Citizen About Town

By Nancy C. Arcuri, Editor and Publisher

E-mail: nancyarcuri@thecitizensvoice.net

Fax: 626-307-9081

At the Monterey Park City Council Meeting on September 16th I asked the Council about their 6 PM Closed Session Meeting they were scheduled to discussed and set a price for selling our City Yard located at 751 S. Alhambra Ave. to City Ventures.

I recalled that City Ventures wants to construct 25 homes on the hillside property located next door to Garvey Ranch Park.

Did staff notify the residents living within 300 feet of this property the city’s intention to sell our property and destroy their peace of mind and current life styles?

Will City Ventures purchase a new commercial property located near Olson’s  $500,000 homes on Potrero Grande or a commercial property located on Monterey Pass Rd. for our new city yard?

I am sure the property owners living above Monterey Pass Rd. are looking forward to all of the noise, dust, dirt and odors from a city yard that will drift up to their hillside homes.

Did you ever think that our current city yard was built at that location because it was vacant farmland adjacent to Richard Garvey Jr.’s ranch?

Our City Council is again selling our city owned property without giving all of taxpaying voters a say in how we want to develop our hometown.

Our city motto maybe “Pride in the Past” and “Faith in the Future”.

I am very proud that our early elected officials voted to incorporate Monterey Park in 1916 to save us from becoming a sewer farm for other cities.

But based on years of selfish and self serving local officials who voted for their special interest groups I am concerned about the future of Monterey Park.

Councilmember Stephen Lam was absent at that meeting and a final decision was not announced to the public.

The Council also discussed and voted to approve at the first reading the South Garfield Village Specific Plan.

I spoke in favor of it since South Garfield is the entrance to Monterey Park from the 60 Freeway and Montebello.

I agree with the specific plan for South Garfield that will improve that neighborhood with more stores, restaurants and services that will meet the needs and wants of all of our residents and visitors.

Since the city has $1,833,000 in economic funds that are taxpayers’ money to be spent I believe the city should spend $916,500 in these funds for streetscape improvement in that neighborhood.

The property owners and business owners will see our city’s commitment to their neighborhood. They maybe more willing to create a Business Improvement District, paint and/or upgrade their properties and decide to share their parking lots with other businesses on the street.

During the October 7th Council Meeting the Council approved the second reading of the South Garfield Plan but Councilmember Hans Liang wanted to discuss the $1,833,000 in economic funds from the sale of a city owner parking lot on Garfield across from the Bank of America. He said he thought that one-half on these funds should be spent in the downtown area since the parking lot was in the downtown area.

Councilmember Teresa Real Sebastian also asked the attorney if Councilmember Lam must recuse himself from any discussion on property in the downtown area since he owns properties on Garvey and Garfield.

The project is still under development as the property has again changed hands.

The site will house a mixed-use project with commercial development on the lower levels and housing on the top levels.

If this project is ever built I hope they are more successful in selling or renting out the housing units then our first mixed-use project on North Atlantic and Hellman.

My Alhambra friends say at night the third tower of residential units is still not occupied by residents who need lights in see in the dark.

During the October 7th meeting the City Attorney Mark Hensley cautioned the Council not to discuss the $1,833,000 in economic funds since it was not on the agenda.

Council asked that the $1,833,000 economic funds be placed on the agenda for the next meeting for discussion.

Taxpaying voters need to speak up on the issue since it is our money.

Since the money belongs to all of us I can see spending one-half of it on the South Garfield project.

I am not sure where in downtown we should spend the other half of it since their Business Improvement District supports most of the downtown area.

Maybe the money should be spent on the Eastside of town near the South San Gabriel Unincorporated area and Rosemead city line where we have some restaurants, a longtime furniture store, small super markets, two Seven-Elevens and not much more.

I always refer to our side of town as the rural side of Monterey Park.

Our tradeoff is we have a great view of the valley below and Mount Wilson.

It will be very interest to hear how our Council votes to spend our money and which side of town will benefit from their votes.

The Council majority discussed Agenda 6-C Simens Energy Upgrades.

Councilmember Mitch Ing recused himself since Edison employs his wife.

I spoke on the issue. According to your staff report the city maybe purchasing streetlights and poles from Southern California Edison.

