Citizen About Town

By Nancy C. Arcuri, Editor and Publisher

E-mail: nancyarcuri@thecitizensvoice.net

I am still waiting for a legal opinion from our City Attorney’s office regarding Ordinance No. 1934 on Open Space in our city parks.

Monterey Park’s voters voted this ordinance into law during a Municipal Election held in April 1998.

The residents were very concerned when a developer asked then Councilmember Fred Balderrama if he could build a gated community in our Garvey Ranch Park.

I believe that the current Parks and Recreation Commissioners over stepped their bounds and violated this ordinance when they supported Equitable Vitrines request to remove the statue of Athena and replace it with Eve for six to twelve months in the Cascades waterfall. They then voted on January 10th to approve this project and sent their recommendation to the City Council to approve this project.

After longtime residents objected to this request Equitable Vitrines then requested to have their statue of Eve placed in the center of the pool in the Cascades waterfall.

Again longtime residents objected to them making any alterations to our historical site.

The Council voted NO on their requests since the longtime resident voters objected to altering our hometown history for Equitable Vitrines’ personal and financial gains.

I requested a legal opinion on this ordinance that should have protected our Athena and our Cascades waterfall.

I also requested that the City Council, City Manager and City Attorney hold a public training session with this commission to direct and advise them on their legal obligations as Parks and Recreation Commissioners.

Only time will tell if this Council will act on my requests.

I am happy to report that the Monterey Park City Council does agree on most of the agenda items that improve the health and safety as well as the financial health of our hometown.

On May 3rd they voted to approve a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Monterey Park declaring May 6, 2017, Day of Inclusion on the 135th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act in recognition of the harm caused by racially discriminating immigration measures and honors the contributions of all immigrants and refugees who have enriched our communities.

Councilmember Peter Chan sponsored this agenda item. Mayor Teresa Real Sebastian, Mayor Pro Tem Stephen Lam, Councilmember Hans Liang and Councilmember Mitch Ing all agreed that the Chinese Exclusion Act was unfair and voiced their support of this resolution.

Councilmember Chan gave a brief history of the Chinese Exclusion Act from 1882 that exclude people of Chinese heritage from becoming American citizens, owning property and bring their family members to the United States from China. They were not able to assimilate like other immigrants so they became very clannish and only dealt with other people of Chinese heritage.

This resolution will help to support all of the immigrants seeking a better life in the United States.

On June 7th they voted to approve a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Monterey Park urging all elected officials of the United States Congress to co-sponsor the Chinese American World War II Veterans Congressional Gold Medal Act.

Councilmember Mitch Ing sponsored this agenda item. Mayor Teresa Real Sebastian, Mayor Pro Tem Stephen Lam, Councilmember Hans Liang and Councilmember Peter Chan all agreed that our government was unfair by not honoring all of the veterans of Chinese heritage for their support of the United States during World War II and voiced their support of this resolution.

Councilmember Ing gave a brief history of his family’s history since his maternal grandfather served in World War II.  His wife lived in China during the war and was not allowed to immigrate to the United States until after the war. His grandfather visited his wife in China every seven years after saving money for the visits. So his mother is seven years older then her brother and 14 years older then her younger twin sisters. His grandparents stayed married until death separated them.

Former Mayor Betty Chu, John Wong and John Gee, members of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance, also spoke about the hardships that the people of Chinese heritage faced because of the Chinese Exclusion Act that was later repealed in 1943. This allowed young men of Chinese heritage to fight and die for America even if they were not US citizens. These veterans were not awarded any metals for their bravery because of this act.

Members of CACA visited Congress and asked for their support.  Currently this bill has 41 sponsors.  The Senate is also creating a bill to support this Gold Metal Act.

I applaud the City Council’s actions on trying to right a wrong in our American history.

I know that some people are not happy with the Presidential Election results and show open hostility toward President Donald Trump.

They seem to blame him for everything that has happened in the world since January of this year.

I have noticed the most hate filled people appear to be the liberals who were not successful in getting their candidate Hillary Clinton elected as the first “Woman President”.

Our forefathers must of seen into the future so they created the “Electoral College” as part of our U S Constitution (Twelfth Amendment) that provides the voters in smaller colonies now smaller states with the most equal chance to have their votes counted based on the number of citizens in their states.

The world is full of hatred with people killing and maiming other people because they have different religious or social philosophies from their own.

These people are called terrorists because they are trying to destroy people who have freedoms and live a different life style. So their try to kill our peace of mind with their horrible actions.

I know that we cannot always agree with our fellow Americans but we should respect them and their opinions as we expect them to respect our opinions and us.

Remember reading Aesop’s fables in church or school and that very famous quote: “United we stand divided we fall” should be our battle cry against anyone trying to destroy our United States of America from within our country or from outside of our country.

Please remember to thank our veterans for their service to protect to our country and us.

Please remember to thank our first responders, both police officers and firefighters, for their service to protect us from harm.

Please remember that we live in the best country in the world and cherish our many freedoms.

We are very blessed and free to follow our American dreams.