Recently in La Verne Category

Steven Johnson not guilty, jury finds...

La Verne councilman found not guilty
By Daniel Tedford, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/30/2009 11:51:08 AM PDT

WEST COVINA - A jury has found a La Verne councilman not guilty of conflict of interest charges, court officials said.

Steven Johnson was on trial in connection with a 2007 vote concerning the University of La Verne expansion and master plan.

Johnson owns property and a business near the university and a satellite office. State law prohibits council members from voting on matters in which they would benefit from an outcome.
Often referred to as the "one penny" rule, members are advised not to vote on projects within 500 feet of their property, even if it benefits them by only one penny.

The jury returned its verdict after four days of testimony and deliberation.

Johnson faced a maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine, 6 months in jail and not being able to run for reelection to the city council.

Peter Bennett, a member of the La Verne Chamber of Commerce, has started a new Web site, LaVerneOnline.com. The Web site offers community news, event listintgs profiles.... everything La Verne.

If you live, work or play in La Verne, it's worth a look.

Here it is...

When we think about the financial meltdown cash-strapping America, we usually think about the shrinking job pool, toxic housing market and weakened bank industry.

But there are other things being affected by this economic downturn, something near and dear to the hearts of our local politicos -- campaign fundraising.

In Monterey Park, some of the six City Council candidates running in the March 3 race are having a bit of trouble filling their campaign piggy banks.

So far, Councilman David Lau has raised nearly $75,000, but none of that occurred this year. Most of the money actually was raised during one event.

Councilwoman Sharon Martinez hasn't had as much luck. She's only raised $10,000 because businesses -- where she gets her most of her contributions -- are just tapped out.

****************

Speaking of money, San Gabriel Valley city managers are dealing with the fiscal crunch in a variety of ways.

Temple City's City Attorney/City Manager Charles Martin has offered to work for free after his Feb. 5 retirement if the city can't find his replacement before then.

In a report earlier this month, Martin said he "would be happy to return the benefit of my 44-year tenure with the City by continuing in office, even if I had to serve as a volunteer."
Martin gets $96,696 a year for his duties as city manager and an additional $61,980 annually for being city attorney.

On the other side of the spectrum, La Verne City Manager Martin Lomeli just got a 10 percent pay raise, which takes him from $14,741 a month to $16,215 a month. His yearly salary will be $194,580.

The only dissenting vote was from Councilman Steven Johnson.

Temple City has 33,377 residents, and La Verne has 31,638.

****************

It wouldn't be a week of political news without an update from the Hilda Solis race.

The already long -- and we mean long -- list of endorsements for state Board of Equalization Chairwoman Judy Chu now includes her husband, Assembly Mike Eng, and United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta.

A lot of Chu's support is local, although several San Gabriel Valley politicians have come out in support of Sen. Gil Cedillo.

They include Monterey Park Mayor Frank Venti, La Puente Councilman John Solis and Baldwin Park Councilwoman Marlen Garcia.

And those who just can't decide? Irwindale Councilman Larry Burrola and Baldwin Park Mayor Manuel Lozano have endorsed both candidates.

I guess the real test will come inside the voting booth.

One city manager offers to work for free, while another one gets a 10 percent raise. 

Temple City-City Attorney City Manager Charles Martin, who gets $96,696 a year as city manager and $61,980, offered to continue working after his retirement free of charge, while La Verne City Manager Martin Lomeli got a pay bump to $194,580.

Temple City has 33,377 residents, and La Verne has 31,638 residents.

Alfred Lee reports:

TEMPLE CITY - As the economy sputters and cities dig deep to avoid cutting services, one high-ranking bureaucrat said he is willing to work for free.

Amidst discussion about his potential retirement and replacement, City Manager-City Attorney Charles Martin has offered to continue on in both of his positions - as an unpaid volunteer.

"I was contemplating my retirement on February 5, 2009, but that if the Council could not find a replacement by that date, I would be happy to return the benefit of my 44 year tenure with the City by continuing in office - even if I had to serve as a volunteer, without pay for a part or all of that time," Martin, 84, wrote in a Jan. 15 manager's report.

Wes Woods II reports:

LA VERNE - City Manager Martin R. Lomeli will receive a 10 percent increase of his base salary. The City Council approved the increase Tuesday night by a 4-1 vote.

Later in the week, Lomeli said he was "very grateful" for the increase. The increase was a management performance award, city officials said.

Lomeli's pay had been $14,741 a month and now will be $16,215 a month, or $194,580 a year.

La Verne is hosting its state of the city address at noon on Jan. 29 at the Sierra la Verne Country Club.

Mayor Jon Blickenstaff will be giving the address. It'll be his last public ceremony, since Blickenstaff is retiring at the end of his term.

