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Montebello E-News

  September 30, 2009

To educate a person in mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.

Theodore Roosevelt

(If we believe Roosevelt’s aphorism, is there not a large menace to us these days?)

1.  Announcements

2.  Our Montebello Is Its Own Planet

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

Ouch in the pocketbook.  The summer, 2009, Montebello Today reported on recommendations by city staff to improve Montebello’s infrastructure:  sewer-collection system, $50,103,832;  potable-water system, $36,746,157;  storm drains, $20,503,637;  street improvements, $54,759,798;  sidewalks, $9,830,712.  The total comes to $178,389,042 over a 10-year period.  …The City council and staff are carefully examining all funding options to secure the stability of the City and strengthen its foundation—from the ground up.  Something which concerns me:  why are Montebello residents not involved in all phases of this planning?

Want to make a bet?  According to Montebello Today, summer, 2009, … [t]o help eliminate neighborhood blight and protect property values, the Montebello City Council passed a new ordinance... .  The new code holds the mortgage holders of abandoned and foreclosed properties accountable for their maintenance and security. ... Under the new code all vacant lots must be improved with landscaping and irrigation systems. ... Do you think that the new code requires low-water landscaping and efficient irrigation systems?

How about another bet?  The environmental-impact report for the Montebello Hills must be a long document.  Do you think that the report would say anything about the effect of development, positive or negative, upon the local weather?  That sounds odd until we consider that trees and concrete do affect temperature, which in turn affects our pocketbooks.  There is another matter which might not appear in the report:  the legal effect of living on or near operating oil fields.  In that regard, there is a movie at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 1, 2009, at St. Matthias Episcopal Church, 7056 Washington Avenue, Whittier 90602.  The church is on the northeast corner of Wardman Street and Washington Avenue—not Boulevard.  Admission is free.  For more information, call 562-233-8579.

Nice move.  We need more community service in Montebello, and Montebello’s service clubs provide one means for such service.  Thus, it makes sense for the clubs to reach out to us Montebelloans, so as to involve more of us.  (I wish that the clubs did that more often.)  On Wednesday, October, 21, 2009, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., the Montebello Rotary will have its annual steak fry.  Get this:  those of us who are not Rotarians get in for half price!  The fry will be at the Juan Matias Sanchez Adobe in northeast Montebello.  For more information or to make a reservation, contact Brittany Oyama, 714.473.1984 or burritoni@gmail.com 

Hanging out at the library.  Saturday, October 3, 2009, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.  A workshop to make greeting cards, using chiyogami, decorative Japanese paper.  Sign up at the information desk. //  Saturday, October 10, 2009, at 12:00 p.m.  “Make Your Own Fleece Blanket”.  Materials provided.  Pre-registration required.  More information, 323.722.6551.

You have heard of Borders the bookstore, where you can sit at a table, have a coffee and read?  Here is something extraordinary in our backyard:  Montebello Friends of the Library is having a boutique and book sale.  Join the Montebello Friends of the Library as we proudly present our first Boutique and Book Sale.  Come visit our vendors, who have much to offer.  Explore our wide range of books which will catch the attention of all alike.  Saturday, November 14, 2009, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.  For more information, 323.722.6551.

You are invited.  Montebello Friends of the Library is …residents, library patrons, and local businesses interested in supporting our public libraries.  The Friends …promote public awareness of the resources and library services available at Montebello Regional [main] Library, Chet Holifield Library, and the Asian Pacific Resource Center;  raise funds for library materials and family programming;  support library legislation that would provide funding on new services to the library.  You are invited to become a member, but even if you choose not to do so, you can help in different ways:  attend ... meetings, held on the second Monday of each month at 6:00 p.m. in the Montebello Library meeting room;  donate new or current used books for the library collection or our on-going book sale;  volunteer to work at the library, or held with book sales and special projects;  be on the legislative network to call or write your legislators to support library funding;  visit the library and attend family programs;  check out library materials.  Applications are available at the main library and the Holifield Library.  For more information, call 323.722.6551 at the main library or 323.728.0421 at the Holifield Library.

Should we have a contest?  This year our city gave an award to a Montebello couple for installing artificial turf.  Do you think that our city would make more headway by having a “Smart Gardening” contest?  There is a Web site of the County of Los Angeles, www.smartgardening.com, where we can learn about conserving water, reducing yard waste, and creating a beautiful garden.

Fourth annual fall festival.  On Saturday, October 3, thousands of Montebello residents will flood the streets on Whittier Blvd. to celebrate the 45h annual Montebello Fall Festival.  An estimated 5,000 attendees came out last year.  This year the event will begin at noon and will be bigger and better with an expanded “Kid’s Zone” including activities and crafts.  There will be more entertainment on the two states, along with lots of exhibitors, food booths, crafters and the return of the Classic Car Show.  The purpose of the Montebello Fall Festival is to promote downtown Montebello and to bring exposure to the organizations and businesses that participate in the event.  It’s an opportunity to create community spirit by offering an afternoon of “Family, Food and Fun” to the residents of Montebello . ... The Montebello City Council, along with the Montebello Chamber of Commerce, worked very hard in putting this event together.  More information, 323.721.1153.

Bookmark this.  Our city now has an excellent calendar of city meetings and events.  www.cityofmontebello.com/cals/default.asp.  One thing missing is for our community organizations to come together, obtain the calendar design from the city, and agree among themselves to faithfully maintain, for the public, a separate master community calendar on the Internet.

In August, I was in Tucson, Arizona.  Very hot outside during the day.  But I was told that Phoenix would be at least ten degrees hotter because it was cemented, while Tucson did not cement its land surface as much.  Cement increases the heat.  Add to this a fact about Atlanta:  extensive tree cover keeps the city relatively cool.  So, landscaping and construction affect the weather, which, in turn, affects our pocketbooks.  Now, let us turn to our Montebello.  We have artificial turf at the high school.  After the bungalows were removed at the intermediate and elementary schools, the ground was covered with or remained covered with asphalt.  Trees along our city streets have been made into stumps or have been given “butch” cuts.  Are we of Montebello the wizened sages who shake the heads as the rest of the world needlessly scurries in panic over climate change and sustainability?  Or are we our own planet, so isolated from what is around us that we do not know or do not care to know what we are doing to ourselves?