Misinformation has run rampant as media literacy has declined over the past several years. There are more people online than ever before. If you have a smartphone, you can have a public platform, and more media is created than we know what to do with. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to discern what is true and which sources of information can be trusted. Now, a new challenge has presented itself in the modern age of media: reckoning with language barriers.
Although English is the most common language of the United States, there are many communities that do not speak, write, or read in English, and city pamphlets, news articles, and broadcasts are often not translated into any other language. When a politician capitalizes on this lack and successfully weaponizes fearmongering and lies toward non-English speaking citizens, it results in confusion, chaos, anger, and community fracture.
On October 8, 2024, hordes of citizens suddenly showed up early to a Rosemead City Council meeting, shocking community members and councilmembers alike. The citizens were rallied by Long “David” Liu, a Republican candidate running for a seat in the 49th District Assembly race. Many who showed up were not members of the Rosemead community, but Asian citizens from all over San Gabriel Valley. They had received flyers in Chinese stating that the city of Rosemead planned to not only fund and build a new 400-bed homeless shelter, but that councilmembers had approved the plan without input from the community.
Kathy F., who attended the meeting and shot videos said, “The air was charged with hostility as people held up handmade signs and shouted slogans like ‘Keep our children safe!’ and ‘No shelter! No homeless!’ I was deeply appalled by the overt aggression directed toward our unhoused neighbors. The hostility reached a level where individuals were standing on chairs and shouting into the council chambers, making it impossible for translators to accurately interpret the council’s statements.”
Managers and employees from Maryvale were in the crowd, trying to explain to the community what Maryvale actually is, but to no avail.
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Maryvale is older than Rosemead, predating the incorporation of the city by six years. Known as Los Angeles County’s longest-operating children’s charity, they began their work in 1856 as an orphanage, opening the doors to their Rosemead campus in 1953. Growing far beyond its initial role as an orphanage, Maryvale now acts as a multidisciplinary agency, working to help unhoused women and children rise above past hardships and prepare for future success.
The Planning Commission of Rosemead and Maryvale held their first duly noticed and advertised public hearing on September 16, and though Maryvale’s Planned Development application was passed, it was also determined that Maryvale needed to do more community outreach to better accurately inform concerned residents.
On September 18, Maryvale informed city council staff that they were in contact with the concerned residents, organizing campus tours and holding a community meeting to address any lingering concerns. Maryvale also sent out mailers in different languages and posted an advertisement in a Mandarin newspaper inviting the community out for their open house.
On October 2, Maryvale held an open house to address the concerns that had been raised.
There are two programs at Maryvale. The first is a program called Seton House, which offers temporary housing for unhoused single mothers and their children. The current facility at Maryvale has the capacity to house nine single mothers with up to two children under the age of 10. Maryvale’s expansion proposal planned to remodel their existing building to house an additional 20 single mothers, opening up space for 29 mothers and their children in total. The mothers and children would have the opportunity to stay at Seton House for 6 months while they work on an eight-step program to develop long-term stability and self-sufficiency for their futures.
Every mother at Maryvale comes through referring agencies, and there is a thorough interviewing process to determine the appropriateness of each referral and each mother’s level of commitment to full participation in the program. In the first two years of Seton House’s program, they’ve had great success, with 71% of the residents transitioning to stable housing, a 70% increase in participants pursuing educational goals after admission into the program, and 55% of graduates obtaining employment by the time they left the program.
The second program is Hope Housing For Students, which offers interim dorm-style housing for up to 14 female community college students facing housing insecurity or homelessness. Students are expected to be enrolled in at least nine units of classes, work or volunteer 15 hours during the week, and maintain a 2.0 GPA during their time here.
Mel Tillekeratne is the co-founder and executive director of Shower of Hope, the program that runs Hope Housing for Students and has been on Maryvale’s Rosemead campus since 2021.
Tillekeratne said, “Our ultimate goal is to help them get into a full four year university with on-site housing, and our secondary goal is to reunite them with their families or create enough income so they can move out on their own.
“A lot of times, with poverty, you don’t get a lot of exposure, or sometimes you’re exposed to bad behavior, so we try to help our students understand how to communicate or be better at communication by helping them figure out questions like ‘How do you negotiate obstacles? How do you come to a compromise? How do you do conflict resolution?’
“Having them work 15 hours a week helps them learn how to balance their schedule, prepare them to enter the workforce with experience under their belt, and learn how to navigate work politics for long-term success in the field they are interested in.”
