-Photo by Shel Segal
By SHEL SEGAL
Chanting slogans like “shame on you,” several dozen San Gabriel residents marched outside of Restaurant 261 on Mission Drive on Aug. 21 to protest the city candidacy of former San Gabriel Unified School District Board Member Denise Menchaca as she hosted a fundraiser inside the restaurant.
Scott Bowles, a San Gabriel businessman who organized the event said the city is better off without Menchaca.
“The city of San Gabriel has had enough in the eight years of her politics as a school board member,” Bowles said. “We want her to leave this town. We certainly don’t want her trying to run our town.”
He added she has acted somewhat inappropriately while on the school board.
“She has multiple times violated the Brown Act, she has used her power to abuse teachers in this community,” he said. “We’ve had teachers resign because of her abuse. The list goes on.”
Casey Cartner, a mother of two and San Gabriel resident, said she believes Menchaca was in a position to help the safety of her daughter – who was then in middle school – and shirked that responsibility.
“I had a problem with my daughter being bullied over at Jefferson (Middle School),” Cartner said. “The school district did absolutely nothing to help. We had to fight to get her out of the school district. She wouldn’t release her from the school district and the bully returned … She did nothing to help me.”
However, Menchaca said her fundraiser went on as planned as was very successful. She added while the group had every right to protest, there are many more people in San Gabriel she is hoping to help.
“It was just a handful of people who have every right to exercise their First Amendment rights,” Menchaca said. “I’m more interested in the people who have come out to support me.”
She added she is very familiar with the group that staged the protest.
“I’m just going to tell people we need to restore confidence in our city government,” she said. “It’s the same people every time. I’m moving forward.”
(Shel Segal can be reached at ssegal@beaconmedianews.com. He can be followed via Twitter @segallanded.)
