Recently in South El Monte Category

With City Council elections coming up in November, we're getting all sorts of information about who's running and who isn't in our local San Gabriel Valley cities.

In South El Monte, Mayor Blanca Figueroa announced Tuesday night that while she will be running for council, she won't be running for mayor again.

Reporter Rebecca Kimitch said instead, Figueroa will be throwing her mayoral support behind Councilman Louie Aguinaga.

I guess budget issues must not be a grave concern in South El Monte.

While the rest of the country grapples with an economic downturn that's forced layoffs, company closures and other cost-cutting efforts, the South El Monte City Council has approved a 10 percent raise for itself.

Ben Baeder reports today that the council will now be paid $771 a month instead of $701, or an additional $840 a year per council member.

City officials say South El Monte's budget is balanced, and the raises take into account annual 5 percent increases dating back to 2007.

In the spirit of the New Year, this week's Leftovers column looked at the "Top 5" news stories based on reader comments and interest on the blog:

It's 2009 and there's no telling what tidings the new year will bring our local cities. But before we dive in, let's take a look back.

Here's a list of five stories that garnered the most comments and interest from blog readers in 2008 (in no particular order):

*In May, accusations surfaced that El Monte Mayor Ernie Gutierrez showed up at a sister city event drunk and shouting vulgarities. The allegations kicked up a whirlwind in City Hall, and criticism from residents who questioned Gutierrez's ethical standards as an elected officials. An in-house investigation cleared Gutierrez of the allegations.

But soon after, the mayor was arrested on allegations he was involved in a domestic argument with someone he was dating -- and not his wife. Charges weren't filed, but some City Council members expressed disappointment over the incident. Gutierrez eventually was removed from a commission over the arrest.

*Three Valleys Municipal Water District member Xavier Alvarez was found guilty in July of violating the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, which makes it a crime to lie about receiving certain medals.

He was sentenced to three years probation, and was fined $5,000 for falsely claiming to be a Medal of Honor recipient.

Alvarez continues to sit on the board and faces more legal trouble. He faces three felony charges for grand theft of personal property, insurance fraud and misappropriating public money.

*South El Monte Mayor Blanca Figueroa recently received international acclaim when her colleagues voted to ban her from working in her City Hall office past 11 p.m.

Figueroa has a habit of working late -- sometimes as late as 3 a.m. -- and some of her colleagues have accused her of living her in office.

She's denied those claims, but does admit to making the office her own. She decorates it with accolades, photos, beta fish, plants, a plasma television and snacks.

*A Montebello trash contract dispute that already was getting a lot of attention took an interesting turn when a group leaked documents detailing City Councilman Robert Urteaga's criminal history on the Internet.

In 1998, he pleaded no contest to grand theft of personal property totaling $30,000, according to court documents.

Urteaga said his conviction dated back to his years as a UCLA student when he was 21. Putting himself through school, he took up sports gambling to make extra money. He said he was remorseful.

*Baldwin Park school board member Sergio Corona is serving three years probation for a misdemeanor charge stemming from his May arrest.

The board's youngest member pleaded guilty in October to resisting arrest and obstructing a police officer. He was sentenced to one day in jail, fined $150 and was ordered to pay $100 in restitution fees, she said.

Corona, 34, was Tased and arrested on May 22 after allegedly breaking the windows of a home on Sandstone Street while shirtless and sweaty.

Following the incident, Corona then faced a myriad of criticism from parents and City Council members, especially over initial police reports that said Corona admitted he had smoked methamphetamine and marijuana the night he was arrested.
Subsequent toxicology reports did not support those allegations and Corona denied the claims. He did, however, say he took "full responsibility" for the arrest.

Rebecca Kimitch's story about South El Monte Mayor Blanca Figueora inspired me to take a field trip to several Mayors offices and compare them to Blanca's. I'll be hitting up Covina, West Covina, and of course, South El Monte.

Look for pictures later in the day.

The leader of the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership says cities should stick together, literally.

Ron Wood, the partnership's CEO, said plenty of area cities could save cash by combining.

