Senior Living Center Receives Opposition From Residents
A scattering of appointments were made during the week’s city council meeting in Arcadia. Slots were open in three departments — the Arcadia Beautiful Commission, the Museum Commission and the Recreation and Parks Commission.
“Every candidate is phenomenal,” said mayor Michael Cao. “The fact that they want to give free time to serve the community already says they are incredibly special people.”
Uyen Wong was chosen for the Beautiful Commission, and was subject to lavish compliments from the council members.
“She’s a great asset to PTA and always helps with the downtown improvement association,” said council member April Verlato. “I’m confident she’ll grow the commission.”
“She works at the City of Hope and has a great resume,” added council member Paul Cheng, and council member Eileen Wang chimed in that they are “really grateful for her contributions.”
For the Museum Commission, Dale Carter was nominated. Carter served on the museum board in prior years, and is also a member of the historical society.
“He’s a true asset to our community,” said mayor Cao.
For Recreation and Parks, Matthew Goldsby was appointed by the board.
Onto other matters, the committee assessed a proposed project to build an assisted living center in the northern part of the city. The 2.82 acres lot is surrounded by residential properties, who have been contacted about the proposal.
The senior facility is called The Ivy and if built, comprises of three stories, 100 units and stretches the area of about 100,000 square ft. It’ll hire 20 employees, have 24-hour staffing, give daily meals, transportation and house 140 beds.
“The building gives a transition between commercial properties to the west from Pasadena and the residential area to the east from Arcadia,” said a representative from The Ivy while presenting background information. “There’ll be a fitness room, dining center and an outdoor dog park.”
With all its amenities, it occupies an inordinately large space — “The building is the size of two football fields,” asserted one resident.
Ms. Wang came forth and stated, “Those in the surrounding area are concerned about the height and scale. Have we talked to the designer?”
“We brought it up with the property owner,” a staff member answered. “Due to monetary reasons it is not feasible.”
Many residents are bothered by the privacy concerns that come with living near a three-story complex.
“We are not opposed to the building,” said Katherine Gronto, a nearby tenant. “Just the height of it. Hopefully you can make modifications and we can reach an agreement.”
The board voted to postpone the approval of constructing the senior living center to the following meeting.
If the motion passes, it’ll be the first new assisted living facility built in the city in nearly thirty years.
Temple City Moves on in the Aftermath of Election
The U.S. presidential election on Tuesday didn’t prevent Temple City from holding its monthly city council meeting — it was only moved from Tuesday to Wednesday. To say there wasn’t a significant amount of gloom in the atmosphere would’ve been inaccurate.
The city council didn’t openly mention the voting results and instead moved forward to discuss matters on its schedule.
During the month of November, sanitation and rehabilitation work are set to begin in Temple City. A representative from LA’s sanitation department was at the meeting to talk about the upcoming work.
The construction takes place in Lower Azusa, said the representative, and is at the junction between El Monte and Temple City.
“The work spreads across 2,400 ft and costs 2.7 million,” he said.
Service disruption is kept to a minimum with the work happening primarily on holidays. The renovations pass through a school and the sanitation department utilizes the school’s closure on holidays to complete its work, thus decreasing disruptions.
“We had almost no problems during our partnerships between the sanitation department and the cities,” city manager Bryan Cook said. “This has been as smooth as possible.”
The work starts November 25th to the 27th when most businesses and schools are closed for Thanksgiving, December 23rd for Christmas, and January 2nd and 3rd for the new year.
From January 3rd to the 13th, manhole rehabilitation is on the schedule, with protective coating painted inside.
“Are the coverings going to be replaced?” inquired mayor Tom Chavez.
No, only the insides are to be rehabilitated, answered the representative.
Regarding the businesses on Lower Azusa, mayor pro tem Vincent Yu asked if they would be impacted by the renovations.
“Any disruption is reduced because they are on the holidays,” replied the representative.
Mayor Chavez announced the city bought “new property which necessitates an ad hoc committee who’ll work with staff,” and appointed council member Cynthia Sternquist and himself to manage the board.
For those who take city transit, commute time could likely be shortened. Bus lines 267 and 686 have combined to increase frequency of availability in the city, declared council member Ed Chen.
