Residents press Covina council on parking, policing, surveillance and upcoming election

A broad set of public commenters raised traffic-safety, surveillance and election concerns at the Covina City Council meeting, with several residents urging the council to address neighborhood parking and others urging voters to replace current officeholders in the June 2 election.

Kathy Casper, who lives on the 200 block of West Dexter Street, recounted chronic parking and traffic-safety problems linked to nearby events and new housing construction. "Visibility at the intersections is obstructed by too many parked cars," Casper said, and she asked the council to consider four-way stops, permit parking on one side of 4th Street and increased enforcement against double parking.

Multiple speakers criticized what they described as political conduct tied to the upcoming election. Tamara, speaking for the People's Union Coalition, urged voters to "take back the seats" and accused some current officials and candidates of aligning with national political figures and of alleged unethical behavior. Tamara said residents should consider voting for new candidates in the June 2 election and warned the council it had been "put on notice."

Other commenters focused on public-safety surveillance. Catherine Begin, representing Lark Ellen Villas, defended the city’s use of license-plate cameras operated by Flock, saying the system helped recover a stolen $30,000 car within nine minutes and citing other recoveries in neighboring jurisdictions. "We were able to get that car back for a resident within eight hours," Begin said, noting cooperation across regional law-enforcement partners.

Several speakers also raised concerns about police conduct and transparency. Lisa asked why she sees frequent patrols near a Home Depot and called for the city to be more transparent about surveillance projects and potential conflicts of interest connected to new businesses. Mike, who said he had previously urged censure or sanctions for the city treasurer over code-of-conduct complaints, asked the council for an update on that matter.

Council members acknowledged the comments, thanked staff for recent community events and asked city staff to follow up on specific neighborhood issues; Councilmember Leonards (Pavero remembrance remarks) and others noted staff had already acted in one neighborhood to paint curbs after a resident complaint.

The council did not take formal action on the matters raised during public comment at this meeting; several items—parking enforcement and neighborhood traffic-calming—were referred to staff for follow-up and implementation where appropriate.

The public-comment period at the meeting ran through more than a dozen speakers and included several heated political accusations as well as calls for concrete operational responses on parking, enforcement and surveillance transparency.