The City of Montebello is facing some mighty serious budget problems so the City Council has called for a "special" meeting to address these issues.
TIME, DATE AND LOCATION AS FOLLOWS:
COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY MEETING (CLOSED SESSION) STARTS AT 5:30PM
FOLLOWED BY THE REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING AT 6:30PM
(Every 2nd & 4th Wednesday of each month)
MEETING LOCATION
CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
1600 WEST BEVERLY BOULEVARD
MONTEBELLO, CALIFORNIA, 90640
SPECIAL MEETING
• CRA MEETING AGENDA FOR 4-06-2011
• CITY COUNCIL MEETING AGENDA FOR 4-06-2011
Contact: Administration Office @ 323-887-1370
The carrot on a stick
The City of Montebello has been facing a growing crisis for several years now so the recent news wasn't much of a surprise to the few but dedicated folks who actually pay attention to city politics.
Now even though the Montebello hills are not mentioned on the agenda for either meeting I can't help feeling an itty bit suspicious the Montebello Hills Specific Plan might crop up during Wednesday night's discussions. In the past, Cook Hill Properties Llc, the wannabe developer of the hills, has bragged about how the project would bring "millions of dollars" into Montebello. The way Cook Hill has swaggered all over town handing out "donations" for this and "sponsorships" for that, you'd think Montebello was the heroine in an old time melodrama and CH was the mysterious stranger-in-the-white-hat come to save the day.
Just this past January, Cook Hill spokesperson Byron de Arakal was quoted as saying:
“We look forward to continuing to work with the city of Montebello to bring the city a new community that will deliver significant revenues, economic benefits, homeownership opportunities and new public recreation amenities its residents and business owners deserve,” EGP News
All Montebello has to do is sign over the title to her daddy's ranch, or worse.
Cook Hill has been carefully wooing the City of Montebello with such promises since it first rode into town in December of 2007 but unlike a virtuous suitor, it hasn't hesitated to press it's advances when CH thought it could get away with it. In a recent "Spotlight on Montebello" Montebello Chamber of Commerce advertisment, Lodwrick Cook is quoted as saying:
"It's very important for the City to move through the environmental process and public hearings for the Montebello Hills Specific Plan as soon as possible," said Cook. "Every month that we're delayed equates to a half million dollars the City can never get back."
Yup, there's nothing like promising a plate of vittles to a starving woman, then threatening to take it away, to make a girl feel "special."
I don't see any white hats here, only greedy vultures circling overhead, but Montebello is a tough old gal and she's got plenty of homegrown defenders willing to circle the wagons on her behalf.
Daisy Mae
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