In the third day of his hunger strike and with just one week before the Arcadia City Council election, real estate developer Henry Nunez literally laid down across train tracks in a symbolic gesture of commitment to sparking change in Arcadia (the tracks have been unused for years) as he called on candidates and former Mayors Bob Harbicht and Mickey Segal to withdraw from the race.
(Story continues following the video below of Nunez’s press conference Monday.)
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– Nunez, who also announced that he will host open house discussions about the elections this Thursday and Friday from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. and Saturday fropm 12 noon – 3 p.m. at his office at 128 E. Huntington Dr. #B (just off the alley south of Huntington, between First and Second Avenues), said Harbicht and Segal are resistant to change at a time when Arcadia is falling behind others in the San Gabriel Valley. Arcadia should return to its position of leader in the Valley and elect candidates who don’t let development and growth opportunities like the Gold Line rail station pass us by and are more open to new revenue-generating ideas, he said.
Sitting next to the tracks, Nunez said he will do anything necessary to help draw support for the three candidates he is endorsing, current Mayor Pro Tem Peter Amundson, Paul Cheng, and Sho Tay, the latter two of whom need to be given their first chance to lead.
Nunez began his hunder strike Sunday with the intention of continuing for 10 days until the polls are closed on election day Tuesday, April 13. In his previous statement to ArcadiasBest.com Nunez said he was doing all he could to prevent incumbent Harbicht from being re-elected primarily because, as Mayor last year, Harbicht shot down out of hand a proposed revised General Plan for future growth of the city that Nunez and a group of volunteers had spent months drafting with the help of City staff and a consultant that Nunez said was paid $720,000.
He explained his issues with Harbicht several weeks ago in a 2,000-word comment on Harbicht’s blog here at ArcadiasBest.com.
He also launched a website with his views at HenrySays.com.
— By Scott Hettrick