Thanks to the many of you who dug deep and contributed to Polly Low's fundraiser, which was held July 20 at the 888 Seafood Restaurant.  Thanks also to the phone tree volunteers who worked so hard to publicize and encourage our members to attend.  None of our volunteers are particularly wealthy, so I know it was hard asking them to make contributions of as much as $2000 to attend the fundraiser.

Legally speaking, a "nuisance" is an annoyance imposed upon you by someone else in a way that substantially interfers with your enjoyment of your property.  Noise, dust, smoke, and odors are all things that qualify as a public nuisance.

Sound familiar?

If you're a neighbor of the proposed Wal-Mart construction site and are suffering a nuisance, let the appropriate party know.  In this case, for dust, smoke and odors, at least, the appropriate party is the South Coast Air Quality Management District.  Public nuisances violate Rule 402 of the SCAQMD.

At the last city council meeting, Paul S. stood up and spoke very eloquently on the issue of the many local residents who take recreational walks in southern Rosemead and South San Gabriel.  The route that Paul has been taking for the past 18 years (I think that's what I heard him say) is the same route I used to take when I lived down there:  north on Delta, east on Rush, west and then south on San Gabriel, east on Rush, then back up Delta.  As I recall, it's about 3 3/4 miles for the whole circuit, and it took just over an hour to complete.  It used to be a nice and safe walk because you didn't have to cross any busy streets in your whole circuit.

Interesting juxtaposition of articles in today's San Gabriel Valley Tribune.  Prominently displayed on p. A3, with a big photo:  "Need a job?  Try Wal-Mart."  Hidden away on p. A13?  "Wal-Mart shooting suspects in custody."  The former article was available on the on-line version of the paper.  The latter was not.  How's that for media bias?

At the last city council meeting, several of our members did a great job of raising questions about Rosemead's handling of "A Mighty Wind," which is discussed below.

One interesting comment from last week's city council meeting was from Mayor Gary Taylor.  He said that "it was obvious" that the fence lacked proper anchoring.  Which, of course, begs the question:  If he, in his professional judgement as a building contractor, saw that the fence was unsafe, then why didn't he, in his role as a Rosemead city council member, take action to make sure those fences wouldn't blow down?

A few weeks ago, our neighbors to the north attempted to turn in petitions seeking to referendum to put the ordinances that permitted the Piazza Las Tunas development to a vote.  The Temple City Neighborhood Alliance opposes this development because they believe it will bring excessive traffic to an already-impacted corner, and change the character of their city.  Ironically, in the EIR regarding the project, the developer could use the "F" rating for traffic at this intersection to his advantage.  An "F" is as low as you can go, so adding additional car trips to an intersection that is already "F" is "not a significant impact."

I know we should have been rid of these guys four months ago.  Instead, we'll have to wait another three months.  Still, I woke up with a tune in my head that just won't go away:

Nah, nah, nah, nah

Nah, nah, nah, nah

Hey, hey, hey

Goodbye!

Can't wait until September 19, when I'll be able to sing it out loud with about a hundred or so of my closest friends!

No, that's not a misprint.  Our city has finally entered the 1990s:  They have a website:  www.cityofrosemead.org

Rosemead was the last city in the San Gabriel Valley (and possibly the last in Los Angeles County) to go "on-line."

I only spent a few minutes poking around the site today.  It does look okay.  There's a clickable calendar that you use to keep apprised of various city events.  There are also supposed to be agendas for various city council and commission meetings [The agenda for next Tuesday's meeting has not yet been posted (as of 7:30pm Thursday).  I presume it'll be up by Monday].  And the FAQ appears to have been given some thought.  Basically, a lot of the information that's on the free calendar they send out every year is replicated on the site.  It could come in handy.