Thursday marked a new day in Bell: all five new City Council members took office and will get down to business starting Monday.

“I’m nervous,” said Nestor Valencia, one of the newly elected council members. “Not for this, but because there’s a lot to do after this.”

Cars and news trucks surrounded Pine Avenue and the community center was packed as the council members mingled with family and friends.

Then, the ceremony began.

“A round of applause for the work that you’ve done throughout this entire ordeal,” said Assemblyman Ricardo Lara to members of the audience.

This was a new day at city hall torn by a public corruption scandal. Eight current and former city officials face charges in a municipal ripoff that made headlines nationwide last summer when the L.A. Times broke the story about exhorbitant salaries paid to council members and city officials.

Council members got sworn in one-by-one with family and friends standing by their side, and each one gave a short speech.
Valencia addressed the crowd at “the sixth councilmember.” “What we’re about to embark on is a time of healing. We’re going to be the example throughout the country.”

Violeta Alvarez seemed quite nervous when reciting her oath of office, but Assemblyman Lara tried to make her feel more comfortable by saying that he was nervous too. Danny Harber, a man who seems to be incapable of wiping a smile off of his face, addressed the crowd with a very honest and serious statement.

“If we make any mistakes,” Harber said, “please let us know.”

Ana Maria Quintana, glowing with excitement, gave her speech with much enthusiasm, and gave the crowd some words of comfort.

“We’re strong, and we’re going to rebuild our city,” Quintana said.

The first council meeting with the new city council members will be held on Monday in the Bell Community Center at 7 p.m.

Earlier in the day, seven of my colleagues from Neon Tommy hung around City Hall to observe the daily routine at one of the more high-profile city halls in L.A. County. Here are their reports:

8:45 a.m.

I introduce myself and my colleague Sarah at the front desk of Bell City Hall. The woman at the front counter refers me to Anna Gutierrez, a management analyst for the city.

“We’d like to watch City Hall for a day and possibly sit in on some public meetings with the interim city manager and other staff,” I explain.

“Yes, well, we are having the swearing-in ceremony tonight at the community center at 7 p.m.” Gutierrez starts today.

 “No, no...we’d like to see the inner workings of City Hall. Like a tour or a behind-the-scenes look of how this public institution runs,” I say.

She pauses, almost surprised by the request.

“I’m just as excited as you are for the new changes,” Gutierrez says. “But we just can’t let you in today. We’re very busy today, preparing a presentation for the new council.”

Gutierrez says the city’s employees are gathering information to present to the new city council regarding changes that have already been made at City Hall in recent months and what they hope to accomplish in the future. The information will be presented either at the first official council meeting or shared internally.

My colleagues and I then settled in for our various shifts to observe the goings on.

--Vicki Chen

9 a.m.

A man dressed professionally walks into City Hall with an armful of large papers, rolled together and secured with a rubber band.

His first name is Paresh and he is an architect at a company hired by Bank of America. Today he is filing documents, including renderings, photos and forms for the construction of a second drive-up ATM on Atlantic Avenue, one of Bell’s busiest economic corridors.

Assistant City Planner Carlos Chacon greets him and asks for some forms to be filled out. Meanwhile, he looks over the documents and gives the architectural plans a preliminary once-over for basic safety components, like stop signs, before stamping and stapling them in preparation for further review.

Chacon works in the city’s Building and Safety and Planning Departments. The Planning Department oversees zoning and aesthetic issues for new business projects. Building and Safety manages structural issues to ensure accordance with safe building regulations.

Paresh points out the office’s new hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“You guys were only open 1 to 4 p.m. last year,” he notes to Chacon. “The new hours are much easier. Then I can just make one trip in the morning.”

The extended hours one example of the city’s efforts to increase public accessibility to city services.

Approval by the Building and Safety Department for the ATM will take 10 to 14 business days. Chacon says he will expedite the Planning Department’s approval process so that Bank of America can move forward with the construction of the ATM.

“I want to work with you and I know you’re eager to get this going,” Chacon says.

