[0:02] All right,
[0:16] you guys ready? I feel like I have the voice of god
[0:20] from heaven over here, . So, good evening,
[0:24] ladies and gentlemen. It's six o'clock, so we'll start my name.
[0:28] let me see if I can do this and look at you, or maybe I shouldn't, I don't know. My name is christina fau.
[0:32] I am with the league of women voters. I'll be the moderator for this evening. The best part
[0:36] about me and why you like me a lot is because I don't live here. So
[0:41] , I have no stake in this at all. I don't have any opinions whatsoever, and
[0:45] you can absolutely 100% count on me to be non-partisan, um,
[0:49] league of women voters. We specialize in voter services because we're the league of women voters.
[0:54] so we do our pros and cons, nonpartisan ballot proposition
[0:58] presentations, and then we do candidate forums. I'm a candidate forum nerd,
[1:03] so this is right at my alley, and I just love it. Um, so we're here to have fun.
[1:07] we're here to learn, we're here to be educated about who, who's running for office.
[1:11] um, audience, you have the opportunity to write questions on
[1:15] cards, and we have people who will come by and collect the cards.
[1:19] who's that over here? Sherline and the greeters too.
[1:24] so if you have questions, write it on the cards. Just, you know, they'll
[1:28] collect it. It will come to the question, sorters the question, sorters, bring it to me
[1:33] and mean nasty questions don't get presented. So don't bother.
[1:37] and I'm sure nobody in here looks mean or nasty. So it's gonna be great. And just have
[1:41] fun. Just relax, you know, I'm trying to keep it low key, friendly, interesting. And,
[1:45] um, as informative as possible. Um, all
[1:49] of the candidates were invited. So rose espinoza, michelle
[1:53] beier, carrie zurich, uh, dale lampkin, darren
[1:58] nian, and susan pritchard. The candidates who've chosen to be here this evening are
[2:02] darren nian, carrie zurich, and rose espinoza.
[2:08] so we'll start with opening statements. Each candidate will have
[2:12] two minutes to give an opening statement, and then we will have
[2:16] questions and each candidate will have one minute to answer the same questions,
[2:20] and then we'll have closing statements at the end. Um,
[2:25] I think that about covers it. Oh, and they're sitting in order, and I didn't choose that order. They did. We
[2:29] had cards. So this is, this is the lot we joked. 'cause darren said,
[2:33] ladies first, and I'm like, really? 'cause you're first. So that was fun. .
[2:38] you guys great. Yep. Um, I have to read the statement as well.
[2:42] all it's really important, and you'll understand why that when
[2:47] an event is being recorded, for example, all of the recording is shown
[2:51] in context, so nobody has authorization to cut and paste and show
[2:55] what they like, because context is very important. So, I
[2:59] have a media statement. I need to read you, the
[3:03] league of women voters. Tonight's sponsors have not authorized any video
[3:07] or audio recordings of this forum other than repeat television broadcast
[3:11] provided by the local government education and public access channel. If any recordings
[3:16] are made by any members of the audience, we strongly urge that the forum be
[3:20] recorded in its entirety and not be edited in any way. The fcc
[3:24] requires that videotape of the debate or forum not be edited and must be broadcast
[3:29] in its entirety, either live or reasonably soon after it takes place. Both
[3:33] the fcc and the league want to ensure that information is not manipulated to create
[3:37] false or misleading impressions. Therefore, no candidate is allowed to use or edit
[3:41] footage for campaign purposes. Okay,
[3:46] so on that note, we are ready. Um, the candidates have decided to go by
[3:50] their first names. So everybody, everybody goes by their first name tonight.
[3:55] so, darren, will you please start with your opening statement? You have two minutes. I will. Thank you very
[3:59] much. It's great to be here again. I'm the current mayor of the city of la habra mayor darren. And
[4:03] when I talk about how I got started in public service, I like to say I ran for president of,
[4:07] uh, cleveland elementary school in the fourth grade, and I
[4:11] came in second. And I like to say that's only because jim gomez didn't endorse me.
[4:16] but I actually began my journey on my own street, which is always the best way to begin my own
[4:21] street, my own neighborhood. I wanted a sign at the front of my neighborhood. I got that done. They
[4:25] put me on the hoa board of directors, then they drafted me into being president, and
[4:29] I served in that role for 20 years. That's how I learned about neighborhood issues. Uh, after that,
[4:33] I became vice chair of the la haber fiscal review committee. I joined the lions club at
[4:37] that time. In 2006, I was appointed to the la haber planning commission, where I served for
[4:41] 11 years, three times as chairman of the planning commission. I learned land
[4:45] use, zoning, environmental impacts. I wrote a column in the orange county star
[4:50] progress called lahabra. Now I served on the police reward fund committee.
[4:54] I served, uh, as a, I still serve as a boys and girls club board member.
[4:58] I've been doing that for 15 years, including two years as president of boys and girls club.
[5:03] I was also appointed to the lahabra city school district personnel commission, and I served as chairman
[5:07] there. And of course, I spent 30 years as an la county sheriff's deputy.
[5:11] I retired in 2014 and was awarded the distinguished service medal.
[5:15] and, uh, finally I got appointed to council. My colleagues, uh, appointed me as mayor pro tem. Shortly
[5:19] after that, I got appointed. I ran, eight months later, I won mayor pro
[5:24] tem. And then my colleagues were gracious enough to appoint me, mayor of the city in december
[5:28] of last year. So, la haber now is a city with outstanding
[5:32] public safety, good roads, uh, a great, uh, great
[5:36] community resources. Uh, we have fantastic programs and events. We
[5:40] are fiscally prudent by always balancing our budget. That gave us a double a rating from standard and
[5:44] poors. And I wanna say I'm proud to contribute to a well run, vibrant and
[5:49] thriving caring community. And, uh, oh, I meant to add that in my spare time.
[5:53] I'll, oh, I forgot. I don't have any spare time . But
[5:57] anyway, I wish, uh, those who are making certain allegations about the way the city's being
[6:01] run. Now we're here, but they're not. And I'm done. Thank you. Thank you, darren. Okay, carrie, you're
[6:06] up. Two minutes please. Good evening, everyone. And thank
[6:10] you to the league of women voters for putting, uh, providing this forum for us
[6:14] tonight. Um, it's my first time being on the forum,
[6:18] and I really appreciate being here. Well, I am a proud
[6:22] daughter of a world war ii veteran. My dad was a coastie
[6:27] go coast guide, um, and a very proud mother of
[6:31] a 27 year army veteran.
[6:36] my son joseph, was in the army, and, uh, living in tennessee. Now
[6:41] I am married to my husband fred, sitting in the audience. Thank you, honey, for being
[6:45] here. Um, two children, six grandchildren,
[6:50] one great-granddaughter. We have four generations living
[6:55] here in lahabra. We love it and thrive here in lahabra
[6:59] for 35 years. Um, we've made
[7:03] this our home, like I said, with four generations living
[7:07] under one roof, which is an amazing thing in itself.
[7:12] um, I believe in giving back to the community, and that is why I volunteer
[7:17] when and wherever I can. For the past 20 years,
[7:21] I have been involved with our seniors, with our veterans, our youth committee,
[7:25] and many organizations. Meals on wheels,
[7:30] veterans committee, youth committee, the american legion, post
[7:34] 2 6 7, the women's club, and a member of the chamber of
[7:38] commerce. I've helped bring the vietnam wall,
[7:42] um, that heals to our city, um, as the chair.
[7:47] and that's really got me all started in volunteering.
[7:51] and I believe it's one way to get a project started and ended with
[7:55] volunteers. Served on community services for six years,
[8:00] planning commission for two years, and applied for city council and
[8:04] was appointed this april, 2024, which
[8:08] I'm proud to be part of a winning team. Thank you.
[8:14] thank you. Carrie rose, your turn. Two minutes please. Thank you very much. Uh, again, I'd like to
[8:18] thank, like carrie, the league of women voters for hosting this forum, and I'd like to thank those out
[8:22] in the audience for being here, and I'll look forward to answering any of your questions.
