Should be a quick meeting.  Only one action item and one update item on the agenda.  The action item is request for a T-Mobile "Monocypress" tree, at 7839 Emerson Place.  That's a bit east of Del Mar, backing up to Duff Elementary School.

The update item is on the Wal-Mart annual review.  Accoustical engineers redid the sound monitoring.  But this time, they measured at the "line of sight" from the second floor windows of the condominiums on Delta.

It's been a few days since I've been on Valley east of Walnut Grove, so I don't know how long they've been there.  But this morning I noticed both American and (South) Vietnamese flags on the streetlight poles along a good chunk of Valley.  They're probably on Garvey, too.

I figured there must be some significance to the flags, so I racked my little brain for a few moments and recalled that Saigon fell in late April 1975.  Turns out it was April 30, so tomorrow will be the 33rd anniversary of the end of the Republic of Vietnam.  I presume a number of local Vietnamese organizations kicked in some money for the flag display, along with that Freedom Boat exhibit they had at Rosemead Park a few weeks back.

Tribune story today on lobbying concerning the possible routing for the Eastside Transit Corridor, phase two.  Several of our junior council members are among those who spoke at some of the regional MTA meetings that have taken place over the past few weeks.

Unless MTA reverses itself and reinserts the Garvey Avenue plan, the only routing with potential to help us in Rosemead would be the one that would parallel the Pomona Freeway. If it runs all the way out to the 605 (and they put in a park and ride out there), it’s possible it could have some slight effect on congestion on the Pomona Freeway. It would also put the Montebello Town Center on a major transit corridor. But there’s not a huge amount of space there for any Rosemead-benefitting development.

At the conclusion of Tuesday's rather eventful council meeting, Mayor John Tran announced a special session of the City Council to be held this Friday at 6 PM in the conference room at City Hall (not at the RCRC).  It is being held to specifically discuss the issue of converting the R-2-zoned residences in southwestern Rosemead to R-1.  This modification of the draft General Plan was proposed by Councilmember Low and adopted by Council for inclusion in the draft Environmental Impact Report for the proposed new General Plan.  It would appear from the agenda item title -"Reconsideration of land use designation of southwest quadrant from medium density residential to low density residential" - that the proposal has hit a snag.

Upcoming meetings:  The Planning Commission meets Monday, April 21, 7pm. The City Council and Community Development Commission meets on Tuesday, April 22, at 7pm and 6pm, respectively. And the city planning staff will be directing another meeting on Valley Vision, Thursday, April 24, 4:30pm - 6:00pm. All these meetings will be held in the Rosemead Community Center, located off of Muscatel, immediately south of the library.

Story in the SGV Tribune this weekend about Pho in Rosemead. There are about 100 different places you can get it in Rosemead, but the story focuses on a place in the 8000 block of Garvey Avenue: Pho Saigon Vietnamese Noodle House.

And, speaking of noodles, last week Frank Girardot invented the "Top Ramen Index" as an indicator of hard times. When the price of these bargain noodles (and SALT!) goes up, that means hard times (and higher demand for this low-cost food). When times are good, there’s less demand for this inexpensive staple.

On Friday, April 11, the Garvey Avenue Bridge was officially opened.  I have a picture of the actual ribbon cutting, but I suspect no one wants to see that picture.  I'm not in the official picture because I figure I had nothing to do with getting the bridge built.  But now I wish I had, so in 70 years of so, when they replace this bridge, the history buffs will look at the old picture and wonder, "Who was that short fat guy standing over there next to all the dignitaries? :D