El Monte residents torn on new developments
Revenue from new businesses and housing is needed but traffic and parking problems are not
Clockwise from top left: Council Member Victoria Martinez Muela (photo courtesy of Ms. Muela); Ruth Sandoval, a long-term resident of El Monte (photo courtesy of Ms. Sandoval); Cynthia Pena, a resident of El Monte (photo courtesy of Cynthia Pena); and Council Member Jerry Velasco (photo courtesy of the city of El Monte’s website).
Bringing in new businesses and housing developments is vital for the growth of any city but some El Monte residents feel they are losing the city they call home in the process.
City officials have worked to help generate tax revenue by bringing development to the city. Some of those plans have stalled due to the pandemic while others face serious pushback from residents.
According to the California Board of Equalization, El Monte has suffered a significant decrease in retail sales since 2005, which has affected the cities ability to have funding for everything they need.
“If I had a magic wand, I would change El Monte back to the shopping hub it was in the past. People used to come to El Monte’s Valley Mall to go to a huge tri-level JC Penneys, and the street was lined with opportunities to shop. Families would walk from store to store, purchase shoes for their children, stop off at the music store to buy a record or pick up an ice cream cone at the local Thrifty’s,” Council Member Victoria Martinez Muela wrote in an email to UT Community News, adding that the city used to have grocery stores such as Alpha Beta, Albertsons and Ralphs and about 10 car dealerships. “These dealerships were a major revenue source that supported the city government budget, hence providing more money for safety, infrastructure and programs. El Monte was a destination point and it thrived.”
That El Monte is long gone.
She said the “domino effect” of fewer shopping options is that residents shop elsewhere, taking their tax dollars with them, so she said “the city has had to increase its sales tax to support the budget and decrease its spending to keep the city running. Then, with a higher sales tax, residents are no longer incentivized to shop in the city they live in, and businesses don’t thrive. It’s a vicious cycle.”
In order to combat the loss of retail revenue that they have experienced over the last decade, local officials had plans of bringing more businesses into the city. But since the Covid-19 pandemic, many of those plans have not materialized.
“Before this pandemic threw us off, we were on a roll, the city was on a roll, we were like rolling, and fixing and doing. We were bringing in the nutcracker, we were bringing in productions, we were fixing the streets, fixing the roads, we were developing a lot of things but then boom, the thing hits, so everything has been put on hold,” said Council Member Jerry Velasco.
Some residents say what’s really needed in town is more infrastructure, better services and even more room in the local schools.
Cynthia Pena, a resident of the city, said the Norwood elementary school is across the street from her home but for several years, it has been a “fenced-up, empty eyesore in the middle of our neighborhood.”
When she attempted to enroll her children at Durfee Elementary school down the street, she was told that it was full.
“There is no room, at our home school, for our students. Then why in the world is the elementary school directly across the street from my home closed if neighboring schools are full!?” she wondered. Her advice: “Open it up and make room for the kids!”
Meanwhile, some longtime homeowners resent the push to develop the city, especially when it comes to new higher-density housing because of the impact on traffic and parking in residential areas.
“The city allows the construction of these sites and does not take the impact it will have on the residents into consideration,” said Ruth Sandoval, a longtime resident of El Monte. “The multiple family complexes impact traffic and street parking. My street has several townhouse complexes and apartment buildings which do not provide sufficient parking for its residents. People park on the streets and block driveways, throw trash on the streets and block the street sweeper.”
She added: “The entire block is dirty with trash and nobody at city hall cares. Code Enforcement and city hall claim give the excuse of, ‘You live in a parking impacted neighborhood.’ I have lived at my current residence for 29 years and my neighborhood wasn’t parking impacted until the city decided to allow the building of a 45-unit townhouse complex last year with [little to] no input from residents.”
She is a fourth-year Journalism student at Cal State LA. She is a Reporter and a Social Media Editor at the University Times. She has an interest in Music...
Stephen Ramirez • Jan 25, 2021 at 4:05 am
These mix-use housing units that have retail space on the 1st floor and housing are being push to be built by the city because the city thinks if they build new retail that will bring businesses to open in El Monte but no one wants to open businesses in El Monte and why would . When you open up a business you look for places with high traffic and there is nothing in El Monte to attract people to come here. The dealership have mostly left, we have no places to go for entertainment and quality dinning. With nothing to do locally residence have entertain themselve with drugs and alcohol and that bring a rise in crime . Developing housing only brings more people with nothing to do.
Steve Ramirez • Jan 23, 2021 at 2:09 am
I am a life long resident of El Monte and I have been saying for years that the city has been putting all there efforts on developing mix-use housing with the idea that the retail stores attached will bring the businesses that we need. That is where our leadership has failed us and shown me they are out of touch with the city. This is because they are not from El Monte as they claim to be. There is no way businesses will open in El Monte . We have a high crime rate and a bad reputation and that is a direct result of having nothing in this town to do for entertainment. Building housing will only bring more people with nothing to do. With nothing to do crime is going to rise. People will stay home and do drugs or drink alcohol. These leaders have no answers for this problem . There is an open sit on the city council and I have applied for it and I am the only one that bring a solution and I have already been working on it. What we need is to provide the residence a place that will bring entertainment ,dinning , and retail as soon as possible. I have taken to Facebook to tell the city council and the new Mayor that we need to build a Sports Park and I have the perfect location and I have already started designing a layout on this site. Go to El Monte Sports Park on Facebook to see what I have done.
jay maechtlen • Jan 19, 2021 at 2:57 pm
Bingo re the parking – maybe the council had to make compromises to get the development done? It might be interesting to see who voted for that development and see if any of them are still around. In any case, the City has been known to issue tickets for blocking the streetsweepers – and there’s no excuse for not enforcing it now. We get trash on our street, and some of us residents do a bit of cleanup ourselves from time to time. The public works department hasn’t been real well run for a while – they cut a bunch of trees down six months ago, but left the stumps and left the sidewalks torn up and dangerous. Sloppy work.
