I've attached [in Word format] a handout I prepared for the February 7, 2006 protest, "Funeral for Democracy."  Figured as long as I have this stuff laying around, I might as well post them.  The protest is long-done, but the issue remains.

This protest was the first of three demonstrations we held during the month of February.  Around 60 people participated for at least part of the protest.  As with all of our protests, it was peaceful.  But we did have a mock coffin to dramatize the death of democracy in Rosemead.  We stood with our signs on Valley Blvd, in front of Rosemead City Hall, and reminded our neighbors that February 7 was supposed to be our election day.  It's the day that Jay Imperial and Gary Taylor should have been kicked out of office, and the day that the people of Rosemead would finally take back control of their city.  It's the day that Rosemead would finally enter the 21st Century.

The attached document is a work in progress.  It's hard to anticipate every possible lie that can be told by Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart sock puppets, but here are a number of their more frequent lies.  The responses are my own, and do not represent the views of every member of the group.

For any questions, you can e-mail me at the address news@saveourcity.us but instead of the city part of the address, think community, instead [all one word, no spaces].

Thanks to all of you who turned out to our rally on Saturday, February 25. A media report placed our crowd at "between 50 and 200." In actuality, I estimate 300 people joined us for at least part of the festivities. There were never 300 people at any one place at one time, but we did spread ourselves all over Rush Street, Walnut Grove, Angelus, Delta, and the Rice Elementary School field. And the event lasted for three and a half hours.

Sometimes, pointing out hypocrisy among our political opponents is just too easy.  Case in point:  This weekend, I attended a conference held at the USC Davidson Conference Center in south Los Angeles.  The conference was cosponsored by a veritable who's who of civil rights.  Among the consponsors:  The ACLU, the Asian Law Alliance, the Asian Pacifiic Legal Center, California Common Cause, Chinese for Affirmative Action, League of Women Voters, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund [MALDEF], NAACP Legal Defense Fund, National Association of Latino Elected and Apointed Officals [NALEO], and the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium [NAKASEC].

www.momsvswalmart.org

That's a group that is protesting the concept of Wal-Marts opening adjacent to schools.  Apparently, the students of Eldridge Rice Elementary School are not the only children in America that the geniuses from Bentonville decided to expose to 14,000 or more cars a day.

I would encourage my fellow Rosemeadians to go on over to the Moms vs. Wal-Mart site and sign their letter to Wal-Mart.

Here's an interesting article on how Wal-Mart does business (and destroys other businesses in the process):

One of the problems any group faces in trying to battle a development threat is that people more than a few miles away often don’t see how the issue concerns them. That’s true even when the development involves the world’s largest corporation. But Padilla v. Lever changes that.

That case [and Jay Imperial’s case], if allowed to stand, will place a cloud of uncertainty over every single recall or initiative effort in the entire Ninth Circuit. [The Ninth Circuit includes California, Hawaii, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana–55 million people, or about 1/5 of the nation’s population].

Some musings.  This one's actually a bit of a downer.  I get that way when ever I think of what Wal-Mart is doing to this city. . . .

Today, my wife and I made our way over to a place called "Lashbrook Park." It’s located just a bit north and east of the corner of Rosemead Blvd and Garvey Avenue, in El Monte, along the concrete banks of the Rio Hondo.

It’s a small "pocket park," part of the "Emerald Necklace" envisioned by Amigos de los Rios, an offshoot of the Sierra Club. Amigos wants to build a whole network of parks along the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo Rivers, which run mostly through El Monte, South El Monte, and unincorporated Los Angeles County, with perhaps bits in Arcadia and Temple City. A person could spend a long day walking, or a short day riding a bike, in a circuit around the area. For an area [that, like Rosemead] is woefully lacking in open space, the Emerald Necklace sounds like a little slice of heaven.