[8:26] I've served on the city council now 23 years. November will be 24
[8:31] years. I've served as mayor pro tem six times. I've been mayor
[8:35] five times, and I am presently on different agencies.
[8:39] some I sought appointment by the orange county mayors of
[8:43] orange county, because I believe la harbor should be at the table and have a
[8:47] voice there representing our community. So presently I am on scag,
[8:52] southern california association of government, oog orange council of government.
[8:57] I am the fourth district league of california city's representative, the league of
[9:01] california cities. Recently appointed me as the orange county representative
[9:05] for advancing equity advisory committee. I am on hsec hills open
[9:10] space education coalition. I am on the bridges of kramers, which
[9:14] deals with the homeless. I am also on the orange county sanitation district
[9:18] board. And on my own time, I am on, on a board of neighborworks
[9:22] orange county, which helps the first time homeowners. And, um, I'm
[9:26] also with the providence of st. Jude, which deals with north orange county health issues.
[9:31] we were the ones that approved the budget to have all these outdoor exercise
[9:35] machines outside in north orange county. And of course, I am founder
[9:39] of rosie's garage, which I have been helping low income kids for the last 33
[9:43] years, of which by one is volunteering with the league of women voters. Today,
[9:48] I, I graduated from fullerton college with an aa degree, and
[9:52] I am a recent graduate of cal state fullerton. I graduated in 2020, so
[9:56] this brain is still working, uh, with a bachelor's degree in poli sci. That
[10:00] would be it. Thank you, rose. Okay, so now we go to the
[10:05] questions part. And the first question goes
[10:09] to darren. What type of fiscal transparency measures
[10:13] are currently in place to reassure residents how money is spent? If there
[10:17] are no measures, what do you intend to implement?
[10:22] thank you. Yeah, there was this idea there. Somebody said at some meet and greet, uh, one of our
[10:26] opponents, uh, running against us said, well, we, we, we demand an audit. We need
[10:30] to know where the money's going. There's no transparency, there's no accountability, this kind of
[10:34] thing. And this is the way you kind of create issues where
[10:38] none exists. If you're dealing with a situation where you wanna be on city council, but you can't
[10:42] find anything to hang your hat on, there's simply nothing wrong. So how do
[10:46] we ensure, uh, fiscal responsibility and transparency?
[10:51] this ladies and gentlemen, is 192 pages. It's called the annual comprehensive
[10:55] financial report. This is for the fiscal year ended in 2023. The fiscal
[10:59] year for this year just ended in june. There'll be another audit conducted immediately after that. And
[11:03] if anybody wants any of this information, it's available to the public. Anytime you can see that
[11:07] every penny is accounted for. And every year we've had a balanced budget. We've also
[11:12] done a full audit. And this is also, by the way, not by the city. This
[11:16] is done by a third party vendor. This is done by clifton larson, allen, llp.
[11:20] so the city has no dog in this fight. We simply show them all the books,
[11:25] and they tell us that there are absolutely no erroneous figures
[11:29] and everything fully account. Thank you very much. Thank you, carrie. Your turn.
[11:33] do you need me to repeat the question? No. Okay.
[11:37] well, I believe that the city of lahabra
[11:41] has transparency and accountability to all of our 63,000
[11:47] residents here in la habra. And by doing that, we do
[11:51] provide an outside third party, um,
[11:55] very fiscal, um, I mean, they, they
[12:00] do these, um, audits for many cities, not just
[12:04] for the city of la habra, which gives us accountability.
[12:08] it's not our word. It's a, um, a company
[12:13] that has done this audit and shows that we are keeping within,
[12:17] um, all of the regulations and rules that we need to, to provide to our
[12:22] residents on how our money is spent. Thank you. Thank you.
[12:26] carrie rose, do you need me to repeat the question? No, no, no. I will just add
[12:30] on that this is, the audit is done in accordance with the, uh, government
[12:34] audit standards, and it's issued by the comptroller general of the united states.
[12:39] so it's not anything that we take responsibility of. It's an audit that is an
[12:43] outside auditor. And our 20 22, 20 23 20 24
[12:48] audit will be done by the end of 2004. That would be it.
[12:52] okay, thank you, rose. Next question goes to carrie.
[12:58] how do you feel about building more homes and apartments and redevelopment in la habra?
[13:07] that's a good question. Um, as a
[13:11] resident of la habra for 35 years, um, I believe
[13:16] that we need to maintain as much open space as possible.
[13:20] um, given that it's not always
[13:26] the local control. I mean, the state tells us what we can and cannot
[13:30] build, and when we can do that, so with everything
[13:34] that we have in our power to say yes or no to a developer
[13:39] on redevelopment, that is what we follow. We have
[13:43] to stay within our boundaries. And unfortunately, we don't always get
[13:47] this the last word on, on how that's going to go. So we
[13:51] will do everything that we can to keep as much open space for all
[13:55] of our residents. And, you know, we have to,
[13:59] we have to comply. Um, our arena numbers are out there,
[14:03] the eight oh hundred and four that we had to make due
[14:07] for, um, whether it's, um, thank you, carrie.
[14:12] your time is up. Thank you, rose. As
[14:16] I mentioned, I am on neighbor work orange county. I've been helping with that organization.
[14:20] I've been on that board for 35 years. As a matter of fact, I bought
[14:24] my home from a nonprofit housing organization, and I'm an advocate for
[14:28] affordable housing. We have built the, the housing right across washington
[14:32] school. We had habitat for humanity, has built affordable housing. We
[14:37] have, uh, neighbor works. Orange county has built housing and duplexes on
[14:41] grace avenue. High density, low income neighborhoods is where I want them build.
[14:45] but it's a choice of the community itself. It's not like we have to be forced by
[14:49] anyone to build these homes. It's more ideal for me to have affordable
[14:53] housing and have it respectively where it should be placed instead of, uh, where
[14:58] the developers or anyone wants to be placed in placing it at.
[15:03] thank you rose, darren. We have 63,000 people and seven square miles.
[15:07] we're completely built out. It's a big challenge. The fact is, local
[15:12] control is everything, meaning cities need to be able to assess
[15:16] a development for its merits or for whatever issues it might present. If you can't
[15:20] mitigate traffic impacts, if you can't mitigate all the environmental impacts proposed by any development,
[15:24] then the city needs to have the ability to say no. For example, we said no
[15:28] to the 400 houses at the westridge golf course. As soon as we did, we were sued
[15:33] for $110 million by the developer. We're still fighting that lawsuit right now.
[15:37] we keep winning in court one by one. We keep winning the judge's decisions, but nonetheless,
[15:41] we spent $700,000 of taxpayer money defending the quality
[15:45] of life in this city, because we wanna be able to pick and choose where, when, and how
[15:49] we satisfy arena numbers. We've zoned for 804 houses, we're not gonna
[15:53] build them, but when a project comes up, we have to be able to ha
[15:57] look at that project and see if it's appropriate. We're certified by the state of california.
[16:02] now, if they get built, we want to be able to control that development. That's all. But little
[16:06] by little sacramento is taking that control away. Thank you. Thank you, darren.
[16:10] carrie, do you need me to repeat the question? Should
[16:14] you answered I'm ahead. I, we are gonna just go in circles. You see what I said? We're gonna have fun tonight, and
[16:18] it's on me . Um, that's, that's why I'm like, we're
[16:22] the rest of my exes. Um, okay, so now it's rose's turn.
[16:26] okay. Have you taken any campaign contributions from special interests?
[16:31] I have taken a mind. You all these years have been 23 years.
[16:35] I have paid and put my own money into each campaign. I don't know
[16:40] if I'm ever gonna run again. So this time I thought I'm gonna do what other candidates do.
[16:44] and yes, I received some money from the fire, uh, the fire, the
[16:48] la fire company, or a, a local number. But
[16:52] I am no different from other candidates who have taken money, say from the,
[16:56] uh, builders association. Other candidates have taken from that, that
[17:01] are not here. So, um, I'm, I, and they are a, an
[17:05] entity, the firefighters that we support, and they have supported our community.
