Here's a letter I wrote a few weeks back. Obviously, it's not going to show up in the paper before the election. I kept it short, but I made the "mistake" of including facts. The editor of the San Gabriel Valley Newsgroup papers (SGV Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, etc) doesn't like facts. He prefers unsubstantiated allegations (really: he wrote this in a column he entitled, "The College of Letters" a few weeks ago).
I'm also attaching a Word document. It's a copy of a table that appeared in a recent Polly Low/Victor Ruiz mailer, and rebuts many of the recent lies perpetrated by the No on Recall gang. Unfortunately, the formatting gets goofed up when I post it to this site.
In the meantime, here's my letter:
Bryan Xu (Sept 8) asks why there's a Rosemead recall. I'd like to answer that question.
There’s a mis-perception that the arrival of Wal-Mart has divided our city and created a rancorous, uncivil discourse in Rosemead. But it’s not just that Wal-Mart has come to town–it’s that the citizens of Rosemead never got a chance to vote on the issue.
Rather than give the people a voice in determining the future of their city, Mayor Gary Taylor and Councilman Jay Imperial have done everything they could to silence their critics. They twice refused to place the issue up for a city-wide referendum. Then, when the citizens of Rosemead demanded a recall election, Imperial sued their own city to try to stop that election.
People wonder why the recall election is occurring so close to the next scheduled election? It’s because Jay Imperial’s lawsuit delayed the recall for over seven months (and cost our city over $400,000!).
What could that $400,000 have paid for? More law enforcement? (Response times to Priority One calls in Rosemead is over eight minutes–that’s six to eight times longer than it takes law enforcement to respond in Alhambra or Monterey Park, and twice that of San Gabriel). More parks? (Rosemead has fewer park acres per capita than Alhambra or Monterey Park). Help attract the sort of national chain grocery stores, restaurants and movie theaters that we don’t have in Rosemead, but they do have in Alhambra and Montebello?
Rosemead has plenty of needs. And, thanks to Jay Imperial (and with the full support of Gary Taylor), we have 400,000 fewer dollars to meet those needs.
Should they be recalled? You bet they should.
Other reasons for the recall
See the posts, entitled, "An Inconvenient Truth" and "The $350,000 Question: Has Wal-Mart Bought Control of Our City?" in the links to your right. Also consider the material under "Gutless Wonders" and my comments to the post, "Wednesday, September 13th."
They also give good reasons why it's time for a change in city hall. We need an accountable city government that is not literally in debt to Wal-Mart for their seats on city council. Even if you support the opening of the Wal-Mart you must see that our city council is repeatedly bending the rules in their favor. That's too much influence for one company to wield in our town.
Don't let Rosemead become a company town!
Please turn out and vote on Tuesday, September 19.