Arcadia Kicks Off 2020 City Council Election

Mayor April Verlto is running against real estate agent Yuli Sira for District 1, while long standing Councilmember Peter Amundson is running against attorney Paul P. Cheng for District 4. – File photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News

Final candidates and what to watch out for in the 2020 city council election cycle

By Galen Patterson

Arcadia’s City Council elections are just months away and the final nominations are in.

District 1 has two candidates, with Mayor April Verlato running for reelection and newcomer Yuli J. Sira.

Mayor Verlato has completed her first term on the council and was elected Mayor of Arcadia on her final year of the term. She is an attorney with Verlato and Roberts law firm in Arcadia. Verlato is an Arcadia native and has an expansive list of endorsements including former mayors of Arcadia.

Newcomer Yuli J. Sira is a long-time resident of the greater San Gabriel Valley and real estate agent with Coldwell Banker.

District 4 has two candidates: longstanding councilmember and former Mayor Peter Amundson and newcomer Paul P. Cheng.

Amundson has completed three terms on City Council and served twice as mayor. He is an Arcadia native and, like Verlato, has a long list of endorsements.

Paul P. Cheng is running for the District 4 seat. Cheng is a highly publicized attorney specializing in business operations and commercial realty transactions. Cheng previously ran for Arcadia’s City Council in 2010.

Also up for reelection is City Clerk Gene Glasco. Glasco is a long-standing incumbent candidate with a background in real estate and prior military service. He is running unopposed.

What to watch out for

Recent elections have seen various smear campaigns launched against several candidates from undisclosed sources.

Arcadian’s Rights Protection Association allegedly distributed mailers with false claims against certain candidates.

In fact, the last election saw more than its usual campaign interference and often fodder from anonymous postings on social media sites which ultimately caused confusion and allegations of racism in both camps.

Some of these articles were posted only in Mandarin news outlets; others were written in English by unconfirmed authors and posted on arcadiasbest.com as well as a more notorious blog known as The Tattler.

The 2020 election season promises to be an exciting opportunity to shape Arcadia’s future with new candidates running against Arcadia natives.

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