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Serving Artesia, Bellflower, Cerritos, Commerce, Downey, Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood, La Palma, Norwalk, and Pico Rivera • 86,000 Homes Every Friday • September 15, 2017 • Vol 32, No. 25 STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS: PIONEER PROMENADE PROJECT: ‘ROBO-CALL’ FRIGHTENS HAWAIIAN GARDENS IS PIONEER BOULEVARD WILL RETURN TO FOUR LANES RESIDENTS WITH ‘MOVING FORWARD QUESTIONABLE CLAIMS TOGETHER’ ABOUT ARTESIA RECALL By Tammye McDuff Thirteen seconds into the recording residents finally recognized it was a political Hawaiian Gardens robo-call and not an actual emergency call. held its annual State of the City last week, with By Brian Hews the theme of “Moving Forward Together.” “I A disturbing Artesia recall “Robo- am going to tell you call” was sent to all Artesia residents about the greatest ac- this past Saturday recorded using the MAYOR HANK complishments I believe same urgent voice that is familiar to TRIMBLE the City Council has ac- everyone when the state broadcasts a complished this past message over the Emergency Broadcast year,” began Hawaiian Gardens Mayor System. Hank Trimble. Pioneer Boulevard prior to the hotly disputed median construction that cut the lanes down to one Many Artesia residents were livid, See HAWAIIAN GARDENS page 12 lane each way. A small group of vocal Artesia businesses, most of whom deal in cash, said they were as they thought the call was for an actual losing business because of the median. About 20% of the businesses on Pioneer account for a large emergency. part of the City's tax receipts from the area. At last Monday's meeting, the Council voted to stop the Under California Fair Political Prac- project and take Pioneer back to four lanes. Full story on page five. tices Commission (FPPC) laws, “paid telephone calls” are required to have a disclaimer indicating the committee that HMG-CN INVESTIGATION : paid for the call. The FPPC site states, “paid for by COMPLAINT: MONTEBELLO CITY MANAGER TUCKER-SCHUYLER, [committee name] is the basic disclaim- er required on most campaign communi- TWO EMPLOYEES COLLUDED IN JCS IN CONSTRUCTION FRAUD cations.” No disclaimer was given during the By Brian Hews Even more suspect, the “Agreement recording, which was recorded using Log” that lists all contracts with the City an internet call service and a one-time Last year, an exclusive Hews Me- did not list JCS as a contractor. phone number based out of Long Beach. dia Group-Community Finally, some of the bids JCS submit- The call is an indication that some News investigation ted to the City contained numerous gram- Artesia recall proponents, and their re- found that the City of matical errors and misspelling of very ported campaign consultants, are willing Montebello paid nearly simple words. to do anything to reach their goal of re- $500,000 from 2013 to In spite of this, the City paid JCS calling Mayor Ali Taj, and Councilmen 2016 to an obscure con- $53,000 in 2013-14, $121,000 in 2014- Miguel Canales and Victor Manalo. struction company, JCS 15, and a massive $320,000 in 2015-16. The main proponents of the recall Construction (JCS), us- The investigation resulted in a whis- are residents René Trevino and Dorothy ing sole source no-bid tle-blower lawsuit against Magallanes “Dody” Kane who are receiving assis- contracts – while fabri- who subsequently acknowledged that he FRANCESCA tance from Cerritos residents Melinda cating documents using had submitted multiple bids after some of TUCKER-SCHUYLER Kimsey, her partner Jerry Bernstein, and sham companies with the work was completed for his projects. Artesia businessman Gurpal Sood. false names and addresses and suspended The lawsuit focuses on the three con- The call did not try to conceal the state contractors licenses – so JCS could tracts HMG-CN uncovered that were sender saying, “this is a public safety an- win the lucrative jobs. submitted by JCS, and two other com- nouncement from Artesian’s for Artesia HMG-CN found that JCS was a panies, Brown Construction of La Habra Now.” sole proprietorship based out of a home and CAT Contracting of Montebello On July 27 of this year, Kane invited in Hacienda Heights owned by David “The bids were not real, I was asked friends to join “her Facebook