ELECTIONS / EL MONTE : Candidates Disagree on City Management

The dominant issue in the City Council and mayoral election is the city itself. Is El Monte an increasingly vibrant place where progressive municipal government has been happily shepherding in outside investors, or is it a poorly managed city whose neighborhoods are falling apart before the eyes of 95,000 disenchanted residents?

Both scenarios have been aired in the race, in which three candidates are running for mayor and six are seeking two City Council seats.

Donald McMillen, 67, a retired businessman who is seeking his fourth two-year term as mayor, says El Monte has turned around in the past six years. Among the items he lists as indications of good municipal health are the establishment of a Tianguis supermarket and a Pace Club outlet, as well as the expansion of Longo Toyota, which bills itself as “the world’s largest car dealer.”

Those businesses alone have brought millions in annual sales tax revenues and close to 1,000 jobs to the city, says McMillen, who has been on the council since 1980.

At the same time, he says, the city has imposed tight restrictions on high density building and is in the process of upgrading the city’s building code, requiring such measures as automatic garage doors and concrete driveways for new houses. “I’m real enthused about the city,” he says.

Mayoral candidate Art Platten is not. He contends that the city is guilty of “helter-skelter slam-bang planning,” which has brought traffic jams and deteriorating neighborhoods.

“You never know if you’re fish or fowl over here,” says Platten, 58, a real estate appraiser who has run unsuccessfully for city office three times. “Suddenly, there are two-story homes in single-story neighborhoods. A poor guy can end up living in a cavern (between two taller buildings).”

While the City Council has been cutting back on social services, El Monte is beset with crime, gang problems and gridlock, Platten says. “The only thing we have here (in the nature of anti-gang programs) is graffiti removal,” he says. And the council has been wasteful, Platten says. Not only has it plunged the city into debt with an ambitious redevelopment program, it has not ensured that developers fill jobs with El Monte workers, he charges.

Maurice Lopez, the third mayoral candidate, is upset about crime, too. “The council has been very passive as far as fighting crime and drugs,” Lopez says. A partner in a planning and architectural firm, Lopez, 39, wants to set up a mayor’s council on crime, consisting of residents and lawyers to “push (city efforts) to the limit.”

He also accuses the council of poor planning. “I’m concerned about the way city planning goes awry,” he says. “The City Council has put out millions for property, only to lose millions in projects that were never built,” Lopez says. (McMillen notes the city is in such good shape that there is a $10-million surplus.)

City Councilman Ernest Gutierrez is bullish on El Monte. Like McMillen, the two-term councilman points proudly to new businesses in town, as well as to the city’s expanding local bus service. “It’s taken eight years to turn back the tide of sentiment that the big stores didn’t belong here,” says Gutierrez, 55, a guidance counselor in a Cerritos public school.

He acknowledges a stubborn crime problem in El Monte, but he says police and such programs as the Boys Club are turning would-be gang members around with “proactive” techniques. “Yes, we do have a problem, but we’re not sitting back and doing nothing,” says Gutierrez, the only incumbent councilman in the race. (The other seat up for grabs is that of one-term Councilman Jeff Marrone, who elected not to run.)

Felice Durazo says she would continue most city policies. “We have a great mayor and a great council,” says Durazo, 48, the co-owner of a local Mexican restaurant. “Growth in El Monte has been very positive. I want to keep on the same track. I think I can be a team player.”

El Monte’s sole “negative” in recent years, says Durazo, has been its inability to bring in a shopping mall. “A shopping center should save a lot of traffic,” she says. “People who live here could shop here and work here.”

Ken Kim says he has “no qualms” about the council. “I can get along with everybody on that council,” he says. Running for the council seat is an extension of his role as a community volunteer, says Kim, 56, a plumber who is active in volunteer organizations.

“I love this city,” he says. “I moved here (three years ago) because I wanted to get more involved. I’ve been doing volunteer work in El Monte for 10 years. I’ve made money in the city, and the only thing left for me to do is to give back. Here I am.”

Robert (Mickey) Bojorquez says he can bring needed experience in government to the city. “The city reflects a lack of experience and understanding that should be there,” says Bojorquez, 60, a union official and former two-term councilman from neighboring South El Monte. “Sections of the city are virtually becoming ghettos.”

His background on the South El Monte council (he moved here three years ago) and as a legislative specialist with Los Angeles City Employees Union Local 347 has given him, he says, “an understanding of the overall process,” which he could use to solve such problems as deteriorating neighborhoods.

Patricia Wallach also brings governmental experience to the campaign, having been a member of the El Monte Union High School board of trustees for seven years. The city’s schools are in a state of crisis, she says, because of “overbuilding” of residences.

“Every school in El Monte is using a great number of portable buildings,” says Wallach, 52, an instructional aide in a local junior high school. “We’re not keeping up with the number of children coming in.” At the same time, she contends, “the police and fire departments are overextended and our streets are gridlocked.” She proposes more effective long-range planning.

Jack Thurston says the city can expect a surge of interest from developers in the near future. “We’re ideally located in the Los Angeles area, with a freeway system around us,” says Thurston, 54, a drapery broker. “I look for tremendous growth over the next few years.”

He wants to prepare with better planning and with a blight reduction program. “We have falling-down neighborhoods that are definitely not up to building code standards,” Thurston says. “We have graffiti all over buildings, junk cars parked on lawns.”