A Great Training Site in Monterey Park SITREP FREEPARKING! This is one of the few state offices within the framework of the California Department of Social Services(CDSS) that actually two major parking lots in back and off to the right available for workers to park in FORFREE! I’m sorry, but THAT right there will garner a start at 5-STARS for any workplace since it pisses me off to have to work for an employer that does NOT watch out for their workers and makes them pay for parking. When training new staff that come from all 24 different regional offices spread throughout the State of California(Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Bruno, San Jose, San Francisco, Rohnert Park, Chico, Fresno, etc. etc.), it’s nice that expenses can be kept down and our trainees don’t have to worry about the hassle of downtown parking. SETUP Now, that is NOT to say that location is what totally drives a definition of the«quality» of a training-site, but it is just one thing that is representative of the pluses that exist in having our training site located outside of our HQ back in Sacramento. I’m happy to term this office-site as my favorite Southern Cal location and for all intents and purposes: our SoCal HQ. AMENITIES We actually have three(3) separate training room sites at this complex — the 2nd Floor conference room, the 3rd Floor Board room and the 5th Floor Board room. The 2nd Floor can take a max of up to 40 trainees which we had in our training last year here. The 3rd Floor Board Room is where we found ourselves these last two weeks and it’s great too for 20 and under trainees. Fountain, restrooms, break room, smoking areas, etc., are all nearby when trainees engage in breaks or just leg-stretches to get the kinks out of their behinds. ISSUES There was an A/C clusterf*ck the first 3 days of the training and they had to bring in fan units to help cool off the room which was very much needed since L.A. was in triple digit heat during this time. I could easily throw this rating down to 4-stars because of this, but the maintenance detail was quick and responsive in trying to mitigate the heat excess. Throwing this at 4.5 Stars, it is just easier to round up to 5 for all the effort that was shown. THELOWDOWN I give this training-room and office environment two thumbs up for providing a great learning environment for new field staff.