Citizen About Town

By Nancy C. Arcuri, Editor and Publisher

Email: nancyarcuri@thecitizensvoice.net

Fax: 626-307-9081

I spoke during Oral Communications at the September 17 Monterey Park City Council Meeting. I said I enjoyed the Town Hall Meeting held on September 13.  It has been years since the city hosted this event.

It was good to see longtime residents and our employees sharing some of the city’s current history.

I am a longtime resident, who moved into town in 1971. I agree with former Mayor Lilly Lee Chen that most of the new residents do not know anything about our city’s history.

I had two questions that I was not able to ask during the event because the hall was crowded.

So I asked this Council, city manager and department heads to consider placing my questions on the agenda for public discussion.

We have several new developments scheduled to be constructed on properties that have been vacant or abandoned. Are we going to require the developers to pay larger impact fees to cover more than fire and police services?  I am talking about impact fees to help pay for new sewer and water lines, road repairs, park and library services just to name a few city services that impact all of Monterey Park.

California is in the middle of a three-year drought and we are being ordered to conserve water by the city, county and state governments.

Please explain to us how this Council, city manager, department heads and our elected representative of the San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District can demand that we restrict our water usage yet some of you have approved the construction of more homes and hotels.

This Council was elected to represent us and protect our city from harm.

Any large construction projects should be put on hold until you can guarantee that we will have sufficient water reserves to serve our families, our employees, our businesses and our visitors.

We deserve first consideration not the developers who are only in Monterey Park to make their profits at the expense of our hometown.

Mayor Anthony Wong stated that the city manager is currently working on the impact fees paid by the developers.  He said that the city would have water reserves for all of us.

I received a flyer from the city to “Help Save Monterey Park’s Water!” in my latest water, sewer and trash bill.

I am in favor of the higher water and sewer rates because we need to replace our water and sewer lines to improve our quality of life in our hometown.

During this meeting the Council discussed signing a performance contract with Siemens Industry, Inc. for energy efficiency performances and leasing the equipment.

Siemens spoke about all of the different ways the city could save money and improved the infrastructure at city buildings that included the heating and air condition units, lights and install smart water meters in the city.

The Council had a lengthy discussion on the project and the loan on the equipment.

The financial discussion on the loan from one hand of Siemens to pay for the equipment from the other hand of Siemens was interesting.

I had to agree with Councilmembers Teresa Real Sebastian and Mitch Ing, who voted to abstain on this item, that the financing on this project may not be in the best interest of Monterey Park.

Councilmembers Anthony Wong, Hans Liang and Peter Chan voted to approve the contract.

I realize that the city’s infrastructure needs to be updated and city needs to save money, but this deal sounds to good to be true that the city will be guaranteed to save money from Siemens. Time will tell us the whole story on this project.

Siemens would like us to purchase the streetlights from Edison and be responsible for the upkeep and repairs.

I questioned Ron Bow, our Assistance City Manager, about the streetlights that are mostly located on wooden power poles throughout the city. I did not want Monterey Park to be liable for any power failures, downed power lines, cable lines or phone lines.

Mr. Bow said that Siemens was talking about the streetlights and their arms that are attached to the power poles. Edison would continue to own the power poles and their power lines as the cable companies and phone companies would continue to own their lines now attached to the power poles.

If the Council agrees to approve this part of the Siemens project then our employees would be trained to replace the light bulbs.

I am not sure if replacing light bulbs located near high-tension wires on the Edison power poles is a benefit to our employees and our community.

The hot button issue at the October 1 Monterey Park City Council Meeting was the possible purchase of 2000 S. Isabella Avenue in the city for $500,000 from a long time resident’s estate.

The property is located just behind Fire Station 62 located at 2001 S. Garfield Avenue with a public alley between the properties. Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church is located next door to the fire station.

The Councilmembers and the public all agree that we need to either upgrade the building constructed in 1949 or relocate Station 62 to a new location.

Four speakers addressed the issue. Two residents were upset that they had not received notification of this project in a timely manner and were very concerned if the city purchased this property to retool the fire station that their privacy and home values would be reduced.

Two members of the church asked the city to keep them involved with this project, as it will affect their parking and the public alley that is used by their membership for access to their parking lot.

Fire Chief Scott Haberle stated plans were discussed with keep the house on the lot for storage and tear down the garage for additional parking for the employees.  The plans are to build the new fire station on the footprint of the original fire station adding a second floor. It was suggested that the fire trucks could enter the remodeled building off of Elmgate and not tie up traffic on Garfield.

Chief Haberle is our new fire chief and he is trying to work with our Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan.

Mr. Bow reminded the Council that the city has $4 million dollars is set aside funds to help design and build a new fire station.

After a lengthy discussion the Council decided to place this item on the November 5 meeting. They asked the city staff to see if a new fire station could be located on another sight in either the south or southeastern section of the city.

The staff report said an appraisal of the property was done in June 2014 with a value of $450,000 but the seller is willing to sell this property to the city for $500,000.

I strongly object to my tax dollars being used to over pay for a parcel of land that may or may not be used to rebuild our Station 62.

The city could purchase the property, tear down the garage for parking and use the house for storage this year and later relocate Station 62 to a large location in the future.

The city could resell the property as a residential unit but the house would have to be remodeled and the garage rebuilt.

Do you think that this purchase is a financial benefit to Monterey Park?

We have a legal and moral right to determine how our tax dollars are spent.

Please provide your feedback to our elected officials before they spend our tax dollars on this purchase.

The Councilmembers can be reached by phone at City Hall 626-307-1255.

Election Day is November 4.

Please study the candidates and issues on your ballot. Your votes will determine the future of our cities, counties, states and our United States of America.

Remember that thousands of American men and women have fought and died for your right to vote in our free democracy.

Please honor them by voting on November 4!