Something Reeks In Rosemead

"Something reeks in Rosemead. Some say it's the slaughterhouse on Garvey Avenue. Others say it's a bigoted attitude toward the company's Asian clientele that stinks. For two decades, Chinese American Live Poultry has sold freshly killed birds you can grab by the feet and look in the eye... But city officials have voted to shut down the business, citing offensive odors, traffic congestion and escaped chickens." So begins THIS story in the Los Angeles Times Today.

"In the last decade, an influx of Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants has made the middle-class bedroom community of 54,000 more than 60% Asian... The result, some say, is a city government that responds to the concerns of a minority of its residents and ignores the rest...  'We want the big-name restaurants, we want major grocery stores. Right now the only market we have is Fresh & Easy, and the other ones are more ethnic,' Armenta said. 'We used to have Ralphs.'"