English Backer Drops Out of Talks

Federal efforts to mediate a dispute that has threatened to divide Monterey Park residents along racial lines were dealt a setback when a key participant announced he was dropping out of further talks with Asian community leaders and city officials.

Frank Arcuri, the principal supporter of a measure that would declare English to be the official language of Monterey Park, criticized efforts by federal mediators, saying a Dec. 5 meeting with his opponents was designed to sidetrack his attempt to get the measure on the April ballot.

Mediators with the U.S. Justice Department’s Community Relations Service met with Arcuri, city officials and Asian leaders in a three-hour session. The participants agreed not to talk publicly about what was discussed.

In announcing his decision not to attend a second meeting with city and community leaders scheduled Jan. 15, Arcuri called the mediation process a “sham.”

“It’s a waste of time as far as I’m concerned,” Arcuri said last week. “The English-language ordinance is not negotiable.”

Edward Howden, a federal mediator, said Arcuri’s decision to drop out after one meeting was a setback to the process. But Howden said he was hopeful that other proponents of the English-language measure will agree to meet with elected officials and Asian community leaders who have joined forces in opposition to Arcuri’s proposal.

“I’m hopeful that the group will want to meet again,” said Howden, who called for the second meeting.

Michael Eng, an attorney and co-chairman of the Coalition for Harmony in Monterey Park, a group opposed to Arcuri’s ballot initiative, said he was surprised and

disappointed by Arcuri’s decision.

“I thought there was an understanding that as long as the two sides are talking, we’re likely not be fighting,” said Eng, who attended the first meeting. “It’s a temporary setback, but it’s not the entire battle. We must continue to find creative solutions to the problems that divide ethnic groups in the San Gabriel Valley.”

More than 40% of the city’s 60,000 residents are Asian, up from 15 % in 1970.

Arcuri filed a suit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Sept. 4 seeking to force the city to accept a petition signed by more than 3,300 residents asking that English be declared the city’s official language. The city clerk, acting on the advice of the city attorney, refused to accept the petition as an initiative measure for the April ballot. The city attorney has argued that the petition was faulty because it did not contain the full text of what Arcuri was proposing.

Arcuri’s opponents said they expect the lawsuit, which is scheduled for a Dec. 24 Superior Court hearing, to rekindle bitter feelings between Asian newcomers and established residents.

Eng said that if the court rules in Arcuri’s favor, he will ask the City Council to hold a special meeting before Jan. 10 to consider a rival ballot measure opposing the declaration of English as an official language. Eng said the council must meet on or before Jan. 10 if the rival measure is to qualify for the April election.

“We were hoping that cooler heads would have prevailed,” Eng said. “But Mr. Arcuri has forced the issue, and we have to be in the position to respond.”