Would you vote for this man?

Say hello to Steven Ly, the man who would be city councilman. Let me list for you his qualifications to hold this office:

The Ballad of Spiro Agnew

Yes, I get it. Sort of like "The Ballad of Spiro Agnew." [It's a short song, you can actually listen to the whole thing by clicking on the play for preview button at Amazon].

What I find so appalling about he and his ilk is that they complain a lot but don't offer any solutions. Take traffic. What are they going to do about it? Well, they don't want to add traffic lanes because that would mean losing on-street parking. And they don't want to prevent mansionization because they say that's taking away private property development rights. So let's just sit here, do nothing to increase road capacity or reduce development pressure in our residential areas, then go ahead and blame the guys who have been in office for 2-4 years for all the problems that have been building for the previous 18 or 20 or 35 years. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Promoting good will in the city?

What I find annoying is when I read his bio, from the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce. There's a line in there where he says, "He also develops events and programs that help promote good will in the city" (by which he meant Rosemead).

The sentiment is fine, but what's the substance of this claim? When I think of all the civic events that promote city pride and good will in Rosemead, I think of things like the holiday food drive, the Fourth of July fireworks, parade, and carnival, the Oktoberfest Street Fair, the 100-mile jogging trail challenge, the community yard sale, etc., etc. These are things where the focus is on the health, welfare, enjoyment, or common history that we as Rosemead residents should all be able to get behind and celebrate.

And yet, what all of these events have in common is that Steven Ly was no where to be found when any of these events were being conceived, planned and implemented. He didn't come out and publically support *any* of these events.

Oh, he *did* manage to show up at Oktoberfest. But that was just to hand out political hit pieces aimed at further dividing our city. And he did help plan a "State of the City" event, at which neither the mayor nor the mayor pro tem was invited to, nor encouraged, nor welcomed to attend. And he (or his organization) also seemed to think it was fine to have flyers announcing their (meaning, "Rosemead Partners") fund raising yard sale distributed at Rosemead Community Centers. (Their yard sales are where their members clear their garages and closets and set them up at a member's house. Then, at the end of the day, what ever doesn't sell, Mike Lewis buys from them for a flat fee so they can pretend they actually raised the money themselves).

I guess Steven's got a different definition of promoting good will than I do.

Of course, he's in good company. I don't remember seeing any of his running mates out in front on any of these ideas, either. I do, however, remember a certain councilwoman who twice voted against the jogging trail, who sent out mailers attacking the idea, who voted against restarting the Fourth of July Parade in 2005 and 2006, and who seemed to think it was appropriate to hold a "State of the City" address where 3/5ths of the city council was not welcomed to participate.

Promoting good will?

Actually, it was 2006 and 2007 that Maggie voted against the parade. And she was also adamantly opposed to removing the 6-foot fence around the park and the admission fee for the carnival and fireworks. Though on the fence issue, she at least admitted she was wrong after it went off wonderfully.

Yeah, I do find his lack of participation in planning, promoting or executing any of those events rather curious. The parade, Oktoberfest and the Citywide Yard Sale were all non-partisan City events, and yet he and his friends were nowhere... except, as you noted, to pass out hit pieces at the first Oktoberfest. (And for the '07 parade especially, we *really* would've appreciated the help....) In fact, perhaps the most disappointing thing about the volunteer work I did on those events was the total absence of Steven and any of the other members of Rosemead PRI--er, "Partners." I had held out some hope that there would be interest in working together to show a little unity, that someone over there would like to work with us on something to better the city as a whole. Obviously, I was naïve.

I'm impressed

I never really saw all these new (and revived) things going on in Rosemead listed in one place. That's a lot of hard work.

There's also a city website, and a new newsletter, (and another redesigned website).

It seems like more stuff's happening since the city council's changed.

My bad. I thought we tried

My bad. I thought we tried to bring it back right away, in 2005.