Today marks my last day with the San Gabriel Valley Tribune after working here for three years and a month. My time as a reporter here has been extremely rewarding and what I always hoped it would be. After all, the San Gabriel Valley is heavy on crime and has its share of political controversy. What’s not to love?

My time as a blogger, on the other hand, has been extremely humbling. After 933 blog posts and the 4,696 comments that followed since we started the Leftovers from City Hall blog, I had to swallow my pride many a time, whether because I was a little too honest or had a post with one too many errors or, well, you get the picture.

Readers, thank you for your patience and your attention. It is my experience at the Tribune, the government accountability stories and the many contacts I’ve interviewed through the years that have inspired me to pursue a career in public service. Beginning Aug. 24, I will attend USC to pursue a master’s degree in public administration. Thanks for dealing with me through the years.

Sincerely,

Jennifer McLain

At least state budget talks haven’t resulted to this yet:

….state lawmakers are at it again.

First they said they were close to a striking a deal that would close the state budget last week. Then they were expected to finalize plans tonight. Now, they are meeting tomorrow to have it again. Let’s hope they mean it this time:

Lawmakers’ optimism about finally reaching a deal to close the state’s $26.3 billion budget deficit on Sunday turned out to be wishful thinking as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger abruptly postponed talks.

Legislative leaders said they had been on the verge of bridging remaining pitfalls
that include how much money to borrow from local governments, whether to guarantee
that schools will be repaid money they lose during poor economic times and how much
money to save for future budget emergencies.

Instead, they spent Sunday blaming each other for a scheduling meltdown that pushed
the state’s massive budget problems off for at least another day. Schwarzenegger
rescheduled Sunday’s bargaining session with the Legislature’s four top leaders for
Monday.

—-The Associated Press

 

Trust us, just watch. 

Here ya go, a little bit early:

It’s been a tough last several days for city leaders in the San Gabriel Valley, who have had to deal with a host of serious issues ranging from potential harassment to misdemeanor charges.

Let’s start with Temple City, which is short a council member following David Capra’s resignation last week. Capra pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a misdemeanor campaign finance violation — he failed to report a campaign contribution of $1,000 or more between Jan. 25, 2007, and March 19, 2007, staff writer Alfred Lee reported.

As part of his plea deal, Capra agreed to give up his seat on the council and has also agreed not to run for public office again for four years. In addition, Capra has been placed on 36 months probation and will pay a $150 fine, according to Lee’s story.

In a statement, Capra blamed the resignation on health issues. “My health has deteriorated since my recent stroke and my decision to resign is in large part due to my current health concerns,” he said in the statement.

Regardless of the reason, Temple City is now left to pick up the pieces, including appointing a new council member and dealing with the fallout of a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office investigation into allegations Capra, Mayor Judy Wong and former Mayor Cathy Wilson solicited bribes from a developer.

Since Capra pleaded guilty to the campaign violation charge, he’s off the hook in the bribery case. But that doesn’t mean Wong and Wilson are out of hot water. That case is pending.

Moving on to Baldwin Park, an investigation was just opened to determine whether Councilman Ricardo Pacheco harassed, intimidated or retaliated against a city department head during a recent telephone interview.

Different versions of the story are floating around with some saying Pacheco cussed out this unnamed department head, and called for his or her resignation. Pacheco denies all the allegations and says these are all ploys in an election year.

He accused his peers on the dais of lying and playing political games.

“I have been a council member for more than 10 years. I have never ever disrespected anybody on this city … (This is) basically because (the rest of the council members) have no allegations to make about me. I haven’t been arrested. My residence isn’t in question. I don’t throw people out of council meetings. My family members don’t work here.”

Councilman Anthony Bejarano — who initially requested the review — said the issue isn’t personal, and it’s the city’s legal duty to investigate such allegations.

Bejarano also referred to West Covina, and the millions of dollars in lawsuits officials are facing there from harassment claims.

“We just want to make sure we do our due diligence under the law,” he said. “If it turns out this was nothing that rises to the level of harassment or retaliation — good.”

West Covina’s Hong Kong Plaza will be getting an anchor grocery store. Read here.

Family members of man killed after being shot 15 times by West Covina Police Officers files claim against department alleging excessive force. Read more. Read more.

West Covina faces a $9.5 million deficit, and is expected to end 2008-09 with a deficit doubled compared to earlier projections at $5 million. Read more.

Crime up in El Monte. Read more.

Octomom mother signs deal for reality TV show. Read more.

It’s clear from some of the responses about Irwindale Police Department that either:

a.) You support the Irwindale Police Department and feel that they have sacrificed enough, or

 b.) You think the Irwindale officers should suck it up and forgo their cost of living adjustment this year.

