Posted April 11, 2012:
I would like to thank everyone for participating in this years election.
SignageI congratulate Gary and John for their election victory and continued service as Councilmen. The residents of Arcadia have spoken and I respect and support their decision. I thank my parents, my daughter and all my friends for all their support. It has meant a lot to me and I have made many new friends throughout this process. I still feel honored to have been able to participate and voice my vision and thoughts for our great city. Thank you to all for allowing me such a great experience.
Henry Nunez
Posted April 6, 2012:
The Emperor Has No Clothes
As one of the three candidates that Mickey Segal targeted at the past City Council meeting, I feel it is only appropriate for me to respond.
My initial reaction is, how strange was this tirade? His comments were shocking, unrelated to any business of the Council and totally out of left field. They were contradictory, illogical and the content showed arrogance and his pompous attitude toward others. The fact that he knew none of the attacked candidates could respond shows his immaturity and childish school-ground retaliatory behavior. What Mickey is saying is he doesn’t think anyone is up to his standards and is wondering why can’t any candidates be as great as him. Thank goodness we are not. He is so out of touch with reality and so self-absorbed that he acts like the emperor without any clothes. This is exactly why I chose to run for the Arcadia City Council.
The Good Old Boys Club has taken extraordinary steps to blatantly support incumbents Kovacic and Wuo. Roger Chandler and Bob Harbicht participated in pre-recorded telephone messages (robo-calling) paid for by the campaign of John Wuo, asking residents to vote for John Wuo. Mickey’s tirade is just as desperate an act. The Good Old Boys Network seems very afraid and they are certainly acting like it. What is their motivation, what are they hiding? Is this in the best interests of Arcadia? Is this the type of character that we want in our Council? All it shows to me, is what Sho, Mary and I have been saying prior to and during this election period….Arcadia needs new voices on our Council now, not in 2014.
The only thing I can suggest is a double dose of humbleness for these guys.
I, for one, would be proud to serve with Sho or Mary. I see them both as highly qualified, contributing members of our community and most of all able to work intelligently and professionally with others. Lastly, I pray that we are elected so that we can show the people of Arcadia how very wrong Mickey has portrayed the three of us. I wear it as a badge of honor that I was included in the same group as Sho and Mary.
Posted March 27, 2012:
Vote before April 10th for new members of Arcadia Council
As a new member of our Council, I would be very proactive in facing the issues that Arcadia faces today. We need to be very diligent in addressing the signage problems, massage parlors and lack of collection of retail tax in certain commercial areas of Arcadia.
I don’t see why this is so difficult to do.
We have our ordinances and guidelines that dictate the types, size and language content of business signs. The solution is a two-step process. First, a drive-by inspection is all it takes to create a database of offenses. Secondly, strict enforcement of our guidelines is needed.
Massage Parlors
We need to strengthen our existing guidelines to stop illegitimate massage parlors from operating and spreading all over Arcadia. Again, the solution is a simple two-step process. First, the creation of a database of existing massage parlors allows us to identify the scope of the problem. Secondly, diligent inspections along with strict enforcement of strengthened guidelines will close the illegitimate massage parlors and stop others from coming to Arcadia. There is no place in Arcadia for these types of businesses to be left to thrive and spread throughout our City.
Lack of Retail Sales Tax being paid in parts of Arcadia
There are several areas of Arcadia’s commercial districts that have not been paying their retail sales tax. This problem has been left to continue for many years and is certainly unfair to those businesses that have paid their fair share of sales tax for many years. Again, a simple two-step process is the solution. First, identify the businesses in those commercial districts that consistently refuse to pay retail sales tax even though their business has been operating for years. Secondly, inspections that determine customer count and cooperation with the State Board of Equalization for strict enforcement of the law would stop this offense from continuing and spreading in Arcadia.
Gold Line and Downtown
We are the only City in the Foothill Gold Line extension to not have any vision, direction or plans for the Gold Line stop in Arcadia. It is a great opportunity for us to create a downtown with dining, shopping and local events for us to gather. Who doesn’t want that? Let us be in control of the destiny of this opportunity rather than ignore the elephant in the room. Let us be proactive along with the Arcadia Downtown Business Association and be certain that our ideals and values will be upheld.
