La Mirada Blog
Articles by Tony Aiello
BREAKING: Ballot Counting Process at City Hall Ongoing
La Mirada~A recount of the ballots for La Mirada City Council has been taking place since 2 p.m. at La Mirada City Hall.
All vote-by-mail ballots have been counted with Pauline Deal gaining 16, Steve Keithly 15, Andrew Sarega 13, Randy Gray 11, and Gabe Garcia 8.
The current count stands at Deal 1,444, Keithly 1,125, Sarega, 1,078, Garcia, 767, and Gray 659.
Counting of additional 391 ballots not yet counted, including 63 provisional now taking place.
We will try to provide you with updates as we get them.
All Ballots to be Recounted in La Mirada City Council Race
La Mirada~In a race too close to call, all ballots will be recounted in the La Mirada City Council race along with 326 additional ballots not yet counted.
There are five candidates running for two open seats.
When vote counting ended last night late, Pauline Deal led all candidates with 1,693 votes. For second place however, Steve Keithly leads Andrew Sarega by only nine votes, 1,300 to 1,291. There are still 326 provisional ballots to be counted today, so the race for second had to wait.
However, it was announced this morning, ALL ballots will be recounted today, before the provisional, due to mechanical issues experienced last night.
The recount will take place today at 2 p.m. at City Hall.
The ballot-counting was plagued with problems last night, forcing the city to use a back-up machine, delaying the process.
Deputy City Manager Anne Haraksin told us this morning that the firm they use, Martin & Chapman advised them to recount, “They told us that due to the race being so close it would be a good idea to run all ballots through a machine again.”
She said ballot operators provided by the company experienced problems throughout the evening.
Martin & Chapman is an election and consultation service company based in Anaheim. According to their website, they “are the primary election consultant and supplier for the 65+ cities who conduct their own elections in Los Angeles County.”
Today, the firm will bring two different machines to count the ballots.
Haraksin reiterated, “No candidates contacted us to demand a recount, we are strictly going by the advice given to us by Martin & Chapman.”
After a second machine was brought in last night, and some issues still persisted, Haraksin said, “We think it might be some sort of power problem.” She said that issue will be resolved today as well before the recount.
In a different twist, the provisional ballots have not been counted at all yet, and will probably decide the race for second.
Those uncounted vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots will be tallied around 4 p.m. today, shortly after the recount.
173 of those are ballots received at city hall Monday after the city inspected the initial VBM ballots and sealed the box at a decided time, a normal process, said Haraksin. After the boxes were sealed, the city received additional ballots by residents at City Hall, as well as additional VBM ballots picked up from the P.O. Box at the Post Office, again, a normal process.
The remaining 153 VBM ballots are from residents who applied to vote-by-mail, who then decided to drop off their ballots at different polling locations throughout town.
Haraksin said the 173 additional VBM ballots received after the box-sealing is the most ever for the city, probably attributed to the fact that more La Mirada residents chose to vote by mail this time around.
She said 2,000 more people voted this way than the last election two years ago.
As of know, Mayor Gabe Garcia has captured 855 votes with Randy Gray grabbing 725.
UPDATE: Ballots not yet counted is now up to 391 with the addition of 63 additional true provisional ballots. City offiicials have been unable to get a machine to work properly at City Hall. The latest is all ballots from last night are to be counted by hand, and then the 391 additional VBM and provisional ballots will be counted immediately following.
La Mirada Community, Candidates Forced to Wait on Second Winner for City Council
La Mirada~Wow, talk about suspense.
Two candidates will have to wait until tomorrow to see who captures the final seat for the La Mirada City Council.
There are 323 provisional ballots that still need to be counted. The will be counted tomorrow at City Hall around 3 p.m.
153 of them are vote-by-mail ballots that were dropped off at precincts instead of being mailed-they are still valid. The remaining are also still valid but were not originally counted because of technicalities, but again, are still legitimate.
Pauline Deal has easily captured first place with 1,693 votes so far.
The second and final spot is too close to call and is up for grabs with Steve Keithly receiving 1,300 votes to Andrew Sarega’s 1,291. Keithly, trailing Sarega most of the night, by less than 100 votes surged in the last few precincts announced to overcome Sarega.
A broken ballot-counting machine delayed the vote.
More coming.
| La Mirada City Council Race 2013-Unofficial Results | votes |
% |
| Pauline Deal (Appt Inc) |
1693 |
29 |
| Steve Keithly | 1300 |
22 |
| Andrew Sarega |
1291 |
22 |
| Gabe Garcia (Inc) |
855 |
15 |
| Randy Gray | 725 |
12 |
Play Ball! La Mirada Little League Opening Ceremony This Saturday
La Mirada~It's that time of year again! Can you smell the fresh cut grass?
La Mirada Little League will hold its annual Opening Day Ceremonies this Saturday, March 2nd at the Behringer Athletic Facilities.
There will be a ceremony recognizing the 10th anniversary of the La Mirada Little League Junior Team that won the Little League World Series in their division in 2003.
The ceremony begins at 8 a.m. with a full slate of games following.
The Kiwanis Club of La Mirada will be there serving up their pancake breakfast on their world-famous rotating grill from 9-11 a.m.
Rosecrans Closing for Five Days
La Mirada~Valley View Avenue-from Rosecrans Avenue to Gannet Street-will close for five days from Thursday, February 21st through February 26th.
The closure is pat of the Valley View Grade Separation Project.
