Monrovia Old Town report: Let’s talk trash!

By Shawn Spencer shawn@girlfridaysolutions.net

Sentencing has been delayed until September for former Los Angeles City Councilman José Huizar, who pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from a City Hall bribery and money laundering scheme in which he took more than $1.8 million in cash, gambling trips and escorts in exchange for his support of a planned downtown hotel project.

Sentencing was originally scheduled for April 3. However on Monday, U.S. District Judge John Walter delayed the hearing until Sept. 25, after defense attorneys submitted a stipulation saying more time was needed to gather records, prepare a "sentencing video," and draft Huizar's sentencing papers.

The document also states that Huizar needs more time because he expects that testimony and other evidence developed at former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan's trial on corruption charges — which has been placed on hold — might be relevant to his sentencing position, and because he is being represented by federal public defense attorneys who are carrying full caseloads.

Huizar, 54, of Boyle Heights, pleaded guilty in January to racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion. The charges could carry a sentence of up to 25 years behind bars, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Huizar's plea agreement says the ex-councilman agreed not to ask for a prison term of less than nine years. Prosecutors said they will request a 13-year federal prison sentence. Huizar will also be ordered to pay restitution of $1.85 million, the document states.

During the hearing in Los Angeles federal court at which Huizar entered his guilty plea, it took prosecutors nearly 90 minutes to read the factual basis for the plea deal, outlining the intricacies of the pay-toplay scheme that prompted an FBI probe and cast a shadow of corruption over

Huizar admitted that, as an elected member of the City Council, he led a criminal enterprise in which he used his position at City Hall to enrich himself and his associates, and unlawfully gave favorable treatment to developers who financed and facilitated bribes and other illicit financial benefits.

In addition to the conspiracy, Huizar's plea agreement describes instances of honest services wire and mail fraud, traveling interstate in aid of racketeering, bribery, extortion, money laundering, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, making false statements and attempted tax evasion.

Before Huizar pleaded guilty, he and Chan were set to go on trial together.

Chan's attorneys are requesting a mistrial on the grounds that lead defense attorney Harland Braun is too ill to return to court in a reasonable amount of time to complete the trial, which began Feb. 21 in downtown Los Angeles.

Iknow we need rain, but I’m pretty sure my neighbor just flew by on a mop, instead of her usual broom. I can’t remember the last time our mountains were so green and glorious! We are going to have a lovely spring season. I’m just not sure when! The saying is April showers bring May flowers. Then we have June gloom. I hope we don’t skip the spring part and head straight into summer!

Hopefully, the rain will lighten up for our springtime events. Last week, I gave you a run-down of fun things to come. I want to remind you to buy your tickets for the Wine Walk, if you haven’t already. It sells out every year. They only hold back a small amount of tickets to sell at the event, so don’t procrastinate! This event is so much fun and it gives us all a chance to visit businesses we may not be familiar with and meet a lot of our fun, wonderful neighbors and some outof-towners, too! The Wine Walk is on April 15, and you can purchase your tickets online at eventbrite.com or in person at Charlie’s House or the Community Center. See you there!

If you haven’t already learned about AB 1826 &

1594, the State of California has mandated that we divert 50% of our trash away from landfills. We have been doing that by separating our garbage into trash, recycling and yard waste. Well, that is not enough anymore. We need to start recycling our organic food waste. How many trash cans do we need in our kitchens? Our yards? I don’t know about the kitchen part yet, as I haven’t come up with a game plan yet. However, as residents, we’re lucky and get to use our green yard waste containers for our yard waste AND now, our organic waste.

It's really not as bad as it sounds. Things that will go in our green bins will be things like normal yard trimmings, food scraps like cheese, fruits, meats, bread, coffee grounds and pet food. We can also put in food-soiled paper, like paper egg cartons, foodstained paper, pizza boxes, paper plates, not-coated paper to-go containers and paper napkins and towels.

The goal is to lessen the amount of methane that is creating a climate crisis in California. Scientists are calling methane a “climate super pollutant,” and claim it is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Methane is a dangerous greenhouse gas and is said to be to blame for our rising sea levels, poor air quality and the drastic rising of Earth’s temperature.

Another goal, is to use this initiative to redirect edible food that would normally be discarded due to its age, appearance, etc. and redirect it to people that don’t have a secure source of food. They won’t be taking it out of our bins and re-gifting it. This aspect will be on a commercial level, like supermarkets and restaurants. We throw away tons of food because it isn’t “pretty” enough to sell.

This will take some getting used to. Our city staff and Athens will be there to educate and answer questions. Athens is working on updating their website to be more interactive. You’ll be able to type in an item of trash and the site will direct you to the proper bin for disposal. Stay tuned for more info from the city of Monrovia and Athens.

Give it a chance. We really don’t have choice, so we might as well participate and do our part in turning this hot mess around (pun intended).

Los Angeles Mayor

Karen Bass touted what she said were milestones on several fronts Wednesday as she marked the 100th day of