2009_03_26_Monrovia Weekly

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WEEKLY

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THURSDAY, MARCH 26 - APRIL 1, 2009 VOLUME 14, NO. 25

WHAT’S IN A NAME? INDYMAC IS NOW ONEWEST BANK •By Terry Miller• and •John Stephens•

Monrovia’s Mayor and City Manager will fly to Washington D.C. early next week to lobby for a portion of Monrovia’s share in the federal economic stimulus package. Mayor Rob Hammond and City Manager Scott Ochoa will be meeting Monday and Tuesday with local Congressional representatives and their staffs in hopes of securing the funding in an upcoming appropriations bill. At stake is $260,000 in additional funding designated for Station Square at the Gold Line’s future light rail depot. Already, $4.5 million in federal funding has been earmarked for the project. If secured, the additional $260,000 will bring the total federal assistance for the project to $4.76 million.

in the air from area fires, Marathon organizers were going to run this second try no matter what happened. The day started off with a sea of cyclists splashing their way through the course in Pasadena, some at speeds above and beyond the call of duty. There was one unique cyclist who literally was above all others as his bicycle was a custom frame welded upon another bike frame …how he ever mounted the cycle for the race is

Some banking customers who lost a great deal of money during the failure of IndyMac Bank last year have a new name to lambaste as late Thursday the sale of the thrift was finalized under the new name OneWest Bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said late Thursday it had completed the sale of IndyMac Federal Bank, one of the largest casualties of the housing disaster and rash of bank closures last year. Local officials including Adam Schiff have called for an investigation into the Office of Thrift Supervision for failed oversight of the bank. Despite or perhaps in addition to the culpability of Washington regulators, many in the banking and financial services industry have long seen IndyMac’s heavy investment in an inf lated and unpredictable Southern California real estate market as unwise and unwieldy. The new brand OneWest was formed by an investor group and is to be managed by Terry Laughlin, former Chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch Bank and Trust is a division of Merrill Lynch, Inc., a brokerage bought by Bank of America at the first of the year after BofA had received some $45 billion in TARP bailout dollars. In a story reminiscent of that currently involving black hole insurance monster AIG, though with considerably less media bombast, a judge Wednesday ordered the release of materials related to bonuses paid by bailed-out BofA to Merrill executives just before the January takeover. BofA had been sparring with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo as they sought to keep the documents private. The OneWest group agreed last December to purchase the failed California lender for $13.9 billion after the FDIC had to take over the bank and issue partial refunds of depositors’

Marathon on 5

Indy on 9

LAST DAY FOR VOTER REGISTRATION IN MONROVIA Beatles Pillow Fight @Harry Benson 1964 . This photo by Harry Benson was shot in a hotel room in Paris circa 1964

Renowned Scottish Photojournalist Harry Benson Visits Pasadena Benson Came to America with the Beatles in 1964 ĆBy Terry MillerĆ I wanted to meet Harry Benson for many years. My

father used to speak of Harry when they were both covering some of the most appalling news stories of the day in the mid to late 1960’s. Harry Ben-

Montecito on 12

son is a photojournalist and my late father was a writer, a Foreign Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph of London. I was familiar with Har-

ry’s photography from many years ago when I first started in the newspaper business as a young photographer. And

Benson on 3

PASADENA’S INAUGURAL MARATHON ORGANIZERS HAVE SEEN FIRE AND RAIN 9000 Plus entered the First Ever Pasadena Marathon

Montecito High School Students Provide Community Service to Pacific Asia Museum Montecito High School Students Facilitate in the Success of Saturday Family Day at Pacific Asia Museum

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Monrovia Officials Headed to Washington

Monrovia residents who are not yet registered to vote must do so by March 30 in order to eligible to vote in next month’s elections. Election day is set for April 14 for two council seats, the mayor’s position and those of City Clerk and City Treasurer. Eight candidates have filed for the city council seats and three for mayor. City Clerk Linda Proctor and City Treasurer Steve Baker are running unopposed. The candidate forums sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and Chats with the candidates sponsored by this newspaper are currently running on Monrovia’s community access station, KGEM.

THURSDAY EDITION

-Photo By Terry Miller

Despite a rather maddening male Marathon announcer who said it might

be a good time for a wet-tshirt contest, Sunday morning’s Inaugural Marathon

in Pasadena went off like clockwork in the face of the heavy downpour. Just in case you were outside in it, and hadn’t noticed the wet stuff coming down like cats and dogs, that same grating announcer also advised us that “…They’re Running in the Rain, They are running in the Rain…….” He repeated this FOX-like news flash on the minute every minute as the main event began. On the heels of a race that was doomed last year due to the excessive smoke


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