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Monrovia Weekly Temple Tribune ArcAdiA Weekly Monday, february 13 - FEBRUARY 19, 2012 Volume xVIi, No. VII
Monday Edition of the
CITY
LA TET Festival celebrated at Whittier Narrows
FREE
San Gabriel City Council Winds Down Redevelopment Affairs By Jim E. Winburn
The traditional lion dance is one of the highlights of the festival and children as well as adults from all over El Monte wore their traditional attire to celebrate the New Year.
by dena burroughs The weather was perfect, spring-like, for the TET celebration at Whittier Narrows on February 4 and 5, and tuned right in with the theme of the event, “Colors of the Spring,” which was also well represented by multiple and colorful flowers on the stage. The Vietnamese New Year begins on the first day of the Lunar New Year. It is an important day for people from Viet-
nam, during which they are careful to enjoy themselves and live well, since whatever happens on TET can dictate what the rest of the year will be like. For Vietnamese in Los Angeles, the TET celebration means even more. It means a connection to their homeland and to their culture, food, and traditions. Although attending the festival included walking through a difficult (gopher-land) terrain and
driving into an even more difficult parking lot, those in attendance at TET at Whittier Narrows were all smiles, especially the children, clad in beautiful red outfits, thrilled to receive red envelopes with money, and amazed by the dances of the lucky lions. Since 2003, the organizers of the Los Angeles TET Festival have created an event during which Please see page 7
DNA Match Leads LASD to 2004 San Gabriel Cold Case Homicide Arrest DA Refuses to File Charges
-Photo Courtesy of LASD
A 71-year-old Alhambra man was arrested for a 2004 murder by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau Detectives last Wednesday. However, the District Attorney’s office is not filing charges against a man accused in the 2004 death of a Rose Parade volunteer. The initial arrest culminated an eight year investigation of the murder of 59-yearold Donna Lee Kelly, whose
suffocated body was found in the trunk of her car three weeks after her disappearance. Donna Kelly was last seen on March 24, 2004, at her apartment located in the 7200 block of Jackson Place, North San Gabriel (unincorporated). Her daughter, Diane, reported Kelly missing on April 4, 2004, and pleaded publicly through the news Please see page 4
The San Gabriel City Council became the successor agency to the San Gabriel Redevelopment Agency at its meeting on Feb. 7 with a 5-0 vote. As the successor agency, the city will be responsible for the dissolved redevelopment agency's assets and obligations, which includes selling the agency’s property, paying its debts, winding down its affairs and paying whatever remains to taxing agencies. The city council’s decision takes place in the wake of the state’s elimination of nearly 400 redevelopment agencies throughout California on Feb. 1, permitting successor agencies to the RDAs to fulfill the legal obligations of the former agencies. According to Peter Wallin, attorney for the San Gabriel Redevelopment Agency, the city as a successor can enact no further redevelopment projects. Instead, they are charged Please see page 8
-Photos by Dena Burroughs
Certificate of Occupancy Made Permanent in El Monte It was decided at the City Council meeting on February 7 to make permanent the provisions of the Certificate of Occupancy of the El Monte Municipal Code. The Certificate of Occupancy requires that an inspection be done in homes and commercial buildings for resale to make sure that they are in compliance with city and state codes. In a study done between July and December of 2011, said Paul Armstrong, a city’s Building Official,
252 homes were inspected out of which 60 illegal dwelling units were detected. The problems were often related to improper electrical wirings, lack of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and improper drainage piping. The officials are convinced that the Certificate of Occupancy translates into public safety and an extension in the quality of life of homes and commercial buildings in the city. What the program means in practical terms is
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that each commercial building will have to pay up to $300 to receive a Certificate of Occupancy and home owners up to $195. The program has generated about $22,000 so far, and it does not yet include multiresident buildings. The City Council voted unanimously to make the Certificate of Occupancy permanent. Furthermore, the City Staff was requested to prepare an ordinance that will include multi-family buildings in the future.