Citizen About Town

By Nancy C. Arcuri, Editor and Publisher

Email: nancyarcuri@thecitizenvoice.net

Fax: 626-307-9081

I am very proud of the 5,440 Montebello taxpaying voters who said NO to selling their water district for a one-time cash infusion into their city treasury.

While 5,270 Montebello taxpaying voters said YES to this possible sale.

These are election results that will be certified at their next July Council Meeting according the City Clerk’s office.

Montebello has a mall where thousands of residents from the West San Gabriel Valley and East Los Angeles spend their hard earned money.  The city must receive thousand of dollars in sales tax yet some of their elected officials wanted to sell their water district.

Makes you wonder where is all of the sale tax dollars are going?

I think before a city sells any of its assets the taxpaying voters should determine the fate of their hometown.

Two examples come to mind an earlier Monterey Park City Council majority sold city property to TELACU for the construction of senior housing next door to our library.  That property was purchased for the expansion of the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library with additional parking for the residents both at the library and city hall.

The second example is the sale approved by two of the current Councilmembers and one former Councilmember of a city owned parking lot across the street from city hall to LINC for the construction of six low-income units so LINC could make a profit on the other 24 or more city owned units dedicated for low-income families. When the project is complete the city has been promised19 parking spaces on the site.

In the future these residents will need more parking spaces for their children’s cars so we may lose some parking spaces.

I want to remind the Council and city staff that the taxpaying voting residents own Monterey Park.

“We the people” are the government. We should have a final say on the sale of any of our assets.

Just because the federal government or state government requests more low-income housing or homeless shelters we can say NO. Our small city is almost built out and we need more commercial businesses to pay much needed sales tax to keep our city running.

I propose this Council vote into law an ordinance that requires the sale of any city assets be voted on the people.

Since parking around the civic center is precious and we need more parking lots I predict that within the next 20 years the grassy land in front of this city hall will be converted into a parking lot.

At the June 15th meeting the Monterey Park City Council requested that our city budget be expanded to hire two more police officers as well as the planned police captain.

People breaking in to homes to steal money, jewelry, guns and other small items that they could carry out in their backpacks have hit Monterey Park and other cities.

If you see unusual activity in your neighborhood please call the police so their can help solve these crimes.

I want to thank this Council for supporting the wishes of the residents, business owners and employees in Monterey Park for voting to hire two more police officers as well as another police captain to protect us from harm.

Today, public safety is the number one priority for all of the elected officials in the United States of America.

At the July 6th meeting the Council voted to install two stop signs on heavily traveled residential streets in the city.

Longtime resident Phyllis Rabins is looking down from heaven to thank you for caring. She was often called the “The Stop Sign Queen of Monterey Park” because she was always requesting stop signs be place on the hilly streets on her side of town.

I understand from the traffic commissioners that soon the city will be doing another traffic safety study on our city streets.

I would like to request that this Council consider reviewing the gate across Country Road that is causing safety issues for the residents of Mooney Drive in our city as well as the county.

Since the gate cannot be removed per our city attorney I would like to suggest that the residents of Country Road be billed for street maintenance and road repairs on their street. The residents in our area do not have the legal right of ingress or egress on Country Road between Kays and Orange so they are forced to drive down Mooney Drive.

Most of the original owners no longer live on Country Road so I would suggest that the current property owners should pay these fees on their water bills or vote to have the street opened to the public.

Mooney Drive is still dangerous with the blind curve opened up with no parking in front of my home and my neighbors’ home on the north side of the street, as there are still several near misses by speeding local residents.

I hope you will continue to help us save lives and limbs by promoting public safety on our streets.

The Council majority voted to have the stop signs installed by the city.

At this meeting the Council majority voted to instruct staff to send our Request for Qualifications for Waste Collection and Recycling Franchises.

Measure BB voted into law in 2011 stated no solid waste franchise agreement may be renewed or extended. It also stated that the city must accept the lowest bid for their services.

Council watchers remember that former Mayor Frank Venti was one of the driving forces for this measure.  He stated at many Council Meetings that he did not like the way that Athens Services conducted their business in town.

One wonders if he still lives in Monterey Park or does he now live in Rancho Mirage?

A search of the AT&T White Page directory has Frank Venti (78 years old) listed as living in both cities.

The Council asked many questions on the RFQ process. One of the major questions was if the contract winner could not complete their contract services at their contract prices does the city have any options?  The city attorney said that is why the staff is going through this process to prevent issues in the future.

The $5 million or more contracts would be awarded to the trash haulers for five years with an option to extend it for two move years.

Then the staff and City Council must begin this process again.

Mayor Mitch Ing and Vice Mayor Teresa Real Sebastian only wanted two companies to be considered for their final contract review. Councilmembers Stephen Lam, Hans Liang and Peter Chan wanted three companies to be considered for their final contract review.

The next step is for staff to receive the qualifications from the trash haulers.

Some residents have suggested that Measure BB may not be the best deal for the residents and businesses in Monterey Park.  In 2011 4,088 voters agreed with Measure BB and 1,619 voters voted NO on Measure BB. Only 23.6% of the registered voters made this decision of all of Monterey Park.

It is another warning that your vote does matter.

The November election is a very important election. In California not only do we vote for a president, a federal senator, other elected officials and many propositions that will affect our daily lives.

The Marijuana proposition if approved would allow the sale of grass for recreational use for people 21 and older. It would bring in thousand of dollars in sales tax for the state.  Currently it is still against the federal law so the police and sheriff departments would have to decide how to handle the legal issues.

It could also result in more people driving under the influence. Stoned drivers would cause more traffic accidents since they would not be in total control of their cars.

The effects may be higher insurance rates, more serious traffic injuries and traffic deaths.

Please consider all of facts before you vote on this issue.

The Parks proposition from the Board of Supervisors want the Los Angeles County property owners to pay a higher tax to help improve all the parks, beaches, etc. throughout the county.

Critics of this proposition are saying that most of the cities already pay a high price for their parks and have planned for their future.  What money would the county pay back towards the 88 cities that have already developed and pay for their open green space?

So far the Supervisors have only provided a lowball figure to the cities. They need a vote from the people since there are bound by Proposition 13 not to raise property taxes without the approval of the property owners.

This November election will determine the future for our children, grand children, great grandchildren and Americans yet to be born.

Please study all of the candidates and ballot issues before you vote in November.

This month I have been the editor and publisher of this newspaper for 20 years.

This newspaper is dedicated to my husband, Frank Arcuri and is my labor of love.

I want to thank my long time readership for their support.