[17:09] so yes, I did take from them. Thank you, rose.
[17:14] darren, same thing. Uh, I'm supported by the la county fire association.
[17:18] I'm supported by our police officers. These are public safety organizations
[17:22] within the city of la habra. What I didn't do and will never do, is take money
[17:26] like candidate pritchard from the building industry and from apartment owners, associations
[17:30] and this sort of thing. She was bankrolled entirely two years ago by these outside special
[17:35] interests. Whereas none of us here, the three of us have done that. And that goes
[17:39] to show there's an agenda there and, and that's an inappropriate agenda. So special
[17:43] interest money for me. No public safety. Yes. Thank
[17:47] you. Thank you, carrie.
[17:53] well, I have taken, um, our, the money from
[17:57] our la county fire local and from the, uh, police
[18:02] association, well, actually I haven't got that. So, um, I have been
[18:06] endorsed by them. Checks in the mail. Checks in the mail. Um, but, um,
[18:11] I have not taken outside, uh, interest money. I believe
[18:16] that, um, working in the city of lahabra,
[18:20] and we are, um, our public safety is first and
[18:24] foremost, and those of the, um, organizations that I have, uh,
[18:28] received donations from, from my campaign. Thank you. Thank you, carrie.
[18:33] okay, now we're back to darren. Uh, if the city has
[18:37] had a balanced budget for the last 20 years, why did we have to borrow $72 million
[18:42] in january of 2022? That is a fantastic question, and it's
[18:46] a great opportunity for me to finally clear up what is disinformation or misinformation,
[18:51] or even worse, an outright lie, there is no $72 million,
[18:55] $75 million loan. This, the $75 million that this person
[18:59] is talking about is money that we have as a liability to
[19:03] calpers the retirement association up in sacramento. Every city in california has
[19:07] a liability. They owe calpers, right? So there was no money received by the city of
[19:11] la haber for that. It wasn't a loan, it's a debt. And when we issued the
[19:15] pension obligation bond program, what we did is we refinanced that debt from
[19:19] 7% that we were paying down to 4%, saving 1 million
[19:24] taxpayer dollars a year, a total of $22 million over 20 years.
[19:28] that's what the pension obligation bond thing did. No, we didn't receive $75 million.
[19:32] that's ridiculous. I mean, that, that was our debt to calpers. So if we can clear
[19:37] that up once and for all, that'd be great. Thank you. Thank
[19:41] you, darren. Kerry. Okay, so the 72,
[19:45] uh, million dollar, uh, loan, so to speak, was not
[19:50] a loan. It is a pension obligation bond.
[19:54] um, the bond proceeds were to pay off a higher interest rate.
[19:59] uh, let's just say you're a homeowner and you've got an interest
[20:03] rate of 10%, and somebody comes, the lenders say, hey, rates
[20:07] are down, let's refinance. That is what the city did. We
[20:11] refinanced to get a better rate
[20:16] from 7% down to three 4% savings.
[20:20] I would do that all day long. Thank you. Thank you, carrie rose.
[20:26] and, uh, just to give a little bit of history behind that pension reform, it was adopted,
[20:30] uh, with a variety of pension reform measures. In 2010, they negotiated
[20:34] with the employers group to lower the pension cost and liabilities. In
[20:39] 2018, the council approved a pension rate stabilization fund
[20:43] to help offset future, uh, pension cost increase, and
[20:47] then the 72 point million, uh, pension obligation bond
[20:51] that was refinanced, as they said by unfunded, accrued liability
[20:56] to lower the interest rate. And that's what happened. It went from 7% to 3%,
[21:00] which is, like you said, you know, re re your refinancing your
[21:04] home property. It just made sense to be able to do that. And actually
[21:09] now we've, uh, we've had what over decrease the cost, as darren said, $22 million
[21:13] over 20 year period. So this is, this is a positive
[21:18] thing, and there is really no money there. So that would be it.
[21:22] thank you, rose. Okay, this next question goes to carrie.
[21:26] this past weekend at korn festival events, there was decreased
[21:30] attendance and an increase of rowdy behavior. How can you help make
[21:35] city events safer and more family friendly and better?
[21:43] okay, so making it safer, that would be our
[21:47] public safety. And we need
[21:52] to keep our police officers
[21:56] in, in our in-house. We need to have them trained. We have, we
[22:00] need to have them ready to go. We have to be able to provide
[22:04] for our police department who protects 63,000
[22:09] people here in la habra as a mother, grandmother, a great-grandmother
[22:13] and a wife. When I am out and about,
[22:17] I wanna know that I'm safe. So if we have to put money into our
[22:21] police department to be able to provide that safety,
[22:27] I would do it all day long. I would also check with, um, all
[22:31] the events that are happening in the city and find out what could we do differently to
[22:35] help them in their quest to make more money for
[22:39] their events. Thank you. Thank you, carrie. Rose, the
[22:43] question, please. This past weekend at the korn festival event,
[22:48] there was decreased attendance and an increase of rowdy behavior. How
[22:52] can you help make city events safer, more family friendly and
[22:56] better? I, you know, I I, we, I spoke to a young man that
[23:00] was with me on the, on the parade, and I said, we, he
[23:04] thought there was a bigger turnout of people in the parade. And I said, well, you know,
[23:08] it could be, if there is a decrease, it could be because of the,
[23:13] the, the, the period of time that hey, they had, initially it was in august,
[23:17] now it's moved to october, and there's still some that believe it may be, you
[23:21] know, in august that still haven't gotten to the message to them that it's in october.
[23:25] but it, it's a parade. It's an activity that is going to grow and it's
[23:29] going to continue to grow. So I don't really believe that it was, it
[23:34] was a matter of, of things, the negative things. I think it's just
[23:38] that it has changed from a period of the year to another part of the year,
[23:42] and it's going to continue to grow. Thank you rose. Darren?
[23:46] well, I question the accuracy of the question. What it's, what it's predicated on, uh,
[23:50] the idea that there was rowdy behavior and the idea that, uh, the attendances figures were down.
[23:55] I don't know how anybody would know that at this point in time. Uh, carol and I spent a lot of time at the
[23:59] corn festival. The crowds were huge. The parade was fantastic. There were people everywhere.
[24:03] I talked to the police who were working that event. They said, it's been very quiet, with the exception of a couple
[24:08] du wells, which any city event in any city is gonna have on occasion.
[24:12] but by all, all my observations were that it was an extremely well run,
[24:16] safe and well attended event. Now going forward, if you start to notice trends of this
[24:20] sort, then what you do is you bolster the security presence, the number of police
[24:24] officers there. Can we do that? Sure. Let's hope our sales tax measure is renewed
[24:28] because that is the source from which public safety is funded. So assuming that
[24:32] happens, then if we need to fill the ranks, bolster the security, of course we'll
[24:36] do that. But I question again, the veracity of the
[24:41] questioner, because I think it was a great event this year and a complete success. Thank you.
[24:45] thank you, darren. Okay, so now we're to rose, this question's
[24:49] for you. Why are so many tobacco shops allowed to be at
[24:53] teens and underage people's availability?
[24:58] why are what, why are so many tobacco shops allowed
[25:02] to be at teen and underage people's availability? I think
[25:06] that's been, if it is an issue, I think it's been an issue for, for
[25:10] forever. Because when, when I, I had the kids, I had them go
[25:14] out to liquor stores and I had them view what was at
[25:18] your eye level, and we would talk to the business owners and tell 'em, you know, this is not
[25:23] appropriate that you display this kind of product at the level of the kids.
[25:27] um, so it, I think it's gonna be advocating for that would be
[25:31] the high school students. If they're the ones that are the ones that are being, um, you
[25:35] know, uh, attracted by this stuff. I think the high school and the,
[25:39] and the students there should take the initiative to, uh, do a study on it and
[25:43] go out there and, you know, because when you hear it from the, the, the youth themselves,
[25:48] it makes a difference for these business owners. So I would say let the high schools do a study
[25:52] and go out there to the, to these businesses and tell 'em if they approve or not
[25:56] approve and why. Okay, thank you rose,
[26:00] darren. A lot of folks say, why are you even allowing bait stores or
[26:04] tobacco stores or any of that in la habra? And we have to remind folks again that it
[26:08] is a free market economy, and we can't pick and choose what types of businesses locate here.
