Citizen About Town

By Nancy C Arcuri, Editor and Publisher

Email: nancyarcuri@thecitizensvoice.net

I attended the December 21th Council Meeting and watched our newly elected Councilmembers: Jose Sanchez from District 3; Thomas Wong from District 1 and Vinh Ngo from District 5 as they reviewed the agenda.

They were very confident in their new roles as Councilmembers.

Mayor Henry Lo from District 4 and Councilmember Yvonne Yiu from District 2 were very proud of their new members to share their honor of governing our hometown of Monterey Park.

Newly elected City Clerk Maychelle Yee was administered her Oath of Office by her daughter  during the meeting.

Maychelle Yee thanked the voters for electing her into office. She is very happy to serve our city for the next four years.

Maychelle Yee spoke as resident on item 3-C: Consideration and possible action to authorize the City Manager to execute a legal retainer agreement with Burke, Williams & Sorensen
and terminate a legal retainer agreement with Hensley Law Group effective on or before January 1, 2023; reappoint Karl H. Berger as City Attorney.

She wanted this item to go out to bid since our City Attorney Karl Berger has changed his employment with another law firm.

Karl Berger informed the Council, staff and residents that this law firm offers our city additional legal resources.

The five Councilmembers voted to approve this agenda item.

I validated that Burke, Williams & Sorensen has been in business since 1927.  They are one of the largest law firms in California who handle government law as well as other types of law.

Maychelle Yee spoke as  resident on item 3-D: Adopt a Resolution Confirming and Extending a Local Emergency for the Goodview’s Abatement Project (“GAP”)

Completion of the GAP was scheduled to occur by December 31, 2022. Complications
resulting from the required redesign of the GAP (see Exhibit B to Resolution No. 2022-
R34) postponed the completion date until February 2023. While Resolution No. 2022-R63
anticipated a termination of emergency powers by the end of December 2022, it is now
apparent that such emergency powers must be extended until at least March 1, 2023.

She claimed that our City Budget could not afford the funds to complete this project.

City Manager Ron Bow informed her that our city has budgeted for the $12 million needed to make this hillside safe from mudslides.

City Attorney Karl Berger again advised the residents that our city has taken legal action against the developers and their properties to pay our city back for the safety repairs made to this hillside property. Residents can review all of the documentation on the issue on the city’s website.

Ron Bow said in 2013 the hillside slid down and he was one of the 60 property owners to lose power due to a mudslide.  He was grateful that the K-rails saved the residents and property owners from additional damage.

Thomas Wong was born in Monterey Park and he was aware of the danger of this hillside that would slide down onto Garvey Avenue in our rainy seasons.

Vinh Ngo was very happy to hear that the hillside would be stabilized in early 2023. Garvey Avenue is one of our major roads into and out of our city.

The five Councilmembers voted to approve this agenda item.

I validated that the Goodview’s Estate began building homes in 1978 and 1979. The developers cut off the top of the hill as part of their project. They failed to stabilize the hillside so every time we had a heavy rain storm it would side down into Garvey Avenue.

My husband and I moved inti Monterey Park in 1971. We traveled up and down Garvey Avenue as I worked in Los Angeles and my husband attended Cal State Los Angeles.

I remember how dangerous it was during rainy season to travel on Garvey Avenue so I am very happy to see that  the hillside will be finally stabilized.

I recall the mudslide on Atlantic and Newmark that happened in February 1980 when we had 13 inches of rain. The hillside slid down as the retaining wall for the condos was not strong enough to keep the hill from sliding down on Atlantic. It caused a traffic problem and some of the small businesses across the street were damaged. The city demanded the retaining walls be reenforced to keep the hill from sliding down onto Atlantic

I also recall that after the Whittier Earthquake on October 1, 1987 that the walls of the Garvey Reservoir cracked and water leaked out to twelve homes that were build by the reservoir. Six

homes were destroyed and six more homes were damaged.

The fire chief as the time said it the homes had retaining walls instead of garden walls the homes may have been saved.

The city amended its building codes to have retaining walls installed on some hillside properties.

I believe that residents should review the history of any project on the agenda before that decide to tell our City Council and staff that they are making a wrong decision.

We need to agree or disagree with respect.

This should be one of our New Year’s resolutions.

This meeting was dedicated in memory of Louise Davis, who was a longtime resident.  She served on our City Council and also served as our City Treasurer.  Louise Davis also served on the Boards of several Service Clubs in Monterey Park.

Louise Davis will be missed by her family, her friends and many longtime residents of Monterey Park.