By Brittany Hanson/Garden Grove Journal
Stanton might not be a big city, but even in a short city council meeting on Tuesday, there was a lot going on.
A presentation outlined the success of summer programs in the city, the public hearing concerning parking passes was met with some opposition and the city’s police services are getting a new set of wheels.
A grand total of 15,000 children, youth and family were served through a variety of programs in Stanton from the summer months of June to August, the council was told.
Utilizing two schools in the Magnolia School District, Robert M. Pyles Elementary and Esther L. Walker Elementary, and one parochial school, St. Polycarp Catholic School, at least 3,600 children were provided with day camp programs .
The children in the school site programs were treated with arts and crafts, movies, trips that included days at the beach, ice cream-making, newspaper fashion shows and carnival games.
At Harry M. Dotson Park, Parks and Recreation Department staff provided lunches and supervision to children and families that came in during a 10-week period. According to staff member Aaron Perez, at least 6,000 people were served.
There was a day camp for area children that took them on excursions to Knott’s Berry Farm, the Orange County Fair, the pool and even to the recycling center.
At the recreation center there was even a lunch program for kids that provided food and had guest speakers from the community.
Finally, there is a mural project at the Stanton Community Services Center at 11822 Santa Paula St. The mural is a compilation of work by local children, staff and California State University Long Beach Students.
The new mural is set to be completed Aug. 31.
“This is a great turnaround from eight years ago,” said Al Ethans, council member.
Ethans said he was happy to see kids having a good place to go for activity instead.
On the topic of parking permits, the public hearing concerned the neighborhood focused around Garrett Avenue, Mitchell Drive and Syracuse Avenue.
Some residents of the neighborhood have cited problems with local apartment dwellers taking up the street parking in their area, which is adjacent to the streets.
The proposal calls for 24-hour permits for Garrett and Syracuse and for evening exclusive permits for Mitchell.
Robert Multhot, of that neighborhood, was very upset with the proposal for permit parking, saying that the city was responsible for the situation.
Multhot said that “bad blood” that existed in the neighborhood was created by city planners and that instead making the residents pay for permits that the city should take care of the problems it had started.
The proposal, which was approved, allows for the first two vehicles per residence to have their permits for free, with a charge of $25 for the 3-4 and so on. Guest passes are $5 for the initial pass and $25 for each pass after that. The fees incurred allow for the making of permit placards, signs detailing the parking restrictions and for enforcement to cover the area.
Finally, the new set of wheels coming to Stanton is a Honda ST1300PA9 motorcylce to replace an out of commission BMW.
According to Lt. Jeff Passalaqua, the Orange County Sherriff’s Department, which provides Stanton’s Police Services, has been replacing all the old BMW motorcycles with these Hondas, citing better reliability and more cost efficient upkeep.
The total for the motorcycle, which comes from a reserve fund for vehicles, is $26,625.50. The price includes modifications necessary to make it usable for police work.