“I’ve boarded the bus many times and was glad to see many riders on it,” he said.
Ms. Sternquist also had news to share, saying, “The mayor, Ed and I went to the 100th anniversary of the San Gabriel Humane Society. It was very well done.”
The board added a new member to its administrative and treasurer department, a Mr. Alexander Kung, who said he looks forward to working with the city.
City Votes for Employee Salary Increases
The Arcadia city council met for a special session to vote for a package that proposes to increase the salaries of employees in Arcadia.
“When was the last time we gave a raise?” asked former mayor April Verlato, who is serving as council member on the committee.
“2023. The last contract was in 2021,” said city manager Dominic Lazzaretto. “It covered the last three fiscal years.”
The proposal up for discussion would give an 18% salary increase to workers over the course of three years. It would cost the city 21 million dollars, said the city manager.
“We’re able to give this package because of surpluses during the last few years,” said council member Paul Cheng. “Arcadia is going to remain one of the best run cities in California.”
Other council members were not as enthused about the package. Verlato deemed the proposal as “unaffordable” and Sharon Kwan, mayor pro tem, was quick to find fault with the proposal.
The city can’t afford this package, said Kwan, stating that “we will run out of money if we approve this.”
“I support our employees but other options are available to support them while being financially responsible,” she said.
The city’s current mayor, Michael Cao, was all for the package, and “thanked every employee to allow us to live in this community.”
“We have a class-one ISO rating,” the mayor said. “Approving this resolution assists in protecting this rating.”
The package is the product of numerous talks between the city’s manager and council members, and allows for the increase in pay while keeping the city’s financial security.
“Believe it or not, our city is in great shape and we really need to appreciate our employees,” said council member Eileen Wang.
She stressed that the city’s employees are burdened with financial difficulties from not having seen salary increases for three years.
Swarms of employees have been leaving the city, with one reason being low wages.
“We lost many staff for one reason — low pay compared to nearby cities, and they left,” added Cheng.
The contentious package was brought for a vote and the motion passed 3-2, with the mayor, Cheng and Wang for the package and Verlato and Kwan against.
“I’m proud to cast my vote of yes,” Wang stated. “This is a vibrant city. We should show our support for our employees.”
Temple City Signs Agreement With Two Voting Companies
Election analysis was a central topic during the October 15th Temple City council meeting, which was relocated to the Temple City Library for the time being.
“Thank you to the LA County Library,” said city manager Bryan Cook. “ This was an easy transition into this room to do this meeting, and for the foreseeable future.”
The civic center where meetings took place before is being rebuilt. “It’s challenging, as it’s an old building. We’re re-roofing it so that it lasts for decades to come,” he said.
Onto election matters, the city manager sought permission from mayor Tom Chavez to enter into contracts with two consultant companies, Probolsky and Grassrootslab.
“The proposal is two-fold — traditional random sampling of Temple City residents to assess understanding of problems in the city, and then a focus group,” said the manager.
He asked for authority to contract with Probolsky, who’ll do the polling, and permission to start an agreement with Grassrootslab, a company “well-versed in ballot measures.”
When asked if any of the council members had questions, council member William Man was eager to voice his curiosity.
“In the proposal it mentions the target is three hundred people for the study, which they state is statistically significant. Is that irrespective of population?” asked Man.
“The first two or three times I heard it, I found it difficult to believe,” said Gregory Murphy, city attorney. “It is statistically significant, as long as it’s started by experts like this. They drill down into your population demographics to make certain the sample is representative. Amazingly, three hundred is enough.”
There were no further questions, and the motion to enter into agreements with Probolsky and Grassrootslab passed without objection.
On Las Tunas, progress is also being made.
“There are beautiful new LED lights that you’ll see at night,” said the city manager. “There are also newly painted lampposts that reflect the flavor of the downtown.”
News about neighboring cities were also mentioned during the meeting.
The San Gabriel Valley Humane Society is commemorating its 100th anniversary on October 19th.
“Festivities start with coffee and donuts, then games for the kids,” said the manager. “Following that, there’ll be a dog paw-print creation event, music, and fundraising.”
It’s an event you won’t want to miss, he said.