But whether you’re a police officer, a public employee or work in the private sector, it seems that every household is suffering somehow as a result of the recession.

Open Forum: How has the bad economy affected your take home income?

For example, have you had to take furloughs, a reduction in hours, suspension of holiday pay?

A survey performed by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence shows that public sector employees are delaying retirement as a result of the sagging economy:

WASHINGTON, DC — The slumping economy is holding back retirements among state and local government employees, according to a new survey of government managers, sponsored by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence.

A Tidal Wave Postponed: The Economy and Public Sector Retirements finds that almost half (49 percent) of the respondents to the membership survey said 20 percent or more of their workers are eligible to retire in the next five years. And an overwhelming majority (80 percent) said the economy is affecting the timing of retirements.

Of those, 85 percent said employees are delaying retirements, while only 9 percent said they are accelerating their retirements to avoid changes that will reduce benefits, and 7 percent said employees are taking incentives for early retirement.

“There is a silver lining to the delayed retirements,” said Elizabeth Kellar, executive director of the Center for State and Local Government Excellence. “Governments have a lot of older workers who work in specialized fields and are hard to replace. Retaining these individuals a little longer gives us more time to help new employees prepare to fill their shoes.” Read more.

While the survey goes into the effects that losing qualified employees has on a public agency and the importance in developing plans to replace these workers when they leave, it does not discuss the fiscal impacts postponing retirement has on taxpayers’ coffers.

Reporter Rebecca Kimitch has been – and will continue to be – working on a series of election stories leading up to the 32nd Congressional District race next Tuesday.

Here’s a recap of some of those stories that ran over the weekend:

• The 32nd Congressional District is full of ethnic diversity. The question, then, is whether race will place a role in this race…. read on here

• As many expected, voter turnout in this race isn’t likely to be very high, especially since its coupled with a host of confusing ballot initiatives….. read on here

The latest installment:

You can’t have a campaign without political mailers, and apparently you can’t have political mailers without a little scandal.

Sen. Gil Cedillo is getting a negative reaction from the recent round of mailers he sent out attacking Emanuel Pleitez, 26, one of 11 competitors facing Cedillo in the 32nd Congressional District race.

The mailers show pictures of Pleitez found on Facebook and accuse him of “flashing gang signs” and being a “party animal.”

“Pleitez has tremendous potential. He is an intelligent young man and probably has a great future in politics,” said Victor Abalos, spokesman for the Cedillo campaign. “But those photos indicated a level of maturity that was inappropriate for someone running for Congress.”

Dante Atkins, the Political Director of the Los Angeles County Young Democrats — which endorsed Cedillo — recently wrote on the Calitics California Political Blog that he was offended by Cedillo’s mailers.

“This is really a low blow,” he said, “and smacks of desperation to have to resort to this.”
Emily Dulcan,spokeswoman for Pleitez, said the photos were taken out of context. Most of them were taken while Pleitez was at a study-abroad program in Chile through Stanford University.

“We feel like it was definitely an immature move on (Cedillo’s) part, which is ironic considering the content of the claim in the mailer,” Dulcan said.

****One city manager out, another one in
Somewhere in the San Gabriel Valley last week, the city manager revolving door was swinging.

As Temple City bid farewell to its top executive, Covina was welcoming in a new city manager.

Charles Martin got the boot from the Temple City Council on Tuesday, according to reporter Alfred Lee.

That essentially ends a 55-year public employee career for Martin, 85, who had been serving as Temple City’s city manager and city attorney since 2005. He’ll stay on as interim city attorney until the end of the month, according to Lee.

Martin, who is 85, initially wanted to keep his city manager gig until a replacement was found, Mayor Judy Wong told Lee.

But the council decided to move forward instead.

“To eliminate him from both positions would have been quite too much for him, so I was thinking to maybe do it more gently,” Wong said.

In Covina, city officials are welcoming its newest addition to the team with open arms.

After weeks of delay and negotiating, the city finally announced the hiring of Daryl Parrish as the new city manager.

He will replace interim City Manager Cynthia Kurtz.

*****Covina hospital gets a second chance

It looks like Covina is a place for second chances.

In April, the City Council denied a 39-bed expansion to Aurora Charter Oak Hospital.
But officials have recently had a change of heart.

Last week, the council overturned its earlier decision and are looking forward to revised plans for the project.

City officials said representatives of the psychiatric hospital have shown a renewed willingness to “reach a compromise” with concerned residents on the project.

Those residents aren’t so sure.

“They have never been honest with us,” neighbor Ron Poloni said. “They say they are willing to work with us now, but we will have to wait and see.”