Montebello E-News  

September 20, 2007 

If man makes himself a worm he must not complain when he is trodden on.
Immanuel Kant, 1724 – 1804,
 famous German philosopher 

[When we act like a fool, should we be surprised if we are treated like one?]

1.     Turning Your Husband into a Fruit Tree?

2.     Gatekeepers They Are, Sleepers Are We, Part 5

3.     Announcements

4.     Fun Fact about the Largest Prime Number

5.     The Flashback Quarterback:  “Can You Believe This?”

6.     About Montebello E-News and “My Montebello”

Turning Your Husband into a Fruit Tree?

Revenge takes different forms, but have you heard of such a thing?  Even a witch would not do that.  

However, turning one’s house into something productive is not only imaginable, but, also, something which is already being done.  

“Productive” as in making money—and not by passively watching house prices go up.  

Here is an example of making money from your house, www.greenroofsandiego.com:  

What are green roofs?

Roofs that are either partially or completely covered with plants are considered green roofs. While green roof technology is somewhat new in the United States, European countries, in particular Germany, have been designing green roofs for decades. Each particular green roof varies, however, every green roof contains the following basic components: waterproofing membrane, root barrier, drainage and water retention layer, growing medium, plants. 

Which other parts of your house could become productive?  

·        attic, because of the hot air;

·        backyard, as fruit trees and edible plants can be cultivated and the edible parts consumed or sold;

·        front yard, although some neighbors would object;

·        garage, for your own micro-business (many people do this already, as when they do mechanical work or vend Amway products from the garage);

·        den, where an exercise bicycle, directly or indirectly, could generate electricity to be sold to Edison;

·        den, where a computer could receive video from neighborhood surveillance cameras and enable you to earn a reward if a vandal or thief were caught.  

And why do all this?  To supplement income.  To become self-reliant, more so when a disaster strike and there be no outside help for days.  To do one’s share in the incipient battle against global warming.  

If you answer the multiple-choice questions below and e-mail to lessonanswers@mymontebello.com with “Lesson answers” in the subject field, you will be credited toward a “certificate of recognition in community affairs” to be awarded in 2007 by a local nonprofit organization.  

1.  What does Green Roof San Diego do?

(a) Paint roofs green to beautify a neighborhood.

(b) Create roofs which can support plants.  

2.   Why might we make our houses more productive?

(a) To increase our income. 

(b) To have supplies to tide us over during the first few days of a disaster.

(c) To increase vegetation in an attempt to slow, stop, and reverse global warming.  

   “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” is a Latin phrase variously translated as "Who will guard the guards?", "Who watches the watchmen?", "Who shall watch the watchers themselves?", or similar.
Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis,
known in English as “Juvenal,” was a Roman poet
active in the late first and early second century CE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juvenal  

In part 1 we learned that a “gatekeeper” could be an adult adviser to a youth club and that the gatekeeper’s personal limitations, caused by her / himself or by others, could harm youth.  Such harm would come mostly through missed opportunities for education, skills demonstration or recognition.  In parts 2, 3, and 4, we looked at examples of missed opportunities.  Is there anything which we can do?  (I am trying to overcome the all-too-human tendency to whine and withdraw.)  

For youth “on the other side of the gate”, an adult gatekeeper’s personal limitations, because of a lack of experience, time or desire, can be overcome by increasing the number of gatekeepers.  The original gatekeeper probably would not resent the other gatekeepers, but would be cautious to ensure that her / his charges not be put in any danger.  Also, the issue of liability would arise.  The other gatekeepers would have to be screened, as through fingerprinting and background checks.  

For youth whose adult gatekeeper is hamstrung by rules made by others, the solution is to engage the youth during their free time, when the gatekeeper is not responsible for them, as changing the rules will be difficult.  But in order to engage youth during free time, there has to be a strong draw to whatever activity or program we wish to bring to them, as free time is scarce and we would be competing for whatever free time which the youth had.  

For adults “on the other side of the gate”, a gatekeeper’s personal limitations would be hard to overcome, because of his or her sense of power, the amount of pay which he is receiving or the fear that new gatekeepers would learn about a dirty little secret of his.  As an example, it would be hard to get government’s cooperation to open its public files.  

For adults whose gatekeeper is hamstrung by rules made by others, the only solution, certainly not easy, is to change the rules.  Now, there are different ways to change rules;  the best way is to create a rule which creates positions for a large number of gatekeepers and enables them to have equal authority and access.  An example of this is enlarging a city council so that a large number of people have access to public documents.

FOR PARENTS.  Los Angeles County Fair.   The Montebello High School Band will be marching at the Los Angeles County Fair.  We need parents available during the day on Thursday, September 20, 2007, from 2:00 p.m. till about 9 p.m.  Band members will need grooming and watering during the event.  If you are available during the day, we need your help! Busses will leave from the band room at 3:00 p.m.  For more information, call Robert Monzon at 626.524.1962.  

FOR EVERYONE.  The health fair is here!  Montebello Town Center, Saturday, September 22, and Sunday, September 23.  Admission is free.  There will be a variety of exhibitors, including hospitals, the YMCA, senior services, housing experts, travel agents, banks, and many local businesses.  There will be speakers, too.  Because of the effort by a Montebello businesswoman and her team in organizing this large event, extensive detail about the event can be found at www.mymontebello.com/best_tc_tyh .  

