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Pasadena's virtual gadfly is calling it quits and his attorney is advising him to take down his blog, Foothill Cities blog is still down, and Rosemead's city Web site is finally up.

Leftovers Column: City's image takes a beating
By Jennifer McLain and Tania Chatila, Staff Writers
Article Launched: 10/05/2008 11:04:48 PM PDT

It's been a rough few months for the city of Baldwin Park's image.

Residents still are concerned about school board member Sergio Corona's arrest in May on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

He currently is facing misdemeanor charges of vandalism, resisting an officer and driving without a license in connection with the arrest.

Then last month, Baldwin Park Councilman Anthony Bejarano was booked on suspicion of public intoxication.

The Los Angeles District Attorney's office said last week week it would not be filing charges against Bejarano, who said he was not drunk the night of his arrest.

Still, the incident has stirred unrest in the community and has brought to light a question that often goes unanswered in the political realm - just how high should the ethical and moral bar be set for our public officials?

We put the question out there and got some interesting responses from anonymous readers of the Leftovers blog.

Here's a sample:

-- "Let's face it none of us is perfect in our personal lives..., we go through divorces, we have children who occasionally get in trouble, we occasionally say things in frustration or in the heat of the moment that upon reflection we wish we didn't say, we sometimes get our facts wrong."

-- "Yes, we do hold our elected officials to a higher standard, especially when they are representing us at a public event."

-- "I'm not saying we treat our elected with kid gloves in terms of their policy positions or in terms of factors which might impact their ability to act fairly, honestly and impartially. But I don't care to know about him having a simple argument with a spouse or that his or her kid got a D on their algebra exam or that (on one isolated) night they may have seemed a bit tipsy..."

-- "Character does matter."

Our elected officials have been in the news a lot lately over questions of ethical behavior among themselves and their relatives.

Pico Rivera Mayor Ron Beilke's son was recently detained by the sheriff's department in a case where a reserve deputy's .45-caliber revolver and vehicle were stolen. Beilke's son wasn't charged, but two of the 17-year-old's friends were.

Last month, the teenage son of former Irwindale Councilwoman and Baldwin Park Chief Deputy City Clerk Rosemary Gutierrez plowed his car through a neighbor's wall while driving home around 4 a.m.

A police report was not made, no one was arrested, no one was hurt and neighbors decided not to press charges on what was classified initially as a hit-and-run.

Then in El Monte, Mayor Ernie Gutierrez - who is not related to Rosemary Gutierrez - took a lot of heat for allegedly showing up at a city event drunk and shouting vulgarities.

In May, city officials prepared a report looking into Gutierrez's actions, but concluded the allegations had no merit.

We see this all the time - someone in the public spotlight, whether they be authorities, politicians or entertainment superstars, slips up and all of a sudden their abilities to perform come into question.

Only voter turnout will tell us how much constituents really care.

Pasadena Star-News report Alfred Lee has a profile running in Monday's paper on Arcadia First!, an organization that is fighting the mall project proposed by developer Rick Caruso at the Santa Anita Park race track parking lot.

Here's a sneak peek:

ARCADIA -- Bernetta Reade knows her organization isn't loved by everyone in town.

"There were people that would come up to me and point their finger at my face and call me all kinds of names," she said. "It got personal. Some people took disagreeing with the project very personally."

Reade is the executive director of Arcadia First!, an organization that has long worked to stop the upscale mall proposed by developer Rick Caruso at the Santa Anita Park racetrack parking lot.

It is made up mostly of Arcadia residents and business owners. But it is bankrolled by Westfield Corp. -- which manages the Westfield Arcadia shopping mall next to the Caruso project, and has sued to stop it.

Reade herself is a paid consultant who lives in Reseda. That fact, along with the group's association with Westfield, has led to its dismissal by some as an "AstroTurf" campaign.
"Fake grass-roots," Mayor Robert Harbicht said. "There are a lot of people who have legitimate concerns. It's just that Arcadia First! is essentially a front organization."

***
Despite its high visibility, little is known about the group, which claims about 5,000 supporters. It will not disclose exactly how much money is given by Westfield, nor make public the names of all the members of its decision-making executive committee.

****
Tax returns filed by the group for the two-year period from October 2005 to September 2007 indicate the organization received $1.38 million in direct public support during that time -- most of it, officials said, coming from Westfield, in addition to hundreds of other donors.

