Council Member Should Speak His Mind at Meetings

Frank Cuda’s letter to the editor (Times, July 14) that criticized Monterey Park council member Samuel Kiang for talking too much made me whoop with laughter.

Anybody who has ever attended Monterey Park council meetings knows that Cuda never misses an opportunity to speak before the council. The best you can say about him is that he does provide a certain comic relief with his windy monologues, and every once in a while he does say something important.

His comment on Kiang’s “obsession” with forcing an official bilingualism on Monterey Park residents is right on target.

It has to be first understood that Kiang is not acting completely on his own. The people who financed his overnight rise to political power are the ones who want a segregated “Chinese Only” Monterey Park that will be a model for the San Gabriel Valley.

Still, I disagree with Cuda’s complaint that Kiang spends too much time talking. Most of our laws are decided on behind closed doors, and their rationale would stay secret if not for council members like Kiang.

I appreciate his thoughtful comments on these laws, although I don’t always agree with him.

FRANK J. ARCURI

Monterey Park