[26:12] certainly our preference is for high quality retail, not necessarily a store that
[26:16] sells vapes and tobacco, but nonetheless, if they fulfill all the requirements, uh,
[26:21] imposed by city codes, they're allowed to do business here. In terms of selling to underage kids,
[26:25] that's illegal. Our police department will make occasional spot checks going in there to see if they can witness
[26:30] somebody underage trying to buy these products. Also, I think it's a state board of equalization that
[26:34] also goes in and does checks. If we receive a report that a, a business owner is
[26:38] routinely selling to kids, uh, we will definitely pounce on that owner
[26:42] and cite and prosecute as need be. But again, it goes back to this idea why
[26:47] are they even here? Well, we ask ourselves that question too. Sometimes. It's not our, our
[26:51] our, our premier type of retail we wanna encourage in la habra. But again, you
[26:55] know, this is a market based economy and you know, that's why you'll sometimes see
[26:59] one donut shop pretty close to another. We can't say, no, we don't want you competing with that
[27:03] donut shop. You've got a right to do business. Thank you. Thank you darren. Carrie,
[27:10] well, it would be nice if we can say who can and cannot go here or there,
[27:14] but that is not the way the world is. We have to be
[27:19] able to say they submit their application,
[27:24] the type of business that they are, and as long as they fit
[27:28] all the necessary requirements, we cannot say
[27:32] how many donut shops or, or smoke shops are gonna be in
[27:36] a certain location. Um, what we can do is we
[27:40] can, I know that there's a group, uh, a coalition out there in la habra
[27:45] that goes around and tries to discourage young
[27:49] kids from smoking. They go to the schools, they're at all the events.
[27:53] so more events like that to let
[27:57] everyone know that this is not right. Um, darren did say that, you
[28:02] know, if, uh, if we get noticed that there are,
[28:06] uh, shops that are selling to underage children, then they'll, that's
[28:10] where we, we call in our police department to say, look, we've had
[28:14] disturbance. Thank you. Sorry. Thank you, carrie.
[28:19] okay, so new question. We're back to darren. What
[28:23] is your opinion on what the relationship between
[28:28] city council city and the chamber of commerce should be? Well, that's
[28:32] a hot button topic, and uh, I think a lot of folks understand
[28:36] that it's a dysfunctional relationship right now between the city of lahabra
[28:40] and the lahabra chamber of commerce. And folks say, well, why did this happen? I think part of it
[28:44] is emotional, uh, and it's based upon hurt feelings. Uh,
[28:48] you know, historically the city always provided a, uh, a fairly large
[28:52] subsidy to the chamber of commerce. And it was a subsidy of, of general intent,
[28:57] general purpose. They could do whatever they wanted to with the money. But when
[29:01] we started asking for accountability and transparency from the chamber board of directors, we
[29:05] were stonewalled. We really didn't get information about the, the budget was never put on their website.
[29:09] we never really understood exactly where this money was going, just as one person's
[29:13] salary or, you know, what rabbit hole might it fall into. Then there
[29:17] is the anaheim chamber's problem with, uh, the city of anaheim where, you know, it was criminal
[29:22] activity there, collusion, and it was a gift of public money is what took place
[29:26] there. And we were aware the fact that without that level of transparency, this could
[29:30] be a gift of public money too. So we stopped providing that subsidy. I think the chamber was very upset
[29:34] about that. And there's the answer, sorry. Thank you. Thank you darren. Carrie,
[29:42] chamber versus city. Of course, there,
[29:46] there should be, um, good relationships between both the city
[29:50] and the chamber of commerce, um, and not have
[29:54] personal conflicts. Uh, rather be based on economic development,
[29:59] which is what the chamber's all about, and what the city's all about, bringing
[30:03] businesses into our city for our residents.
[30:07] um, I represent all of our 63,000
[30:13] residents here in la habra. And, um, that's where my focus is keeping
[30:18] all the needs of our communities in hand. Thank you. Thank
[30:22] you, carrie. Rose, transparency is a big, a big, uh, issue
[30:27] right there. You need as much transparency as the, the city, uh, city
[30:31] hall does. Everything is posted. Most everything is posted on our city
[30:35] website and they can see our salaries, anyone's salaries, what's
[30:39] going on the budget. Um, that's not to at, when
[30:43] I last looked at the website, there wasn't that transparency of where is
[30:47] the money that the city is giving to the chamber going,
[30:51] how is it being used? I mean, this is taxpayer's money. This is not
[30:56] ours. This is taxpayers money, and the taxpayers need to know where this money is
[31:00] going. And another thing is, um, I,
[31:04] I want all businesses supported. I mean, it just seems like those that
[31:08] pay, um, the fee that they are required will get the ribbon
[31:12] cutting, but how about the business owner that it's just opening and doesn't
[31:16] have the budget to be able to pay that 1300 or
[31:20] whatever it is, but still wants a ribbon cutting. You know, I mean, I think they should support
[31:25] all businesses, not just those that are, thank you, rose, are signed up with a chamber.
[31:29] okay, thank you very much. The next question goes to carrie,
[31:33] how do you plan to ensure that budget money is properly spent?
[31:42] well, that is a question, um, where you could find all the answers
[31:47] on our city website. Our budget spells out line item by
[31:52] line item on what all the money is, um,
[31:56] used for the money that comes in, the money that is paid out, the money that
[32:00] stays in, um, different types of accounts, your public safety.
[32:05] uh, in that budget, we've got 70% going to public safety,
[32:10] and the other 30% goes to pay everything else.
[32:14] so if someone really wants to know where all this money is going,
[32:19] that comes into the city of la habra, our budget, uh, is
[32:23] always in plain sight and everyone is
[32:27] able to see, find it. Thank you. Thank you carrie
[32:32] rose. I know that when I had my mayor's round table or a mayor's
[32:36] community hour, I would go out in front of a stater brothers or a
[32:40] the post office or any business, and I would put out my table mayor's
[32:44] community hour, and I would have these laminated, uh, uh, uh,
[32:49] uh, figures of a dollar bill and I would show the community how it was
[32:53] broken down, how much is coming to the city, which was 6 cents
[32:57] from measure t. And the bradley one was 12 cents, which was 18 cents
[33:01] for us, and the rest of the 82 cents was going to any other
[33:06] state entities. So it was just bringing it down to the residents and
[33:10] explaining to them that we're not getting all this money that you think we're getting. And again,
[33:14] I mean, this is where they should be looking. And it's online. I even have
[33:18] a little free library in my neighborhood and I have put this a book like this
[33:22] in the little free library for anyone to get whenever they choose.
[33:26] that's how transparent, I'm trying to encourage residents to see that we are being
[33:30] transparent. Alright, thank you rose. Darren,
[33:35] a lot of folks know I've been walking doors in la haber since january. I've knocked on thousands of
[33:39] doors, and one thing I never really get hit with is, well, we give you all this money,
[33:43] where's it going? And I don't get hit with that question because all I have to do is spread
[33:47] out my arms and say, look around you, look at your road. That gets repaid every three years. Look
[33:52] at the quality of our public safety, look at our infrastructure,
[33:56] look at the programs and events that we're providing the community. Look at public works and
[34:00] all the stuff they do. Folks feel generally that they know what they're paying for.
[34:05] and as rose and carrie said, of course, when it does come to actual accountability, yeah, the answers are
[34:09] all here. And this city is spectacular in the way that it constantly transmits
[34:13] this information. People don't even mind paying taxes so long as they feel their
[34:17] money's not being wasted. That's the number one criteria. I don't think there's hardly
[34:21] anybody in the harbor who thinks that what they get out of this city
[34:26] there is, is not, is not worth it, is what I'm saying. I mean, we have
[34:30] property tax increment, we've got sales tax. That's the lifeblood of this community, and it's put
[34:34] to good use and to good work and people know it. Thank you. Thank you, darren.
