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CERRITOS MAYOR PRO-TEM CAROL CHEN, EX-MAYOR GRACE HU, UNITED HOA, EX-ABC SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER CECY GROOM CALLED TO TASK BY MEASURE AA SUPPORTERS.
By Brian Hews
Supporters of Measure AA on the upcoming November ballot have denounced campaign mailings and websites from opponents of the $190 Million general improvement bond this week in an interview with Hews Media Group-Community Newspaper.
Maynard Law, who is a current member of the ABC School Board, told HMG-CN that the campaign that is currently being conducted to defeat the bond measure is “totally misleading” and that “false information” is being distributed on two websites that are “destroying the future progress at ABCUSD.”
Law specifically mentioned two websites, one that is being managed by Cerritos resident James Yee and another from Ben Ao who is the leader of the United Homeowners Association also based in Cerritos.
Law said that Yee, and Ao need to be “called to task” and that they are “spreading lies and misstatements about what Measure AA will do and what it will not do in the future.”
Law also said that current Cerritos Mayor Pro-Tem Carol Chen and former Mayor Grace Hu need to be “held accountable” for their “actions” in “spreading lies” to the voters.
“Look, Carol Chen and Grace Hu stand to lose a lot of money if this ballot measure is approved, since both of them own multiple properties within the ABC School District,” Law said.
Law also said that Hu and Chen as well as Yee and Ao have “been working in tandem” with two organized campaign committees that have been legally filed with the California Secretary of State.
Ao admitted that he personally wrote a check recently to “cover the costs” for a post card that arrived in voters mailboxes last week.
Other sources tell HMG-CN that a formal complaint may be filed with both the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Public Integrity Office regarding the mailer.
Law said that the current ABC School Board came up with six different areas of cconcern that are the focal points contained in Measure AA.
Law said that the bond is intended to update classrooms and to “bring them into the 21st Century, instead of being stuck with broken chairs and desks from the 1970’s and 80’s.”
He also said that Measure will deliver the funded for updating Science and Technology labs, addressing how to maintain, upgrade or remove 107 “temporary” portable classrooms that have been dotting local campuses for more than 20 and 30 years.
“This bond is needed, no question about it. Our newest school is 40 years old, and that school is Whitney High School,” Law said. A majority of our schools were built in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.
Law and other supporters of Measure AA said that they “did not expect this type of opposition.”
“This is an anti-school and anti-kids campaign that they are waging against us,” Law said.
Law also said that another former ABC School Board Member Cecy Groom is also working hard to defeat Measure AA.
“Some people have told us that they can’t support the bond, because we are getting to much pressure from Republican relators and Cecy Groom,” he said.
Law said that proponents of Measure AA plan to raise around $65,000 in the campaign. “We plan to spend every penny of it educating voters.”
I see the :”product” which are children of illegal aliens. They predominate abc. So after paying over 2 thou for property tax this year NO ON AA
Everyone understands the quality of our schools, and the facilities our students need, is very important to the future of the region. Nobody disputes this, certainly not the Yes on AA side and not the No on AA side.
This political skirmish is simply about financing, preparation, public input, transparency and accountability. The administrators at ABCUSD made a big mistake by not conducting legitimate public input sessions.
Sure, Boardmember Law says over 300 people had input. Teachers, Administrators, and the PTA. These were not publicly-noticed sessions, therefore taxpayers who do not have a connection to the District (which is probably 85% of the population) were not given the proper opportunity to provide input.
ABCUSD administrators have not prioritized projects, only have a guess as to what these projects on paper will cost, thereby hamstringing any Citizens Oversight Committee’s ability to report to the public if their taxpayer dollars were actually spent as voters approved.
These same administrators have balked, stonewalled, or just ignored public requests as to how the 1997 $59million bond proceeds were spent. The only way for informed voters to determine if this District is capable of managing taxpayer dollars is based on the District’s past behavior.