Good Ole Boys Group at City Hall
The robo-calling by Roger Chandler and Bob Harbicht for former councilmember and current candidate John Wuo is an effort to continue this Good Ole Boys Group. These robo-calls are paid for by the campaign funds of John Wuo. Which begs the question…what is the motivation for Roger Chandler and Bob Harbicht to go to such extremes to return John Wuo to Arcadias Council? One could say that John Wuo will be beholden to them for his vote. One could point to other more nefarious motivations. Or one could say that the current strength of council candidates has placed fear in the Good Ole Boys Group and they are reacting to that. Lastly, one could also say that they are exercising their right to support whichever candidate they like.
Whichever reason it is, there is just no place in Arcadia for this to continue.
The above issues have all been able to fester for many years. New faces on our Council will bring new energy, new ideas and a proactive way to face the issues of today. If you haven’t voted yet, please vote for me, Henry Nunez, before April 10th.
Posted March 12, 2012:
Why it’s the right time for Arcadia to elect new council members
Enthusiasm
Traits that describe an Enthusiastic personality are:
Planning, Anticipation, Work, Wisdom, Emotional contagion
It’s important to have different opinions, methods, thoughts, ideas and personalities in all groups. This helps for all group members to examine different sides of all issues. Enthusiasm seems to have the ability to spread among others and provide inspiration and participation in common goals. I think at this time our council would benefit by a candidate with enthusiasm.
Strategic Planning
The strategic planning process includes the following approaches:
Situation-Target-Proposal
Evaluate the current situation and how it came about. What is today’s situation? What is the ideal image or the desired state? What is the gap from ideal and why? Define goals and/or objectives. Map a possible route to the goals/objectives. What specific actions must be taken to close the gap between today’s situation and the ideal state? What resources are required to execute the activities?
For the past years our business districts such as Live Oak, Baldwin, Foothill and Arcadia Downtown have not flourished. The Gold Line station is on its way and provides us an opportunity to better able to increase city revenues. For the past eighteen months our Arcadia Business Association has studied, worked and united to create and revitalize our downtown. March 6th, the city council agreed to spend up to $70,000 from our general funds to hire a consultant to analyze the downtown area to create a business improvement district for the purpose of revitalizing the downtown area. This effort will create new events to offer new activities for us to gather, market our downtown and business and create a stronger sense of community. Strategic planning is the process to ensure that our efforts have been studied and debated in great detail and more importantly that the results includes all the values and ideals that our great city stands for.
Increased City Revenues
Our city has a $60 million dollar pension obligation along with the costs of all the great services we enjoy. I feel it is very prudent and responsible to explore ways to continually increase our city revenues and control our expenses. Recently, it seems as though the emphasis has been to cut our budget and this requires our police, fire, hospital and city departments to constantly do more with less. We should examine how we can benefit from all the great resources that we have here in Arcadia. The Santa Anita Race Track is a global property, the Arboretum, Santa Anita Golf Course and Park, Library, Chantry, Wilderness Park to name just a few. Maybe a citywide economic plan can help us to identify ways to leverage these great properties and contribute to our city revenues.
The Jewel of the San Gabriel Valley
Arcadia has always been the Jewel of the San Gabriel Valley. Our leadership is responsible to continue in this path and it requires forward planning, analysis of the past, the future and what direction is the best for our residents. Our leadership has provided us a conservative and diligent foundation that we have always been able to count on. I feel it is responsible for me to voice opportunities that we have here in Arcadia to better our city. Revitalization, Improvement, the definitions are nearly identical. I just want Arcadia to always remain an example for the entire San Gabriel Valley. Our values and ideals is what I grew up on here is Arcadia since I was five years old and it is what our future generations will depend on. It takes our entire community to keep our city great. Please join me in this effort.
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Henry Nunez
Age 53
Businessman
I am proud to say that I was raised in Arcadia, attended our great schools and graduated from Arcadia High School in 1976. I grew up with Arcadias’ great traditions, strong sense of community and sense of safety and security. In 1986, I began my real estate career in Arcadia and founded my firm here in 1998.
My priorities are increasing sources of revenue while adhering to strict fiscal policy. Strong police and fire, public safety, education and Arcadias’ outstanding resources are our foundation.
