Bob Harbicht: 2010 City Council Campaign
February 4, 2010 by admin
Filed under Council Candidates
Submitted Wednesday, Feb. 4:
Ever notice that you don’t see things about Arcadia city government in the newspapers very often? Ever notice that you probably rarely think about Arcadia City government? Well, I think that’s a good thing.
This city is so well-run that the average citizen just doesn’t have to think about it. Count your blessings. Many cities in our area have one controversy after another. Public officials are indicted on bribery charges, Councilmembers are openly fighting with each other, Council meetings are filled with angry residents. Arcadia just goes along swimmingly.
Our streets are repaired and swept, our fire department is one of only 51 in the nation with a “Class 1″ rating, our police are professional and well-equipped, parents are lining up to enroll their children in our recreation programs, Arcadia’s library is the finest in the area, our public green areas are beautiful, when you turn on the faucet water comes out, when you pull the plug it goes away, and on and on. Our budget is balanced and our reserves are strong. Arcadia city government works!
A quiet, efficient city is what I’ve strived to provide since I was first elected in 1986. And that’s exactly what I plan to provide in the future. There’s an old saying that goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Despite the claims you will be hearing over the next couple of months of this campaign, Arcadia isn’t broken. Don’t “fix” it! I hope you’ll return me to office so I can continue to insure that this city is one of the best in California.
Application statement filed with City Clerk’s office:
Bob Harbicht
Occupation: City Council Member
When first elected to City Council I was pleased to learn that Arcadia reserves (savings accounts) totaled $12.5 million. Since then we have built:
- The community center
- A new library
- A new police station
- A new headquarters fire station
- Another fire station
- 7 new water reservoirs
- 7 new water wells
- Joint-use gymnasium (under construction)
And that $12.5 million in reserves when I took office? It now totals $91.3 million!
I’m proud of the accomplishments in Arcadia during my terms in office, most recently:
- * Named “Best place in California to raise kids” a second year in a row by Business Week
- * Crime has shown an 8% decrease this year, continuing the trend of recent years.
- * The Arcadia Fire Department is one of only 51 in the nation with Class 1 rating.
There’s an old saying that contains a lot of truth: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” Arcadia is anything but broken. We have arguably the best-run city in California.
I would appreciate your vote so I can continue to provide the excellent representation I have in the past. Thank you.
This is one of six blogs provided by ArcadiasBest.com to the six candidates running for three seats on the Arcadia City Council in the April 13, 2010 election.
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Mr. Harbicht:
While I think you are a nice person I am quite disturbed with the statements you have made in your (blog).
“Ever notice that you probably rarely think about Arcadia City government? Well, I think that’s a good thing.”
Actually, I see Arcadia in the papers a lot. People are being burglarized, purse snatchings are prevalent, and you guys never took care of the Caruso situation. There are two strip clubs in Arcadia and massage parlors are everywhere. This was while you were guarding this City.
“This city is so well-run that the average citizen just doesn’t have to think about it. Count your blessings.”
Actually, I think about it a lot! I think about it so much that I am very disturbed you cannot name one issue in your ad that we need to improve. A city councilman is not strong when he sits back and brags. It’s when he forges ahead and makes it so I do not have write this long email.
“Many cities in our area have one controversy after another. Public officials are indicted on bribery charges, Councilmembers are openly fighting with each other, Council meetings are filled with angry residents.”
Why must you compare yourself to other cities? We are the one and the best. Not having bribery charges…that is the bare minimum. I stunned sir that you are resting on these bare minimums. And frankly, not having “angry residents” does not mean you are doing a good job. That may mean that you have dulled everyone’s senses that they think government is not connected with their citizens. People just give up.
“Arcadia just goes along swimmingly.”
“Our streets are repaired and swept, our fire department is one of only 51 in the nation with a “Class 1″ rating, our police are professional and well-equipped, parents are lining up to enroll their children in our recreation programs, Arcadia’s library is the finest in the area, our public green areas are beautiful, when you turn on the faucet water comes out, when you pull the plug it goes away, and on and on. Our budget is balanced and our reserves are strong. Arcadia city government works!”
Sir, you either do not live in Arcadia or you are making inaccurate statements.
· There are places in Arcadia where the streets are not smooth
· Stop taking the glory of a well run Fire Department from the Fire Chief – If you were the Fire Chief I would not be making those statements.
· Police are not well-equipped. They need our help. Have you been looking at the papers lately? They need money.
· Of course parents are lining up their children for recreation programs, any good parent would. Why should their actions be any indication that you are doing a good job.
· Arcadia’s library is underfunded. We have one of the ugliest libraries in Southern California. We have a new fire station, city hall looks beautiful, and our library is no better than some junior high libraries.
