Park defenders make their voices heard

By Brooklynn Wong

Supporters of City Council Member Sunny Park came out in droves to the last City Council Meeting, on May 28, to defend her.

A recall effort has been initiated against Park by some who have questioned her ethics and actions she has taken over the last year.

Park narrowly defeated incumbent Virginia Vaughn in last fall’s election.

She was involved in an incident during the campaign involving removing signs that called her a “carpetbagger.” She was temporarily arrested for this, and the court case is still open.

A contingent of her District 1 constituents have seen this as reason to initiate a recall, in addition to potential ballot harvesting, a question of whether an address she lists as having an office in is in fact a place she ever inhabited, and misappropriation of campaign donations, citing things found on her public campaign finance disclosure like large amounts of donations spent on Uber rides, golf clubs and bar meetings.

At the May 14 City Council Meeting, during oral communication, resident Marvin Aceves brought this to the Council’s attention, and resident Mike Mahony served Ms. Park with an intention to recall.

The recall effort is moving forward.

But at the May 28 Council Meeting, 16 members of the community, including Park herself, spoke, defending Park and giving their two cents on the recall.

Resident Kathleen Anderson said that Park won the election and that it was time to move forward. She questioned what a recall would cost, and said that this money would be better spent on the homeless issue, or on housing.

Resident Marge Rollins said it is “so sad politics in the city has come to this,” and that residents need to let the courts decide whether Park is at fault for anything, and reminded that she is innocent until proven guilty.

The majority of the speakers were Korean, and required a translator. 

One woman named Jenny introduced the idea of passing a city ordinance against the use of carpetbagger signs, and said, as many would echo, that the recall is “based on racial discrimination against the Korean community.”

Another said that she had researched some of the individuals behind the recall, and found that they were relative newcomers to Buena Park themselves, the very thing they had accused Park of, and asked, “How long do you have to live here to not be called ‘carpetbagger’?”

When Council Member Park spoke, in her capacity, as a resident of Buena Park, she addressed some of the claims against her.

She said regarding the signs, everyone needs to let the legal system figure out the legalities and not “discuss it on Facebook.”

On the topic of her office location, she said she was not sure what the recallers were getting at, because according to her she had an office at 6131 Orangethorpe beginning in 2016, and last year moved to an office at 6281 Beach Blvd. She said she has documentation from both locations, that the recallers were being “intentionally vague” about what the issue was there, and she was troubled that the recallers had gone to the “private commercial building” that one of her offices was in to inquire about her.

She also said the recall has led to negative sentiment against her in the city, and that she was “getting very nervous about my safety and that of my family.”

She said people had been driving by her house, going through her trash and her mailbox. 

Those behind the recall maintain that none of them have been doing this.

“My safety and my family’s safety is not a joke,” Park said.

She also said the sign at City Hall that demarcates her reserved parking spot had been bent.

Mayor Art Brown spoke up about this, and said, “If you are damaging a parking sign, you’re not damaging [Park’s] property; that’s city property, and the city will prosecute you.”

Park ended her remarks in Korean.

Those behind the recall maintain that their efforts have nothing to do with her race.

The City Council will next meet on Tuesday, June 11, at 5 p.m.