The union for the Arcadia Police Department and the Arcadia City Council have reached an agreement. The contract gives officers a 24.4% increase in salaries and benefits over the next 4 years. The department is still down by 14 officers.
Arcadia Board of Education selected Genna Helmberger as Arcadia Teacher of the Year for 2003-2004. She is an 8th grade science teacher at Dana Middle School (picture).
Embassy Suites Arcadia is scheduled to have a grand reopening after extensive property renovations, under the new management and ownership by Windsor Hospitality Group.
Arcadia City Council has approved a contract with Bucknam and Associates to continue consulting on a joint effort with the city of Sierra Madre. The company will ensure local water supply is protected from interruption by earthquakes.
Arcadia Police Officers Association has used a billboard to advertise its contract dispute, claiming crime is up while the number of police officers is down. The billboard is shown in a photograph.
The Board of Education of the Arcadia Unified School District has approved a one year contract with the teachers union that includes a 5 percent pay raise.
Duarte Road, from El Monte Avenue to the western city limits, will have utility lines placed underground. The cost will be $2.3 million. The issue of undergrounding utilities came up during the January windstorm, when nearly 30 power poles were knocked down on Live Oak Avenue.
The new Arcadia Police station, the largest public project ever undertaken by the City of Arcadia, officially opened last Friday, October 3, when city government and law enforcement held a ribbon cutting ceremony on its front lawn. The police station was built using funds from an $8 million bond measure that was passed with a majority of public support in 1999. The 41,000 square feet headquarters has an additional 12,000 s.f. for a firing range and training room, maintenance and communication shops, a vehicle impound area and a SWAT facility. Dave Hinig is the Chief of Police. The previous police station was built in 1956.
Arcadia City Council has gone on record as supporting the building of a new city hall that would be built on the other side of the Civic Center property. Out of three options presented by city manager Bill Kelly, the council consensus was for a new building at a cost of $6.6 million and adjacent to Huntington Drive West.
A group of Arcadia firefighters who had gone to New York City to help after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were so profoundly affected that they organized a fundraiser to benefit widows and orphans of the New York Fire Department and Arcadia Fire Department. Those who went were Captain Hutcheson, Captain Trabbie, John Beveridge, Craig Stogner, Cody Cerwin and paramedic Mike MacGregor.
Arcadia resident and Maranatha High School homecoming queen Darlene Young has been selected as a finalist for the California Homecoming Queen competition.
Arcadia Ultimate Automotive has been served with a lawsuit from Trevor Law Group accusing the shop of operating without a license. The law firm based in Beverly Hills is filing frivolous suits with mainly small, minority-owned businesses especially automobile repair shops that lack resources to have a legal battle but will settle instead.