[34:42] okay, so next question. Thank goodness I'm keeping track. I'm like, huh? Okay, next
[34:46] question goes to rose. What is your plan for
[34:50] maintaining quality police and fire service in la habra if we don't pass measure
[34:55] v? Well, it's simply said, I mean, if we're going to have to
[34:59] do something, we're gonna have to cut across all departments in some way or another.
[35:03] if this measure, um, doesn't pass, I mean, it's up to the voters,
[35:07] whether they decide what kind of quality of life do they want in the city of la harbor,
[35:11] they've gotten so used to the quality of life, of having a top la fire department
[35:16] to their service. And, uh, the police department as well. Um, the community,
[35:20] uh, the, the police department especially has a relationship with the
[35:24] hispanic community that had never had before. It's a stronger one because they have a
[35:28] citizens emergency or a citizens academy, police academy, all these
[35:33] things, if it depends on, on what kind of budget we have, if we're
[35:37] going to have to cut and where we're going to cut. So I'm hoping that this measure
[35:41] will pass and we can keep that quality, if not better.
[35:45] thank you rose. Darren, I think everybody does need to ask
[35:49] themselves what kind of city they want to live in. It's really that simple when it comes
[35:53] to that sales tax measure with the updated rate. Oh, well, why is it being updated a
[35:57] half a penny? Well, three and a half million dollars folks is what the la county
[36:01] fire department did to us this year. That's how much they increased our contract. We had to cut all
[36:06] departments by 6% right there. Plus the fire department can continue
[36:10] to increase that price by up to $600,000 a year.
[36:14] so like any household budget, like any of you out there watching or listening, the
[36:18] city is one big household. And so when things like that happen, we have a choice.
[36:22] we either try to keep up with revenue generation or we cut, make
[36:27] no mistake, we put this before the voters to let them decide whether they want their city to
[36:31] look basically like it does now or to see an altered version of that city.
[36:35] and if we have to cut 13% of our budget, if v fails, $8 million
[36:39] a year, we're gonna do it because we're elected representatives. That's our job. We will cut to
[36:43] fit. We will not do this. We will not dip into reserves. We will not use our credit card,
[36:48] we won't play any games with that. We'll simply cut to fit. Thank you. Thank you darren.
[36:53] carrie,
[36:58] measure vi do support measure vi believe it is
[37:03] a necessary, um, avenue
[37:07] that we, this the city council is taking to put
[37:11] it out to the voters, let them decide on, on what kind of city
[37:15] that they they would like. What kind of events do they wanna keep?
[37:19] what kind of services would they like to, to continue with
[37:24] our police, our fire, our paramedics. Um,
[37:29] when we make a 9 1 1 call, we wanna know that that
[37:34] response time is immediate.
[37:38] we don't wanna have to rely on wondering, you know,
[37:43] how many fire, um, personnel do
[37:47] we have on file that's gonna be able to get to us when we need to.
[37:51] so, um, I hope the voters see that measure
[37:56] v is gonna be a way that's gonna continue with all the
[38:00] services that we all deserve. Thank you, carrie. Thank you.
[38:04] okay, we're back to darren. In light of recent budget cuts,
[38:09] some have expressed a desire for further cuts. What specific jobs
[38:13] and or services do you support? Cutting?
[38:18] let's look at la haber's job number one. That would be public safety.
[38:22] that's the first and foremost responsibility of any city entity.
[38:27] so that would be the very last to suffer from the effects of massive budget cuts.
[38:31] would it eventually come down to changes with our public safety budget? Yes, of
[38:35] course it would. Some people would consider fluff to be things like community services.
[38:40] oh, the senior dances, the tamali festival, uh, programs that,
[38:44] that help people who are in need. Now if you consider that fluff, then
[38:48] you can look at it that way. Is that more likely to be cut than police officers and firefighting
[38:53] services? Yes, of course. So do we wanna change the inherent character
[38:57] of this city to that extent? We've got candidates running like candidate pritchard and even candidate
[39:01] lakin's, not sure about this, but who say we don't need it. Let it go. All
[39:06] we have to do is be more resilient, more efficient, which is utter complete nonsense.
[39:10] it takes money to run a city, and ultimately if we have to make 13%
[39:15] cuts in our general budget, we're gonna do it. And we'll cut the stuff that is not as important
[39:19] as public safety. Thank you. Thank you darren. Carrie,
[39:25] cutting the budget, cutting out services that all of our
[39:29] residents have come to know and, um, appreciate and
[39:34] expect. Um, we've already cut 6 million across the
[39:38] board with all of our different staff, uh, police,
[39:43] finances, all those other departments. Everyone had to look at
[39:48] what we were paying out and figure out
[39:53] how much 6% out of their department is
[39:57] gonna be cut. Now, la habra, with all the events
[40:01] that we put on the seniors, I mean the
[40:05] lions club providing all these senior dances for our seniors
[40:09] and all the events, the tamale festival, the, you know, corn festivals,
[40:14] all those things that the city does on a annual basis.
[40:18] we don't want those to go away, but we have to stay within a budget as well.
[40:22] and if that means having to cut the services, our uh, public
[40:26] safety is one of the thank you carrie
[40:33] . Well, um,
[40:37] rose? Yes? Do you wanna turn yours off? Oh, okay.
[40:41] well, well, I mean, let's look at that because we already had budget cuts.
[40:45] uh, the city manager had asked every department, you have to cut a certain percentage
[40:50] in each of your departments. That was tough. I mean, even the council, we
[40:54] cut our conferences or any kind of trips that we're gonna take, we just cut it
[40:58] down to nil. But let's look at, I mean, let's look at the homeless issue.
[41:02] and over the last five years, the city has spent 4.6 million
[41:07] addressing homelessness in lahabra. We have a community outreach
[41:11] person that is helping, uh, to, uh, help the homeless
[41:15] and find them the agencies that they need to go to, to assist them. Is
[41:19] that where we're going to cut? Is that going to create more homelessness here in our community?
[41:24] I mean, we, we, we have to make sure that we can help them as
[41:28] well, as well as the other, other resident members in our community, especially the seniors.
[41:32] I mean, my god, if you've ever gone to the senior dances, you know, they're having
[41:36] a time of their life. I mean, you would think that they were 28 instead
[41:40] of 78 or 88, you know, but it's just not something that
[41:44] I would like to see. Thank you, rose.
[41:49] okay, so before I go on to the next question by carrie, here's where I tell you, we
[41:53] just have two more questions and we have three candidates. So if you want to
[41:57] ask a question, now's your chance. Submit them to the question sorters. And if
[42:01] I don't have more questions when these two are done, well closing statements.
[42:06] so, okay. Um, carrie, if you are
[42:10] elected, what will be your priority while on the council
[42:14] and clearly define the role of city council and can you stay focused on
[42:18] your role?
[42:23] I'm sorry, can you repeat the beginning of that one? Yep. If you are elected, what
[42:27] will be your priority while on city council and clearly
[42:32] define the role of city council, and can you stay focused on your role?
[42:38] okay. So the priorities of
[42:42] being a city council member, uh, you know what it, it's, it's a
[42:46] big responsibility. It's one that I took, um,
[42:50] not lightly when I decided to run for city
[42:55] council, um, to get interviewed, first of all, before the
[42:59] appointment. Um, I did that two years ago, and
[43:03] when I did not get appointed,
[43:07] it was on the, um, advice of all of the council members at that time
[43:13] to have more, um, more experience.
[43:17] so what did I do? I applied for the planning commission. I received
[43:21] more, um, training and, and understanding
[43:25] of how the city works. So yes, I can stay focused.
[43:29] um, I've been a realtor for 35 years. Um,
[43:34] and I gotta tell you, the ups, the downs, you have to put it all in perspective.
[43:38] and with that in mind, that is what I will do on city council.
