BY AMELIA MATTHEWS
ARTESIA, CA – The controversial median, the bone of contention between the merchants of `Little India’ and the City of Artesia has finally come down! But the merchants who put up a tough fight to get it demolished, are not too happy still. The median between 183rd to 186th street which came up in 2016 as part of the beautification plans...
ARTESIA, CA – The controversial median, the bone of contention between the merchants of `Little India’ and the City of Artesia has finally come down! But the merchants who put up a tough fight to get it demolished, are not too happy still. The median between 183rd to 186th street which came up in 2016 as part of the beautification plans...
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of Pioneer Blvd here by the City of Artesia, has been a source of woe rather than a boon for business. Though the merchants of `Little India’ and residents of Artesia have won a victory of sorts, they are not elated as one would think. The reason: there are still too many unanswered questions hanging in the air and uncertainty about the future plans of the City and how these will impact their business. Another major concern is the wastage of huge funds . The merchants are calling for accountability and transparency from the Artesia City Council. The median, which was too wide, occupying most of the street, had left just a narrow one-lane street on both sides, causing bumper-to-bumper traffic congestion and making it impossible for vehicles to make turns. Big vehicles like trucks had almost stopped coming to the area as they could not turn into the plazas due to space constraints.
Under pressure from merchants and residents, the City Council gave in and in a meeting in Sept 2017, a decision was made to modify the median and scale it back. Work on this started on Jan 4, soon after the holidays and is now complete. However, the merchants are not happy. All that has been done in an attempt to pacify them is removing the median and releasing around 8 feet of space either side. However, there is still a large empty space left in the center. Spokesperson for the Indian-Americans merchants of `Little India’ Gurpal Sood, who owns Paratha Grill, said the plans of the City Council are unpredictable. Merchants feel that the City built the median in the first place to harass them and not to boost business in the area. They claim that the City spent around $9 million for the redevelopment project which included the median, but this has been a total waste of public money which could have been used for other much needed redevelopment projects.
To make amends to the merchants, Sood suggested that the City start advertising in local and community newspapers putting out `Liitle India’ ads to bring back customers to the area; remove parking meters and increase law enforcement in the business district to curtail crimes like bag snatching. According to Sood, then Artesia Mayor Ali Sajjad Taj and Councilmembers Victor Manalo and Miguel Canales pushed for the building of the median at the city council meetings in 2014. Then in the meeting in Sept. last year, all three had a change of heart and were in agreement to modify the median with Taj labeling it as as `eye sore.’
Sood and the merchants feel that this decision was taken in response to a recall petition launched in August last year by the merchants and residents to gather 18,000 signatures against Taj and the council members by Nov. 22. By Sept. they had almost reached the halfway mark. Under pressure, the City Council meeting was hastily called on Sept. 11, where the motion to scale back the median was taken.
When contacted, Taj, who is on the Council but no longer Mayor, clarified that the proposal to construct the median was unanimous, and the present Mayor Sally Flowers and Councilman Tony Lima were also in on it.
He explained that plans for the median were part of the redevelopment project, an upgrading of the downtown area which included sidewalk extension to make sidwewalks more pedestrian-friendly, while narrowing the streets from four lanes on each side to two going in either direction. The plan also included upgrading the aesthetics by adding benches, trees, light posts, bike racks, pedestrian-oriented decorative lighting and signage, landscaping planters and other items. The controversial median was to be build to house a large pedestrian promenade in the center of the boulevard where lively events and engagement could occur. But by adding the center median, the street was effectively reduced from two lanes in each direction to one on each side.
According to Taj, majority of funds for the redevelopment project were provided by the state government, around $6 million. Though private partnerships for funding were also forged and contracts signed with private investors, the agreements with investors fell through partly due to the negative publicity. So plans for developing the promenade did not see the light of day and remained stagnant.
Since the time for development crossed the one year limit and taking into consideration the sentiments of the merchants and residents, the Council moved to bring down the median. In subsequent meeting and then at the final meeting in Dec. 2017 the council approved the contract of the bidder to pull down the median and put back the two-lanes.
Taj made it clear that no public funds had been wasted as alleged by the merchants. Only around $2000-3000 was spent on the demarcation of the median.
IJ attempted to contact Mayor Sally Flowers several times for comments to disclose what would replace the median and future plans to boost business in the area. She was not available for comment till the time of going to press. Other Council members and the City Manager too did not return calls.
This lack of transparency is what has irked merchants. According to Venkatesh Koka, owner of Little India Village, the City put up the median despite strong opposition from the merchants and residents. Meetings to discuss the median were called during the daytime to k eep merchants away who operated their businesses during those hours, and only selective merchants were invited. No official records were maintained of the minutes of these meetings. Though the median has gone, there is still around 25 ft left vacant in the middle of the street. He asks what the city plans to do with this. There is enough space available for a left turn. So why isn’t the city allowing for a dedicated left turn?
Amarjeet Dhamija, who runs Walk-In-Medical Center, and has been in the area for around 30 years candidly expressed her anger at the City Council saying: `` They are out of their minds. What is the purpose of the vacant middle space? ’’ She was also extremely upset as the five metered parking spots in front of her business had been removed with no parking spots left at all! ``This will have a negative fallout on our business. If legal action against the city is required, I am willing for that,’’ she added adamantly.