group” Magallanes who is the pastor of Scatter- if I could make some bids up for the city. Artesian’s for Artesia Now. ing Seeds Fellowship in Whittier. Those bids were done after the jobs were The affiliation could land Kane in le- The business did not have a website completed,” Magallanes said. gal hot water with the FPPC, and could or a social media presence. Magallanes would not say at the time warrant an investigation if a complaint The company could not be found on who told him to submit the fabricated was filed. L. A. County’s business name registra- bids. The recording started using the tion page, “DBA, ” or in the state’s data- City Manager Francesca Tucker- w base of corporations. See MONTEBELLO page 12 See ROBO-CALL page 11 “Where the old fashioned neighborhood pharmacy meets the high tech pharmacy of tomorrow.” Pay Your Utilities Here! 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Conservatorship, This event is being heralded as the pri- mary affair promoting lavish Indian fash- Guardianship, ion. Dispute This event is the first of its kind, with Mediation many fashion related events happening throughout Artesia. 562- Featuring designers, jewelers, coutu- rier and vendors from continent of India as 404-4039 well as an art exhibit by local artist Prerana Kulkarni, “I have been artistic and tried out different mediums – water color, acrylic, silk paintings - however, oil painting has Over 20 Years of Experience been a journey of these last five years.” Kulkarni proclaims to be a self taught art- Diana Needham ist, but has received acclaims from other Realtor world renowned artists, giving a huge Designers, jewelers, couturier and vendors from India as well as an art exhibit by local artist Prerana boost to the quality of her work, “I love Kulkarni will be featured October 5th until Sunday October 8. The premier launch will be held at Berkshire the experience of creating and expressing Ziba Beauty on Pioneer Boulevard October 5th. myself through colors! I hope my paintings Hathaway bring the viewer much happiness.” FREE Staging The premier launch will be held at Ziba Clients and visitors will get a firsthand designer label ‘Voila by Roma Bhalla’ will Beauty on Pioneer Boulevard, October 5th. look at the new jewelry brand NEO Mois- be presenting their hand embroidered tra- & Virtual Tour Located in the heart of Artesia’s business sanite, the perfect contemporary solution ditional chikankari collection and ‘Meeta for Sellers district on Pioneer Boulevard, lovingly for a modern woman’s style. The NEO and Malvika’ from Mumbai will be show- dubbed “Little India”, the Ziba Studio is are diamonds from outer space. The mas- casing their elegant party wear. FREE Evaluation and Comparable located on the original site of the first Ziba termind behind the NEO, Guy Stimpson The event will also feature fashion Prices for Your Property. store. Attendees will have the opportunity worked for Charles & Colvard, was one of shows by local stores – Sari Palace, Fron- LIST your property with Diana to network with local and international de- their finest salespeople, and went on to be- tier Heritage, and Aanchal Designer Show- and consider it SOLD. signers and vendors while getting the latest come the top European representative. It is case. Local clothing designers such as Blue news on the brow and body-art industry in said that the stones color will never change Lotus Couture, Naiya Indian Fashion and Los Angeles. Ziba has graciously agreed or go "flat" and is made from a 4H crystal- jewelry designers Alka Vora Jewelry and 562-533-8083 to be the official make-up partner for the www.diananeedham.com line polytype. Karmik Fashions, will be showing their three day event. And the pricing is very reasonable. fall and winter collections. Prominent Indian and New York Fash- A special in-store ‘high-tea’ event ion Week designer Vaishali Shadangule, which is by invitation only, will be held recognized as an upcoming and respected October 6th at Fashion by Rohini. Andy designer whose talent for fusing western Shah Photography and Peter Nguyen Pho- wear with traditional hand-crafted textiles tography are the photography partners and has earned her a following in India’s exclu- Minx Events from San Diego will provide sive couture culture, will be launching her event planning services.