Well, folks, looks like we're going to have a Fourth of July parade this year.

I know that some people are really enthusiastic about having a parade, and I know that some people are strongly opposed to having it.  As noted in a previous post, I am personally pretty indifferent to this whole thing.  But that doesn't mean I don't care how the parade turns out.

The motion to go forward with the parade was approved unanimously.  Mayor Tran wants to take the lead in making this happen, but I hope he and the other council members can agree to all become co-chairs of this effort, instead.

There was a nice Memorial Day observation in Rosemead this morning.  Good band, good bugler playing "Taps," and a good bagpiper playing "Amazing Grace."  Apparently, the local Vietnamese community has organized a "thank you" ceremony at our city hall for a number of years to thank those who served in the Vietnam War, as well as in other conflicts around the world.

http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_5998953

Don't know if it will actually be on the June 4 agenda, but it's something to keep an eye on!

(The quote from city manager Andy Lazaretto is also "interesting," to say the least.  I have to assume he was talking about something other than what it sounds like he's talking about, because it's got to be pretty impossible to claim that he hasn't heard about any complaints regarding Wal-Mart and the conditions of approval before).

A city resident assembled this list of restaurants in Rosemead.  His desire is to see us help build up our local economy by eating locally.  That creates jobs in our city and keeps tax revenue at home, for our benefit.  Additionally, if currently-existing restaurants are profitable, it creates an incentive for other (hopefully, a variety of other) restaurants and other business to move to Rosemead to join in the profits.  It also means we can enjoy a meal out with out a long drive to some other city.

A number of people in Rosemead have recently received a "newsletter" from a group calling itself "Rosemead Partners."

Just as a reminder, when it says "Rosemead Partners," it's really from Wal-Mart.  Wal-Mart and its sock puppets are continuing their unrelenting negative attacks on the city council members who are willing to stand in the way of their getting everything they want.

Updated and move to top of the post:  The next city council meeting is Tuesday, May 29, at 6:30pm.  The city's Redevelopment Commission will meet at 6pm on that day, as well.

Also in today's SGV Tribune:

http://www.sgvtribune.com/search/ci_5710776

There's a plume of groundwater contamination that the EPA thought was coming from the Temple Sheriff's station.  Turns out it's not coming from there.

That means it's coming from somewhere "upstream," which the article says is to the northeast (I don't have any hydrologic maps to say otherwise).  If it is coming directly from the northeast, that's the site of the proposed Piazza Las Tunas development.  This is something that could definitely bring that project to a screeching halt. . . . 

There's a special city council meeting on April 3.  Initially, the only item on the agenda was a closed-session discussion of pending litigation.  I have been told that the hiring of a next city attorney is now also on the agenda.

The hiring of a new city attorney is necessitated by the recent resignation of the previous city attorney, Peter Wallin.  Wallin, of course, had an extensive professional relationship with Gary Taylor, going back to their days of the "Rosemead Citizens for Civic Action" (RCCA), which was opposed to "redevelopment" and for the recall of former councilman Ken Pike.  Wallin also seemed to exhibit a total lack of interest in enforcing the conditions of approval for Wal-Mart, and a lack of interest in enforcing the Open Meetings Act (Brown Act).  In both cases, he was representing the interests of the city council majority.  But fidelity to the law is supposed to outweigh the self-interest of even a city council majority.