Candidates Square Off in Chamber Forum

Candidates converged on Arcadia’s historic Woman’s Club Tuesday evening for a city council candidates’ forum sponsored by the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce, Association of Realtors and Arcadia Weekly. Masterfully moderated by Scott Hettrick, publisher of the popular blog “Arcadia’s Best,” the forum showcased a wide variety of issues and approaches by a diverse assortment of six candidates vying for three seats on the Arcadia City Council. The forum was the second-to-last chance for interested citizens to see all the candidates together in one room ahead of the April 13 election. Arcadia Weekly and the Arcadia High School Constitution Team will be hosting a final debate on Wednesday, March 31 at the Santa Anita Inn, just two weeks before Election Day.

The evening began, as most of these events tend to, with opening statements from each of the candidates wherein they laid out their qualifications for the position as well as some of their ideas for legislative and fiscal action if and when they are elected to the council. At least one candidate took his first 90-seconds to go on the offensive.

“I am not supported by the unions!” said candidate Jason Lee in a tone closely approaching a shout, though accented with his wide trademark smile. Perhaps it was to avoid using yet another “hard P” that Mr. Lee did not mention the Arcadia Police Officers Association by name, but he did confirm the APOA to have been his target in a post-forum interview.

Last month, Troy Hernandez, a Detective at the Arcadia Police Department and President of the officer’s union mailed an open letter to Arcadia residents proclaiming that “the men and women of the Arcadia Police Officers’ Association met with 4 of the 6 candidates vying for 3 city council seats” and that their membership voted unanimously to endorse three of those candidates.

Neither candidate Paul Cheng nor Jason Lee was invited meet with anyone at the APOA or to speak to the full union membership about their candidacies or campaign platforms.

“They never called me. I never heard about it at all. I haven’t even seen the letter,” said candidate Paul Cheng. “I would have liked to have had that opportunity.”

But Hernandez places the blame for their omission on the candidates themselves.

“Historically the POA does not make contact; the candidates contact us,” said Hernandez in a telephone interview. According to Hernandez, the four candidates that did met with the APOA membership all independently contacted them to ask for a meeting. As for why the APOA did not reach out to the remaining two candidates who may not have been familiar with such mores, Hernandez said, “It’s not the Association’s philosophy.”

For his part, Lee has been a somewhat outspoken critic of the city’s relationship with the APOA, arguing that in a time of necessary fiscal conservancy and government cutbacks virtually across the board, officers may have to forgo pay raises or new hires in order to balance Arcadia’s widening projected budget deficit. With new contract negotiations between the police union and the city expected in the coming year, these selected invitations and endorsements may carry significant weight in the eyes of Arcadia voters. To wit, Monrovia’s police contract negotiations just last year erupted into a firestorm of negative publicity, lawsuits and political wrangling the foul taste of which still lingers in the mouths of many Monrovians.

The evening’s opening statements gave way
into a creative segment during which each candidate was given the opportunity to ask one question of another candidate of their choosing.
While candidate Sho Tay has a long list of accolades and examples of his long-standing involvement with the community, the exact details of his “30 years of successful business background and expertise” have remained somewhat of a mystery to many Arcadians. So when Jason Lee chose to ask Mr. Tay to explain the details of his business endeavors, forum attendees were given a chance to hear the specifics.

Tay went on to explain that he was involved in many different businesses including the export of herbal products to China, a web site dedicated to all things Arcadia, owning and renting real estate investment properties in the city, and operating an indoor firearms shooting range where, according to Tay, “a lot of police officers go to shoot.”

Following the forum, Mr. Tay said that he has long struggled with the inherent possibility of negative perception amongst the public with regards to his business.

“I used to think I shouldn’t tell people because some people don’t like guns,” said Tay. “But then there started to be rumors that I was an illegal arms dealer, which is just not true,” Tay laughed, adding that it would be hard to get away with such an illegitimate enterprise for 30 years and with such close ties to police officers.

Candidate Paul Cheng, whose campaign has been continually harassed by leaflet distributing naysayers proclaiming to voters that “He has no desire to serve the Chinese overseas. On the contrary, he is a bad man (lawyer) oppressing the Chinese,” likely knew what question would come his way. And it fell to Mickey Segal to “give Mr. Cheng an opportunity” to explain just what all the negative campaigning was about.
Cheng said that the man distributing the negative materials had been hired by someone over whom he had recently won a judgment regarding that individual’s mistreatment of employees.

As the man loomed outside the building near his late model Chevy Cavalier (w/ custom wheels) made anti-Cheng tour bus, Cheng said that the man had said he would cease his activities if Mr. Cheng paid him off or hired him onto his campaign.

“He’s even offering to work for me once this is all over,” said Cheng in a post-forum interview. Cheng said he disagreed with the negative tactics, saying that it essentially amounted to extortion and that he had no plans to employ the man or give in to his demands.

But there were other issues on tap for the evening, and Emcee Hettrick wasted no time moving on to the questions prepared by himself, members of the Chamber and citizens of Arcadia.

When the Gold Line was at issue, differing viewpoints and levels of experience began to shine through the candidates’ responses.
“I passed the bond for it!” said Mickey Segal in a show of longstanding involvement with the decades-long Gold Line Foothill Extension project. But his excitement for the arrival of the electric train seemed muted as he echoed the concerns of many citizens that most Gold Line passengers would have little desire to get off the train in Arcadia considering the weak commercial and retail environment of the downtown business area nearest the station.
While Mr. Segal offered no ideas for the revitalization of the struggling downtown business area, he did offer that in order for the station to provide an economic boon for the city, some additional form of public transit would be needed to take visitors to other business centers such as the Westfield mall and Santa Anita Racetrack.

