Why Is the City of Alhambra Promoting a Private Chamber Event?

Alhambra State of the City Address will first be presented to Chamber of Commerce members first (Photo – Graphics Dept.)

The alliance between the City of Alhambra and the Alhambra Chamber of Commerce continues. We guess that old habits just refuse to die. Even as the Alhambra City Council’s make-up has changed in the last few years, the old City power brokers, now lurking in the Chamber, along with Alhambra’s long-tenured City Manager, continue in their bad old ways.

By The Editorial Board

A prime example of the alliance between City and Chamber is the annual State of the City address by Mayor Katherine Lee. While the address itself likely will be the usual bland fare of how great the City is doing, accompanied by the customary mutual back-slapping between the elected officials and the City Staff, it is the optics that we object to.

In a continuation of the tone-deaf approach of past years, the State of the City address first will be presented exclusively, to the Chamber of Commerce and its guests – who will purchase tickets for the privilege.  This clear fund-raiser for the Chamber is being publicly promoted on the City’s social media.

Only later will the presentation be made publicly in a City Council meeting to the Alhambra residents.

While we take no position on how the Chamber seeks to make money, how it fundraises, or how it manufactures exclusivity (by allowing Council Members to hob-nob with Chamber members), we take exception to the City allowing the backwards order of presentation (i.e., Citizens last) and to promoting the Chamber event, to add insult to injury.

We urge, as we have done previously, that no non-Alhambra elected officials attend this presentation. Going further, we urge all four Alhambra City Council members except the Mayor (who will present the address) to boycott this Chamber party.

We will be watching.