O cruzer • Jan 19, 2021 at 10:51 am
We need to keep El Monte to single family homes and protect our home values. The city is very close to everything . El monte city hall needs to work to keep it small town family type city.
Melissa diaz • Jan 19, 2021 at 12:20 am
Knock down the valley mall and build sec8 /low income homes for the homeless .Los Angeles has brand new trailers/mobiles homes provided for the homeless,why can’t el monte be the next city to provide homes .
Joaquin Morenoolivas • Jan 19, 2021 at 12:05 am
Knock down the valley mall and put up a new bad ass walmart…that’s what I think…
Bonnie Williams • Jan 18, 2021 at 7:24 am
I’ve been a resident for over 30 years in El Monte and the decisions of the city council have ruined property value I’m on. I can’t even build a two-story house on 3/4 of an acre while across the street small piece of property can build two houses both with two stories. And as for shopping or going to lunch I have never heard anyone say ” Lets go to El Monte”,EVER ! Even when the city had the space and the opportunity to bring more Revenue from a major store , they failed. drive down Santa Anita just past the bus station..the city took Heritage Park and gave it to ” Housing.” something El Monte just doesn’t need any more of. Now the the project setting at a stand still.. A real eyesore .what a waste in my opinion, its too bad that would have been a perfect opportunity for major stores in the heart of El Monte So with that I say El Monte is a good place to move from.
Agustin hernandez • Jan 18, 2021 at 12:00 am
The problem now is the diversity of residents in el monte. Last time I heard, el monte was 80% asians now and about 20% latinos, of course 19% mexicans, so this is creating a comercial gap in the asians ,mexican comunity, hard to believe but it is the problem, is the rich culture of mexicans and asian clashing each other, so we all go somewhere else where we feel like home, before it used to be el monte a triving city, im not racist but now asians dont shop, of course they dont eat our food or even american fast food, what Im saying is they dont spend in our city, they rather go to montery park, up garvey blvd to rosemead., so we are now becoming a minority here in our own city, our young generation are folowing up with theres, there rather go to a fine chinese or asian cuisine rather than mexican, have u ever wonder those food business here in e monte where they serve mexican food are old, degrated, nasty places and never take the time to clean ip or upgrade, while asians are emerging with nice restaurants, small bit nice, but then there empty because majority of residents here are mexicans and dont go to those places, what Im trying to say is that they have to step up, valley mall was mainly mexicans business, what happen they all left, I went to a chinese restaurant in valley mall next to Norms, they told me a need to make an appointment to get in, thats bull, they use that as an excuse so they wont take mexicans in there business, Im not stupid, there was another place too in ramona blvd, they rejected me, It is the clash between cultures, Im sure theres a solution to all this, I have more to say anout this, california is not just the 5th most powerful economy in the world for nothing, Mexicans or I should say mexican americans are part of this state sucess, and specially El Monte, Ive known people all the way from Texas to Boston that at one point in there lives when they steped in to this country, they came across living in El Monte, ? What, hell Yeah, Its true, El monte should be proud of our heritage,, mostly mexicans, too bad bad were loosing our grounds.
Leo Villanueva • Jan 17, 2021 at 3:05 pm
I can confirm the parking issue, it’s really bad, people are parking in front of hydrants in front of crosswalks blocking the sloped curb that people on wheel chairs need. I’ve seen people park half way into their driveway blocking the sidewalk in the process. Very few people move their cars for the street sweeper and there’s trash everywhere and it causes a mess when it rains. I don’t understand how people leave their trash just anywhere on our streets, it’s on the curbs, sidewalks I’ve even seen people throw trash inside a school yard. Not always small trash either mattresses unwanted televisions, ect on the street by the freeway ect. Sorry for the rant, long time resident and I’ve seen some improvements but also some things are looking worse. Didn’t we also receive some funding for zamora Park nothing has been upgraded other than maybe they installed 1 security camera and don’t get me started on how much water they waste with the sprinkler system there.
Silvestre Rodriguez • Jan 17, 2021 at 3:49 am
I also am a long time El Monte residence, and want to echo Ruth Sandoval concerns with Cars parking illegally next to fire hydrants blocking driveways and trash thrown in our streets.
Regina Cano-Gonzales • Jan 17, 2021 at 12:42 am
I have lived in El Monte all my life and was heartbroken driving down Peck Rd seeing all the closed businesses! I can’t agree with people who don’t want more and better housing here. WE NEED IT! if parking is bad then bitch and complain until the PD starts ticketing cars and the city starts FINING builders and town home residents. There’s no excuse for the street sweeper not to clean ANY STREET. those cars should be towed.. We need to start with our parks to make them pristine with STELLAR kids programs .If parents want their kids participating in our city programs they’ll be shopping and eating while their kids practice play and perform. Same with our schools. Put some money into school programs! When our kids are stellar other kids want to be with them or competing against them. why isn’t our pool used for more tournaments? Start putting our money into our kids and the parents will stay here and come here to put their money into our businesses
Frankie Ramirez • Jan 17, 2021 at 12:13 am
All apartments our old and run down. City hall code enforcement dont care. I live in the Northside of El Monte. And most apt, our run by management’s so the owner when ask to upgrade cause of deterioration. Change the name. But the same people run them.most know the code enforcement and get payed off..my unite doesn’t have heat. One bedroom. Plumbing is bad. Has asbestos. Lead paint. Looks like a dump. Water seeps in through the dry wall. And I’m disabled..dont stand a chance, cause city Hall is corrupt..