*****
The group declared it spent about $425,000 on consulting fees; $372,000 on legal fees; $174,000 on printing and publications; $131,315 on postage and shipping; $39,330 on conferences, conventions and meetings; and $37,704 on advertising.

In addition to those revenues and expenditures, the organization declared it received in 2007 $1.2 million worth of donated "postage and printed material in support of community events and public hearings." That was paid for directly by Westfield, Reade said, including the costs of citywide mailings of three different DVDs.

We see stuff like this all the time, where groups opposing big development projects get significant financial backing from the same business organizations that would compete with those developers....

What's your take?

When I worked at the Glendale News-Press, I spent a lot of time covering litigation between developer Rick Caruso (who has successfully built his Americana at Brand project) and General Growth (owners of the Glendale Galleria, who fought Caruso tooth and nail on the project, but to no avail).

It seems wherever Caruso goes, opposition follows.

In Arcadia, a project he is trying to build in the parking lot of the Santa Anita racetrack is also facing some hurdles, Star-News reporter Alfred Lee reports.

A judge is expected to decide today whether to modify or finalize a July ruling that found nearly a dozen faults in the city's project EIR.

Arcadia could soon require contractors to comply with immigration laws, Alfred Lee reports.

Compliance with migrant law urged
By Alfred Lee, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 09/03/2008 11:11:55 PM PDT

ARCADIA - In what amounts to a largely symbolic stand against hiring illegal immigrants, city officials are considering adding wording to future contracts that specifically requires contractors to comply with immigration laws.

The City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to draft language that could potentially be inserted into such contracts and preserve the city's right to ask contractors for documentation of their employees at any point.

The move could be considered a token gesture, since the city already requires contractors to generally comply with all state and federal laws, including the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

But Mayor Robert Harbicht passionately argued that a stand needed to be made.

"This city has an opportunity to make a statement that we are not going to hire illegal aliens," Harbicht said. "This particular thing is something that's choking this whole region."

The city attorney and city manager were directed to work on drafting the new contract wording, which will be brought back to council for a final decision.

Welcome back to the work week!

Here's this week's column inspired by the great dialogue by our readers last week. Thanks to everyone for participating in the conversation. There were many ideas that we've not heard from our elected leaders:

They say drastic times call for drastic measures.

We've certainly seen a lot of that as local leaders struggle with faltering revenues and excruciating budget cuts.

In West Covina, every department head was asked to cut five percent from their budget to make up for a $2.1million deficit.

In El Monte, facing a $400,000 deficit, council members slashed the Police Department's funds, maintained hiring freezes and cut back on recreation programs.

And in cities like Pico Rivera, El Monte, San Gabriel and Covina, taxes seem to be the only answer to supplement wavering incomes.

Many city council members have said this undoubtedly is a difficult time and it never is easy making cuts.

But what you would do if you were running the show?

Here are some ideas readers came up with, and they're nothing like what our elected officials have suggested:

Eliminate all car, travel and cell phone allowances for council members, as well as car allowances for city employees. "Stop paying for trips to China, Paris, Mexico, etc.," according to one reader.

Cut back on recreation departments, including youth and senior programs.

"Seniors tend to be better off than most non-retired working age folks. Seniors, though they are on fixed incomes, usually have a lifetime's worth of savings and investments accumulated ... and they also enjoy many discounts that non-seniors do not enjoy," another reader wrote.

Turn off at least half of street lights.
"We're figuratively throwing our money into the sky with all the lighting that goes up where it is not needed," one reader wrote.

Cut back on overtime for public safety, review every contract that has been in place in the city for at least three years and consider cutting staffing of "non-essential things such as school resource officers or farmer's markets," according to another reader.

Require those on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to use public transportation to attend meetings. "They're in charge of the MTA; they should be able to get to the meetings using the same public transit they govern. If it's not good enough for them, it's not good for us, either."

While some of these ideas are downright impossible others are more feasible.

Elected officials say city government is a labor of love.

So maybe they should think outside of the box a little more often. And maybe readers should get up from behind their computer screens and attend council meetings a little more often, too. Give those councils a piece of their minds.

Open Forum: Should council members go on conferences out of state if their cities are facing deficits?

Many of our cities are facing budget cuts. So, here's an uplifting weekend question:

If you were in charge, what would be the first thing that you would cut out of your city's budget?

