Citizen About Town

By Nancy C. Arcuri, Editor and Publisher

E-mail address: nancyarcuri@thecitizensvoice.net

Fax: 626-307-9081

This issue is dedicated to my beloved mother who died this month after a very short illness. She was 92 years old and was ready to join my beloved father who died in April 1977.  They were a happy couple, who met during World War II and raised ten children with their love and strong moral values.  My mother is being buried with my father at Arlington National Cemetery.  My mother was the last member of her generation on both sides of the family.  Our family and friends will never forget them.  They are forever in our hearts and minds.

I have learned, as I grow older that the love of your family and friends is very important to your well being.  I hope you take some time and make an effort to tell them that you love them before it is too late.

As I have stated in this column early city fathers in Monterey Park did not consider the future generations when they laid out our hometown.  They did not provide future generations the ability to establish large shopping centers in the downtown area. The commercial lots abut residential property so big box stores like Sears could not be built in the area without buying up many little lots and string them together to provide a large enough parcel of land to develop.

The city’s greatest hope is to develop the Market Place just off the 60 Freeway.  The developers and the owners must come to a mutual agreement on the sales price to close the deal.  Since the site was part of the old landfill it is taking time and money to remediate the land for construction.

Early city fathers allowed a landfill to be developed in the city.  Why?  I guess that in 1948 they did not think that the city and surrounding areas would grow in the future.

The future of Monterey Park’s financial well being relies on collecting sales tax dollars to pay for our city’s services.

If Monterey Park can change its image from the first Suburban Chinatown to a true All American City there is a good chance that new stores that will serve all the residents will be willing to locate in our hometown.

The lack of sales tax is not the only problem in the city. The Sacramento crowd and Washington DC’s Inside the Beltway group are trying to force Draconian laws on us.

Sacramento wants to establish new laws complete with fines for people who use too much water.  They want water conservation but they have failed to build facilities that would keep all the runoff from the winter rains from running into the ocean.

The Council majority voted on a new Water Conservation Requirement law restricting the use of water during the August 5 meeting. I published verbatim the new law in the August issue.

Two residents spoke against this new law at the September 2 meeting before the Second Reading that would adopt the ordinance. They challenged the Council on the ordinance that would require fines after the first warning that a resident and/or business were violating this new law.  They suggested other ways to educate the people and charge higher rates for people who waste water.

Council did not approve the Second Reading and tabled it until staff could find alternative measures that were less Draconian.

The Inside the Beltway group wants to force their brand of Health Care on all of us. Some Congressmembers and Senators have not read the 1,000 or so pages that have been suggested for the bill. The real bill has not yet been written but a large group of American voters are not happy with their suggestions.  People are very afraid that they will lose their rights to choose their insurance companies and their healthcare providers.  The seniors, the largest voting block in our country, are very afraid that some little DC bureaucrat will tell them that they can not receive good medical care because they are too old and the younger people should have all the quality medical care.

The DC folks want us to go green yet some of them fly all around the country and the world in private jets. I guess their motto is “Do as I say and not as I do”.

This same crowd will not allow drilling off the coast of California to provide oil resources for us yet they have preventing water from being used to irrigate the crops in the center of the state so the little “Delta Smelt” is not effected by humans need for water.

You just wonder what happens to the common sense of our elected officials when they take their oath of office.

Monterey Park’s Lunar New Year Celebration is becoming an issue in September.  The city paid to have a survey of all the businesses on Garvey Avenue (from Atlantic to New) and Garfield (from Hellman to Newmark).

Their survey was very hard to read as the retail businesses were lumped together with non-retail businesses and some of the businesses that answered the survey are not located in the Business Improvement District. Businesses located in this district pay extra for their business license for special services the include sidewalk cleaning and Christmas decorations.

Council discussed this survey at the September 2 meeting.  Staff offered three conclusions for the Council’s decision: Host of 2010 Lunar Celebration Festival since a majority of the residents and businesses are of Asian origin and review it next year with the Economic Development Strategy and Branding Plan to ensure that it matches the objective of the city’s plan. Keeping the same site on Garvey or moving the site to Barnes Park. Keeping the festival downtown but making a more concerned effort to reduce the traffic and parking issues.

The business owners pay for the festival and the city pays for the police and fire departments at this event.  The city also pays for public safety at all of the other festivals usually held at Barnes Park.

Members of BIDAC were very concerned that the city staff did not advise them of this survey.  They stated that staff should have approached them first with their plans and worked with BIDAC on the issue.

Council requested staff to redo the survey and not mix the retail business findings with the non-retail business findings as well as the BID area findings with the non-BID area findings.

All the Councilmembers agreed that the Lunar New Year Celebration Festival is very important to Monterey Park’s multicultural residents.

This issue should be on the next Council agenda for more discussion and a decision.

September ushers in the new school year and autumn.

September 11 is a day to remember our fellow Americans who lost their lives in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington DC when we were attacked on our homeland.

We should always remember the members of our military who daily risk their lives to keep us a free country. Thank them for their service to our country.

Please remember to thank all of our everyday heroes who risk their lives fighting the wildfires across the state and the country.

Be proud to be an American. Call your elected representatives and give them a piece of your mind. Speak up for your rights and the rights of our future generations.  We need to be strong in the face of adversity to keep our America a strong and free nation. This country belongs to all of US not just a select few.