Arcadia: September 2008 Archives

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.