My focus is:
TRADITION — COMMUNITY — REVITALIZATION
Protecting and supporting our traditions will help to increase involvement and strengthen our sense of community. Revitalizing our business base and mix will provide us an opportunity to support our local businesses and spend here in town. We need to create more public spaces to gather and make our streets pleasurable to walk.
My leadership in community organizations includes:
- 2007 President of the Arcadia Association of Realtors
- 2008-09 Chairman of the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership
- Support for the Foothill Gold Line
- 1982 Bachelor of Science, Marketing Major, SW Oklahoma State University
- 2001 Masters in Real Estate Development, University of Southern California
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I have the pleasure of knowing Henry and he really has a great love for our city of Arcadia.
If indeed tradition and that feeling of community can be salvaged, Henry will be the one to do it!
I look forward to a rousing campaign!
At least Mr. Nunez is honest in his commitment in transforming Arcadia Iinto a community of multi-family housing units. This disturbing change will undoubtedly result in a nice profit for real estate developer Nunez. There will be an increase in population, traffic, and strain our resources without a proportional increase in revenues or improvement in infrastructure. Real estate developer Nunez is looking for the EZ buck at the expense of our fine city. How will an increase in population density help our residents?
Douglas,
I went back and reread the above three times. No where did I see anything about a commitment to transforming Arcadia (The Community of Homes) into “a community of multi-family housing units”. Sounds to me like you are throwing mud at the wall and hoping something sticks!
Paul
Totally agree with you, Paul. Henry threatens the status quo and that is just why he has wide support! Those in charge have done a fine job, but Arcadia is NOT fine any more.
The best thing about Henry is that he is up front in admitting Arcadia indeed HAS issues that need to be addressed. The current Council, and some of those running, refuse to face the reality of what has happened to our beloved city.
I agree with all the points in Henry’s latest blog and, from what I am hearing around town, so do many others!
No, Henry, you can’t be Emperor.
On this Good Friday, may I proudly say “Amen! Henry!!”
It doesn’t sound to me like Henry wants to be Emperor. I agree there needs to be a major upheaval of the city council. I have been frustrated with them for a long time now..
Linnea, just why are you so frustrated with the current Council? Is it because your water and trash rates are so low? Maybe because your street is swept every week? Or maybe because the Council has been able to maintain a surplus while every other city in the San Gabriel Valley is operating in the red? Or because our response times for fire and police are the best anywhere? Wow, no wonder you are so frustrated!!
@Dodie,
Seems to me like you took what Linnea’s comment so personally – especially with her closing and exclamation marks. Linnea is talking about the city council – Dodie, are you on the city council? Any person with common courtesy would not talk the way you do.
At any rate, the fact is, Linnea said she’s frustrated with the city council. So why do you only limit what her frustrations can be about? To be honest, it just shows your ignorance.
How about if I said this:
-In 2011, a high school student died and the city council did nothing but say they would fix the problem and put a memorial there.
-Or the year before that when another pedestrian died. The fact is, the roads are not safe for anyone to walk.
-Additionally, there is heavy traffic around certain parts of Arcadia due to the lack of improvements.
-Or how about the fact that current city councilmen have a robo-call endorsing old council members. (This is hugely frowned upon in the political world).
-Or that Mickey Segal, a current councilman, used the city’s money to campaign for Kovacic and Wuo? (This is illegal and shows stupidity).
-Or that these current councilmen have made promises during their campaign and have never fulfilled them? (Example: Segal’s promise to find $500,000.00 and nothing.)
Those are just a few reasons. Do you think those don’t justify people’s frustrations? In fact, Linnea could have a whole set of different reasons. But Do you think that all the above is everyone else’s fault and not the current city council? I advise you to rethink about how you reply to other people who make general comments.
new members with new ideas, would help our city
we have the same old members of the counsel with the same old ideas
and its all about the city ( which means city employees ) and not about
the citizens. when are they going to represent the citizens.
I agree with you, Gino.
Thank you to my friend Henry who has great ideas for Arcadia and an understanding of the problems that need correcting! I just do not get why the residents will not look around and see that something is wrong! From the out of compliance business signage, old signs left up for years, unpainted buildings, countless vacancies, tacky banners, windows plastered with non-English writing, to the horrid mansions and massage parlors, Arcadia needs a new outlook by those in charge! We had three terrific candidates who could have ushered this in, but I guess Mickey Segal was right after all. We’ll have to wait until 2014!