San Gabriel Valley City

Patricia McIntosh and her fellow La Puente residents have seen more than their fair share of city turmoil in recent years: Government officials accused of sexual harassment and excessive travel expenses. The threatened loss of municipal insurance. But when McIntosh got wind of a proposal to change the name of her beloved San Gabriel Valley city, the 82-year-old president of the La Puente Valley Historical Society had to speak out. "That's ludicrous," she said. "It'd be like coming in and saying we'd like to change the name of California.

At the end of the night, the El Monte lifeguards who were fired for making a video spoof of a South Korean pop phenomenon did not win their jobs back. But they did make a splash that continues to be felt in the San Gabriel Valley city. "The city is the laughingstock of the nation," observed political consultant Xavier Hermosillo during a lengthy council meeting Tuesday that ended with city officials ordering a review of the mass firing. He suggested the city "do the right thing" and hire back the guards.

A former mayor of Alhambra was shot in the chest and killed Thursday night while walking through a quiet residential neighborhood in the San Gabriel Valley city. Authorities said they had no motive for the killing of Stephen Ballreich, 41, who served on the City Council from 1974 to 1979 and was mayor from 1976 to 1977. His body was found in the 1700 block of South Marguerita Avenue, near a convent and close to his boyhood home. Merrill W.

Patricia McIntosh and her fellow La Puente residents have seen more than their fair share of city turmoil in recent years: Government officials accused of sexual harassment and excessive travel expenses. The threatened loss of municipal insurance. But when McIntosh got wind of a proposal to change the name of her beloved San Gabriel Valley city, the 82-year-old president of the La Puente Valley Historical Society had to speak out. "That's ludicrous," she said. "It'd be like coming in and saying we'd like to change the name of California.

DOWN TO BUSINESS: South El Monte is getting serious about selling itself to new businesses. Out of about 100 entries submitted by people who live or work in the city, officials have chosen one slogan to market their hometown: "South El Monte, We Mean Business." The phrase will be the centerpiece of a $50,000 marketing campaign--including brochures and print advertisement--to persuade businesses to relocate to the largely blue-collar San Gabriel Valley city.

A Los Angeles Raiders official, John Herrera, told the Irwindale City Council Thursday night that the Raiders' commitment to move to the San Gabriel Valley city and build a new football stadium "has not wavered and is strong, as strong as it has ever been." But Herrera said that "financial hurdles have yet to be overcome" before the $150-million project can go forward. Without describing the hurdles in any detail, Herrera said the Raiders are hopeful that "in the next couple of months" a "viable financial structure" will be developed to build the stadium.

San Gabriel Valley city officials have voted to ask the county Sanitation Districts to investigate the feasibility of shipping trash to the desert for disposal. The action was taken by directors of the 28-city San Gabriel Valley Assn. of Cities to create an option for disposing of trash when local dumps reach capacity and are forced to close.

At the end of the night, the El Monte lifeguards who were fired for making a video spoof of a South Korean pop phenomenon did not win their jobs back. But they did make a splash that continues to be felt in the San Gabriel Valley city. "The city is the laughingstock of the nation," observed political consultant Xavier Hermosillo during a lengthy council meeting Tuesday that ended with city officials ordering a review of the mass firing. He suggested the city "do the right thing" and hire back the guards.

In regard to the article "Ethnic Groups Give the Nod to Tolerance" (Times, April 15), I was interviewed extensively for this article and tried to emphasize the importance of issues other than just those of ethnicity. While the defeat of an anti-immigrant stance was significant, there were also other aspects which the article failed to cover although they were said in my interview: 1. There were other issues, not just ethnic tensions, which were very important in this (Monterey Park)

Everyone who does business in the city of Industry is required to sign up with Mayor David Perez's company. For years, a firm partly owned by the mayor has held an exclusive, multimillion-dollar franchise to pick up trash from the warehouses, manufacturing plants and other commercial enterprises packed into this oddly configured, avidly pro-business San Gabriel Valley city. And that is just one Perez investment thread that runs through town -- a place with fewer than 100 voters, tight-knit City Hall relationships and now a good chance of becoming home to an $800-million stadium complex and Los Angeles' next professional football team.

Occasionally they would knock on a neighbor's door to borrow tools or ask for help with a maintenance issue. But for the most part, the Buddhist nuns on Marcon Drive in Walnut kept to the ranch-style house where they lived and worshiped. For 10 years, the young women with the shaved heads and long robes were accepted as part of an eclectic neighborhood of single-family homes, a middle school, a spacious public park and four churches — one Mormon, one Lutheran and two catering to Korean American Christians.

For years, the Chinese worked hard to lure deep-pocketed American investors. Now they're the ones investing here, looking for bargains in the sluggish U.S. economy. Last week, the city of San Marino got a taste of what it's like to play host. "America can invest in China, so Chinese can invest in America. It's a win-win situation," said Yongli Zhou, chief executive of Zhejiang Yongli Industry Group, a large investment, manufacturing and textiles company, and one of about a dozen Chinese officials and business leaders visiting San Marino.

Everyone who does business in the city of Industry is required to sign up with Mayor David Perez's company. For years, a firm partly owned by the mayor has held an exclusive, multimillion-dollar franchise to pick up trash from the warehouses, manufacturing plants and other commercial enterprises packed into this oddly configured, avidly pro-business San Gabriel Valley city. And that is just one Perez investment thread that runs through town -- a place with fewer than 100 voters, tight-knit City Hall relationships and now a good chance of becoming home to an $800-million stadium complex and Los Angeles' next professional football team.

The small city of Duarte, tucked in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, has long been a slice of suburban bliss for many different kinds of people. The great American playwright Sam Shepard grew up there in the 1950s and once described it as "a weird accumulation of things, a strange kind of melting pot -- Spanish, Okie, black, Midwestern elements all mixed together." Shepard's 1976 play "Curse of the Starving Class" is set in a San Gabriel Valley community like Duarte.

Rick White, owner of Vroman's Silver Shop in Glendora, pulls out a photo of a tea service so stately it looks like it would confer a title on any hand that poured from it. White says that its owner spotted a burglar leaving her house with it but that the police were able to recover the set. The bad news: The silver had been tossed from the burglar's car onto a freeway. Damage included dents, broken handle parts and what White matter-of-factly describes as "road rash."

Authorities searched the Temple City offices and homes of the mayor and two council members Wednesday as part of an investigation into allegations that they solicited tens of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for their support of a $75-million mall project.

The setting smacked of bureaucracy and the Establishment: To the right of the Monterey Park City Hall lobby sat the Police Department complaint desk. Scattered about the ground-floor lobby were offices of planners, building inspectors and other government enforcers.

Irwindale has landed a big one. Lucent Technologies is building a huge plant complex to manufacture laser semiconductors and other optical-fiber components on a site that will attract other high-tech companies and transform the sand- and gravel-based economy of the San Gabriel Valley city.

A pearly gazebo next to City Hall sits atop a pristine lawn along a stretch of Las Tunas Drive dotted with quaint mom-and-pop businesses, noodle houses and Asian bridal stores. Mayberry meets Taipei here in Temple City, a sleepy suburb of 33,000 in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley, about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Like its neighbors Alhambra, Rosemead, Arcadia and San Gabriel, the city has been transformed in the last two decades by an influx of ethnic Chinese immigrants.

Irwindale has landed a big one. Lucent Technologies is building a huge plant complex to manufacture laser semiconductors and other optical-fiber components on a site that will attract other high-tech companies and transform the sand- and gravel-based economy of the San Gabriel Valley city.