller’s office

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Officials with Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, are blowing up my e-mail today with press releases.

In case you’re interested:

Washington, DC – Congressman Gary Miller has been tapped to serve as the Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee’s newly created Subcommittee on International Policy, Trade and Technology. He now becomes the senior-most Republican on the panel, which has jurisdiction over international monetary policy; international finance and banking; international financial and monetary organizations, including the International Monetary Fund and World Bank; and promotion of international trade in financial services.

And in other news:

Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Gary Miller reintroduced legislation to significantly increase Southern California’s supply of water. The Santa Ana River Water Supply Enhancement Act of 2009 authorizes federal funding for a number of important local water projects. When complete, these projects will increase Southern California’s water supply by 37 billion gallons per year.

And in even other news:

Washington, DC – Congressman Gary Miller today introduced legislation to extend the loan limit increases, which were temporarily increased in the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

More news anyone?

Washington, DC – Congressman Gary Miller plans to introduce a bill that would require the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to address the issues and recommendations indentified in the their recent report to Congress.

I think Miller’s office must have just gotten a hold of my e-mail address….

 

More stadium news

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The Independent Cities Association held a press conference this morning to announce their endorsement of plans to bring an NFL stadium to Industry.

Billionaire developer Ed Roski Jr. wants to build an $800 million stadium-entertainment complex on 600-acre plot of land northwest of the 57/60 freeway interchange. The ICA’s board voted earlier this month to support the project.

“We are hopeful for this project,” Association President and Covina Mayor Kevin Stapleton said. “For the region, it will be an economic stimulus.”

The ICA is made up of 52 full-service cities across the Southern California, including cities in the San Gabriel Valley and San Bernardino County. Members include Arcadia, La Habra, Pasadena, Chino, Baldwin Park, West Covina and Pomona.

Several current and former politicos attended Thursday’s event, including Baldwin Park Councilwoman Marlen Garcia, West Covina Councilman Mike Touhey and former Monterey Park Mayor Betty Chu.

Chu touted the project’s location.

“Everything is about location,” she said. “Being a football fan, we’ve wanted an event like this for so long, and it must come to fruition.”

Of course not everyone is on board with the proposal. The city of Walnut has adopted a resolution opposing the stadium and Walnut Mayor Joaquin Lim wants a new environmental analysis drafted for the project.

Majestic officials will be meeting with the California Contract Cities Association on Feb. 4 to present stadium plans.

Walnut is a member of the CCCA.