Blogs

The Coming Ring City Effect

The Death and Life of Chicago

We're not totally headed in this direction, but we are seeing a trend of an expensive downtown, and people with money moving away from the suburbs, leaving the overall economic situation in suburbs more precarious.

New Verification Questions

We recently had a terrible flood of registrations from spammers, and just blew it on approving users, because so few of them are legit. To combat this, I changed the "CAPTCHA" feature for registering an account. We now ask some Rosemead-specific questions that should be pretty easy for any locals, and not too hard for anyone in the surrounding communities. You can look it up on the web.

They might be tough for someone from out of the area, or another country.

Here are the questions. Tell me if any of them are too hard.

Wal Mart Fined $81 Million for Dumping Hazardous Waste

HuffPo reports that WM plead guilty to charges of violating the clean water act and other laws by dumping fertilizer and other hazardous waste into sewers.

Pico Rivera Wal Mart Workers to Strike at Wal Mart

Dozens of Southern California Walmart retail employees plan to join this week's strike starting Thursday. According to organizers, the employees will rally on [May 28th] Thursday morning in Pico Rivera with supporters including US Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA), and warehouse workers employed in Walmart-contracted buildings in the region.

$60,000 a year? Are you freaking kidding me?

The five members of the Rosemead City Council cost city taxpayers over $320,000 last year. Nearly all of that is in salary, retirement (!) and benefits. That's nuts. Over $60,000 EACH! Take a look at the city budget. It's posted on the city website (the one Maggie Clark voted against creating). Pasting the address below should work.

http://www3.cityofrosemead.org:8081/weblink7/ElectronicFile.aspx?docid=26512&dbid=1

Crime Spikes in Rosemead

The happy talk from the incumbents to the contrary, we're in the midst of a disturbing spike in Part 1 (serious) crimes in Rosemead.

Low Voter Turnout Expected

The West Valley News portends rough seas for candidates... or is it easy sailing. I dunno - do incumbents do better in low turnout elections?

There are three city council seats up for Rosemead: Armenta, Ly, and Clark. Janet Chin is challenging the incumbents.

Video of Candidate Forum. Uh oh. Low turnout there too. Maybe people were watching online.

"Balanced Budget"? "No cuts in service"? Liars.

How is it that the incumbents for Rosemead City Council can claim they've balanced the budget with no cuts in service if, 1) The $20 million budget reserve they inherited has been spent down to virtually nothing, and; 2) The Senior Center next to City Hall is still closed?