· You are asking us to be proud that when our water turns on “water comes out” — are you being serious ? Are you comparing Arcadia to a third world country?
· Our budget is not balanced. At a minimum we are short $450,000.00 for the year. Some estimates say that we are short by $40,000,000.00 because of the state budget crisis. Perhaps we need to take Money 101.
“A quiet, efficient city is what I’ve strived to provide since I was first elected in 1986. And that’s exactly what I plan to provide in the future. There’s an old saying that goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Despite the claims you will be hearing over the next couple of months of this campaign, Arcadia isn’t broken. Don’t “fix” it! I hope you’ll return me to office so I can continue to insure that this city is one of the best in California.”
My conclusion: I used to like you. I met you several times. After reading your (blog) I am so upset that I am looking at voting for a new face. On your watch, Arcadia went down the tubes. If you admitted your mistakes and told us that we must be focused during this crisis I would have voted for you. Now, I will take my vote, and all my friends and the HOA and vote in a different direction. I am so happy that you decided to speak your mind because I never realized that you are lost. Lost in your own belief that Arcadia is just doing great. Good luck to you. Good luck to Arcadia. Because if you win, we will seriously need it.
Other than noting that there are areas in Arcadia where the streets are not “smooth” — because a number of potholes appeared on the streets following the recent rains, I disagree with Patricia. Bob Harbicht is one of the most articulate and intelligent members of the City Council. If you ever watch the council meetings on tv or attend in person, you will recognize that he is a thoughtful, wise and gracious gentleman, and Arcadia is lucky to have him on the Council. The library, fire department, and police department look and run great. I can’t imagine wanting to live in any other city in the world. Putting the City Hall remodel on hold was a wise move. By the way, what is there for Mr. Harbicht to “take care of” in connection with the “Caruso situation”?? The “Caruso situation” is in litigation, which takes years. Do you expect him to storm the courthouse and force the judge to type up a decision in Arcadia’s favor? You did not need to mention that you live in an area of Arcadia governed by an HOA. It was evident.
I lived in Arcadia about 32 years – it’s a well run city,much better than most in our area. Sure, there is always room for improvement, but Patricia (who did not give her last name) is off base with most of her comments. As a former member of the Library Commission (and now a member of the Library Foundation) I strongly disagree with her comments about the library. It’s one of the finest in So California as evidenced by the ever increasing number of library users. The building may not be the prettiest, but what’s inside is second to none.I am also a long time volunteer at our Police Department and I will “stack” it up against any other. By the way, Patricia, have you ever volunteered for any city committee or commission. If things are so bad, may be you should help ‘fix” them.
See above
In response to Patricia……….. Do you not think the daily theft and robberies are happening in other cities as well? Have you not kept up with the state of some of Arcadia’s neighboring cities, such as El Monte? Do you know that a good number of cities in Southern California can’t even afford to operate, even if they imposed layoffs? Arcadia has been run quite well by both it’s elected officials AND it’s staff. This ain’t Mayberry!
Swimmingly ? I for one don’t share that view. Why do you, yes you, always compare ARCADIA to other cities. We LIVE IN ARCADIA. Judge us against ourselves, who care’s what other cities problems are. You sit at every council smiling away, informing the citizens of matter’s for the most part don’t have any bearing on our everyday lives. Our budget is balanced and our reserves are high? If that is the case why do you constanly whine about the recession? Why isn’t PD fully staffed? Is there still a hiring freeze? Ask Don Penman to open the books so we can see the reenue sources and how much actually goes into city service’s, not city employee retirement package’s. A number of citizen groups in other cities, to borrow a page from your act, are suing cities for not being open with city finances and are forcing them to re-think how they govern. I am sorry to inform you Arcadia once was but, is no longer Camelot.
In keeping with asking questions of the candidate, not beating on one another, what do you see as being the biggest problem Arcadia will face in the years to come, and how will you address those issues? How will the State’s crisis affect the City, and will essential city services fall any further than what they currently are, or will they return to what they once were?
The most troubling thing I ever heard you saY was that “You don’t want change in Arcadia”. There is an older saying that says if you are not moving forward you are moving backward. Arcadia is blessed that we have the Mall and the race track that has provided us revenues for many years. Unfortunately this has caused a comfort in our City Leaders that the revenue will continue forever. But that is not true, the Horse Racing Industry has been declining for years it’s survivability is questionable and retail sales have declined drastically. The Mall’s new addition looks horrible, has created major parking problems and the condition of the mall is fair to poor. Our City’s leaders focus remains there while neglecting the rest of our City.