He said Covina and West Covina could become more efficient by becoming one municipality. So could Pasadena and South Pasadena. He also mentioned Temple City and Arcadia and El Monte and South El Monte.

The idea has been floating around for years, but he wonders if economic hard times will make people take it more seriously.

"I think it's one of the answers to economic problems in the San Gabriel Valley," he said. "It's an opportunity for people to take a fresh look."

He doubts politicians could set aside their egos to accomplish such a huge change, but he says people are more receptive to the idea than in the past.

"Sometimes crisis brings about changes in people," he said.

Full disclosure: Wood used to be the publisher here at the Tribune.

South El Monte Mayor Blanca Figueroa continues to be a local star. LA Observed picks up this LA Times story about the nocturnal Mayor.

South El Monte Councilman Hector Delgado sent this letter to the Tribune earlier this week. Among his accusations is that Mayor Blanca Figueroa lives in City Hall. Figueroa has denied this, saying that she has a home but has so much work to do that she needs City Hall to be open late.

Here is the letter:

I would like to take a moment to thank my colleagues on the South El Monte City Council for their support in establishing an "After Hours" policy on a 4-1 vote. The effort and thought that went into establishing this policy is reflective of the genuine concern to address the issue of safety and liability.

Our communities' safety and tax payer money clearly outweighs a single person's individual desires. I question the work that is allegedly being done by the Mayor at city hall after hours. I have repeatedly asked what work is being done at two or three in the morning by her. She has refused to answer me or any of my colleagues.

We as tax payers have a right to know what the Mayor is doing. I call on the Mayor to provide the entire council, city manager, and most importantly our residents written reports that account for the work she purportedly is doing and provide us an explanation as to why with a laptop, wireless card, cell phone, fax and copy machine she cannot do her work from her home.

The truth is the Mayor is living at City Hall. I invite any resident of South El Monte to come and see for them selves. Residents have every right to view our offices and know exactly what we are doing while we are at City Hall.

Lastly, I would like the Tribune to poll any elected official in the San Gabriel Valley, and ask them if they stay in their public offices until two or three in the morning several days a week.

Once again, I thank my colleagues, Mayor ProTem Louie Aguinaga, Council members Joseph Gonzales, and Angelica Garcia who understand that safety and liability clearly out weights the Mayors extraordinary accommodations.

Hector Delgado

Councilmember

City of South El Monte

It's official. South El Councilwoman Blanca Figueroa's nocturnal ways is now an international story. Earlier today, it was just national.

Getting a sit-down restaurant to set up shop in South El Monte is apparently a lot harder than it looks, Ben Baeder reports:

SOUTH EL MONTE - With the economy sagging, this little blue-collar city is facing the cruel sting of rejection as it tries to attract a restaurant to a freeway-close street corner.

The city is offering financial help to any sit-down restaurant that would open on a pair of adjacent parcels at Santa Anita and Merced avenues near the 60 Freeway, according to city officials.

So far, sixteen out of 17 restaurants rejected the city's offer, according to city documents. Twenty others did not respond.

Only Panda Express expressed interest, but officials opted to locate to a different location in South El Monte.

Ouch...

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.

Good morning. Here is this week's installment of our column.

Leftovers Column: Valley politics has its winners
By Jennifer McLain and Tania Chatila, Staff Writers
Article Launched: 10/13/2008 12:18:22 AM PDT

If it's not diving stocks or the tanking economy, then it's something in the water at our local city halls.

It seemed like an endless newsweek filled with legal battles, arrests and convictions among San Gabriel Valley politicians last week. Let's take a look at who came out on top:

South El Monte
Political activist Michael Lewis, who received plenty of press a couple of years ago for helping pro-Wal Mart residents in Rosemead, got slapped with a fine by the Fair Political Practices Commission.

He could pay up to $25,000 for failing to report contributions to South El Monte candidates in a 2003 City Council election.

Lewis agreed to pay $12,000.

