57-year-old Richard Henry Solis of Arcadia faces two felony counts of grand theft from elder and six counts of petty theft from elder. The alleged crimes involved Solis claiming the victims had injured him with their vehicles and then asking for money for medical expenses or stealing their belongings, reportedly stealing $100,000 from the victims.
Real estate developer and Arcadia resident Henry Nunez (in photo) started a hunger strike on Easter to draw attention to the importance of Arcadia's upcoming City Council elections. He is fasting and drinking only liquids and wants "a record turnout" in Tuesday's election for three city council seats and he wants people to vote for his choices--Peter Amundson, Paul Cheng and Sho Tay.
The next Arcadia city council election in April will be an all-mail ballot, that is saving the city thousands of dollars. The five candidates for two seats are Arcadia Mayor Gary Kovacic, John Wuo, Sho Tay, Henry Nunez and Mary Dougherty.
Arcadia High School students had the highest math scores in 15 years on the SAT, 61 points above the national average, but verbal skills scored 16 points below the national average.
Arcadia City Council candidates champion their causes. There are five candidates for two open seats. Their causes are: Gary Kovacic--maintaining a balanced budget with adequate reserves and a sense of community; Mary Dougherty--mansionization and residential guidelines; Sho Tay--traffic safety and opposing a new $12.2 million City Hall; John Wuo--reducing crime; and Henry Nunez--increase city revenues and create a real downtown in Arcadia.
Arcadia Recreation and Community Services Department is sponsoring the Annual Community Bike Ride on Saturday, May 3, 2014. In photo are Arcadia City Councilman Gary Kovacic, Barbara Kovacic, and Gary's mother Florence.
Arcadia residents may vote again on street lighting fees. Under the new proposal, single family homes on arterial streets would pay about $17 a year, while those not on arterial streets would pay about $27 a year, making the assessments more fair. Voters in 2008 rejected a proposal to fund the lighting and now the city is considering another mail-in vote.
In an effort to reduce crime, the Arcadia Police Department is planning a comprehensive Neighborhood Watch program that will involve about 438 Arcadia residents and touch every block of the city.