Dan Abendschein reports that West Covina plans to make $5 million in cuts to narrow its projected deficit to $3 million.*

What Abendschein also tells us is that West Covina spends 77 percent of its budget on public safety. Yikes. Vallejo, the northern California that is declaring bankruptcy, spent up to 75 percent of its budget on public safety.

"You could eliminate all non-public safety city hall personnel, and still not close the deficit," West Covina Finance Director Tom Bachman said.

*****

"Over 10 years our spending on public safety has jumped 99 percent, while non-public safety has only increased 41 percent," Bachman said. "It is hard to see a budget solution that does not involve public safety."

I doubt the city will talk about bankruptcy any time soon. After all, another big reason Vallejo is broke is because of mismanagement. For example, Vallejo's city manager was raking in $317,000. West Covina City Manager Andrew Pasmant is making about $215,000.

*This was updated after a reader pointed out an earlier typo. Thanks to the commenter that stood up for me, but it was my bad. :/

Posted by Jennifer McLain at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

You can't tell by driving by it, but the Starbucks located in the new shopping center across from Big League Dreams is now open. The barista said it opened on Friday, and if you could believe it, there was not one person in line, and not one person going through the drive through. There was just a lonely customer sitting in the store, drinking his coffee. I'm sure that will quickly change.

It doesn't look like the other stores and restaurants, such as Quiznos or El Pollo Loco, are open yet, but signs say that they are coming soon. I don't know what that means, exactly.

Posted by Jennifer McLain at 8:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I finally checked out Big League Dreams last night with my softball team. It is awesome! Batting cages were cheap ($1 for 18 balls), it's really clean, it's safe and the fields are beautiful. Plus, it was totally packed. All the fields had teams playing on it, there were indoor soccer teams playing, kids running around the playgrounds, and people boozing it up in the snack shacks. Who would've thought this is a former landfill?!

It costs $3 to get in, but you get a $2 token that you could use in the snack shacks - which aren't shacks at all.

And in case you forgot which council members were responsible for bringing the Big League Dreams to the community, there is a plaque proudly displaying the names of the councilmembers and the city manager. I can't blame them. This is probably the best thing West Covina's got going for it. That, and this is the city where the Tribune is headquartered.

Posted by Jennifer McLain at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

This just in from reporter Dan Abendschein:

Speaking during a debate over a proposed weapons ordinance that would bar residents from carrying guns into city hall, West Covina Councilman Mike Touhey had a lot to say about council safety.

He mentioned that because of an incident where someone apparently poked through Councilman Steve Herfert's trash, he has had to take "extreme measures" to protect his property.

I am not sure what those measures might be, but it could be notable that Touhey voted against the weapons ordinance, citing his ideological opposition to gun control. His 'no' vote came after a long, and well-researched speech about the dangers of being a city employee or council member. He spoke about a recent Missouri incident where city employees were fired on during a council meeting, and several local incidents involving deranged people who made threats to West Covina council members.

Keep an eye out for the weapons ordinance story in tomorrow's paper

Posted by Jennifer McLain at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The famous and dramatic life of Moe the Chimp out of West Covina graced the paper today. We ran a little brief about the chimp, whose life story has been written about in our paper several times.

Former chimp owners seek thief Article Launched: 03/31/2008 06:26:27 PM PDT

WEST COVINA - The former owner's of "Moe" the chimp are offering a reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of a woman who stole from them Saturday.

La Donna and St. James Davis, who now uses a wheelchair after being attacked by chimps in March of 2005, were shopping at Target in the Eastland Shopping Center when the theft occurred, West Covina police officials said.

As La Donna briefly turned away from the cart, where her purse was, a woman stole the purse containing the Davises IDs, credit cards, bank cards, and St. James' medication and medical information, said a friend of the Davises, Michael McCasland.

The thief quickly left the store and got into a waiting white dodge truck, he added.

McCasland said he believes the Davises were targeted because while La Donna was distracted, the thief hoped to take advantage of a man in a wheelchair.

Police, who are investigating the incident as a misdemeanor petty theft, have provided a photo of the suspect obtained from store surveillance cameras.

The Davises are offering an unspecified reward to anyone who can lead police to an arrest and conviction.