After their business is complete, I ask Chacon how many building requests the departments receives daily.

“One to two, if any,” Chacon says. “We’re slow right now.”

“Do you think it will be busier once the new council is sworn in?” I ask.

 “I hope so!”

--Vicki Chen

9:15 a.m.

Nineteen year-old Eric Bueno approaches Bell City Hall’s front desk.  “I’m here to pay a parking ticket,” he says.  “How much is it?”

“Fifty-five dollars,” replies the woman at the counter.  He hands over the money with a grimacing look.  

This is not the first time Eric has paid the City of Bell for a parking violation, and it likely won’t be his last.

“I go to my girlfriend’s house to visit a lot,” he says, “and sometimes I fall asleep, or I forget to move my car.”

This time, Eric was fined for parking on the side of the street between 2 A.M. and 5 A.M. Street parking is not permitted anywhere during these hours in the city of Bell.

Bueno is no stranger to parking tickets.  He estimates that he has paid more than $200 in parking tickets already for the same reason.

“It’s ridiculous that you can’t park anywhere outside,” he says, “I don’t have any other place to park.”

The police never seem to let him off the hook either.  “One or two times, I was out at my car when the cop was about to write the ticket,” he says.

“I asked the cop, ‘hey, gimme a break, I’ll move my car right now, please’, but he just kept writing.”

Eric asked if the city offered parking permits for specific streets during early morning hours, but the desk clerk said the city of Bell provides no such thing.

“It would be so much better, so much easier if there were parking permits people could buy,” he said.  “I have already spent so much money here.”

--Sarah Webb

9:20 a.m.

I stop Jorge Mansilla on his way out of City Hall. When I ask him for a moment to chat about Bell, he replies in a warm Argentinean accent.

“I am from Argentina where there are big problems in politics,” Mansilla, 68, says. “I believe the residents of Bell are doing history on all this mumbo-jumbo that started on July 15th.”

Mancilla does not live in Bell, but owns a 16-unit apartment complex. Today, he stopped by City Hall to pay the property fees for his investment property.

“The permit used to be $600, but now I only pay $216,” he says. “There are a lot more new adjustments.”

Even with the changes, Mancilla says he is aware that corruption is far from eliminated in the small cities of southeastern Los Angeles County.

“Everything started here,” he says. “It’s not an epidemic, it’s a pandemic. From Vernon to Maywood to Cudahy, it’s like the winds are blowing north to south.”

Mansilla poses the questions, “What really happened here?” His challenge to citizens is to decipher whether the salary scandal in Bell was caused by a broken political system or the greed of individuals.

“I have no right to vote, because I am not a resident of Bell, but I had a responsibility to pay the high fees,” he says. “From an investor’s point of view, I wish business owners in Bell could vote, even if they only get half a vote. With computers these days, you can do that!”

Mancilla said he is happy with the outcome of the election and will attend the swearing-in ceremony.

--Vicki Chen

9:30 a.m.

Alex Flores, a 66-year-old retired car dealership owner, works with his landlord to manage commercial buildings. He’s at  City Hall to see if he can get the permit to put a storage container next to some commercial property on Gage Avenue.

As we talked, he began to describe how difficult it had been to run his car dealership in Bell.

“They tried to take my pickup truck; it was totally unfair,” he said.

Four years ago, Flores said the police tried to confiscate his pickup truck because it had the dealership license plate on it. But according to Flores, he is allowed to drive the pickup because he ran the dealership.

Flores said they also took his business documents, including is license and permits, and pickup and brought them through the IRS. After a long time, Flores said, the police finally gave up and said he could have all of his documents and vehicle back.

“It was good I got it back but everything was such a waste of time,” he said.

--Ebony Bailey

10:55 a.m.

Mario Mungura, 42, came to City Hall to renew his business license for an insurance company his father started 20 years ago.  Mungura, a resident of Monrovia, says he had always thought Bell taxes were high compared to other cities, but that they’ve lowered this year.