If all the tax measures pass, including a one-cent sales tax hike that the Governor is allegedly suggesting, cities such as Pico Rivera will be paying as much as 10.75 percent in sales tax.

Here are the proposed city and county tax measures appearing on the November ballot affecting San Gabriel Valley voters:

El Monte
What: A half-cent sales tax for a period of five years
Expected revenue: $4.4 million a year
Reason: To preserve funding for public safety, street and storm drain maintenance, rebuild reserve funds, plug a $400,000 deficit

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
What: A half-cent sales tax increase for 30 years
Expected revenue: $30 - $40 billion
Reason: To improve traffic flow, expand public transportation, extend light rail with airport connections and provide clean-fuel buses

Pico Rivera
What: A one-cent sales tax increase
Expected revenue: $6 million
Reasons: To preserve public safety, community programs, plug a $4.8 million deficit, and maintain city infrastrcuture

Pomona
What: An increase of the utility users tax to 10 percent from 9 percent for 2 years and 2 months
Expected revenue: $1.8 million
Reasons: Maintain city services and capital improvement projects

San Gabriel
What: An increase in the utility users tax to 8 percent from 6 percent
Expected revenue: $1.2 million
Reasons: Improve police protection and investigations that reduce crime, preserve fire and paramedic emergency response times, plug a $600,000 deficit, and perform capital improvement projects.

My apologies for not updating the blog earlier today. Because today will be a late night -- I got in at 2 p.m. to cover the El Monte meeting -- I am just now getting into the daily grove.

For the reader concerned about our Gregg Industries coverage: It is my understanding that a reporter has been covering that and is still at the hearing. We will have an update when she returns.

And yes, chasing down dead ducks and chickens does cut into blogging and reporting time.

Leftovers Column: Fuentes hit for political approach
By Tania Chatila and Jennifer McLain, Staff Writers
Article Launched: 07/27/2008 09:29:44 PM PDT

It seems Pico Rivera's city manager may have committed the cardinal sin in his profession: playing politics.

Of course, that depends on who you ask.

Charles "Chuck" Fuentes says he's just one of the few city managers who actually admit to politicking.

"Am I more political? I'm the first one to say yes, and that's a plus," Fuentes said in an article that ran a week ago in the Whittier Daily News. "Every city manager does what he or she has to do to take care of his majority."

But if you bring the issue up before ethicists at the state and national levels, they say Fuentes - who worked on President Jimmy Carter's re-election campaign and

eventually became chief of staff for Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs - has got it all wrong.

After all, the job of a city manager is to work for all council members, not just the majority, experts said.

And if Fuentes were to read the code of ethics that the members of the International City Manager's Association follow, he would see that endorsing candidates - whether on the local or national level - is a big no-no, said Bill Garrett, executive director of the California City Management Foundation.

"The code of ethics says that you don't play favorites, and don't involve yourself in the political game," Garrett said.

By working for all members of the council, the city manager is completing the obligation to serve the interest of the com-

munity, said Martha Perego, ICMA's ethics director.

"When you have city managers that are more concerned about protecting their jobs and counting votes, then you need to think: Are they serving the long-term interest of the community?" Perego said.

Fuentes is not a member of the ICMA, Perego said.

Nearly 100 years ago, the council-city manager system was formed as a way to keep City Hall staff - the brains behind the requests and wills of council members - from being politicized, according to Garrett.

"It has been set to try to make sure that the manager responds from a professional standpoint, not from a political one," he said.

That hasn't always been the case.

South Gate's former elected city treasurer Albert Robles was convicted of soliciting more than $1.8 million in bribes from bidders on municipal contracts.

According to the Los Angeles Times, three of Robles' supporters formed a new majority on the City Council in 2001.

With their votes, Robles influenced ranks of city department managers, firing those who refused to do his bidding and promoting those who would, even though his official title granted him no such authority, according to the Times article.

"South Gate is a good example of what can happen when a City Council hires someone purely from a political background, and then tells them, `We want you to run this thing the way we want you to run it."'

Of course, some argue politics is inevitable when you are working for, well, politicians.

"Every city manager has to deal with the reality that there is a political component to the job," said Rosemead City Manager Oliver Chi. "But we must continue to strive in all ways to remain apolitical in our efforts to serve every single council member."

jennifer.mclain@sgvn.com

tania.chatila@sgvn.com

(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2477, 2109

www.insidesocal.com/sgvgov

Star-News report Nathan McIntire's story about a Southern California Edison proposal to increase rates is getting picked up everywhere.