(My previous post stated that Moe the Chimp was stolen. Yes, I am an April fool.)

Posted by Jennifer McLain at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

A way to promote more attendance at council meetings by means of bringing the meetings to the community hasn't always worked in the past, Alison Hewitt reports.

West Covina council meetings stay put
Majority rejects rotating sites throughout city
By Alison Hewitt, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 03/22/2008 11:02:22 PM PDT

WEST COVINA - The city has rejected roving City Council meetings.

Three council members said holding four meetings a year in different neighborhoods to encourage more people to attend would actually reduce participation. It would also present logistical problems, they added.

Councilwoman Shelley Sanderson worried that resuming the program, which the council first tried in 2003, would just bring back old problems.

"When we were doing this (in 2003), while the intent was to engage more public participation in City Council meetings, the result was there were fewer residents in attendance," she said at the March 18 council meeting.

********
Other cities, such as Azusa, also hold community meetings, he said.

However, unlike [Councilman Roger] Hernandez's suggestion to hold four regular, Tuesday-night council meetings throughout the city, Azusa's quarterly roving meetings are untelevised Saturday-morning affairs with agendas tailored to the specific community.

"At our council meetings, it's the same people that come all the time," said Azusa Mayor Joe Rocha. "There are people who would like to speak with us but who don't come because they work or maybe they're tired from work, so this helps them."

As we wrap up the end of Sunshine Week, this story brings up a good point: Do your elected representatives do enough to reach out to you and your community? If the answer is no, what else could they be doing?

Posted by Jennifer McLain at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

West Covina police officers and firefighters got a raise, Alison Hewit reports. Do you think Monrovia is jealous?

Raises for police officers and firefighters are expected to cost $1 million more than was budgeted for the departments this year.

Meanwhile, the city has estimated a $2 million deficit at the end of the year.

But proponents said the contracts will keep the departments competitive and attract good candidates. Other cities, including Sierra Madre and Arcadia, have increased pay and benefits recently.

"This is a good pay raise that brings us closer to what other departments are paying, and they've increased our retiree medical to keep up with the growing medical costs," said Detective Scott Fahey, vice president of the city's Police Officers Association. "That's a big deal. We're real happy with that, and it's going to make us really appealing."

I asked the same question in the Monrovia post: Do we know exactly what the salaries are for the firefighters and police officers?

Posted by Jennifer McLain at 6:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

West Covina council members are meeting with county Supervisor Michael Antonovich Thursday morning to talk about the city's Big League of Dreams and how the city is not receiving its proper share of traffic citation revenue. I wonder how much the city is getting, how much it thinks it gets, and the county divvies out the revenue.

Reporter Alison Hewitt told me that Councilman Mike Touhey said that he believes the city is getting short-changed $2 million.

Posted by Jennifer McLain at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Congresswoman Hilda Solis sent out a mailer, which was "prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense," detailing the money that she has secured for communities in the SGV. Here's how its broken down:

South El Monte: Secured $47,000 to teach at-risk youth computer and other skills through Project Amiaga's Transistional Life Skills for At-Risk Youth Project.
-Secured $73,000 to upgrade computer techonology in the Valle Lindo School District.

Rosemead: Secured $98,700 for graffiti and vandalism responses.

Irwindale: Secured $225,600 for updated communications equipment for the police department.
-Secured $28,200 for the city to expand after school activities and weekend youth programs.

Baldwin Park: Secured $400,000 to replace older transit buses with clean enery buses.

West Covina: Secured $517,000 to update its emergency communications system.

Azusa: Secured $477,000 to provide dental services at the Azusa Health Center
-Secured $150,000 to renovate the National Guard Armory.

She also lists regional projects:
-$3 million for the San Gabriel Basin Restoration Fund
-$235,000 for the Court Appointed Special Advocates Volunteer Program
-$282,000 for the Tune Up Tune In program at Rio Hondo College and ELAC

She also says that she is a "strong supporter of federal assistance for Foothill Tranist, the Alameda Corridor-East and extension of Metro Gold Liune through Azusa, Irwindale and Duarte." But since no money is listed, I am assuming she didn't help secure any funding for those projects.

Posted by Jennifer McLain at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)