The Disaster Preparedness Plan is ready for adoption by the City Council. It includes contingency plans for the handling of earthquakes (as well as recommendations for building standards to help present earthquake damage), floods, fires and hazardous structures.
The Arcadia Board of Education turned down a recommendation to shorten the last week of school at the high school. The recommendation was that for the last week, Monday would be a full day, while Tuesday through Thursday would be half days.
City Council heard testimony on problems connected with opening of Marquee West - a club opened recently to bring musical groups to Arcadia - and aim at the younger people in the community. Paul Fry, spokesman for Marquee West, promised to police the operation more heavily. The club will be open Thursday through Saturday.
The jungle area of the Arboretum is being restored with a $250,000 grant. The jungle has been badly damaged due to heavy use and a fire. It is being restored as a prehistoric jungle garden.
The current racing meeting will open Thursday December 27. Sunday racing will be inaugurated for the first time in Arcadia. Track officials are uncertain as to how the energy crisis will affect operations.
Two articles on the fire which damaged First Avenue Junior High School. The longer discusses the arson investigation, the second discusses the general fire investigation, seeking the beginning point for the fire.
On November 8 the City Council adopted a design for public parking in the City's downtown business district which left no one particularly happy. Assessments will be worked out beginning at the December 6 meeting. Estimated cost of the project is $241,957.
Arcadia City Council must decide how to pay the Metropolitan Water District taxes for 1979-80. Currently the city pays 50% and the property owners pay 50%.
The City Council has turned down Bob Margett's request to build a skate board park with 60 person capacity on Live Oak Avenue. Noise and congestion were the reasons given.
For the fourth year Arcadia property tax rate has been set at $.94 per $100.00 assessed valuation. This is the lowest it has been since 1914 when it was $.60 The highest rate was $1.98 in 1945.
On April 21, 1975 Arcadia will start a Dial-A-Ride service. A ride between any two points will be $.50. This will be a 3 month experiment. More details on the service are given.
A hearing was held re the Arcadia Unified School District definition of segregation. The Board's criterion is that a school is segregated only when one minority group exceeds 50% of that school's enrollment.