[43:43] thank you. Carrie rose. My focus
[43:47] has always been on the community of lower income. It has
[43:51] always been to try to raise them up, uh, to get them involved in the community.
[43:55] that's why, um, we started the spanish citizens, uh, police academy
[44:00] because I wanted a stronger relationship with the police department. These resident
[44:04] members know these police officers on a first name basis, and it elates me to
[44:08] know that they are, there's a, there's less crime in the, in the, in the community
[44:12] for me. It is, if I can make them succeed, then we all succeed.
[44:16] and that has been what I've been involved in in the centennial committee. I've
[44:20] involved them in other activities. I mean, it, they, once you
[44:24] involve a person into your, your circle of activities,
[44:29] they feel like they have ownership. And that's what I want for the lower income
[44:33] communities, addressing what we can possibly do to make them rise up
[44:37] and well as well and be part of our city. That's what I would do.
[44:42] thank you rose. Darren, I'll answer by saying, what are the priorities of all five of
[44:46] us on city council now and what would I like to work on in the future? One big thing
[44:50] that's a priority for all of our city council members is an expansion of
[44:54] open space, which is unheard of in a built out city like lahabra of only seven
[44:59] square miles. We are building actively a brand new 16 acre
[45:03] park called the scully centennial park, which is gonna have magnificent resources
[45:07] and, and amenities, and we're so looking forward to that. The old women's club now is
[45:11] actually gonna be a new pocket park called los rains women's club park. How many
[45:15] cities get the opportunity to actually build two new parks? We'll do more of that if we can. I made
[45:19] a motion before to explore revising conditional use permits, which charge
[45:24] existing businesses and new businesses. A lot of money to locate in la habra. Sometimes
[45:28] these businesses can't afford that. I want to cut some of those fees in half. I wanna remove the
[45:32] requirement for cs entirely for some of these categories. We're also working
[45:36] on synchronizing traffic lights and we're expanding our, uh, our, uh,
[45:40] our traffic calming program. We got, that's something so critically important. Everybody
[45:44] complains about speeding cars and bad traffic. And now I have to stop. There's so much more I wanna talk
[45:48] about though. Okay, thank you. Darren .
[45:52] okay, so this one goes to rose. What are your thoughts regarding
[45:57] diversity, equity, and inclusion? Oh, well, this is what I'm excited about
[46:01] because as I said, orange county, uh, league of california cities, that
[46:05] appointed me to a specific group committee like that. And I wanna learn how to be able
[46:09] to do more. I can see what I have done as far as including the community that
[46:13] I have. I've worked with resident members addressing their issues in their neighborhoods.
[46:17] one particular neighborhood wanted lighting, and I, I got the former city manager
[46:21] out there. It was drizzling. He had a department out there and we were able to get
[46:26] lighting for that neighborhood on st. Jude. I was able to budget and approve the
[46:30] budget to get these outdoor exercise, uh, equipment for them so they don't
[46:34] have to pay for a gym to have to go into and get exercise. For me, it's
[46:38] like, what can I do to help you? What can I do to raise your level
[46:42] of quality of life? Because once you do that, then they have an
[46:47] investment in the community. So for me, it's like all inclusive,
[46:51] bring you in, teach you that you're a part of our community.
[46:55] you we are investing in you, and we will become successful
[46:59] neighbor by neighbor. Thank you, darren.
[47:03] you know, subsidies in southern california or the state itself send messages of
[47:08] intolerance with some of their actions and policy decisions. That is so the act
[47:12] absolute opposite of our caring community. You can tell the importance of inclusiveness
[47:17] just by looking at our governing body, so to speak, the makeup of our city council,
[47:21] the, the, the makeup of our, uh, commissions, which are very broad
[47:25] based and representative entirely of this community, which is one reason why la
[47:29] haba remains an at large city and not a city broken into districts because
[47:33] there's disenfranchised chunks of voters in the city that aren't represented on
[47:37] city council. It's our ethos and our core belief that everybody
[47:41] is welcome included, encouraged to participate, and we like the representation
[47:46] we see at all levels of local government that reflect the diversity of
[47:50] our entire community. Thank you. Thank you darren. Carrie,
[47:57] I believe in keeping all of us
[48:01] included, not excluded. If someone
[48:06] wants to join a group, I think they should. Um,
[48:10] it's what we teach our kids to be able to
[48:14] share, to be able to involve other kids, not
[48:18] just a one-on-one, unless they were raised in a home with just
[48:22] one person, but to be able to share, to be able
[48:26] to include everyone in every situation.
[48:32] and by doing that, we're we're saying that we are,
[48:36] we are open, we are caring, we want everyone involved. If
[48:40] you wanna be involved, great. If you don't wanna be involved,
[48:44] there's that too. So we're not gonna tell you you have to join
[48:49] or you have to be, but if you want to, we are all here together.
[48:53] thank you. Thank you carrie. Okay, so the next question goes
[48:57] to darren, by the way, are we so proud of our audience? They came up with more questions for us,
[49:03] so, okay, darius. Thanks guys. , this one's for you. The la
[49:07] county fire increase should have been anticipated. The city knew
[49:11] that the contract was temporary. Why did you not plan for the price
[49:15] increase years ago? That is another great, great question posed by the
[49:19] one person who didn't show up to actually speak to that candidate lampkin, who made
[49:23] that accusation that we should have known somehow, that at the end of this 10
[49:27] year contract with la county fire, which was the inception was back in 2008, we
[49:31] should have been well aware of the fact read the la county board of supervisors
[49:36] minds that there's gonna be a new fire chief with an entirely different approach to servicing
[49:41] contract cities like us. It was chief moroney who said that the sweetheart deal we had
[49:45] with la county fire was over after 20 years. Now you have to bear a hundred percent of your costs,
[49:49] your price is going up 3.5 million. Oh, and by the way, if you want that fire station 1 93,
[49:53] that's another $5 million. Now, his attitude was,
[49:57] we need to know really soon because we have the right to terminate this contract now. So
[50:01] make up your minds and if you want us to go, we'll go right now. What's the council gonna do?
[50:06] we negotiated as hard as we could. We got the best deal we could in the future. Do we
[50:10] look at options? Yes, of course we do. There's no way we could have anticipated what la county fire did.
[50:14] that's a ridiculous assertion. I reject it completely. Thank
[50:18] you. Thank you darren. Carrie. Okay,
[50:22] so the la county fire, um, agreement that we had
[50:26] in 2005 and 2014 for those, um,
[50:31] 10 year increments was a shared agreement with
[50:35] county fire with 50%, or actually it was 49 51,
[50:39] but whose county and with the city with the other share.
[50:44] um, in 2023, the contract negotiations
[50:48] began and the city had budgeted the 10, 10,000,
[50:53] um, $10,000 per year that it would cost
[50:57] 10 million. Sorry, uh, per year. That would be pretty, pretty sweet deal, right?
[51:01] um, for all four fire stations,
[51:06] however, um, la county fire having their own fiscal,
[51:11] uh, budget challenges, um, they were no longer to be able
[51:15] to support that cost sharing, um, arrangement.
[51:19] so what did we do? We had to figure out how we're gonna make this happen
[51:24] by, you know, having to close one of our fire stations.
[51:28] thank you carrie rose, closing one of our fire stations, but still costing
[51:32] us the same, you know, or more, you know, I mean, we're paying 50% more per year
[51:37] for 25 or less service. Uh, but nonetheless, as carrie said,
[51:41] with a fiscal budget challenge for la as well. I mean, so they had to pass
[51:45] the buck down. And of course, you know, if you want the quality of service that you have,
[51:49] which we now had with the la fire department, I,
[51:53] it wasn't, it wasn't anything that we expected to be coming up the pipeline.
[51:57] it was a complete surprise to us. And now we know, I would say
[52:02] in the coming years that we look at, uh, periodically look
[52:06] at see what, uh, what the cost is for other services throughout orange county.
