Citizen About Town

By Nancy C. Arcuri, Editor and Publisher

E-Mail: nancyarcuri@thecitizensvoice.net

Fax: 626-307-9081

A resident asked me at a study session held on January 28 why people do not speak up at Council Meetings, Commission Meetings or Study Sessions.

I told him that many residents are afraid to speak up in public because they did not want to be threatened or intimidated by their elected officials.

I have been active in the city since the 1980s and attending more Council Meetings than I can count.

I have watched former Councilmembers and residents threaten, slander and intimidate speakers with whom they do not agree with over the years.

In the 1980s former mayor Manibog had my husband arrested during Oral Communications because he asked for English subtitles to be put on the Chinese language signs.

Councilmembers who wanted English subtitles to be placed on the business signs reduced the public speakers’ time to three minutes because they were being threatened, slandered and intimidated by speakers who did not agree with them.

I have been threatened, slandered and intimidated by former mayors Venti and Chu who do not like my editorial and personal opinions.

They wanted to prohibit my newspaper from being distributed on city property.

My attorneys put an end to their threats, slander and intimidation since our U S Constitution protects my freedom of speech and my freedom of the press.

Since my paper is now an Internet newspaper I do not have to worry about copies of my paper being thrown in the trash by my critics.

I am not afraid to agree or disagree with my elected officials on any issues that arise in my hometown.

I ask that they please consider both sides of any issue and vote for the issues that benefit the tax paying voters of Monterey Park.

The Monterey Park City Council has been very busy determining the fate of our hometown.

At the January 15 meeting they were asked by the residents to deny the Planning Commissioners’ approval of a conditional use permit that would allow a private middle school with extended child day care to be located at 133 East Graves by the residents who use the hilly two-lane highway each and every day. They did not want to add more traffic issues to their daily lives.

Graves Avenue runs east and west in the city through our high-density neighborhoods. It is a good alternative to the traffic on Garvey Avenue.

The Council determined that a traffic study done on the neighborhood had not been presented to the Planning Commission or the Council so the item was tabled waiting for this important information.

This item will be posted for another meeting.

I spoke against adding the school traffic to the normal traffic on Graves as I drive up and down the road several times a week. It would cause more traffic during the rush hours. The location of the school on Graves is located between two hills and can be considered a health and safety issue for our residents.

I have asked Los Angeles County and Monterey Park to do a traffic study to try to place stop signs at the T-intersection at New and Graves as I have witnessed three fender-benders since January. Some drivers exceed the speed limit in my neighborhood in Monterey Park that borders Rosemead and South San Gabriel.

Another hot topic is The Olson Urban Housing; LLC wants to build 80 single-family units at 2015 Potrero Grande Drive in a gated community.

Our eastside of town has never provided us with more shopping than the old Star Market, Frankie Moore’s Liquor Store and Sam Park’s Dairy.

We have been driving into downtown Monterey Park, Alhambra, Rosemead and San Gabriel for food shopping, clothing, hardware, etc. since the early 1970s.

Now they want to build more housing for residents but we still do not have any local places to shop in Monterey Park so we still shop in Montebello, Rosemead, Alhambra, San Gabriel, Pasadena and Arcadia.

Sometimes we shop in the west side of town if we want to drive in heavy traffic.

Governor Jerry Brown has declared California a disaster area because we have not had any measurable rain in the past year. He is suggesting water restrictions on the residents and business owners.

Yet Olson wants to build 80 more units for us to share our limited water supply and our 90-year-old plus antique sewer system.

This commercial site is 9.15 acres that should be developed for shopping for our residents and our neighboring communities.

This project requires a zoning change from Commercial to Residential that the voters must approve.

So Olson is willing to spend $100,000 or more for the cost of the election.

The residents will determine if they want to make our city more over crowded than we already are with more housing or holdout for more local shopping.

I have already asked Assistant City Attorney Karl Berger and General Manager Darren Kasamoto of the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District about a possible conflict of interest since Thomas Wong, our elected official for the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District and Director of Community Relations with IMPRENTA is working with The Olson Company on this development.  This project if built will received their water supply from same water district.

Will any Planning Commissioner or City Councilmember have a conflict of interest if they voted for this project and then participate in any real estate deals in this development? I would not want them to profit by their votes.

Monterey Park has a long history of elected official, their friends and developers profiting from Council decisions.

On January 23 four Planning Commissioners  (Rodrigo Garcia, Larry Sullivan, Ricky Choi and Stephen Lam) voted yes on the project. They took the developers’ word that no commercial developers wanted to locate at that sight.

Commissioner Mike Hamner voted no to giving our commercial property away to a residential developer.

I agree with him once the famous Market Place is opened that this large commercial lot will be in demand for another shopping center.

Market Place is scheduled to close escrow by June. Home Depot and In and Out Burgers have signed leases in this shopping center.

At the February 5 Council Meeting four members  (Peter Chan, Mitch Ing, Hans Liang and Anthony Wong) voted to approve the project’s general plan amendment and specific plan. They took the developers’ and the seller’s realtor’s word that no commercial developers wanted to locate at that sight.

Councilmember Teresa Real Sebastian voted no as she wanted the city to promote this location to commercial developers at the large shopping center workshop held in June.  She wanted to be sure that the property could not be developed as commercial before we give it way for residential development.

An election for the zoning change from commercial to residential on this sight will be held on June 3 and paid for by The Olson Company.

The Council will be voting on the Election Resolution at the February 19 meeting.

Monterey Park voters will determine the fate of our city on June 3 so please study the issue carefully since many of our developers received “Sweetheart Deals” when they overbuilt our city.

We need commercial development with sales tax dollars to pay for our city services.

At the Joint Study Session held on January 27 staff addressed the possibility of three high-end hotels being built in the city. One located at Atlantic and Hellman and two located at Atlantic and Garvey.

The city would receive a bed tax on each occupied room, which would provide much needed sales tax but the trade off would be more traffic congestion for Monterey Park and Alhambra.

The sale of the City Yard to another developer for residential housing and moving the City Yard to a possible location on Potrero Grande Drive next to The Olson project is still up for discussion by the Council at a future meeting.

The sale of the City’s parking lot to LINC Housing is scheduled to be discussed on February 19.

My question on why city owned property being utilized as a parking lot or city yard is considered surplus property has yet to be answered by the city manager or city attorney?

We the taxpaying residents own the city so we should be the ones to vote on the sale of any city owned property.

Please call our Councilmembers Peter Chan, Mitch Ing, Hans Liang, Teresa Real Sebastian and Anthony Wong and City Manager Paul Talbot with your questions and concerns at 626-307-1255.

Our hometown belongs to all of us not just a few elected officials, their friends and developers.

Please remember to vote on June 3 to protect our city’s future.