City Council on redistricting- If it isn't broke don't fix it

La Mirada-  The city council has voted to use the same council district map that was first adopted in 2016 for another ten-year period noting a lack of interest from the public for change.

Consultants from National Demographics Corporation (NDC) a firm hired to guide the city through the redistricting process told the council the boundaries successfully protect two identified communities of interest in District 1, the Hispanic majority district on the west
side and District 3 protecting the interests of the Asian community in the east.

The absence of public participation in the redistricting process has been noteworthy and corresponds with comments made by Councilmember John Lewis and Steve DeRuse that they have not received complaints about representation issues or requests to be moved to another district.

Councilmember Anthony Otero noted that though the city council operates from districts it acts as one body for the benefit and good of all its residents.

In closing out council discussion on the issue Mayor Ed Eng said he found working within big organizations that making change without a purpose leads to chaos.

The only member of the council, Andrew Sarega who voiced any interest in making major changes in the district boundaries was absent from the meeting.  

The ordinance adopting the district boundaries for ten more years gained approval on a 4-0 vote.

La Mirada man sent to state prison in 2020 shooting

Norwalk-  A La Mirada man has received a state prison sentence after pleading guilty to firing shots at the home of his former girlfriend in the Foster Park area of La Mirada in November 2020.

Justin Serratos, 21, received the maximum sentence of four years for aggravated assault with a firearm and additional 8-months for firing a weapon in a negligent manner under a plea agreement with prosecutors. In exchange for his plea, charges alleging attempted murder and felony vandalism were dropped.

Serratos was arrested November 25, 2020 after deputies tracked him to his home in the 13900 block of Bora Drive after he fired shots into the home of his ex-girlfriend in the 13200 block of Woodridge Dr the night before.

Serratos initially refused to surrender to deputies, eventually surrendering after a 5-hour standoff that ended without further incident.

There were no injuries in either incident.

Serratos is currently being housed at the LASD North County Correctional Facility pending his transfer to the Wasco state prison intake center.

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Controversy continues around local blogger

FPPC hands down $750 fine for election law violations

Aiello and Sarega pictured together
on 2017 mailer together. Both were 
not charged after FPPC investigation

The owner of a local news blog has been fined for violating state election laws during the 2017 contest to fill two seats on the city council.

Tony Aiello, editor of the La Mirada Blog website was hit with a $750 fine by the Fair Political Practices Committee (FPPC) after it found that the candidate-controlled committee Aiello for Council 2017 failed to file campaign finance reports to the state commission in a timely manner on three occasions as required by state elections law. 

Aiello was not charged with a second allegation accusing him of campaign coordination with council member Andrew Sarega and Residents for a Better La Mirada (RBLM) after a La Mirada Lamplighter investigation determined all three utilized the same company in Arlington Texas to printed mail campaign materials to voters.

Campaign mailers viewed by many as political hit pieces sent by RBLM attacked Aiello's opponent John Lewis and Sarega's opponent Pauline Deal.

The flyers were funded from a $6,500 donation received from a business owned by Stelian Onufrei, a friend of the Sarega family. Andrew Sarega was Onufrei's campaign manager during a failed bid for Congress in 2018.

Tensions between Aiello and City Hall surfaced into the public eye in late 2019 after the city ended a contract with Aiello for placement of theatre ads on his blog due to a sharp drop off in internet traffic the ads were generating from the ads for the city according to La Mirada News sources who have asked not to be named.  

The drop in ad clicks may possibly be attributed to a lack of content in 2019 that saw only 15 posts placed for the entire year of which most were community event plugs seen on other platforms. The blog has been inactive since Sept. 2020, (14 months).

Mr. Aiello has promised a relaunch of the news blog on January 1 despite cutting ties with City Hall in May when he resigned from the city Historical Preservation Advisory Council (HPAC) after complaining on social media the city failed to notify HPAC that it granted access to a media outlet to produce a video about the contents inside the city archives room.

The resignation came shortly after being informed HPAC lacked oversight authority and served in an advisory capacity only to the city council on projects assigned to it.

Railroad traffic through La Mirada is about to get a lot busier

La Mirada- Rail activity on the BNSF line through La Mirada will see more traffic as part of a plan President Joe Biden will announce today increasing operations at the Los Angeles Port to 24 hours a day to eliminate bottlenecks that are hindering economic recovery from the pandemic.

The BNSF rail line through La Mirada plays a significant part in moving the millions of shipping containers that move through the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports each year which receive 40% of U.S. import cargo.

Port authorities will nearly double the number of hours longshore workers will offload ships that currently sit anchored offshore in a row extending seven miles to the south off Huntington Beach.

To clear space at the port to receive all the incoming shipping containers commitments have been made by the biggest players at the port to receive and transport out many more of the containers in the coming days as the operation expected to last 90 days gets underway.

Those commitments include Walmart that will receive and transport up to 50% more products, UPS handling 20% more containers, 60% by Samsung, Home Depot 10%, and Target 10%. 

FedEx will make a major shift to nighttime hours through increased use of rail and trucking transport that could result in a near doubling of shipments it handles daily. 

A similar effort is also underway at Long Beach Port.

Los Angeles Port has also seen a 30% increase in exports this year, with 20% more exports being reported at Long Beach.