Monterey Park Irks Some by Passing Up Child Care Grant

The Monterey Park City Council, by a split vote, recently decided not to apply for a grant that would help develop child care programs. Soon after that, at least one other San Gabriel Valley city announced that its council would seek the state funds.

That the tiny community of Industry would compete for the $25,000 grant while Monterey Park would pass up applying for it has irked some members of Monterey Park’s Child Care Task Force.

‘Slap in the Face’

“Personally, it seemed like a slap in the face,” said task force member Elaine Beridon. The 2-2-1 vote two weeks ago not to seek the grant was especially troubling, she said, because at the same meeting the council declared 1989 as the “Year of the Family.”

Mayor Barry L. Hatch and Councilwoman Patricia Reichenberger said their opposition to the grant stemmed from the inability of Councilwoman Judy Chu and city officials to provide enough information about how the $25,000 would be used.

“I’d rather know more information, because I don’t want the residents coming after me for having supported something that might end up biting us on the rear end,” Hatch said.

The debate over whether Monterey Park should have applied for the grant highlights a central problem in the community, said Chu, who voted in favor of it.

Because of the city’s large number of newcomers from Asia, Monterey Park has unique child care problems, she said. “You have a lot of immigrants who work lots of long hours. There’s a pressure to work to make ends meet.”

These new immigrants, she said, come from a tradition that used extended families in caring for children. But in America, the children are left to care for themselves, resulting in neglected children who sometimes fall prey to gangs and to alienation.

Although Chu said “it’s very difficult to second-guess the motivations” of the council members who opposed the grant, she said the council needs to understand how the lack of day care “impacts people in this community.”

Chu, who pushed for the establishment of the task force last fall, said “a lot of cities are doing something. We’re falling behind if we don’t do something.”

Patterned after a similar task force in Pasadena, the Monterey Park group was created to help the council define what child care problems exist and what the solutions might be. The loosely formed task force has been composed of representatives from education, child care, business and industry.

Also supporting the application for the grant was Councilwoman Betty Couch. The grant, said Chu, would have been used to assist the task force in hiring staff or consultants who could assist in creating a citywide plan on child care. The task force is scheduled to present such a plan to the council this spring.

Resident Clifford E. Sharp questioned the need for the city’s involvement in child care. Before the council took its vote, Sharp said many women are working to provide a second income for their household, and, he said, “their income goes to put a Mercedes in the garage.”

Government today, he complained, supports “cradle-to-the-grave” care. “But where is it going to stop? Are we going to be furnishing mechanics for that Mercedes?” Sharp also questioned the concept of the grant, which city officials said would come from a pool of about $250,000 to be distributed among eight cities.

Reichenberger, who was instrumental in creating a senior citizens task force, said that the seniors group has operated fine without applying for grants or requiring any money from the city.

One problem with the child care grant, she said, stemmed from the state’s requiring 25% in matching funds. This, Reichenberger said, would be costly, even if it came from in-kind contributions of office space and city staff time.

“We know we have problems with seniors and with children. But we do have to be careful about how we spend city money,” she said.

‘Somewhat Opposed’

Despite their opposition to the grant, Hatch and Reichenberger said their misgivings shouldn’t be interpreted as opposition to the task force. Hatch did say, however, that he “is somewhat opposed to the government taking control of raising America’s children.”

If there was a lack of information on how the money would be used, Chu said, it resulted from the short amount of time the city had to apply for the grant. The city, she said, found out about the grant in early January and would have had to file its application by the end of the month.

Cited Concern

In stating why he abstained, Councilman Christopher Houseman cited his concern that Antoinette Fabela, the interim chairman of the task force, had a conflict of interest because she owns the L.A.U.G.H. Day Care Center. Fabela, a member of the Garvey School Board, disputed the notion of any possible conflicting interest. “I’m licensed for 30 children, ages 2 to 5, and I cannot possibly house the entire city of Monterey Park’s children,” she said.

The grant question aside, Chu said the community needs to realize it is paying for the lack of child care in many ways.

The city’s library and Parks and Recreation Department, she said, are overburdened by children who are left to fend for themselves while their parents are working.

Also, Chu said, Asian families view the parks and libraries as institutions that are safe. Parents, she said, “may not know that there are negative things that can happen in a library” to an unsupervised child.

The library is not able to keep track of each child, said Elizabeth Minter, city librarian. Sometimes, said Barbara Kruse, children’s librarian, parents do not pick up their children until as late as 7 p.m. In one case, she said, a child who looked about 5 years old was left for an entire Saturday without a lunch.

Studies’ Findings

Each afternoon, Minter said, the library reluctantly hosts 40 to 50 children. “It’s not that they are here because they are fascinated with something in a book,” she said.

Initial studies done to support the creation of the task force came up with other disturbing findings, according to Chu.

Among the findings were:

The city has no licensed day-care center for infants up to age 2.

Twenty percent, or 12,922, of the city’s estimated population of 64,000 are children under 14. Well over half of that number are under the age of 9.

Only 1,600 of these children are served by licensed day-care centers.

Chu said that there already is an innovative day care project in Monterey Park, but it is exclusively for a private firm. Union Bank, with its headquarters in Monterey Park’s Corporate Center, has set up a nationally acclaimed day-care center for its employees, she said.

In the case of Industry, city officials said requests from corporations prompted the council’s interest in applying for the state grant. The city of 609 residents has a work force of 60,000 and City Manager Chris Rope said that if Industry receives the grant, the funds will help determine the child care needs of the work force.

Bill Ewing, Pomona’s heralded innovator in day care, has agreed to do some initial voluntary consulting for Industry. And, Rope said, if Industry gets the state grant, the city would use the money to pay for services by Ewing, who spearheads the day care program of the Pomona Unified School District.

“This is like God and mother,” Rope said. “Everybody should be in favor of it.”

Chu, who has studied the issue while working as a volunteer with the United Way and the American Assn. of University Women, said child care poses a dilemma for women. “They either have to make great sacrifices in terms of their work, or get family members to help out or hire someone on an individual basis, which is incredibly expensive,” she said.

“The economy has forced both members of a couple to work,” she said. “So we have no choice but to try to make child care work. A lot of women my age have gone through school, are starting careers and having families too. And they are really struggling with this question.”