burbankindependent.com
Union blocked by city of Glendale By shel segal A state Court of Appeal in Los Angeles blocked a move by the city of Glendale’s largest union to stop a 2010 contract that lowered pay for the city’s workers, according to a published report. The Glendale City Employees Association has been in a legal battle with the city for some time even though those pay cuts were eliminated for the approximately 1,000 union members in 2013 negotiations, according to that report. And the panel voted 2-1 to stop the union’s case even though “city may have engaged in one instance of ‘bad-faith bargaining,’” according to that report. As budget cuts have become the norm for municipalities in recent years, Glendale has been trying to lessen workers’ burdens on its own financial well being and has “pushed for more employee concessions, such as increasing the percentage workers’ pay for their own pension costs, as the financial burden of salaries and benefits,” according to that Please see page 2
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Volume 2, No. 24
Judy Chu Introduces Bill to Create a San Temple City Gabriel NRA despite Mountains of Opposition Graduate “land grab.” overturns Lead by Ret. Senator Dick Mountjoy, who resides in Monrovia, the commu- California nity came out to the May 6th Monrovia City Council meet- Teachers’ ing to voice concerns about Congresswoman Judy Chu’s Tenure National Recreation Area
Rep. Adam Schiff supports Judy Chu’s National Recreation Area bill
On Thursday, June 12, Judy Chu sent out a press release stating: “After more than a decade of studies and collaboration with local residents and stakeholders, Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA-27), introduced the San Gabriel National Recreation Area Act – a bill that would
designate the San Gabriel Mountains, river corridors and Puente Hills as a National Recreation Area (NRA). This legislation would allow the National Park Service (NPS) to coordinate stakeholders at the Federal, State, and local level throughout the region, and contribute to
-Photo by Terry Miller
community-based, community-driven projects focused on sustainable recreation, education, and the preservation of local habitat and history.” Not everyone is happy about the idea--including the city of Monrovia, which rejected Chu’s plan on May 6 which many refer to as a
Plagued PCC President Rocha may be off to NYC
By Terry Miller The embattled yet defiant PCC president, who prompted a vote of no confidence from students and faculty of the City college last year, is perhaps leaving the left coast. Rocha is one of three candidates for a job as president of Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, according to their Facebook page. Rocha says to his potential new student body on that of Kingsborough Community College Facebook page: "I'm for the little guy," Dr. Rocha says. "I grew up in the South Bronx and “The American Dream is real to me. It’s still alive and well in our both of my parents dropped community colleges.” - Rocha -Photo by Terry Miller
out of high school. But they saw to it I went college. The American Dream is real to me. It's still alive and well in our community colleges." But the vote of no confidence wasn’t the only thing Rocha has been criticized for. His recent commencement speaker conundrum , which turned out to be a major fiasco and civic embarrassment, proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Rocha is “ totally out of touch” with PCC and students on the West Coast according to one student who preferred Please see page 5
legislation. Mountjoy warned the Council, “This is a bad idea. You don’t know what is in it and you don’t even have a set map yet. People don’t know the boundaries.” Mountjoy echoed resident Fred Bowden’s concern about the bond Monrovia residents passed 14 years ago to buy wilderness areas above the city. This is a 30year bond for $10 million that the residents are obligated to pay off. He said the council is giving away property to the federal government and he and the citizens of Monrovia are going to have to continue to pay on that bond for another 15 or 16 years. Bowden said he also donated property to the Monrovia wilderness area, not to the federal government. Tom Adams, Monrovia Council Member joined in pointing out Monrovia had asked the federal government at that time to partner up and join in their efforts to preserve the Monrovia hillside and wilderness areas. The feds declined, so Monrovia residents did it themselves
The judge who has ruled that California’s tenure protections for public school teachers are unconstitutional, hails from Temple City. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu Graduated Temple City High in 1966 according to records obtained by this newspaper. Tuesday last week, Judge Treu ruled in favor of nine students who sued the state saying tenure and seniority policies have made it virtually impossible to fire bad teachers. One of those students, Raylene Monterroza who testified was from Blair High school in Pasadena testified about a great teacher and one “grossly ineffective” teacher who“.. made me afraid, it made me not want to try or show up to school, and it was basically an opportunity to learn wasted, and it really put me behind my peers.” Lawyers for the teachers say the changes would allow the firing of teachers too easily. The decision will have a “significant impact on
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Story Chicks present True Stories for the Stage July 27
-Courtesy Photo
Story Chicks, the storytelling duo of CE Jordan and Terri MartinLujan, are coming to The Coffee Gallery Backstage for one day only on Sunday, July 27 at 3pm. The prized Western and Folk music venue lo-
cated at 2029 N. Lake Ave. Altadena, Calif. 91001, provides an ideal environment for their rollicking show, "A Tale of Two Cowgirls: Texas to California." Please see page 3