Have you driven Live Oak in the last 5 years, Huntington Drive’s improvements have been planters which removed parking and narrowed the street but what about any outreach to our small businesses. What about any effort to attract the “right” combination of businesses to gain some momentum and opportunities for our citizenry to gather and spend our money in Arcadia rather than spending it in Pasadena. First Avenue, Foothill Blvd, Baldwin Ave has no continuity of any sort, I don’t even know how to describe them other than a hot mess.
Dining? Bob, do you like a good steak, let me know where you get one other than the Derby. Remember Target? Arcadia was too good for a Target well they have been very successful in Pasadena and that location allowed Duarte City a Target. Do you know they now have a Best Buy?
Do you remember that Caruso’s project is patterned after Myrtle Avenue in Monrovia? Take a lesson from them, they have done an unbelievable job of planning, creative uses of funds to attract great dining, businesses and development.
You should be embarrassed of yourself for your supreme selfishness. Your wishes of no change is going to cause Arcadia many problems for many years after you are gone. Have you ever asked yourself where are the youth in Arcadia? Do you ever see them anywhere in our City? You spent $720,000 on one of the top consultants in general plans and you not only dismissed the entire plan and recommendations of the Consultant and the Advisory Committee which I was proud to be a member of but you insulted the members that spoke on behalf of our recommendations. It was such a shock that our City Leaders would react in such a manner.
You as Mayor instructed the committee to go back and revise the plan but each time they did those changes were brought to the Council and were changed and sent back to the Committee. The Committee made more changes and again the plan was taken to the Council the Council made their own changes again. This went on for 6 meetings but it did not take but a couple before the message was very clear that the Council was the body creating the general plan which the Consultant has remarked is 25 years behind todays standards. That’s where I think your thinking has stalled but that’s just my opinion and certainly not an insult.
What a waste of $720,000 and countless hours of the Advisory Committee’s time and staff’s time. Our City’s staff are an incredible jewel of resources that Arcadia has but don’t handcuff them, listen to them they can lead this great City into the future. They are very well versed in the needs of Arcadia but you don’t let them do their job.
My opinion is that you and the Council are not qualified to create Arcadia’s general plan for the following reasons:
1. There is a huge difference in generations between when you were raised and our youths generation. Technology has changed our lives so quickly you may not be aware they don’t ride bikes like you did when you were young, they don’t like to use a phone to talk but would rather text and they are technologically superior which affects every aspect of their lives. Have you ever asked any youths what their needs will be in the future? Beaver Cleaver is now in his 50′s probably divorced, overworked and stressed, maybe sees his kids on the weekends and most likely lost his home to the mortgage crisis. It’s a different world Bob you must use vision to place Arcadia in a position to be able to offer the citizenry the services we will need in the future.
2. Your reliance on the Mall and Race Track has caused you to make two of the biggest mistakes in Arcadia’s history. Because of your “no change” policy and lack of vision to redevelop Arcadia with today’s smart growth policies that reduce our reliance on cars and create public spaces for us to gather and interact and improve the quality of our lives, our City looks like a time warp with all areas of our City totally disconnected. You still are adamant on being the first City to have an automobile dealership in our downtown area. Ask any Planning Expert, it is ludicrous and a reflection of your desperation and lack of vision. The Council was so desperate and fearful you happily gave away the most important tool in redevelopment-Eminent Domain and one of the Councilmen is an attorney in that field. You ridiculed one of our small business owners for not selling his property to you, he had to literally fight City Hall by himself. You treated him so poorly and arrogantly and with absolutely no compassion. One man out negotiated our entire City Hall and you think you can handle Ruznak? Instead of developing alternative options to increase revenues you sacrifice some of the most valuable land Arcadia has for an automobile dealership. Which now seems like it is not viable in today’s climate and especially the fact that Ruznak recently submitted plans to build a large dealership in Pasadena. Pasadena’s Mayor in the news media stated they are going to cooperate with Ruznak in every way possible and they will not lose them to Arcadia. Your negotiations with Ruznak have gone nowhere and you have no leverage.
3. You have never created a City wide Economic Development Plan that will leverage the historic opportunity the Gold Line Station can have in linking and promoting all of Arcadia’s resources-Santa Anita Race Track, Santa Anita Golf Course, Santa Anita Park, Pools, Tennis Courts, Baseball Fields, Arboretum, Wilderness Park, Chantry Flats etc. and the development potential to tie all of these together and market them globally. We have the only Global Property in the region the Santa Anita Race Track but yet opportunity after opportunity pasts with no effort and yet not even any sense of the power of this reality.
