Save Our Community was founded in the movement to resist Wal-Mart's development in Rosemead, California. Now, it has become a general site for news, information, gossip, talk, and blogging about Rosemead. We also have stories about South San Gabriel, San Gabriel, Montebello, and occasionally about Pico Rivera, El Monte, South El Monte, Alhambra, Temple City, and other nearby communities. Your host is Todd. If you want a blog just sign up, get approved, and start writing. Good posts will be moved onto the home page.
What's the point? It's a
What's the point? It's a done deal, just like the firing of Oliver Chi. The new city council majority doesn't care about facts. They just want to reward their political donors. So, Rosemead: Get used to more traffic, fewer shopping choices, more crime, less affordable housing, and a whole lot more abandoned store fronts. The auto auction is just the first of many ugly scars we'll be seeing in Rosemead.
Maybe not totally done.
At tonight's meeting, Council did in fact vote to form a committee. Mayor Clark suggested herself and Steven Ly, but Steven demurred and suggested Polly instead of himself, a suggestion which ultimately carried the day. Should be an interesting committee. I am hopeful that a medium way can be found to avoid making radical changes in the Plan. It seems likely that the high density will likely be cut, but some additional mitigation measures might be enable the density decreases to be minimized. Residential parking regulations and concessions at those projects may be untouchable, tied in as they are to state law, but a workaround for that could be to use the mandatory zoning code update to establish higher commercial/retail parking requirements specifically for mixed-use projects, so as to provide an overflow/buffer for excess residential/visitor and retail customer traffic. That would reduce the potential area street parking impacts of these projects. And the height issue could be addressed simply by directing City staff to draft a new ordinance that reduces allowable building heights to 50 or 60 feet, or whatever is appropriate. Hopefully, measures such as those would allow the majority to make the changes they feel are necessary to honor the wishes of those who voted them in, but allow potential projects to retain a high enough density that developers would still be interested. Because if they're not....
Oh, please! Like this wasn't
Oh, please! Like this wasn't a total set-up from the start.
If this was really about "studying," they would have put Armenta and Ly on the group, since they are the ones who haven't read the general plan. We know Maggie isn't going to let facts change her mind.
Total waste of time.
I noticed the city council
I noticed the city council extended their moratorium on mixed use developments. Sort of a moot point, since, with the economy the way it is, nothing new is moving forward, anyway.
Still, it's a politically expedient move that, if adopted in the long run, will guarantee we'll be looking up to El Monte in a few years.