Protesters Call for Bell Gardens Manager to Quit

A group of Latino business owners in Bell Gardens launched a protest outside City Hall on Wednesday, demanding the resignation of the newly appointed city manager.

The business owners say that City Manager Maria Chacon is politically divisive and unqualified for the job and that she will hurt the business climate of the blue-collar community in southeast Los Angeles County.

“The people are now asking that she leave,” said Armando Moreno, who heads the group, known as Comerciantes Latinos Unidos de Bell Gardens.

About 25 business owners and residents held signs and marched in front of City Hall, chanting “Chacon Out” in Spanish. Chacon, a former City Council member and influential political activist, was appointed to the $80,000-a-year post in December by a 3-1 vote of the same council members she had supported in the two previous elections.

Chacon could not be reached for comment, but Mayor Ramiro Morales, a Chacon ally, called the charges baseless.

“It’s nothing new,” he said. “It’s election time, and they are trying to get the community support.”

Watching the Wednesday rally were Bell Gardens Councilmen Rogelio Rodriguez and Pedro Aceituno, who are both running for reelection next month against a slate of Chacon-supported candidates.

Rodriguez and Aceituno both voted to appoint Chacon two months ago but have complained that Chacon recently asked them to extend her contract’s severance package from a lump sum equal to six months’ salary to 18 months’ salary. Rodriguez said he rejected Chacon’s request, and Aceituno said he was noncommittal.

Chacon and a group called Bell Gardens Parents United for Justice had helped elect Rodriguez and Aceituno during a recall election last year. But this year, Chacon and the parents group are supporting a new slate of candidates in the March 6 election.

Rodriguez and Aceituno said they lost the support of Chacon and her group because they refused to support her contract amendment.

Moreno, who runs a sporting goods store in Bell Gardens, said the city manager should not be involved in such political feuds.

To select Chacon, the council loosened the job qualifications previously required under city law. The council also removed a rule that required elected officials to wait one year after leaving office before taking a city job.

Chacon has insisted that she is qualified for the job because of her in-depth knowledge of the city’s government and its residents.

Under her contract, Chacon, who does not have a college degree, earns $80,000 a year, plus an $800-a-month car allowance. If she receives “above average” marks on her six-month performance review by the City Council, she will get $93,000 per year starting July 1. If her following review is also positive, she will earn $106,000 per year, according to her contract.