La Verne City Councilman Steven Johnson's conflict of interest case was tabled again Monday morning.

Johnson's attorney has had the pre-trial hearing continued more times than D.A. Jonlyn Callahan likes to talk about. The reason being that an expert compiling a report for Johnson needs additional time.

Last time, the expert needed 45 days and got it. This time the "elusive" expert, as Callahan described them, asked for 30 days. The judge granted it, but with the warning that at the next hearing a trial date would be set.

Johnson's attorney and Callahan will meet again Feb. 17.

Anybody living in a home connected to the area's history should check this out.

Two homeowners in La Verne are applying for the Mills Act, a program that gives property tax back to families that promise to fix up and maintain their old houses. The program can save thousands every year.

The program is popular in some of the area's older cities, such as Pasadena, Monrovia or Whittier.

Reporter Daniel Tedford called the city, and they said about 10 people in La Verne have applied.

I am a little confused, but aren't elections supposed to be heated contests between people who think they are doing a good job and those who disagree whole-heartedly?

Wild accusations, yelling matches, negative campaigning, snickering remarks, low voter turnout - these all all things I put with city council elections.

Not in La Verne.

All four candidates for city council spoke highly of each other. And not that - I am running a campaign focused on what I can do for the city and not against any other person - stuff. They each sincerely expressed the idea that each candidate would make an excellent council member.

Two of them have worked with each other at the University of La Verne (Donna Nasmyth and Robin Carder), they all know each other, and they all have great things to say about the city and the current council.

Where's the anger? Where's the disdain? Where's scandal? Where's Terrel Owens when you need him?

Here is a quote from candidate Charlie Rosales I never thought I would hear covering city council elections.

"If you are looking for controversy, you are not going to find any."

I'm checking out.

While the nomination period for La Verne hasn't ended until later today, councilman Don Kendrick looks to be unopposed in his run to succeed Jon Blickenstaff as mayor.

Kendrick is the only person to have pulled papers for Mayor and has already qualified to run.

Donna Nasmyth may have a tougher challenge ahead in keeping her seat on the council. Three other people, Robin Carder, Norm Faustini, and Charlie Rosales have already qualified to run for council, while two other persons have pulled papers.

Besides Nasmyth's seat, Kendrick's previous council seat is open for election.

More to come on the La Verne, as well as the Glendora, election tomorrow.

This week marks the municipal election filing deadline for several cities in the San Gabriel Valley. San Dimas, Covina and Monterey Park's filing periods closed on Friday. Azusa and Rosemead closes today, La Verne and Glendora close Wednesday.

Look for stories throughout the week about who will be vying for these seats on these city council's.

I am heading now to Covina to take a look at the filing papers, and pick up the statement of economic interest papers. The filing period for the city clerk's position in Covina has been extended to Wednesday because Covina City Clerk Rosie Fabien is running for council.

Residents are always pushing for more traffic signals near schools and in residential neighborhoods -- especially after tragic traffic accidents.

The process, however, to get such devices installed is a long one.

In La Verne, one resident claims it took five years and a fatality to get a light installed at Fruit Street and Base Line Road, Daily Bulletin reporter Wes Woods II reports.

Think your city is hot stuff?

Find out this weekend. Reporter Daniel Tedford is working on a story about the top cities in the San Gabriel Valley. Tedford is using a CNN/Money Magazine formula to rank the cities based on housing affordability, job growth, marriage and divorce rates, commutes, school test scores, and crime rates.

Just a heads up, you'll likely be VERY surprised to see whose at the top and bottom of the list.

Being a reporter is often a thankless job. In fact, it is often one filled with things very different than thanks. In fact, it usually runs more with words that start with an h and sound like bait. Or other people think reporters "b-lame."

But it is nice when something you do seems to have some sort of a positive impact, if one can be found.

At tonight's Azusa City Council meeting, Mayor Joe Rocha will bring to the discussion the idea of a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case Pauline Squires.

Squires was killed in a hit and run four years ago, and her mother Yoshiko was disappointed that a reward was never offered. More can be found on this story here:

Who knows if the reward will catch the killer, but if this can bring some closure to the Squireses, I guess that is something.

In other city council notes, chalk another one up against Measure R.

The measure on November's ballot would institute a half cent sales tax to benefit transportation, but has been widely opposed by a lot of cities in the San Gabriel Valley. Glendora opposed voted to oppose it last week, others have in the past, and now La Verne is getting in on the anti-Measure R party. A resolution to oppose the measure appears on tonight's council meeting agenda.

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.

We've got two new reporters in the newsroom.

Rebecca Kimitch and Daniel Tedford both started this week.

Rebecca will be taking over El Monte, South El Monte and Rosemead.

Daniel is getting La Verne, Azusa and Glendora.

Everybody say welcome!

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.