[52:10] but, uh, for now, it was just a, a complete surprise to us that this would be coming up
[52:14] the pipeline. Uh, we had no ex I, at least I did not have an expectation
[52:19] of that, but I wouldn't blame him. I mean, we had
[52:23] such a great deal that, uh, we were happy and of course
[52:27] it is what it is. But I would ask that we look at the services, review it,
[52:31] it's, see the contract that we have down the road. Thank you, rose.
[52:36] okay, so carrie,
[52:41] I'm a long time resident, so pleased with your work. What can you do for
[52:45] rent control
[52:52] as a realtor? For 35 years? I've seen rents
[52:56] go up and up and up. And the only thing
[53:00] you can do, I mean, you can't tell a landlord that they
[53:04] can't charge. It's whatever the market will bear.
[53:09] so if the market is, you know, let's just say
[53:13] it's 2000, if you could find something for $2,000
[53:17] a month, um, then that's what it'll be. So it's, it's, it's
[53:21] a matter of, um,
[53:26] two heads coming together to agree every time I
[53:30] see that. Um, anyway, so on, on rent control, there's
[53:34] not, there's not a lot that we can do to, to keep those, um, prices
[53:38] down. Unfortunately, it's wherever that market is going to be.
[53:42] so if we can, um, you know, talk to our
[53:47] landlords, talk to the homeowners and see that we're having
[53:51] a lot of homeowners that are building eight.
[53:55] thank you carrie rose. Well, we have, we have in the
[53:59] city of la harbor, two mobile parks that are very low income
[54:03] for the resident members. We have as well a section eight housing
[54:08] over here in la harbor. We have the senior citizens one. We have around four or five
[54:12] locations where they can have a afford at least a decent, uh, living there in, in
[54:16] those areas. Rent control. I'm not, I mean, I, I think as carrie
[54:20] said, it's up to the individuals that are negotiating. I, I personally, and,
[54:25] and I don't want anybody to stand in line in my house, but I, I only
[54:29] charge $1,500 for a four bedroom house because all I need
[54:33] is to cover the mortgage. That's it. I don't need to be rich, I don't need to get wealthy.
[54:37] but I think it's just the persons that are renting these places that
[54:42] they have to assess how much, how much is do I need for what the
[54:46] quality of life that I have. I mean, I'm not looking to be rich, I just want
[54:50] to help the community. And I think that's the way that it should go around to resident members
[54:54] helping each other. Thank you rose, darren.
[54:59] and that's an interesting point that rose brings up, is that there is not a huge
[55:03] problem with the landlords gouging renters in lahabra. It's a very
[55:07] city specific problem. There's certain areas of socal, well, these landlords are just
[55:11] greedy as all get out and they're just gouging the renters like crazy. Lahabra
[55:15] has not had that issue. Now we've got state rent control now, I believe it's capped at
[55:19] 10% a year, which is still a lot of money. Or I believe it's 5% plus the cost of living for
[55:24] that giving year. So that's there, and there's a ballot measure that talks about rent control
[55:28] on the november ballot. But do I think rent control is right for la
[55:32] hara now? No. Do I think rent control is correct for some cities
[55:36] where they have an issue with that and we've got folks who simply cannot find affordable
[55:40] housing anywhere? Yes. But again, everything is very city specific. We
[55:44] have a unique character here in la habra. We have a whole set of, of, of
[55:48] factors at play and rent control and the gouging
[55:52] sometimes it takes place is not happening in la harbor at this time. Thank you.
[55:57] okay, thank you. So now we're to rose. I ask you
[56:01] to take a look at the secondhand smoke in condos and apartments. Can
[56:05] you do anything about the secondhand smoke in condos and apartments? Again, if
[56:09] we talk to the managers, then we can meet up with the managers and find out what the issue is there
[56:14] and how we can resolve it. Yes, I mean, uh, there's a, there's always an answer
[56:18] in some way that we can do to limit that, but, uh, uh, it
[56:23] has to be with the, the managers and the company, whoever owns these apartments, to be able
[56:27] to talk with them about the secondhand smoke if there are units that are separately for
[56:31] smokers. I don't know. I have been very fortunate not to have to live in
[56:35] apartments, but I would, uh, investigate and find out by going to the, uh, developers
[56:40] or the managers of these apartment complexes as well.
[56:44] thank you rose, darren, no denying
[56:48] that secondhand smoke is a chronic health issue for a lot of folks. And it is true
[56:52] too, that cigarette smoke permeates these units to a great extent. You're looking at kids
[56:56] there, uh, inhaling this secondhand smoke, which is a distinct public
[57:01] health problem. Uh, by the same token, we also
[57:05] don't want to be overly regulatory and overly restrictive in telling
[57:09] owners and landlords how to run their businesses. I think there's ways of incentivizing
[57:13] smoke-free apartment buildings and ways of encouraging landlords to
[57:17] create non-smoking living accommodations. And
[57:22] that's something the city can do without actually creating a law that forbids,
[57:26] uh, a landlord from owning a property where some smoking is allowed in certain locations.
[57:31] so again, and it's not, doesn't appear to be a huge issue in the harbor, but, uh, can
[57:35] there be progress on that point? Absolutely. Do I acknowledge it as a major health concern?
[57:39] I do. Thank you. Thank you, carrie.
[57:45] secondhand smoke, um, our kids are the ones
[57:49] that suffer for all the secondhand smoke, um, and our
[57:53] seniors, our older population. Um,
[57:58] and it is difficult to be able to impose
[58:02] these restrictions on homeowners that own, um, apartments
[58:07] or condo complexes. Um, the only thing that we can do, as
[58:11] rose and darren did say, is to meet with them.
[58:16] I know that we have a group in la habra, again, a coalition
[58:20] that is, you know, seeking out to find out ways
[58:25] to prevent secondhand smoke, um, going to the schools,
[58:29] letting them, um, be aware of all these things that can
[58:33] happen, um, with secondhand smoke. And so with
[58:37] the knowledge and passing that on to the homeowners, you can't
[58:41] impose someone to say you have to
[58:45] restrict smoking, but we can alert them.
[58:49] thank you carrie. Okay, so this next
[58:54] question goes to darren and we have after this, just one
[58:58] more question after this, so second time around last chance. Okay.
[59:03] I think our city can do more to celebrate the diversity in our community.
[59:07] what ideas do you have to celebrate cultures across our
[59:11] city? I think you're gonna see some of that coming up next year. We've got a massive
[59:16] birthday party that we're planning for right now, and that is for the city's centennial, 100
[59:20] years of the caring community. We were incorporated in 1925.
[59:24] you know, the thing is that question again is an odd question for lahabra
[59:29] because that's all you see are these massive inclusive
[59:33] events throughout the city where you've got this tremendous diversity. Because we're a
[59:37] diverse community, we we're slightly majority hispanic. We've got every ethnic
[59:41] and racial group represented in la habra, and they are there as
[59:46] one large family at all these events and all. And you see them participating in all these programs.
[59:50] so is there a group where we have to say, if you're afraid,
[59:55] or do you feel out of place you shouldn't and come join? Nobody feels
[59:59] that way. Everybody feels welcomed. Everybody feels included. That
[1:00:03] again, is what is unique about la habra. That's my answer. Thank
[1:00:07] you. Thank you. Carrie, can you just repeat
[1:00:12] the the question for me please? Yes. I think our city can do more
[1:00:16] to celebrate the diversity in our community. What ideas do you have to celebrate
[1:00:20] cultures across our city is just letting them
[1:00:24] know they're all welcome. Um, with our new centennial coming
[1:00:29] up next year, 20 25, 100 years in existence for
[1:00:33] the city of lahabra, there are going to be events
[1:00:37] for every culture, for every type
[1:00:42] of celebration. I mean, we're gonna have a whole year of celebrating.
[1:00:46] so I mean, if we wanted to, we can take one , one different
[1:00:50] group and and celebrate them and bring
[1:00:54] them all into, um, togetherness. So that, that is really,
[1:00:59] I I don't see this as a problem. I see this as of
[1:01:04] working with our community and saying, what do you need? What would
[1:01:08] you like to see for your culture? 'cause we can sure
[1:01:13] take, uh, take on any new challenges that they have. Thank
[1:01:17] you. Thank you carrie rose. Well, I, I've seen that happening
[1:01:22] before my eyes now. Uh, we don't have to wait for the centennial.