Edison will only sell us stand-alone, loop-fed streetlights, as opposed to any streetlights that are mounted on distribution poles shared with electric circuitry.

Please provide the locations of these poles as most of the streetlights in my neighborhood are attached to power poles that handle electric lines at the top, telephone lines in the middle and cable lines at the bottom.

City Manager Paul Talbot asked Edison to proved the city staff with a map for review by the Councilmembers and residents to located the power poles to be purchased by the city.

I asked several questions that were not covered in the staff report.

Will the city staff be responsible for changing the LED lights when they burn out?

Have the staff members been safely trained to change these lights?

Will they use a cherry picker to reach the heights of each pole?

If a motor vehicle hits our poles who will be responsible to repair the damaged poles as electric power flows through them?

Will we have trained electricians on staff to maintain the LED lights and the power poles?

I know we are trying to save money with Siemens’ energy plan.

I just want to be sure the City Council understands our liability in this plan.

Assistant City Manager Ron Bow stated that we have one electrician on staff and the city would contract out the servicing of these light poles as we do with the light poles that the city currently owns.

John King from Edison’s Street Lights Department said their company would turn off the electric from the pole so the city staff or the contractors can safely make the repairs.

Mr. King said Edison is no longer selling their power poles to cities but are honoring the current requests to purchase power poles in the pipeline.

He did say that the AB719 bill would help the city finance purchasing LED lights to be installed by Edison on their power poles. The city must pay the upfront fee to Edison if we wished to use that program. Edison will begin this project in 2018 and may take seven or more years to complete it.

Mr. King also said that Edison, once the contract is signed for the purchase of the power poles, would help the city staff with transfer of the utilities with the California Public Utilities Commission.

Ernest Kim from Siemens advised the Council of the future savings if the city purchases these power poles from Edison and install LED lights.

Mr. Kim presented their $4 million financial agreement for Monterey Park to the Council.

Councilmember Real Sebastian reminded the Council that they agreed that all contracts must go out for bid. The residents demand transparency from them.

After a very lengthy discussion on the benefits of the Siemens project the Council majority (Peter Chan, Stephen Lam and Hans Liang) voted to buy the power poles from Edison.

Councilmember Teresa Real Sebastian voted against it because the Council did not know the location of these power poles and the age and condition of these poles.  She said it was like buying a used car. She asked Edison for a warranty on the poles.

Mr. King said Edison was selling the poles “as is”.  They would set the value on each pole based on its age and condition.

Mr. Kim said the poles were marble or metal construction poles. They were not the wood poles.

Councilmember Real Sebastian said she was concerned with the city maintaining these power poles and wanted more information about the AB719 bill. She said the staff should have included more information about AB719 in the staff report.

The Council all agreed that this service contract should go out to bid.

Time will tell if this Siemens’ project saved us money or added to our liability issues.

Monterey Park is self-insured and we the taxpayers are paying the bills.

November 3rd is Election Day.

Many School Districts are having elections to re-elect current members or re-place their Boardmembers.

Rosemead voters passed Measure D that was to fund the construction of 18 new classrooms and built a new gym at Rosemead High School.

The school was built in the 1950s for a smaller student population. Currently 2,000 students attend Rosemead High School.

The 18 new classrooms have been built yet the students still are waiting for their new gym.

It seems Measure D has $6 million in reserves yet the School Board has not signed a contract to build a new gym.

Rosemead voters are asking why the delay since each year the construction costs go up and a new gym is becoming more expensive by the year.

Maybe it is time for the voters to replace their School Boardmembers with members who put the needs of their students first.

It is a sorry state of affairs in the United States of America when elected officials don’t listen to the concerns of their voters.

All of our elected officials make promises to us before their election but only a few elected officials keep their promises to us.

My only suggestion is to vote for the best person for the job based on the information provided to you.

If you find out later they are not honoring their promises then vote them out of office in the next election or begin an expensive recall election to remove them from office sooner.

I am very grateful that we live in a country that we can voice our opinions and vote our viewpoint.

I hope that our United States of America will always be “the land of the free and home of the brave”.

Please continue to vote in memory of our military members who sacrificed for lives and limbs for our freedoms.