Mungura says the only issue he’s had with the city was when he brought more workers into his offices in Bell.  City workers told Mungura that each employee needed a license to do business in Bell, not just the company itself.  

“You’re crazy, I told them, and they said they were going to close us down so we paid a fee of $1200 for three employees,” said Mungura, “but I’m fighting it.”

Mungura hopes the new City Council works to create more traffic in the city to help the businesses.  

“We’ve got so many corporate businesses in Bell,” said Mungura, “They need to create something like a plaza to bring people to Bell.”

--Allison Holt

11 a.m.

When anyone walks in, they are greeted in Spanish, even if they know English as well. Granted almost everyone who walked in was Hispanic. There was a sense of community through the language.

One thing that particularly caught my eye was that almost everyone I talked to who visited City Hall was there to renew their business license. It seemed that was City Hall’s sole purpose - to give business licenses to owners.

Each person, however, did have their own story. Two men were, Mario Muriguia and Jessie Corrales, were insurance business owners who think that Bell is in serious need for some business re-modeling.

One man in his 20s, Gaspar Hernandez, went to City Hall to renew his dad’s business license, and said that he never felt his dad’s business was affected by the issues going on with City Hall.

Of all of the people I met in City Hall, the one man who struck me the most was one who didn’t even stay at City Hall for five minutes.

Hector Rivera has lived in Bell for 40 years, and visited City Hall to see what time the swearing in ceremony was later that night. He walked out frustrated as the City did not tell him what time it was, so I told him it was at 7 p.m.

“It’s still the same; they never say anything,” he said.

Rivera says there is a lack of communication in City Hall, but thinks this will change as the new City Council is sworn in.

“I’m just waiting for something good to happen,” he said.

In the past seven years he has lived in Bell, he said property taxes for his home escalated. Last year he paid $5000, but this year he hopes it will be cheaper, as he foresees change in the city.

--Ebony Bailey

11:20 a.m.

Ricardo Grageda walked out of Bell City Hall with a smile on his face as he learned that he only had to pay $60 to renew his business license, which is half of what he paid last year.

“Every year I would pay more...I’d pay 60, then 70, then 80, then 90,” Grageda said. “This year it’s back to normal.”

Grageda, 42, has owned a landscaping business in Southern California for 12 years. He works in some areas of Los Angeles, Huntington Park, Downy, Bell, and other surrounding areas.

In Bell, Grageda said he has had problems with the police because they have ticketed his business twice for “no reason.”

“Back then they were no good,” he said. “Now...I don’t know.”

Several others visited City Hall Thursday for the same reason as Grageda: to renew their business licensees. Like Grageda, they all had the same relief.

Jose Gomez owns a taqueria down the street from City Hall. He made a short visit to City Hall at about 11:40 a.m. to renew his license and also learned that the fee was much less.

Gomez said owning his business has been rough in the past three years with the economy and issues that went on in city hall, but he sees promise in the future.

“Things are looking a little better now; they are getting back to normal,” he said.

Nadia Hernandez also made a short visit to City Hall to renew the license for her husband’s welding business. Although she said it has not been difficult running this business in Bell, she wishes there was more communication between the city officials and the residents.

“They need to let the community know what’s going on,” she said.

Hernandez, 38,  said her husband was unaware that he needed a business license, since he works by vehicle, and that he got charged $1,500 for not having one two years ago. She says it’s the city’s job to inform business owners such as her husband of their requirements.

--Ebony Bailey

11:21 a.m.

Jerry Brown, 65, works for Mr. C’s Towing Company.  Mr. C’s was recently selected on an interim basis by the city of Bell to tow cars for the police department until the new City Council makes a more permanent selection.  The company previously used by the police department went out of business recently.

When asked how he felt about working with the Bell Police Department, Brown said, “We don’t have much contact with them.  They call us, we pick up the car, and we take it back and I bring them a check.”

The check gives the city 10% of the towing cost, which was part of the agreement for any tow company that wanted to bring their business to Bell.  According to Brown, that amount is actually lower than most cities.