On January 18th I spoke to the Council about my concerns and was confronted by the most disgusting and glaring looks by a couple of the Councilmembers. I was in the Redevelopment meeting prior to the Council meeting and your fellow Councilmen did not know anything about the Gold Line Station. They did not know where the riders will board the train where they will park I was in shock to see what little knowledge they have and they are the ones making these decisions. Your thinking out of the box is having some ground floor retail on the parking structure, please you are not doing enough innovative planning we are a joke compared to the other foothill cities. Look around at what other Cities are doing and they don’t even have near the resources we have. Hotels Bob? Heck we can just send them to Monrovia or Pasadena why not let them collect the taxes and the money visitors spend.
4. We have never openly addressed the issue of integrating all of the diversities in our City. I graduated Arcadia High School in 1976 and some of my peers still suffer from resentments to the changes to our City. We are all one – ARCADIANS!!!!!!! How many years have you served Bob? How about your other Councilmen, 20+ years? Recently on Arcadia’s Best Poll there were the most racist remarks written and what community outreach has ever been done to promote understanding and acceptance. It would have taken such little effort 30 years ago but still nothing. But there is such fear that the City will be ruined if the wrong people get elected. Well Bob you guys have had 20+ years and not much look to the future so don’t be so worried about ethnic signs being placed all over our City. The old school’s fears do not exist in todays generation.
5. If 50 years ago we started setting aside 3-4% of our budget we probably would own the Santa Anita Park and the Arboretum. Look at our City map and you can see the County owns two of the largest properties in our City. Poor Vision and Poor Planning.
6. There has never been any type of leadership development program for Arcadia. Instead the same players keep handing off the Mayorship football back and forth. OK it’s your turn, next time it will be me again. This does not foster any innovation for our City it just keeps the same “no change” mentality that we see has done so well for Live Oak, Huntington Drive, Baldwin Avenue, Foothill Blvd and First Avenue. There is no connectivity and I think it’s a reflection of the disconnect our Council has with today’s reality and how the future changes our San Gabriel Valley will affect Arcadia’s needs in the future.
7. The worst part is if anybody has different ideas that include knowledge of the many changes our region face and love Arcadia enough to try and voice the importance of smart innovative planning they get branded a trouble maker by one of our Councilmembers as I recently was at Senator Diane Feinsteins visit to the San Gabriel Valley in front of Mayors that I have a high level of respect for. As Immediate Past Chairman of the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership and Executive Officer I was honored to be seated at the Senators’ table. I love Arcadia as much as any Councilmember and I volunteer myself to head a taskforce to create a City wide Economic Plan to first educate our Citizenry of the huge changes coming to our region; secondly to explore the possibilities of alternative revenue generating income for Arcadia so we don’t have to rely on a dying Horse Racing Industry and the recent decline in retail sales and the vulnerability the huge debt these large conglomerate Mall operators can have on our City. Much larger Corporations have failed very recently and Bob you were very wrong when you stated in the Chamber of Commerce meeting that the Mall isn’t going anywhere. Check their balance sheet and the amount of their debt and see that you may want to retract that statement. Thirdly, what smart growth policies can help to integrate our citizenry, create public spaces for us to gather and improve the quality of our lives and provide the needs we will require in the future.
OUR CITY IS GREAT BUT WE NEED TO BE SMART AND POSITION OUR CITY PROPERLY BY USING ALL OF OUR RESOURCES AND KNOWING WHAT TYPE OF RESOURCES WE ARE GOING TO NEED TO PROVIDE IN THE FUTURE. I AM SURE OUR CITY RESOURCES CAN CREATE ADDITIONAL REVENUES FOR OUR CITIZENRY.
WHAT CAN BE WRONG WITH GATHERING THIS TYPE OF INFORMATION AND EXPLORE OUR POSSIBILITIES. DON’T TAKE OFFENSE TO MY REMARKS BUT TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT THEM AND HOPEFULLY YOU WILL SEE THE IMPORTANCE OF HOW I THINK WE NEED TO ADDRESS THE FUTURE OF ARCADIA.
WILL YOU CONSIDER MY OFFER?
HENRY NUNEZ
Mr. Harbicht:
I was at your last debate. You talked tough over the last few debates for Caruso. You suddenly reversed course and started talking about the way that that Westfield was a good corporate citizen.
After the meeting I realized it was because Westfield was in the audience!
I am stunned…
The only think broke is you. Time to make that change for the better.
Bob,
I noticed that the years you were on the city councils of Arcadia and Duarte combined are almost larger than the age of Paul Cheng, another candidate of this city council race.
When do you think you want to retire?
Arcadia is not broke but does have some cracks, although the city council is not to be blamed. It is due to the economy and the lack of leadership in Sacramento.
One has to realize that fact so that he can find the soluton for it. Bob, this is why i am concerned because you do not agree to or recognize this situaton. Mickey does.
Good luck, Bob , i still respect you.