Herald American
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POLICE PLANNING SWEEP OF DOWNEY IN SEARCH OF PAROLEES
DOWNEY (Via Herald American)—Officers from the Downey Police Department are coordinating with law enforcement officials from several other cities to conduct a sweep of the city to verify the addresses of 69 parolees reported to live there. The sweep—similar to others that have already occurred in surrounding cities—is a ripple effect of the realignment of [...]
BELLFLOWER, NORWALK BECOME THEIR CITIES’ RDA SUCCESSOR AGENCIES
The cities of Bellflower and Norwalk have officially become successor agencies to their now-defunct redevelopment programs and are charged, under the law enacted through Assembly Bill X1 26,, with winding down redevelopment activities and paying off contractual and financial debt obligations of those projects. Both cities, as required, set up a payment plan to meet [...]
EDWARD JAMES OLMOS TO SET THE TONE AT BELLFLOWER BRAVO AWARDS
Actor/activist Edward James Olmos will be the main speaker Thursday when common citizens, along with law enforcement officers and firefighters, are honored for uncommon acts of heroism and dedication at the City of Bellflower’s 18th annual BRAVO awards. Admission is free to the event, which begins at 11 a.m. in the William and Jane Bristol [...]
BELLFLOWER HS COACH PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO MOLESTING STEPDAUGHTER
A girls’ basketball and track coach at Bellflower High School pleaded not guilty today to 20 felony counts for allegedly molesting his stepdaughter over a five-year period. Bryan E. Shepherd, who turns 48 next week, was ordered to remain jailed in lieu of $720,000 bail. He is due back in Bellflower Superior Court on Jan [...]
DOWNEY TO HONOR ITS POLICE DEPARTMENT’S ONLY FALLEN OFFICER
The only Downey Police Department officer to lose his life in the line of duty will be honored with a monument outside City Hall that will be unveiled during a ceremony on Sept. 22 at 10 a.m. The sculpture, called “The Grieving Officer,” will show a life-sized six-foot sculpture of an officer kneeling with his [...]
SWEARING-IN CEREMONY AS NORWALK CITY MANAGER IS A PIECE OF (CHOCOLATE) CAKE FOR MIKE EGAN
NORWALK (Via Herald American)—Mike Egan was sworn in Tuesday night as the new city manager for the City of Norwalk, replacing Ernie Garcia, who retired June 1 after 31 years in the city’s government—the last 18 as city manager. “I have known Mike Egan since I was elected to the City Council,” said Norwalk Vice [...]
LINGLE IS BELLFLOWER’S INTERIM CITY MANAGER DURING SEARCH FOR REPLACEMENT
BELLFLOWER (via Herald American)—Assistant City Manager Lee Mingle will serve as Bellflower’s interim city manager while a consulting firm searches for a replacement for Mike Egan, who has resigned effective Aug. 25 to become city manager in Norwalk. Mingle joined Bellflower in August,1995 as the city’s first public safety coordinator, heading up the city’s Public [...]
EIGHT AREA MAYORS URGE LOWENTHAL TO RESCIND SUPPORT OF KILLING RDA
Mayors from eight cities in the 27th State Senate District of Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, are urging him to rescind his support of eliminating redevelopment agencies to help balance the state budget, saying that would cost millions to California cities. That legislation has been made part of the current budget signed by Gov. Jerry [...]
HOW NOW, BRONZE COW? BELLFLOWER COUNCIL IS UDDERLY CONFUSED
Although it’s been less than two years since the Bellflower City Council voted to spend $95,000 on a slightly larger-than-life bronze sculpture of a dairy cow, now that the big ol’ bovine—nicknamed “Belle”—is about to come out of the foundry, nobody seems to remember where they intended to put her. City Manager Mike Egan has been doing [...]
ANOTHER NORWALK COUNCILMAN, ANOTHER OUT-OF-COURT SEXUAL HARRASSMENT SUIT SETTLEMENT
A third lawsuit alleging sexual harassment by a Norwalk City Council member has been settled out of court. Melody Baca, a former senior service coordinator at the Norwalk Senior Center, will receive $100,000 in worker’s compensation, according to her attorney, William Crosby of Orange County, who also handled two other recent sexual harassment cases against [...]
7/ELEVEN ROLLS THE DICE AND CRAPS OUT TWICE IN BID FOR PARAMOUNT STORE
The Paramount City Council has upheld a decision by the Planning Commission to deny the request of a 7-Eleven convenience store to operate in a vacant 2,450-square-foot site at 14139 Downey Ave.—the northwest corner of Downey and Rosecrans avenues, across from Paramount High School. Council members agreed with a Planning Commission ruling of Jan. 11 [...]
IF INCUMBENTS WIN, BELLFLOWER COUNCIL STAYS WHITE, MALE, OVER 50
Three incumbents, two who have served on the Bellflower City Council for more than 20 years, are seeking re-election March 8. If voters return them to office, the increasingly ethnically diverse city’s five-member council will continue to be entirely composed of white males over 50 years old. The incumbents are Councilman Randy Bomgaars, first elected [...]