“It’s not a big fee.  Other cities charge a large fee to get started and a higher monthly fee,” said Brown, “Bell’s probably one of the cheaper cities I’m aware of.”

Brown has enjoyed working with Bell and says the people in City Hall are very nice and police.  He hopes to continue bringing his business to

Bell, but doesn’t know when the new City Council members will make a decision.

“They’ll probably put out a request for proposal to several tow companies in the area,” said Brown, “Get proposals and go from there.”  

--Allison Holt

12:15 p.m.

Victor Lopez, a resident of Bell for 10 years, is a laborer for a company that builds offices.  He came into City Hall to get a permit to build an office building in Bell.  He says he’s never had issues at City Hall, but can’t say the same for the Police Department.

“They pulled me over just because I had a Mexican flag on my car,” said Lopez, “They used to use racial profiling, but that got better at the same time as everything else.”

Lopez was laid off as a delivery driver for high-end appliances before working as a laborer.  He says business is slow, like everywhere else.  He hopes the new City Council will help bring businesses to Bell to make life easier on the residents.

“I hope they will hear more to what the people want,” said Lopez, “what they’re supposed to be doing.”

--Allison Holt

1:15 p.m.

Manuel Hernandez, a resident of Maywood comes into Bell City Hall to get some information on a job fair for his boss.
Hernandez works for a Latino immigration and income tax business in Bell that also assists people with tax preparation, citizenship, bankruptcy, and loans.

Hernandez had never been to Bell City Hall before and says he was surprised at how nice the people behind the counter were to him.

“I heard a lot of bad things about this city hall,” he said.

Among those bad things was that Bell’s City Hall was racist, but Hernandez says they were just as nice as the people who work at Maywood City Hall.

Anna Gutierrez helps Hernandez after he takes some flyers from the wall about job fairs.

Gutierrez refers him to the community center two doors down, telling him that they handle the fairs and will have more information on it.

--Kamille Simmons

1:30 p.m.

Rogelio Hernandez, a Maywood resident, comes in to check the status of his business license application.

Hernandez is planning to open a thrift store in Bell when his application is complete, which he hopes will be in the middle of this month.

In his first visit to Bell City Hall, Hernandez is first seen by Yosie Fregoso, and is then referred to Pearl Sanchez.

Sanchez answers all of Hernandez’s questions and Hernandez is out the door in about five minutes.

Hernandez is told that he will need a deposit for more than $500 and he will need $672 total to complete the application and get all of his permits.

“I like them,” he said of the city hall employees, “ but it’s so expensive.  I need permits for everything- signs, banners, everything.”

Hernandez says he decided to open his store in Bell instead of his city of Maywood because he could not find any available space there.

--Kamille Simmons

1:45 p.m.

Carlos Garcia, a Bell resident of seven years comes into City Hall to get a sign for his business approved.

Garcia opened an accounting and tax preparation business in Bell located on Gage Ave. in April and has not been able to put a sign on the front of his building.

Garcia is frustrated as he speaks with Carlos Chacon, the assistant city planner, at the counter.  Chacon tells Garcia that he will need $300 and approval from the property owner to get a sign put up.

“They don’t know what they’re doing,” Garcia says as he storms out of City Hall. “Every time I come here, I can’t get my sign approved.  It’s frustrating.”

Garcia says the planners at city hall tell him something different every time he goes in.

“First they said I can’t paint on glass [windows],” he said. “But look around, everyone has paint on their glass.”

As for the new city council, Garcia says he is not happy with the election results.  He voted for different candidates and says the new city council “doesn’t know where to start” because they have yet to talk about any plans for the city.

Garcia says he hopes Bell becomes a more business friendly place; he uses his as an example of the city giving businesses in Bell a hard time.

He says the people in Bell are friendly, and that’s why they were able to be taken advantage of.  

Garcia hopes that Bell will get better but says that hope has nothing to do with reality.

--Kamille Simmons