[1:01:26] I, I attend the bunco and there are so many women of different cultures
[1:01:31] there that are participating. I, I've never, I had never played bunco, but with this group of
[1:01:35] ladies, it's just been awesome to attend it. The lions parade,
[1:01:39] I mean, you saw such a diverse culture there and it was so
[1:01:43] enriching to be able to see that, that they are coming in and celebrating
[1:01:47] together. And I am on the centennial, so we are having persons,
[1:01:52] uh, bring in their photos so they can be scanned. And it's amazing to see the
[1:01:56] photos of the past. Uh, I talked to them about when my
[1:02:00] siblings were segregated, they were segregated and went to mexican schools. And my sister says,
[1:02:05] why am I going to mexican school to learn english if I already speak english?
[1:02:09] why is this black kid going to a mexican school if he's not mexican? You
[1:02:13] know? And it was all these stories that are being shared in the centennial that
[1:02:17] make you realize that we are all one population, we are all one community,
[1:02:22] and it's enriching. Thank you, rose. Okay, so it seems to
[1:02:26] me we have come to our last question. This one's for carrie.
[1:02:31] have any of your colleagues endorsed your candidacy and have they donated
[1:02:36] to your campaign?
[1:02:41] not the candidates themselves. Um, I've had
[1:02:45] a spouse that donated to my campaign. Um,
[1:02:49] but other than that I have not. Okay.
[1:02:53] thank you. Thank you rose. Question again.
[1:02:59] have any of your colleagues endorsed your candidacy and have they donated to
[1:03:03] your campaign? Well, I, I don't normally seek endorsements.
[1:03:07] I am, uh, probably a lone horse out there that I just run my campaign.
[1:03:11] I just raise my own money. I'll put my own money. Um,
[1:03:16] and um, it's never been an issue with me before, you know, and,
[1:03:20] and we, it's like there's no reason for for me to do that, you know, because
[1:03:24] they're in the same bind I am. They're trying to raise money as well for their
[1:03:28] campaigns. So I'm being respectful of that. So I usually end up raising my own, uh, putting
[1:03:32] in my own money. This was, like I said, the first time I have ever done this, accept
[1:03:36] endorsements and, uh, raise money. Okay. Thank you rose.
[1:03:41] darren, carrie, do you endorse me? Yes. Rose, do you endorse
[1:03:45] me? I will. Alright. So I've been endorsed by all my council member colleagues and in fact,
[1:03:49] maybe carrie wasn't clear on this, but I gave her 250 bucks myself.
[1:03:53] so, and I can do that too because I've raised a lot of money in this campaign. 'cause I've been working really
[1:03:58] hard. I've been endorsed by every planning commission member, despite the fact that commissioner brene
[1:04:02] was a planning commissioner. I've been endorsed by every community services commissioner and I've been endorsed
[1:04:06] by everybody on the la haber city school district board of trustees except
[1:04:10] for candidate pritchard. So riddle me that. Um, so I've
[1:04:14] been roundly endorsed and supported by people in this community, and I've had numerous, uh,
[1:04:18] contributions. I haven't given rose money, but I've been putting up a lot of her science. Is that good enough?
[1:04:23] there we go. That's my answer. Thank you. Sweat equity. Sweat equity. Okay,
[1:04:27] well that was fun. Um, we are now at closing
[1:04:31] statements unless we have any last minute questions. Nope, we're
[1:04:35] good. Okay, let's wrap it up. We have each candidate in the same order that
[1:04:39] they started. They have a chance to have closing statements. Closing statements are one minute.
[1:04:44] so, um, darren, you got one minute.
[1:04:48] I'm on wrapping up. All right. Let me address the elephant in the room. Why are there only three of us here?
[1:04:52] where's everybody else running for city council? That's a great question. What we've got right now are
[1:04:56] five long-term stakeholders on city council with enormous experience,
[1:05:01] knowledge and insight. I think that benet prichard and
[1:05:05] what's his name, lampkin, didn't wanna sit here and have to deal with
[1:05:09] that. And their answers are completely vague
[1:05:13] and non-existent. Um, you know, we are
[1:05:17] impacted by outside forces that challenge us in various ways, whether it's greedy developers,
[1:05:21] whether it's the la county fire contract, whether it's disgruntled former council members.
[1:05:26] but we always meet these challenges with wisdom and a commitment to the welfare
[1:05:30] of lahabra. So I just wanna say that, uh, in short, protecting and defending
[1:05:34] the safety quality of life and the very character of this wonderful, caring
[1:05:38] community is first and foremost on my mind. I'm so proud
[1:05:43] of this city that we have built together. And I wanna finally say that I would
[1:05:47] not be sitting here, I would not be involved at all if not for carol serian sitting right back there and jose
[1:05:51] too. Jose raise his hand. But is carol, she's why I'm here. So I'm
[1:05:55] asking you to please, I'm willing to do it for another four years. Your time is up. Thank you very much.
[1:05:59] okay, carrie. Well, again, I wanted to thank the
[1:06:03] league of women voters for being, um, putting on our forum tonight.
[1:06:08] um, and
[1:06:12] to my re non-response to that last question, I just
[1:06:16] wanted to say, I have been endorsed by all of my
[1:06:20] colleagues on city council. I have been endorsed by
[1:06:24] the, um, the school board, um, except for prichard
[1:06:29] and then, um, with the la county fire and our
[1:06:33] police association. And I just wanted to say thank you.
[1:06:37] this being able to give back to la habra
[1:06:41] is what it's all about. That's what I am about here. I wanna
[1:06:46] continue this run. I'd like to be your city council
[1:06:50] member for the next four years and
[1:06:55] so much. Thank you. Carrie rose.
[1:06:59] um, my family, my grandfather came to la harbor in 1919
[1:07:03] before the city was incorporated. We have so many generations of
[1:07:07] families living here. Uh, lived in a migrant camp. Um, I never
[1:07:11] planned on running for city hou, uh, council until an organization maldif
[1:07:16] mexican american legal defense and educational fund called me up and asked if
[1:07:20] I would run because, uh, supposedly I was making a difference through rosie's garage.
[1:07:24] no, no, no. I go, the only thing I know about city hall is that I pay my water bill there. That's
[1:07:28] it. . Um, I passed her on to someone else and, and they, she
[1:07:32] called the other person that I passed her on to called me and she said, you know, we can run together,
[1:07:36] we can run on a slate. And I go, what the heck? Let's try it. I never knew there
[1:07:41] was this world beyond my neighborhood and I thought,
[1:07:45] holy cow, I wanna make a difference. And so I ran, lost four times
[1:07:49] and finally won again. Finally won. And I love,
[1:07:53] I love serving the community, I love connecting with the resident members.
[1:07:57] and I hope to do it in, uh, 2024 again after the election. Thank
[1:08:01] you. Okay, thank you rose.
[1:08:06] so on behalf of the league of women voters of north orange
[1:08:11] county, I want to thank all the candidates here this evening for running and
[1:08:15] for participating. Um, participating in candidate forums is really
[1:08:19] important for making our democracy work. And questions from
[1:08:23] the audience are really important for making sure you have a chance to interact with them as well.
[1:08:28] so thank you once again for our timekeepers and our questions sorters.
[1:08:33] and I also, rumor has it that we have assemblywoman pacheco in the
[1:08:37] audience. Yes.
[1:08:43] so on that happy note, I will wrap it up. I'd like to remind you to vote,
[1:08:48] vote, vote, vote. And you have, um, ballotpedia is
[1:08:52] a great resource as well. And vote 4 1 1 are also great resources for finding
[1:08:56] more information in your ballot. And thank you very much for coming and have a great evening.
[1:09:00] christina. Thank you so much. And thank you ladies for the league so much, for all the hard work. Thank
[1:09:04] you. Greatly appreciated. All right.
[1:09:11] how are you? Was I embarrassed all night? No.