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Game Between Rivals to Decide League Title
Season of Streaks for Matadores Culminates With Last Regular Season Game Deciding League Title
La Mirada~In a season that has had more ups and downs than gas prices, the La Mirada High Boys Basketball team plays the biggest game of their season-thus far-tonight at Mayfair High School.
The Matadores will face the Monsoons, with both teams at 10-1 in league and the Suburban League title on the line.
The Matadores only league loss was against Mayfair January 11th, 54-44 at La Mirada.
Mayfair lost to Norwalk January 25th, 67-53.
2nd year head coach Bryce Jones says the team is ready, "We feel pretty confident. We have had four straight days of practice. The guys know what to do and we know what we did wrong last time against them. There's a lot on the line. This is why we work hard all year."
A league title would almost guarantee a first-round home game in the CIF playoffs beginning next week.
La Mirada is looking for their first outright Suburban League title since 1982.
UPDATE: The Matadores lost to Mayfair 60-59 in a very exciting game Friday night. The Mats actually took the lead 59-58 with 38.6 seconds left but, couldn't pull out the victory. The Matadores (17-11,10-2), second-place finishers in the Suburban League, now await the release of the CIF playoff pairings on Sunday to find out where and who they play next.
School Board May Decide to Close Dulles
District Staff Recommends Closure of School
Norwalk~The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District Board members are meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. and will vote on whether or not to keep Dulles Elementary School in La Mirada open.
At the January 7th meeting, district staff reported that Dulles is currently operating at 50 percent capacity (237 students). The school has nine teachers and three of the nine have combination classes (two grades, one class).
Five Dulles parents spoke at the meeting in support of keeping the school open.
The district is expected to save at least $366,000 annually if the school is closed.
The school district is looking to cut costs as the combination of recent budget deficits and declining enrollment are expected to deplete reserve monies in a few years.
Four years ago, the district closed Hargitt and Huerta schools in Norwalk
UPDATE: 01/22/13 8:13p~The Board of Education voted unanimously to keep Dulles open after the district's finance department miraculously provided information at the meeting from the Governors office, they say they received last Wednesday, in which new projections indicate more money to be available. In other words, an hour and a half of my life I will never get back.
School Board May Decide to Close Dulles Elementary
District staff recommends closure of school
Norwalk~The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District Board members, at its meeting tonight, may decide to close Dulles Elementary School in La Mirada.
At the January 7th meeting, district staff reported that Dulles is operating at 50 percent capacity (237 students). The school has nine teachers and three of the nine have combo classes.
Five Dulles parents spoke at the meeting in support of keeping the school open.
The district is expected to save at least $366,000 annually if the school is closed.
The school district is looking to cut costs as recent deficit budgets are expected to deplete the current surplus in a few years.
Four years ago, the district closed Hargitt and
Tony Award-Winner Opens at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts
“It’s deliciously, deliriously innocent. Pure pleasure!” – NY Times
La Mirada~La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts & McCoy Rigby Entertainment are thrilled to present the Tony Award-winning (2008 Best Play Revival), hilarious, sexy, non-stop comedy, Boeing-Boeing, written by Marc Camoletti, translated by Beverley Cross & Francis Evans and directed by Jeff Maynard.
In this Tony Award-winning comedy, a self-styled playboy, Bernard, (played by Carter Roy), has French, German, and American fiancées, each a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.” He keeps "one up, one down and one pending" until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Bernard's apartment in Paris, France all at the same time which leads to unexpected and very funny escapades.
Boeing also stars Michelle Azar, Melanie Lora, Kalie Quinones, Amy Rutberg and Marc Valera.
Boeing-Boeing will begin performances on Friday, January 18, 2013 and runs for four weeks through Sunday, February 10.
Performances will be 7:30pm on Wednesdays & Thursdays; 8pm on Fridays; 2pm and 8pm on Saturdays; and 2pm on Sundays.
There will be no matinee performance on Saturday, January 19th and talkbacks with the actors will be on Wednesday, January 23 and Wednesday, February 6.
Tickets range from $20 - $70 and can be purchased at La Mirada Theatre’s website, www.lamiradatheatre.com or by calling the La Mirada Theatre Box Office at (562) 944-9801 or (714) 994-6310. Student, Senior, Children and group discounts are available.
La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts is located at 14900 La Mirada Boulevard in La Mirada, near the intersection of Rosecrans Avenue where the 91 and 5 freeways meet. Parking is free.
La Mirada Mayor Gabe Garcia Arrested for Reported DUI
Mayor crashes vehicle into parked car on Tacuba Drive
La Mirada~Hews Media Group is reporting that La Mirada Mayor Gabe Garcia was arrested last night, reportedly on suspicion of driving under the influence.
According to the La Mirada Lamplighter and the Los Cerritos Community Newspaper, Garcia struck a parked vehicle while driving his car along the 14700 block of Tacuba Drive near Biola Avenue around 10:30 last night, said Captain Pat Maxwell of the Norwalk Sheriff's Station.
La Mirada Lieutenant Pat Valdez told the La Mirada Blog that the Mayor received no special treatment and was booked by standard protocol, "The fact that he is a city councilman absolutely had no affect on how he was treated. He was treated no differently than anyone else."
Valdez said Garcia was held for eight hours was then released around 5:30 this morning, and was issued a citation for drunk driving.
Garcia more than likely will face a court appearance in the future, but we have no information on the court date at this time.
There were no other persons or moving vehicles involved.
The Mayor is seeking re-election for a second term as a La Mirada City Councilman on March 5th.
We will provide additional information as it becomes available.
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