What’s the rush? If Measure AA passes in a few weeks, the District won’t even issue the first series of bonds until July 2015. Tangible construction may not begin until November 2015.
For as much as this is about students, and future students, it is certainly as much about the financing, and preparation.
Bad plans need to be defeated, then resurrected as a plan the entire community can get behind. I would presume that a good plan would eliminate opposition, and I hope the District, and the media, don’t think the opposition only consists of a current City of Cerritos elected official and a former City of Cerritos elected official. Based on Mr. Law’s comments, he understands this, but is trying to create a “Boogieman” to rally behind.
Mr. Law, there is no “Boogieman”. However, there are thousands of District residents that will voice their concern over this foggy plan. Mr. Law only has to look at a cadre of District Administrators, and staff to blame for community opposition. Sure, it is a tough idea to comprehend, but if this passes, let’s hope the community can come together with a better plan so our students can have the modern school facilities they need and deserve.
UNITED-HOA.ORG
…No No Mello Roos school Tax…
We should be more interested in Desalination Water Treatment Plants and Solar-Power Driven Windmills, then trying to convert campuses to STIM compounds plus the results of COMMON CORE EDUCATION is at best a ghost data! What ever happened to Prop 13, as district has already 2 Mello Roos School Bonds in place.
District has over 47% Seniors, which will not benefit from the Mello Roos Bond, as too old to use the schools and are waiting to die off. No long term data to support, the ABC properties will increase or be devalued, as many cities have lost property values when Mello Roos Taxes are attached to the tax Bill. Many retirees have only SS and no 401K or other means of retiree incomes.
Voters keep in mind, this only effects portions of the cities, as not all Cerritos share the ABCUSD, such as the west side, which joins w/ Bellflower. With this said Mello Roos Tax Bond, city will be further divided, as RE prices will demonstrate lack of tolerance for said 2-3 Mello Roos School Bonds.
Councilperson Carol Chen-Barrows, demonstrated neither are for the peoples of the Cerritos or in the surrounding districts; but choose a degree of tolerance/ less tolerance in community bullying, for those select invited within private-secret meeting on July 3, 2014 to ask Q/A for the Mello Roos School Bond.
School Mello Roos Measure, Yes- Yes groups are trying to airbrush out of the equation: our school district already has 2 Mello Roos School bonds in place, plus residents of the ABC will be paying towards said of (2) two school debts for decades, decades, decades.
Many surrounding school districts do not have multiple Mello Roos School bonds in place, plus our Districts -2- Mello Roos Bonds we’re voted in by the voters prior to this Past recession. Some properties in ABC Unified School District are still having financial issues and also are still faced w/ foreclosures. Unemployment is still hi in ABCUSD, hovering around 5-6%, where other districts which have successful Mello Roos Bonds, at the height of the recession, only had 2.1% Unemployment, such as nearby Jewish-Catholic areas of ROSSMOOR. How will more Mello Roos Taxes affect the Low Income Loan Modifications which took place during the recession?
Feel voters will have to respond to this Mello Roos Measure: Do we really want to have a Rolls Royce-Cadillac classrooms or do we want to have state-of-the-art teaching systems. MPO, this Mello Roos Tax Measure, only creates Rolls Royce -Cadillac types of classrooms, nothing for renewable energy and will not really improve the quality of teacher education. Remember, education is taught within, not the surrounding facade of the campus. Voters who do not received ABC Cable or dont live within broadcasting, have no knowledge of the ABC Trustees Leverage this Mello Roos is trying to squek in to. Voting is on Nov 4, 2014, how come there has been no election forums for all of the district public to attend:
1. PTA.
2. LCCN
3. LB-PT
4. OCR
5. Chambers
6. Local Realtor Boards.
No No AA Mello Roos
I see an increase of out-of-district transfers and then when my kids don’t get a break, and we’re in ABC..I don’t get it either. I’ll be blunt, I live in ABC, I pay taxes in ABC, I should receive priority..period. No to Bond AA – it’s not for us.