For Sood and the merchants the tussle with the City is not over yet. They will now take up the issue of paid parking. As Sood explained, `` There are no parking meters in any other area of Artesia except for the three blocks in `Little India.’ Why is this so? The designated downtown area is from 186 street to 187 street but enforced parking extents from 183rd street through 188th street, which should not be the case and amounts to discrimination.’’
The merchants claim that the parking meters have spelt doom for business ever since they were installed. According to Koka, a combination of the median and the parking meters cut down business in the area by around 50 percent.
As Sood says, the merchants and residents want answers and will keep up the fight until they get what they want.
Under pressure from merchants and residents, the City Council gave in and in a meeting in Sept 2017, a decision was made to modify the median and scale it back. Work on this started on Jan 4, soon after the holidays and is now complete. However, the merchants are not happy. All that has been done in an attempt to pacify them is removing the median and releasing around 8 feet of space either side. However, there is still a large empty space left in the center. Spokesperson for the Indian-Americans merchants of `Little India’ Gurpal Sood, who owns Paratha Grill, said the plans of the City Council are unpredictable. Merchants feel that the City built the median in the first place to harass them and not to boost business in the area. They claim that the City spent around $9 million for the redevelopment project which included the median, but this has been a total waste of public money which could have been used for other much needed redevelopment projects.
To make amends to the merchants, Sood suggested that the City start advertising in local and community newspapers putting out `Liitle India’ ads to bring back customers to the area; remove parking meters and increase law enforcement in the business district to curtail crimes like bag snatching. According to Sood, then Artesia Mayor Ali Sajjad Taj and Councilmembers Victor Manalo and Miguel Canales pushed for the building of the median at the city council meetings in 2014. Then in the meeting in Sept. last year, all three had a change of heart and were in agreement to modify the median with Taj labeling it as as `eye sore.’
Sood and the merchants feel that this decision was taken in response to a recall petition launched in August last year by the merchants and residents to gather 18,000 signatures against Taj and the council members by Nov. 22. By Sept. they had almost reached the halfway mark. Under pressure, the City Council meeting was hastily called on Sept. 11, where the motion to scale back the median was taken.
When contacted, Taj, who is on the Council but no longer Mayor, clarified that the proposal to construct the median was unanimous, and the present Mayor Sally Flowers and Councilman Tony Lima were also in on it.
He explained that plans for the median were part of the redevelopment project, an upgrading of the downtown area which included sidewalk extension to make sidwewalks more pedestrian-friendly, while narrowing the streets from four lanes on each side to two going in either direction. The plan also included upgrading the aesthetics by adding benches, trees, light posts, bike racks, pedestrian-oriented decorative lighting and signage, landscaping planters and other items. The controversial median was to be build to house a large pedestrian promenade in the center of the boulevard where lively events and engagement could occur. But by adding the center median, the street was effectively reduced from two lanes in each direction to one on each side.
According to Taj, majority of funds for the redevelopment project were provided by the state government, around $6 million. Though private partnerships for funding were also forged and contracts signed with private investors, the agreements with investors fell through partly due to the negative publicity. So plans for developing the promenade did not see the light of day and remained stagnant.
Since the time for development crossed the one year limit and taking into consideration the sentiments of the merchants and residents, the Council moved to bring down the median. In subsequent meeting and then at the final meeting in Dec. 2017 the council approved the contract of the bidder to pull down the median and put back the two-lanes.
Taj made it clear that no public funds had been wasted as alleged by the merchants. Only around $2000-3000 was spent on the demarcation of the median.
IJ attempted to contact Mayor Sally Flowers several times for comments to disclose what would replace the median and future plans to boost business in the area. She was not available for comment till the time of going to press. Other Council members and the City Manager too did not return calls.
This lack of transparency is what has irked merchants. According to Venkatesh Koka, owner of Little India Village, the City put up the median despite strong opposition from the merchants and residents. Meetings to discuss the median were called during the daytime to k eep merchants away who operated their businesses during those hours, and only selective merchants were invited. No official records were maintained of the minutes of these meetings. Though the median has gone, there is still around 25 ft left vacant in the middle of the street. He asks what the city plans to do with this. There is enough space available for a left turn. So why isn’t the city allowing for a dedicated left turn?
Amarjeet Dhamija, who runs Walk-In-Medical Center, and has been in the area for around 30 years candidly expressed her anger at the City Council saying: `` They are out of their minds. What is the purpose of the vacant middle space? ’’ She was also extremely upset as the five metered parking spots in front of her business had been removed with no parking spots left at all! ``This will have a negative fallout on our business. If legal action against the city is required, I am willing for that,’’ she added adamantly.
For Sood and the merchants the tussle with the City is not over yet. They will now take up the issue of paid parking. As Sood explained, `` There are no parking meters in any other area of Artesia except for the three blocks in `Little India.’ Why is this so? The designated downtown area is from 186 street to 187 street but enforced parking extents from 183rd street through 188th street, which should not be the case and amounts to discrimination.’’
The merchants claim that the parking meters have spelt doom for business ever since they were installed. According to Koka, a combination of the median and the parking meters cut down business in the area by around 50 percent.
As Sood says, the merchants and residents want answers and will keep up the fight until they get what they want.
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