Council Rains on Plans for Chinese New Year Parade : Events: Alhambra officials say they will seek another co-sponsor rather than modify proposals for a 2nd annual festival next January.

MONTEREY PARK — Raising a number of complaints about February’s Chinese New Year parade, the City Council on Monday told representatives from neighboring Alhambra that next year’s parade will have to go somewhere else unless the plan is revised to give the city more control.

An official for the Alhambra Chamber of Commerce, which is planning the second parade and celebration, said he will probably seek another city to co-sponsor the event--scheduled for Jan. 30--rather than rework plans to suit Monterey Park.

Monterey Park contributed $5,000 to the first local Chinese New Year Parade, which was also planned by the Alhambra chamber but took place in Monterey Park. The rest of the celebration, including a daylong festival, was in Alhambra.

At Monday’s council meeting, Alhambra chamber members Paul Talbot and Raymond Cheng, the co-chairmen for next year’s parade, found no support when they presented a similar proposal.

Councilwoman Marie Purvis said she had received many complaints after the event from Monterey Park merchants who said they lost business because Garfield and Garvey avenues were closed. Councilwoman Rita Valenzuela protested that members of the Monterey Park Chamber of Commerce were not invited to key planning meetings. And Mayor Samuel Kiang objected to the potential use of cigarette, liquor and gambling companies as parade sponsors.

The vice president of the Monterey Park Chamber of Commerce, Sabrina Peng, told the council that the chamber would prefer that the city plan its own event unless the parade is planned and its burdens shared equally by the two cities.

“Monterey Park will get nothing from the effort and inconvenience,” Peng said of the Alhambra plan.

The council voted unanimously, with Councilwoman Judy Chu absent, not to coordinate a New Year’s celebration with Alhambra unless the plans are first approved by the Monterey Park Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber rejected the current plan, which calls for closing Atlantic Boulevard and Garvey Avenue during the parade, at its Aug. 4 board of directors meeting.

After the council vote, Talbot said the chamber probably would take its proposal to another city.

“Our problem is timing,” Talbot said. Flyers describing the event need to be sent out to potential sponsors as soon as possible, he said.