The miscommunication between Maryvale and community members mainly began with a misunderstanding regarding the language that was used in the staff report. The report noted that Laboure Hall, where the remodel for Seton House was slated to take place, had an occupant load of 374. This represents the maximum number of people the building can accommodate at any given time, and had nothing to do with the planned number of residents. This number was brought up multiple times during the meeting, as protesters continued to misunderstand what an occupant load is.
The maximum total number of residents who could live on Maryvale campus after Laboure Hall’s remodel is 29 single women with two children each for Seton House, and 14 female student residents from Hope Housing. If both programs were to completely max out, the total would be 101 residents, with 29 mothers, 58 children, and 14 students.
Another major point of concern for complainants was that Maryvale’s expansion would lead to increased crime in Rosemead. But since Seton House’s opening, there have been no major incidents on or around the campus. Rosemead City Council requested a crime report to be conducted by the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department to confirm findings and, “according to the Chief of Police’s review, the data does not raise safety concerns.”
Maryvale enforces clear rules, including no drugs nor drug use, no alcohol, no smoking or vaping, no weapons, and no on-site visitors. No one is permitted to enter the building without a staff member. Residents of the program have a curfew of 10 PM on weekdays and midnight on weekends. The campus is enclosed with perimeter fencing, controlled gates, 24-hour security surveillance, and nighttime security patrols.
Tillekeratne added, “People have this fear of people who are poor and people who don’t look like them.”
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The conduct in the meeting became so disorderly that Mayor Steven Ly decided to table the meeting until October 22. After the meeting, Rosemead councilmember Sandra Armenta posted a statement online, attempting to clarify and offer more information:
“There has been misleading information led by many people who do not live in Rosemead and by a person who is looking to politically gain from this item… We were made aware our City’s letterhead was used to include information in Chinese. The City of Rosemead did not authorize this letter or approved [sic] the message in the letter. We are investigating who used our City’s letterhead without authorization and included false information.”
Liu went on to host a panel on Maryvale at a local restaurant, giving most of his speech in Chinese. One of his supporters came on stage and spoke in English, using insulting and racist stereotypes to slander the women in the program — with Liu by her side, nodding in agreement. Through his lobbying, Liu gathered 20,000 signatures for his petition to shut Maryvale down.
At the next meeting, on October 22, the parking lots were filled an hour and a half before the meeting started. This time, the police presence was much larger. Due to concern over the booing and shouting toward Maryvale women who attempted to speak at the last meeting, the city council initiated a new rule of silence during public comment, in order to provide a safe atmosphere for the speakers.
It was a record-setting 9-hour-long Rosemead City Council meeting, ending at 4:00 AM the next day. Councilmembers and Maryvale officials worked through numerous conditions of approval, including stronger language to strictly limit the occupants to single mothers, women, and their children, capping residency at 87 (29 women and up to 58 children, ages 10 or younger). They agreed to the community’s demand that Maryvale would not turn into a homeless shelter and required longer hours of security on the premises. Finally, they required an annual review by the city’s planning commission after the conditions were met.
After nearly 200 public comments, the council finally came to a 4–1 vote approving the project, with councilmember Polly Low as the solitary vote opposing the project.
“My vote no is acknowledging the voice from the community,” said Low. “I feel that if this turns out to be a 5–0 vote, it totally disregards the community voice. My no vote is a reminder that there are still concerns out there and I want you guys [Maryvale] to do the best you can, to truly prove that my no vote is the wrong vote.” Low then asked Maryvale to continue doing community outreach, suggesting continued invitations for residents to tour the campus, and even agreed to be a translator for Maryvale and non-English-speaking community members in the future.
In an attempt to end the misinformation campaign, large portions of the meeting were translated into five different languages: English, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Spanish. Despite the efforts from city council to add stronger amendments to Maryvale’s proposal, as well as to translate Maryvale’s presentation and clarify concerns, community members were still against the decision and began shouting and threatening councilmembers after the meeting had adjourned. They weren’t giving up, despite evidence that proved their beliefs to be false.
Tillekeratne said, “There was some distrust with the city council because Rosemead is set up in a way where there’s more affluent areas of Rosemead vs the non-affluent areas so I think there was added friction over that as well. The people who showed up were more native Mandarin and Cantonese speakers and they were not trusting of the city council or their translation services.”
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Language is the primary way that we connect and communicate. More than ever, translation is a vital tool for promoting equity for non-English-speaking residents. The opposition to Maryvale fell prey to deliberate misinformation, spread to advance Liu’s agenda. Thankfully, through the tenacious work of Maryvale officials, Rosemead City Council, and community members who campaigned to get the proper facts out to the public through canvassing and social media, their program continues to help families in need and offers them support in the San Gabriel Valley.
Learn more about Maryvale Seton House and The Shower of Hope.
