Update March 3: The City Council voted unanimously March 3 to officially cancel the trip to China and not to accept any of the offered $30,000 in donations.
Arcadia city officials confirmed to Arcadia’s Best today that the planned trip to China in three weeks has been called off and the $30,000 in donations will be returned. Official word will come during Tuesday’s regularly-scheduled City Council meeting.
The trip to Taiwan, mainland China, and Hong Kong that had been initiated several months ago by Mayor John Wuo as an opportunity for City Council Members, the City Manager, and several staff department heads to get a first-hand understanding of Chinese culture since about half of the residents in Arcadia are Chinese-American and even more are some form of Asian while Caucasians are a clear minority, came under fire regarding several $10,000 donations to cover some expenses that were made by companies with ties to businesses in the area which were solicited by the Mayor.
No City Council Member was going to accept more than $450 from each donation; no Council Member spouse or relative was going to accept a penny from the donations and would pay 100% of their own expenses; and city staff was going to pay about $2,000 each for any personal expenses on the trip. Although no one is questioning the legality of the use of the donations, some residents and local media recently challenged the appearance of a potential conflict of interest. Some of those residents live in the Highlands area of Arcadia and had recently been rebuffed by Mayor Wuo and a couple other City Council Members who denied their appeal of a decision to allow local developers to replace longstanding houses in their neighborhoods by building new, larger homes.
These kinds of trips to China and elsewhere are routinely taken by officials of many cities throughout Southern California and all over the nation, and even by Arcadia school principals, not to mention business organizations such as Chambers of Commerce. But in recent days there has been a spate of complaints by current and former Arcadia residents, many via comments on social media (including this web site) and in local newspapers, many going well beyond the question of financing and challenging the necessity of an educational trip, suggesting that it is not the role of officials in Arcadia to become more familiar with the culture of the majority of residents, but rather insisting that any cultural understanding and integrating is solely the responsibility of immigrants, that “they” should adapt to “our” ways. Although there was also a strong number of comments supporting the intended purpose of the trip from many city and local organization leaders, both Chinese-American and Caucasian, the trip has been called off anyway in response to the negative comments and questions. Many of those who were scheduled to go said they no longer felt comfortable about the trip, thus the Mayor and City of Arcadia decided to cancel it for the time being.
“It is obvious that there are concerns in the community about why we were going and how the trip was being funded,” City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto told Arcadia’s Best today. “From Day One we wanted to do things the right way. Arcadia has a hard-earned reputation of being an honest and open government and I will never do anything to tarnish that in any way. I know that our motivations were pure and the trip would have exceeded all legal standards. Unfortunately, the perception of conflicts persisted. Therefore, rather than push ahead and have people be uncomfortable with our plans, it’s best to remove ourselves from the situation and cancel the trip.”
“I’d rather see our community come together rather than be divided,” Mayor Wuo told Arcadia’s Best. “It’s more important that community members feel good about it.”
Lazzaretto said he hopes a similar trip could be proposed in the future for the value he sees in it. The trip was intended as a learning opportunity for staff and the City Council, and to experience such things as night markets which have now become a fixture at Santa Anita Park every summer and draw 60,000 mostly Chinese-American attendees each of three weekends – this summer’s 626 Night Market schedule was announced earlier today. “I remain steadfast in my belief that the residents and businesses of Arcadia would have benefited from the knowledge that the staff and City Council would have gained. When that day comes, we will make sure the trip is one that all Arcadians can be proud of. In the meantime, we will look for opportunities locally to better understand Chinese customs and culture.”
Mayor Wuo and Lazzaretto said they would consider an option down the road to encourage city staff to take advantage of trips to China organized by the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce and other Chambers all over the country that offer nine-day guided-tour trips to any member of the public (discounts for Chamber members) to the mainland China cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Xi’an (home of the famous terra cotta warriors) — all on the City’s planned itinerary, though not including Taiwan or Hong Kong — for only $2,199, including all airfare (including taxes) and all meals and five-star hotels. Such trips can be assembled on a very quick turnaround – as little as a month in some cases, or can be booked months and even a year or two ahead of time.
— By Scott Hettrick