City of Industry is an interesting little place.
The recent revelations of the city’s housing program offering ridiculously low rents and the State Controller’s audit that found “the potential for fraud, waste, and abuse of public resources was extremely high,” have only brought more attention on the city.
Now, Senator Ed Hernandez of West Covina has a plan to hold Industry accountable, using the lessons learned from former Assembly Speaker John Perez’s effort to dissolve Vernon in 2011.
Senator Hernandez says “My ultimate goal is to make sure they have a voter base that is not influenced by any one individual or any one entity, so they can govern appropriately and, more importantly, they can do what is in the best interest of the city.” One area that will surely get future attention is the city’s control of over half of the homes in Industry.
Industry City Manager Paul Phillips already promised sweeping internal reforms following the release of the State Controller’s audit and has said he will withhold comment on this matter until he sees Hernandez’s proposed legislation. He did however remark that the city council’s direction is to “cooperate, reform and create transparency.”
CityNews will track the City of Industry as this situation develops in the coming weeks and months.
More on Senator Hernandez’s plans for Industry can be found here.