FOR EVERYONE.  Hispanic Heritage Month.  “Achieving Excellence through Leadership and Education.”  Montebello’s first annual Hispanic heritage month celebration will take place in Montebello City Park, 115 South Taylor Avenue, from noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday, September 29, 2007.  There will be

·        college recruiters from USC, UCLA, Cal State L.A., ELAC, Rio Hondo, Cal State Fullerton;  the Hispanic Scholarship Fund will be present;

·        workshops by the Montebello Historical Society;

·        Dr. Ronald S. Lemos as a guest speaker;

·        food and artisans;

·        entertainment by Mariachis, Vientos de los Andes, Casa 0101 Teatro, folklorico dancers, Aztec dancers, Tierra and Wise Guys;

·        $3,000 awarded in the Hispanic Heritage Essay Contest for fourth, eighth, and twelfth graders;

·        $500 awarded for school spirit.

Sponsored by the City of Montebello and the Montebello Housing Development Corporation.  For more information, call 323.887.1373.  

FOR BUSINESSPEOPLE AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS.  Table space available at heritage celebration.   Montebello’s first annual Hispanic heritage month celebration will take place in Montebello City Park, 115 South Taylor Avenue, from noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday, September 29, 2007.  You may rent space in the park to set up your own table.  For more information, call Gus Bojorquez at 323.712.0816 or Sylvia Carrillo at 323.527.5624.  

FOR ADULTS.  Housing-rights workshop.  Presented by the Housing Rights Center.  Monday, September 24, 2007, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. at the Montebello Public Library, 1550 West Beverly Boulevard, Montebello 90640.  Subjects to be covered:  fair housing, evictions, security deposits, repairs, and much more.  Call Karina to R.S.V.P. at 800.477.5977, ext. 26.  

FOR EVERYONE.  Meeting.  The next regular meeting of the Montebello city council will be at city hall on Wednesday, September 26, 2007, at 7:30 p.m.  If you wish to speak during orals, come before 7:30 p.m. and sign up.  If you have more to say than there is time allotted, prepare a one pager, make copies, and hand out before you speak.  

The largest prime number is 13,395 digits long, more than the number of atoms in the universe.  http://www.fun-facts.com/item/71648

We know enough by now not to believe television news, right?  So when we heard three weeks ago about the man in Rolling Hills Estate who was sentenced to six months in jail for not building a fence in accordance with the local building code, we knew enough to ask, “What is the real story?”  Right?  

Well, whether six months in jail would be fair or too much, there is, in fact, more to the story, as we read from the Los Angeles Time:  

“Building a Fence is His Big Offense”
Tami Abdollah and Maria L. LaGanga
Los Angeles Times, August 29, 2007  

If good fences make good neighbors, what do bad fences make? 

That's what Francisco Linares found out this week, when an L.A. County Superior Court judge sentenced him to six months in jail. His crime? Erecting a 180-foot-long fence while building his dream home in the horsy hills of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. …  

"This," a stunned Linares said Tuesday, "is nothing that you should be taken to court for."  

The city of Rolling Hills Estates believes otherwise.  

Two and a half years ago, officials filed misdemeanor charges against Linares, alleging that he had refused to tear down the offending fence, that he had erected a too-tall retaining wall and that his stone columns just don't fit in around here.  

They gave him time to get the proper permits or tear down the offending structures. And then they threw the book at the man who says he has spent 142 hours and $50,000 in building and defending the fence.  

City officials weren't talking much after Linares' sentencing, which he has appealed.  

But Roy Beall, the Rolling Hills Estates zoning and code administrator, did read from an official written statement, which outlined the steps the city had taken and rued the outcome of Linares' actions: "Unfortunately, Mr. Linares chose not to comply and his decision has forced the court to act accordingly."  

In 1998, … Linares said, he discovered termites in the fence that separates his eucalyptus-filled lot from the city bridle trail that borders it.  The city wouldn't replace the fence, so he did.  That was when the "nightmare" started.  [I believe that here would be the point at which culpability would be determined.]  

On October 20, 2004, the city wrote a letter to Linares stating that "the new fence has reduced the width of the trail significantly, making it impossible for maintenance vehicles to pass through."  A city ultimatum followed: Remove the fence within 14 days or we'll do it and charge you for it.  

In the last three years that simple letter has grown into a legal case file half a foot thick, including 11 charges of misdemeanors against the city's municipal codes and county building codes. …  

"Imagine my disappointment to find we are no further along in resolving these issues," [Superior Court Judge Sandra] Thompson said. "At the rate we're going, we'll still be talking about this at my retirement party."  

To the city, the jail term is a standard penalty for a municipal code violation. 

To Linares' family, still reeling, it is "bizarre," said his attorney Richard Hamar. "It is Orwellian. It is coming from a very dark place." 

Said [wife] Milagros on Tuesday: "We're talking about a fence."  

Would it not have cost the city less to tear down the fence and build a new one?  The city seems to have failed at quickly resolving the matter.  Could that failure have been because of the complexity of the building code, the process to resolve the matter or the personal limitations of the “gatekeepers”, that is, the city staff?  

On the other hand, did Linares “play” the city, trying to wear the city down?  Would it be appropriate that Linares receive a long sentence because of deceit, if that were proven?  

To learn about this newsletter, Montebello E-News, and the accompanying, growing Web site, “My Montebello”, visit www.mymontebello.com.  Also, you will find instructions and contact information for submitting announcements for publication in this newsletter.