TODAY IS FIRST FILING DEADLINE FOR THREE CITY COUNCIL RACES
Paperwork is coming due for candidates to appear on the ballot for March 8 city council elections in Norwalk and Paramount, but fields in the races have already begun to expand. According to state law, the regular filing deadline is Friday, unless an incumbent does not run, in which case the deadline is extended to [...]
A LONG-AWAITED BUT GRAND OPENING FOR PORTO’S CUBAN BAKERY IN DOWNEY
A gaggle of Downey city officials, a couple of movie stars and a whole lot of Cuban pride greeted the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Porto’s Cuban Bakery and Café, which finally opened Tuesday nearly a year after breaking ground last Nov. 23. In some ways, the wait seemed even longer. Since the disappointing demise earlier this [...]
BELLFLOWER MAYOR ‘OPTIMISTIC’ THAT VOTERS WILL PASS UTILITY TAX INCREASE
Bellflower Mayor Ray Dunton says he believes voters will approve Measure A, which would temporarily increase the city’s utility tax by two percent—from the current 5 percent to 7 percent—when they go to the polls Nov. 2. “I am very optimistic that once educated [about the fiscal circumstances], people will support it,” said Dunton, who [...]
NORWALK CITY COUNCIL PURSUING AN OFF-COLOR ORDINANCE
Owners of commercial, office or industrial buildings in Norwalk have received a warning from the city council: don’t even think about painting your structures orange and black for Halloween or even red and green for Christmas. City staff has been ordered to come up with a proposed color ordinance that would regulate what colors are [...]
VALLEY CHRISTIAN SECOND-GRADE TEACHER RECEIVES NASA AWARD FOR SPACE-STATION HOOKUP
Pam Leestma, a second grade teacher at Valley Christian Elementary School, and a New York teacher named Neme Alperstein have received the 2010 Excellence in Teaching Award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The two elementary school teachers teamed up last year to conduct the first coast-to-coast television hookup via the International Space Station, [...]
FOR NOW, ANYWAY, RESIDENTS OF NORWALK MUST KEEP ON THE GRASS
Drought or not, the City of Norwalk still does not permit the use of synthetic turf. The planning commission has postponed its debate on the use of phony grass to Sept. 22. Until at least then, all homes are required to have some type of natural landscaping—natural grass, shrubs and flowers, although definitely not rows of vegetables—in front yards and side yards abutting streets. [...]
CVEKTO & BUTTS PEN BALLOT ARGUMENT AGAINST BELLFLOWER UTILITY TAX
Joe Cvetko, a former Bellflower city councilman, will team with John Butts, a roofer and the former host of a cable-access show called “Bellflower B.S,” to write the ballot arguments against a proposed five-year, two-percent utility tax hike. Both are long-time and high-volume critics of the current council. The measure was placed on the Nov. [...]
DOWNEY COPS GIVE UP PAY RAISES
Surprised and pleased Downey City Council members have accepted offers from Police Chief Rick Esteves and two police bargaining units to delay a 4.25-percent pay hike that they are contractually promised. “This is almost unheard of,” said City Manager Gerald Caton said, noting that the agreement was unanimous among some 70 members of the Police [...]
NORWALK CITY COUNCIL BANS CHARITY CAR WASHES
The council has had the charity car washes on its radar since last October, noting that water is often wasted as it is allowed to flow from hoses, carrying dirt from the vehicles into public drains.
BELLFLOWER CITY MANAGER OPPOSES ELECTRIC VEHICLE DEALERSHIP ON EMPTY FORD LOT
Although Bellflower has been hit hard financially by the recent loss of the Ford West car dealership, City Manager Mike Egan has appealed to the City Council a decision by the Planning Commission to allow a Long Beach electric vehicle company to move onto the empty three-acre lot on Artesia Blvd. Egan said he wants [...]
BELLFLOWER COUNCIL DECLARES EMERGENCY, ASKS VOTERS TO INCREASE UTILITY TAX
Declaring a fiscal emergency, the Bellflower City Council has voted 5-0 to place a five-year, 2-percent utility tax increase on the Nov. 2 ballot. If approved by voters, the 2-percent hike would bring an additional $1.6 million a year for the five years, allow the city to balance the 2010-11 budget and give the city [...]
BELLFLOWER TO RE-BID LANDSCAPING FOR GREENWAY TRAIL
Under orders from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the City of Bellflower reluctantly rejected all bids for landscaping of the 2.3-mile, $3 million Greenway Trail, recently opened along the abandoned right-of-way of the Pacific Union Red Car line. The MTA, which owns the property, was concerned about possible mistakes in the bidding process and a protest [...]
NORWALK COUNCILMEMBER WANTS TO CAN THE PLANNING COMMISSIONER THAT HE APPOINTED
NORWALK — The City Council will consider a request from Councilman Rick Ramirez to dismiss his appointed Planning Commissioner Marcel Rodarte at the April 6 council meeting. “It’s absolutely a political move,” said Rodarte, who is expected to run for City Council in March 2011. Rodarte said he has contacted the city attorney and believes [...]