Though all of the candidates were in agreement, for one reason or another, that the Gold Line’s arrival would be beneficial to the city, there were issues of contention regarding the design of the bridge over the 210 freeway and a grade separation over Santa Anita Ave.

“It’s a nice bridge. It’s as nice as a bridge can be, really,” said candidate Bob Harbicht in defense of the much maligned and continually delayed plans.
Another current councilman, Peter Amundson, admitted that the council may not have moved quickly enough to prepare for the Gold Line’s arrival.
“The Gold Line is coming faster than we were anticipating. We need to get out in front of the track,” said Amundson. “I know Monrovia’s ready!”

The challengers offered their own opinions on the train, as well as criticisms of the current council’s handling of the issue.

“We’ve known it’s coming, but yet we’ve done nothing for downtown Arcadia,’ said Paul Cheng.”The question is: Are people going to get off the train in Arcadia? And the answer is no.” Cheng went on to echo Amundson’s sentiment that Monrovia had done a much better job in preparing for the train’s arrival and revitalizing their downtown shopping district. “I want Myrtle Avenue,” he said.

Jason Lee offered a more personal opinion of the Gold Line project.

“I can’t wait to ride the train all the way to work and read a book or work on my casework,” said Lee who lives in Arcadia but practices law out of an office in downtown Pasadena.

Of course, no forum on the issues pertinent to Arcadia would be complete without mention of the proposed, approved then unapproved, and perennially delayed Shops at Santa Anita development backed by Grove developer Rick Caruso and vehemently opposed by Westfield mall and their proxies.

Perhaps surprisingly to some in attendance, all of the candidates voiced their support for the project, though Paul Cheng did offer some criticism of past administrations which he said had gone too far with their spending.

“Overspending of the city’s tax revenue has caused us to need Caruso. That’s what’s allowing him to shove this project down our throats,” said Cheng.

Mr. Amundson also had some reservations about the project, saying he is “not really a big fan of malls,” but that he supposed it “could do something good for our community.”

The discussion then moved on to the issue of campaign finance.

“I’m not trying to buy this election,” said Bob Harbicht who estimated he has spent between 12 and 14 thousand dollars thus far.
Mickey Segal sounded a similar tone, saying that he had spent between 15 and 20 thousand dollars in each of his previous campaigns, and would likely end up spending that much on this one.

Jason Lee and Sho Tay each said they had spent around 25 thousand, with Lee making a special point of mentioning his additional investment of what he termed “lawyer time” to the cause of walking the streets campaigning and meeting with residents.

But all eyes were on 32-year-old Paul Cheng, who confirmed with a member of his campaign in the audience that their total fundraising had topped 70 thousand dollars.

“I’ve taken no money from developers. I’ve taken no money from the police. Most of the money that I have raised has come from my family. I am very grateful to them for that and I hope to be able to pay them back someday,” said Cheng.

Through their political action committee, the Arcadia Police Officer’s Association has donated $2000 to each of the three candidates they chose to endorse, according to Detective Hernandez.

With the “Shops” issue settled, at least until the next EIR, Emcee Hettrick steered the candidates onward to the subject of compliance with the city’s business sign ordinance. The ordinance requires that all business signs within the city limits contain two-thirds Roman characters (read: English), with the remaining one-third available for use by another language (read: Chinese). The ordinance was a reaction to the explosive growth of Chinese-owned businesses within the city, particularly those situated along Baldwin Ave, many of whom currently have signs that do not comply with the ordinance.

Jason Lee began by reminding the audience that the language used on business signs is protected free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, though he asserted that the city does need to promote “some kind of conformity.”

Mr. Harbicht agreed that the signs were indeed protected by the Constitution, surprising many in the audience when he said, “Our ordinance is clearly unconstitutional, and so we have to handle this very carefully.”

Mickey Segal then agreed, saying that Harbicht had “answered exactly how I would have,” adding that “if someone questions the constitutionality [of the ordinance], we will lose.”

But perhaps the most insightful response came from Paul Cheng who argued that allowing these businesses to continue to violate the sign ordinance was a form of segregation.” In a post-forum interview at his still-bustling campaign headquarters, Cheng said that the signage issue was particularly important to him because he feels that if the issue is left to sort itself out, it will do anything but. “If we allow Chinese businesses to post their signs in violation of the ordinance, we are essentially letting them segregate themselves from the rest of the city, as well as the country. My campaign is about bringing people together as Americans. The minute you step off that plane, you’re an American.”

Councilman Amundson sounded a similar tone post-forum. “If I’m elected again for another term, I fully intend to become mayor, and this is going to be a big issue for me.”

In the end, Tuesday’s candidates’ forum was a great success by all measures and in the opinion of most candidates and voters. The professional, well-planned, executed and attended event was a testament to the outstanding efforts of the Arcadia Woman’s Club, Arcadia Association of Realtors and the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce. Hats were off post-forum in particular to Scott Hettrick and Beth Costanza of the Chamber, without whose tireless efforts the event would have been but a shadow of what actually transpired.

The final meeting of all six city council candidates will take place next Wednesday evening, March 31 at 7:00 p.m. at the Santa Anita Inn (130 West Huntington Drive). For this final showdown, Arcadia Weekly has teamed with the Arcadia High School Constitution Team to bring Arcadia its first true Candidates’ Debate. The event will also serve as a fundraiser for the team who, after winning the State Championship in February, are attempting to raise $50,000 for their trip to the national competition in Washington D.C. this April.

Photographs by Terry Miller

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