Citizen About Town

By Nancy C. Arcuri

Editor and Publisher

E-mail: nancyarcuri@thecitizensvoice.net

Fax: 626-307-9081

Most Americans consider the most important job of our elected officials is to protect the health and safety of us all.

We pay our hard earned money in taxes to provide financial support for our military, police officers, firefighters, health officials and other government agencies to protect us from harm.

The Rosemead City Council is facing an important issue to protect the health and safety of all their residents and visitors.

At their January 26 meeting a Public Hearing was scheduled to discuss the city’s Municipal Code relating to the Amortization of Nonconforming Poultry Slaughter Business.

The meeting was moved from the Council Chambers to the Community Center located behind City Hall because of the large turnout of residents.  The room was filled with people who were either against having chickens slaughtered in their neighborhood and supporters of the business.

Chinese American Live Poultry located on Garvey Avenue was the business under discussion. Quan and Dana Phu opened the business in 1991 after years of going into downtown Chinatown to purchased freshly slaughtered chickens. Trucks deliver live chickens in cages into the parking lot/loading dock area.  They stated in several local newspaper articles that they established their business a full decade before the city banned any new slaughter houses from opening in the city.

Councilmembers and employees at City Hall have received numerous complaints over the years on the stench coming from the business, the debris being hosed into the street and storm drains, loose chicken in the area and the horrible traffic jams around the business.

City Code Enforcement officers and Health Department officials have visited the site several times and issued citations for numerous violations over the years.

Joseph Montes, the city attorney, announced that the Council could not take action tonight, as the Public Hearing was not properly posted in the local newspaper.

Council agreed to hear all the speakers on the issue at the Public Hearing before sending the issue back to the Planning Commission for a new posting.

CAL Poultry is located in an area zoned for Commercial businesses. Mr. Montes said the business owners have asked for a zoning code change to make their business a conforming use. Council rejected it at their Second Reading. The shop now has a non-conforming use grandfathered in and Rosemead law does not allow the business to expand.

Mayor Maggie Clark stated that spot zoning would allow other slaughter houses to be located in any of the three Manufacturing zones in the city.

Mayor Clark admonished the audience that yelling and clapping would not be allowed to disrupt the proceedings. Council could stop the Public Hearing tonight and carry it forward to another time.

Councilmember Steven Ly advised the audience that the signs being help up by some supporters of CAL Poultry offended him. He is a Chinese-American and not a trader.

Some of the signs stated the Council was being racist for their stand on the health and safety issue before them.

Long time residents testified that the smell from CAL Poultry was over powering. It invades their homes and businesses.  The business owners had several years to mitigate the problems of the odor but they never did take any action to improve the situation. The site was dirty with dead chickens lying on the parking lot along with feces and chicken feathers that were washed in to the street and sewers. The stench filled the neighborhood and affected all the people walking near the site. The Inflatable Water Slide traffic was jammed near the business.  Shoppers were parking in the loading dock. These residents were concerned about their health and safety. They asked Council’s support to close down this business.

The business owner and her attorney threatened Council with a legal battle if they closed down the business.  The attorney said there were no outstanding issues now. They were disappointed that Council would go ahead with this ordinance.  The owners have made several recommendations to the city to mitigate the odor. Council could accept their offer and allow them to remodel the building to control the odor or help them relocate in the city.

Several speakers from Rosemead and surrounding cities said they shop at CAL Poultry. They stated that freshly killed chicken tasted better. They needed a whole chicken for religious purposes. It was part of their culture.

This meeting brought back memories of several Monterey Park City Council Meetings when the long time residents requested that English be included on the business signs so we could read the names of the businesses.

Several local politicians and would-be politicians called us racists because we wanted to be able to read the signs and shop in our hometown. We also wanted be able to report any emergencies to the fire and police department.

Monterey Park City Council later passed an ordinance that require all foreign language business signs have English translations of the business name for health and safety reasons.

Government agencies police the various businesses, stores and shops in America to protect the health and safety of all. They issue recall reports on items that range from cars to food products as part of their policies.

Health and safety issues are always your priority as a government official or a business owner or a resident.

The Rosemead City Council is obligated to protect the health and safety of their residents. They must act on the elimination of the poultry slaughter business operations within their city limits.