ROSEMEAD - Southern California Edison estimates rates for some residential customers could increase by an average of 30 percent or more next year because of soaring fuel prices and costs to upgrade infrastructure, according to a company executive.

The utility will submit the final component of its application to raise rates next month. Any rate increases must be approved in December by the Public Utilities Commission, which sets the three-year rates and can deny all or parts of Edison's request.

Another interesting point in the story is Edison's proposal could really affect municipalities too, as Arcadia City Manager Don Penman points out: "Obviously its ominous, both for the consumer and for public agencies that depend on a lot of electricity."

I guess gas isn't the only thing we should be worried about these days...

It's the weekend! So here's something to think about:

Would you ever consider running for the City Council? Why or why not?

All I knew about charter cities before writing this story was, well, nothing. But it turns out that charter cities can make their own rules, including setting the salaries for their council members and not having to go out to bid for contracts.

This came up because voters will be asked if they want Rosemead to become a charter city. If that happened, it would become the seventh charter city in the SGV. The other cities are Arcadia, Alhambra, Irwindale, Industry, Whittier and Pasadena.

El Monte Councilman Art Barrios called this week, asking why I wasn't at the pancake breakfast last Friday. Um, because I had the day off and would much prefer to spend my free time at the beach.

But he didn't care about me: He wanted to know why the Tribune only writes negative stories about El Monte. It's a common complaint we get. Barrios was right, we didn't cover it. But we also didn't cover the dozens of other Fourth of July events in the 31 cities in the San Gabriel Valley. There's just not enough space.

But in honor of Barrios, how about we spend some positive attention to what is going on in your cities this weekend.

OPEN FORUM: What will you be doing in the SGV this weekend? 

It's been a tough few months for many of our cities in the San Gabriel Valley. And judging from the comments on the blog, many are upset at what their cities are doing -- and consequentially what this blog and newspaper reports on.

Most cities are dealing with budget cuts, some are dealing with embarassment by their elected representatives and several have or are facing lawsuits that have rocked city morale. But we may as well take one day to try to muster up some positive feedback about our cities and elected officials.

So, here's an open forum: What have your elected officials done to improve your city?

Local politicians had some harsh words for MTA officials today at a meeting unveiling a plan for toll roads along San Gabriel Valley freeways.

Reporter Dan Abendschein attended the meeting, which he said focused more on MTA's lack of funding for local projects rather than the proposal for HOV lanes on the 10 and 210 freeways.

Here are some snippets of information from Abendschein:

"Before I would even consider this plan, I would have to be assured that we see serious funding for the Gold Line," said Assemblyman Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina.

If the plan is approved, MTA would receive $214 million in federal money, which it could use to spend on additional bus and van service to use the lanes.

Richard Katz, an MTA board member appointed by L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, told the Los Angeles Times last week that MTA should not approve the Gold Line unless the toll lane project is approved.

"It wouldn't make sense for us to fund the Gold Line at the same time that [some members of Congress] are trying to take money away from congestion pricing," said Katz. "That doesn't make sense to me. If you're going to oppose this chance to get $213 million, why should we support 80 million over there?"

Sounds like the transportation debate could get heated...

In the Arcadia arboretum, money does grow on trees. Well, those running it are spending money it like it does.

Fred Ortega reported this weekend that a county budget found that the Los Angeles
County Arboretum exceeded its operating budget by $1.5 million over the past three years.

Over a three year period, the $1 million annual budget was exceeded about $450,000 each year.

Among the findings was there was nearly $10,000 worth of expenditures that had nothing to do with arboretum purposes.

But the highlight of the story was that the chief executive officer, Mark Wourms -- who didn't return calls for comment -- is leaving his position to take another arboretum position in Kentucky. 

A former Arcadia councilman died on Sunday, Kevin Felt reports.

ARCADIA - Four-time Arcadia Mayor Charles Gilb, who helped changed the face of the city by spearheading several key civic projects, has died, his family announced.

Gilb died Sunday at his Arcadia home from malignant melanoma. He was 83.

He had served on the City Council for 16 years, beginning in 1974.

"In Arcadia's history there have been two dynamic personalities: one was Charles Gilb and the other was Lucky Baldwin," said City Councilman Roger Chandler.