And the winners are: Mayor Blanca Figueroa and councilmen Hector Delgado and Luis Aguinaga. They don't have to give back the contributions totalling $7,200. Aguinaga and Figueroa did say they would do so gladly if asked. Delgado did not return calls.

West Covina
The former campaign manager for Councilman Roger Hernandez was convicted of one count of voter registration fraud for registering to vote in West Covina but not actually living there.

Paz Oliverez, 32, still believes she was "vindicated" because the case against her was reduced from two felonies to a single misdemeanor.

The whole incident unraveled during the 2007 City Council election when Councilman Mike Touhey spilled the beans on her peculiar living situation.

And the winner is: Hernandez. Oliverez resigned from his campaign, but Hernandez still managed to win a seat on the council.

Walnut
Mayor Joaquin Lim doesn't want a proposed NFL stadium in neighboring Industry because of traffic, pollution and the hit to property values. So he's doing everything he can to stop it.

Among those things: outright opposition to the stadium and a plan to sue Industry if it doesn't give Walnut additional time to review the stadium proposal.

Open meeting expert Rich McKee is calling Walnut out for the above decisions, and a few others, made by the City Council in September.

In a letter to Walnut and the District Attorney, McKee accuses Walnut of breaking the law for making decisions on issues not listed on the agenda.

The DA is looking into it.

Lim said the council did nothing wrong.

And the winner is: Industry.

Whether they get the football stadium or not, it has more businesses than it does residents and always will be making money.

Azusa
In America, life revolves around hamburgers, and it's no different in Azusa.

Angry residents presented two councilmen with recall papers for their opposition to a 24-hour drive-through at T-Burgers.

Their hearts may have been in the right place, but their paperwork wasn't. They got the 35 signatures they needed, but didn't realize they had to submit the papers to the city clerk before giving them to Councilman Angel Carrillo and Uriel Macias.

And the winner is: Carrillo and Macias, at least for now. As of Friday, the city clerk had not received new paperwork.

jennifer.mclain@sgvn.com

tania.chatila@sgvn.com

(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2477, 2109 www.insidesocal.com/sgvgov

What a day in LA.

Dodgers lost

West Covina Councilman Roger Hernandez's former campaing manager pleads no contest to voter registration fraud. Read here.

Montebello decides to hold off decision to let voters decide on who their trash haulers should be. Read more.

Walnut decides to back off ban of proposed businesses that could benefit the NFL stadium. Read here.

Michael Lewis and and the Citizens for Better Government Committee violated campaign laws five times in South El Monte's mayoral and city council elections for failing to disclose late contriubtions to Mayor Blanca Figueroa, and councilmen Hector Delgado and Luis Aguinaga. Lewis -- yes, this is the same Mike Lewis that helped pro-Wal Mart residents in Rosemead -- and agreed to pay $12,000 in fines. Read more.

Former Rosemead City Manager Frank Tripepi will be hired $20,000 a month as a consultant for La Puente. Read here.

Editorial board urges a "no" vote for El Monte's proposed Measure GG, the half-cent sales tax. Read here.

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.

Industry Mayor Dave Perez said that aside from West Covina and Monterey Park, South El Monte is the newest city to voice its support for the NFL stadium in Industry. South El Monte approved it on Sept. 9.

Meantime, Industry officials are still dealing with whether they should approve an extension for those wanting additional time to review the environmental report.

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?

I got a call today and a fax from a South El Monte resident who is upset about a Verizon Wireless antenna facility that is going up at 9700 Factorial Way. There is a public hearing tonight on the topic at 6 p.m.

The resident is opposing the antenna facility because she claims that it will cause cancer.
But according to the American Cancer Society's Web site, that is doubtful:

Humans generate electromagnetic fields internally as well as externally. The simple collision between 2 molecules is an electrical event. Since there is electrical activity inside the human body, the question arises as to whether radio waves emitted by cellular phone towers can influence cell function, and in particular whether they can cause cancer.

However, several theoretical considerations suggest that cellular phone towers are unlikely to cause cancer

Plus, she added, there is already an antenna behind the 9708 Factorial Way.