Letter to the Editor: Re Rosemead Boulevard

Dear Editor,
In your May issue there was a letter from Mr. Higgenbottom regarding Rosemead Blvd. Yes; the Rosemead Boulevard design and construction project was approved, began and completed by approximately 2012.
When the present council and new City Manager discarded the original plans, and drew up a completely different set of plans.
The history of Rosemead Blvd. started back around 2006. Councilman/Mayor Dan Arrige and a group of volunteers started cleaning Rosemead Blvd., starting at the Bridge between the City of Rosemead and Temple City railroad tracks-pulling weeds, clearing trash, garbage, etc. It had been a disgusting eyesore for a long time.
Once a year the City and Council Members meet with Supervisor Mike Antonovich to discuss the needs of the City and what the County can provide. Councilman Dan Aarige brought up about how Rosemead Blvd. needed to be improved. Supervisor Antonovich explained that Rosemead Blvd. belongs to (that it runs through) Temple City, so it’s up to that City to make what improvements they wanted to make. The project was taken over by the City’s Public Works Department; also the County’s Public Works Department worked with the City of Temple City Public Works Department. A bid was sent out on the project and an engineering group by the name of Avant Garde was hired and was able to get 6 or 7 grants that paid for the project. Mr. Higgenbottom, I don’t know why the City paid 20 million for a project that plans and construction were paid for by grants. The completed Rosemead Blvd. does not look anything like the original plans, even down to the landscaping.
-C. Wilson
Temple City

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