Mayor John Wuo (r) presents key to city to State Treasurer John Chiang
California State Treasurer John Chiang says the lesson learned from the economic recession is to pay bills on time and not allow debt to get too high. Chiang was the featured speaker at the City of Arcadia‘s annual Mayor’s Breakfast Friday morning (March 13, 2015), where he was introduced by Mayor John Wuo. The charismatic Chiang, who said he always aspired to live in Arcadia but could only afford a home in the South Bay, kept the audience engaged even while discussing state finances at 8 a.m. on a Friday morning. Chiang, who was the state’s controller at the time, said the state’s debt was allowed to catapult to more than $30 billion under Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2007-08 and the subsequent several years despite the warnings of Chiang, who was the state’s Controller at the time. “He tried to do the right thing,” Chiang said, “but he just got it wrong.”
City staff, including Mary Buttice, Linda Garcia, and Kristen Olafson-Segal, created a lovely setting in the Community Center for the 150 or so attendees, complete with cleverly-themed table decorations relating to California, and centerpieces of crates filled with California oranges, plus little give-away bags of seeds of the state flower, the California poppy.
Other elements of the program:
Santa Anita Gardens catered the elaborate and delicious breakfast buffet featuring multiple fruits and melons, sausage and bacon, and fried potatoes.
Boy Scouts of America Troop 111 presented the colors in full uniform and leading the Pledge of Allegiance.
Reverend Philip Bertolo Wood of the Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church offered the invocation.
Three songs by children students from Barnhart School. Themed to the featured speaker from the State of California, the choir sang California Here I Come and I Love You California (those familiar with the latter from recent TV commercials might have expected a Jeep Wrangler to drive up to the stage), culminating with a rousing rendition of America the Beautiful.