The general plan will be reviewed by the Planning Commission. The "central area" will be the focus of study. This area runs from the 210 Foothill freeway on the north to Duarte Road on the south and from the east city boundary to Santa Anita Avenue. It also includes the commercial section west of Santa Anita Avenue and north of Huntington Drive.
Bill Quiggle, who has been Santa Anita Park track superintendent since 1949, retired at the end of the 1977 racing season. The track and all plantings were his domain.
Arcadia has allotted $3700 toward the construction of a multi- jurisdictional bikeway along the Rio Hondo Wash from Peck Road to the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area. This would provide approximately 7.5 miles of bike paths linking Arcadia to existing paths leading down to the Long Beach Harbor.
At the urging of Temple City mayor Lou Gilbertson, State Senator Richardson has set aside his bill SB 1287. It would have reduced petition requirements from the present 25% to just 10% of the registered voters. They want Governor Brown to appoint an Ad Hoc committee to study the whole picture.
One of the most comprehensive pictorial presentations of San Gabriel Valley history will be shown at Fashion Park June 24 through July 12. Done by history students from Cal State LA, it has been over two years in the planning.
The Planning Commission and ultimately the City Council are going to have a very difficult time prohibiting further lot splits in areas where splits were OK'd before the present laws limiting this practice.
Filing opens December 26 for candidates for three seats on the School Board. The seats up for re-election are: Lewis May - just completed his first 4 year term; George Frempter - 8 years; Gloria Horstman - appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of Gary Mills. The election will be held April 5.
Delegates from 20 cities reviewed the bylaws proposed for a formal association. Jim Helms of Arcadia chaired the meeting whose main purpose was to form a strong association to work more effectively toward having Los Angeles County pay greater attention to their needs. Secession was given a secondary role for the present.
An association of various discontented areas seeking to secede from Los Angeles County has been formed, but the San Gabriel Valley has not yet joined. The six proposed counties are: San Fernando Valley, Canyon, Chumash, Santa Monica, South Bay and Peninsula.
The Early Childhood Education programs have been merged into the School Improvement Programs. A proposed consortium will consist of the Beverly Hills, La Canada, Arcadia, South Pasadena and Temple City districts.
After 2 months of classes, enrollment for Arcadia schools is down 400 from last year at this time. The only enrollment increase has been in grades 4-6.
Questionnaires have been sent to a sampling of citizens to get input on how the city should spend up to $1,000,000 under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974.
The Planning Commission directed the planning staff to prepare a resolution permitting Maranatha High School to operate at its present North Santa Anita location.
The Arcadia City Council will oppose attempts by El Monte to annex a strip of uninhabited Arcadia land located between Peck Road and the San Gabriel River.
Overall enrollment for the Arcadia schools was down by 470 on the first day of classes. The drop in enrollment coupled with Prop. 13 has resulted in a very small number of new teachers this year.