Last week, Sustainable City News fact-checked statements by mayoral contenders in the first three candidate forums. This week, we fact-check statements made in four candidate forums by Whittierites running for City Council in Districts 1 and 3. On business growth and retention, District 3 incumbent Cathy Warner claimed during the Chamber of Commerce forum at...
Moving back home to Downey, California was a tough transition but was going to be a short one, I assumed. “This is temporary!” I assured my mom, who only had a couch to offer me. “No need to unpack the boxes, I’ll be out of here in no time.” A year later and I’m still living at home.
After three forums sponsored by a variety of Whittier nonprofits and civic organizations, Sustainable City News fact-checks statements made by City of Whittier mayoral candidates on several issues of interest to local voters.
In this issue, we reprint content written by candidates for Assembly District 57 about themselves and their reasons for running. This content can be found on candidates’ websites and on VotersEdge.org.
Contributing Editor Susan Friesen Cameron witnesses the final hours of the Parnell Park encampment and the dispersal of its residents, including the last man standing.
Some say unhoused Whittier residents refuse services. Is this true? If so, why? Sustainable City News interviews six homeless residents about what keeps them unhoused.
Councilman Bouchot says, “ADUs are a great tool for meeting demand for housing in away that keeps a city’s neighborhood character intact. There are some potential parking impacts to neighborhoods, but the alternative is large development that has even more overt impact on neighborhoods’ aesthetics.”
The Whittier City Council called an emergency meeting on Monday, January 6, after a 22-year-old woman was found dead of an apparent overdose at Parnell Park on New Year’s morning and a gunman attacked the encampment just days later. In the end, the Council voted to give a 10-day warning to the residents of the Parnell Park encampment before a temporary park closure.
The driver parked and entered the encampment, screaming “get out of my park, get out of my city, get out of my country”. The driver was described by multiple eyewitnesses as Latino and visibly inebriated. He was not known to any member of the encampment.
I salute the founders of this paper on their mission to spread the gospel of Whittier, at a time when we need to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable more than ever before — and at a time where too many want to comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted.