The 3-toilet turmoil in South Arcadia has become a battle of constitutional proportions. The lawsuit alleges that El Monte is attempting to extort land use concessions from Arcadia.
About 1000 feet of sound walls will be built by the westbound lanes of the 210 Foothill Freeway between Second Avenue and Fifth Avenue. There is also discussion of future sound wall construction projects.
According to El Monte City Attorney Sidney Maleck, there is new information that shows El Monte is not involved in political "posturing" when it objects to a mini-storage facility and a landfill just across its border in Arcadia.
According to El Monte City Attorney Sidney Malek, El Monte's suit against Arcadia is a dispute over a major landfill, pollution of the water table, spheres of influence of various cities, and the industrialization of Southeast Arcadia. But Arcadia City Attorney Michael Miller claims its real purpose is political.
Aerial view looking north across Santa Anita Park from a position over Arcadia County Park. Large infield crowd is evident and all parking areas are filled. Arcadia Methodist Hospital shows in lower left part of photo and Arcadia Police facility is seen in lower right. The 210 Foothill Freeway cuts across photo near the top.
Aerial view north toward San Gabriel Mountains from a position above Huntington Drive near First Avenue. Santa Anita Avenue can plainly be seen running north and south in front of six-story building in center of photo. The 210 Foothill Freeway is top band running across photo from east to west.
Aerial view taken over Arcadia so that it shows a large area surrounding Arcadia as well as the entire city. Clearly seen is the Santa Anita Park Race Track, and the Arcadia County Park (shown as a dark triangle in center), and the 210 Foothill Freeway crossing photo from west to east and passing north of Santa Anita Park Race Track.
Aerial view toward north from a position south of Huntington Drive near intersection with Baldwin Avenue. It shows Santa Anita Fashion Park (currently known as Westfield Santa Anita Shopping Mall) developed by and on property owned by Santa Anita Consolidated. The Santa Anita Park Race Track and club house can be seen in center of photo. The straight white line about one inch above the club house roof is 210 Foothill Freeway. Chantry Flats road can be seen going up into San Gabriel Mountains in distance.
Arcadia, E. O. Rodeffer, and Public Storage won a round in their legal dispute with the city of El Monte. On March 12, Superior Court Judge Norman Douds ordered El Monte to allow San Gabriel Valley Water Company to dig up El Monte streets to install water lines to a Public Storage building partially located in Arcadia.
The Arcadia Mounted Police Reserve has filed a lawsuit against the City. The suit apparently stems from the City taking over the organization's headquarters (City owned property) due to members' refusal to allow the City access to their financial records.
The Arcadia Redevelopment Agency has filed a suit against the Clifford C. Bong & Co., a former owner of the 1.6 acre redevelopment site on Huntington Drive. The ARA hopes to recover the $855,000 spent on removal of toxic waste and other debris.
The Arcadia Redevelopment Agency won a $495,000 settlement for removing toxic waste from 1.6 acres of downtown Arcadia land it bought from Clifford C. Bong and Co. last year. The agency sued Bong in April of 1988 to recover the money it spent to dispose of soil contaminated with high levels of lead, cadmium and hydrocarbon wastes. The agreement was reached two days before the June 27 trial was to begin.
Arcadia requested a rehearing of a Court of Appeals decision favoring El Monte in one of the 3 lawsuits involving a Public Storage facility in South Arcadia.
Both the Board of Education and the City Council have denied $1.5 million in claims against them filed by Mr. & Mrs. Paul J. O'Brien, parents of Timothy Sean O'Brien who was struck and killed by an automobile as he was crossing Campus Drive last November 6th.
Construction is stalled on a $11.9 million project to build sound walls on a stretch of the westbound 210 Foothill Freeway, between Baldwin Avenue and Rosemead Boulevard, but work is expected to resume soon. The delay is due to inaccurate design plans that are being modified.
El Monte city attorney, Sidney Maleck, who was just appointed to a municipal judgeship in Orange County thinks "it would be foolish to continue with the lawsuits" against Arcadia over a public storage facility. Arcadia city attorney, Michael Miller, however, says these conciliatory words need to be backed up with actions.
