The Arcadia float in the 2003 Tournament of Roses Parade will be built by Bill Lofthouse, dean of Rose Parade float builders and owner of Phoenix Floats.
Bradford Hack, Dawn Pejsar, and Nicholas Campbell will be some of the riders on the 2003 float representing Arcadia in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. Other riders are named as well.
Arcadia's 100th birthday festivities will begin in January with the city's float entry in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. Riders on float include Jon Dorian Shafer, Lane Barcham and Alison Chien. Other activities for the centennial year are outlined.
Arcadia resident Anjali Agrawai, 17, a senior at La Salle High School, was named one of the members of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Royal Court for 2003.
Using the theme "100 Years of Good Health, Happiness and Prosperity," an Arcadia Rose Parade float commemorates the city's centennial. Riding on the float will be a doctor, a nurse, a graduate of Arcadia Methodist Hospital's neonatal program, US Army Captain Jon Shafer, a horseracing figure, and two local children. The two children will be chosen by random drawing.
San Marino resident Alexandra Wucetich was named Rose Queen. Arcadia local Anjali Agrawal is a princess. She and Tournament of Roses President Gary Thomas are shown in a photo.
The water in Baldwin Lake at the Los Angeles County Arboretum, which is actually a sag pond, is evaporating, and the water is not being replenished by the artesian well because of low levels in the water table. The lake is famous from the television show Fantasy Island. The last time Baldwin Lake was dry was 1991.
Arcadia officially unveiled the design for its city centennial float last week. Designed by Phoenix Builders, it features the Queen Anne Cottage, the wishing well fountain from Santa Anita, and a giant peacock. It cost $100,000. A list of float riders is included.
Tournament of Roses Queen Alexandra Wucetich and her court ride under the parade route in a Metro Gold Line tunnel. Metro Gold Line follows the same Atchison/Topeka Santa Fe Railroad right of way that has provided passengers and freight service for nearly 100 years. Arcadia's princess Anjali Agrawal is in a photo with her father Sudhir K. Agrawal.
Arcadia City Council has approved a list of a dozen projects to lobby for with the federal government. The projects will be pursued by city lobbyist, the Ferguson Group, by Mayor Mickey Segal, and a representative from Sierra Madre, as they try to coordinate lobbying efforts in Washington DC. On the list is a $20 million request jointly with Sierra Madre, for continuing programs to ensure safety of the water supply in case of seismic problems.
Freeway sound walls promised for Arcadia and Monrovia appear to be still on schedule, according to the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). The sound walls scheduled for construction as early as 2005 run from Michillinda Avenue to Santa Anita Avenue in Arcadia, and from Huntington Drive to California Avenue in Monrovia. Lower priority sound wall project locations are also given.
Special events to be featured at the second annual Lucky Baldwin Day Community Picnic on October 27 include sack races, a spelling bee, and pumpking carving contest. The highlight will be the drawing to select a boy or girl to ride on the city's Rose Parade float.
The city has taken a second pumper truck out of service following a July 4 incident in which a water pump failed to engage on a fire truck. The two engines that malfunctioned were bought from Kovatch Mobile Equipment Fire Apparatus. David Contreras died in the July 4 incident. See related story, Arcadia Weekly, July 11, 2002, p. 8.
Sixty-four year old Fuzhi Ji and his two-year-old grandson died after a hit and run accident at Santa Anita Avenue and Bonita Street left them with fatal injuries.
Arcadia and Sierra Madre's water supply to benefit from $1.8 million federal grant. Arcadia will get $900,000 of the grant. This will fund the next phase of an on-going, 5-year program to ensure emergency water for its citizens, following any potential seismic activity.