Police arrrested an Arcadia juvenile after he allegedly sideswiped a United States Mail carrier's vehicle and then fled the scene at Second Avenue and El Dorado. His license plate was left at the scene.
Some members of Arcadia Christian Academy's boys basketball team acted as heroes after a 65 year-old woman lost control of her Mercedes and ran it through a group of children and adults in Eagle Rock, where the team attended a game. The boys ran to the scene and helped lift the car off two children and an adult. There were no fatalities.
Three sites are being considered for senior and/or low-income housing. They are: Marketowne at 150 W. Las Tunas Drive, the old Westerner Hotel at 161 W. Colorado Place, and the old Mounted Police site at 600 E. Live Oak Avenue.
Investigators have concluded that the failure of a pump on a fire engine was likely caused by a mechanical and/or design defect. The failure occurred on July 4 at a car accident scene where David Contreras died. Chief Dave Lugo may pursue litigation with manufacturer Kovatch Mobile Fire Apparatus. See related story, Arcadia Weekly, July 11, 2002, p. 8 and Arcadia Weekly, July 18, 2002, p. 1.
Eighty local Falun Gong practitioners go on a 268-hour vigil representing the 268 practitioners who have died from persecution in China. Three Arcadia women began a 7-day hunger strike in front of the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles.
Arcadia Public Library will have a new conference room constructed and will remodel the existing room into offices and a work area. An office will be created for the Friends of the Library. This is the first phase and the contract was awarded to K & S Design for $106,500. Phase 2 of the project, to be completed at a later date, will include a teen center and an enlarged international language area.
Artwork by Zhong Du of Arcadia High School was selected as Best of Show during last month's California division of the Federal Junior Duck Stamp Competition. He will now compete at the national level.
Rusnak Mercedes-Benz has moved from Pasadena to the old Foulger Ford property at 55 W. Huntington Drive in Arcadia. A photo shows city officials and top business people at the ribbon cutting on the site.
New Arcadia police station opens to the public on Friday, October 3, 2003 at 4:30 PM. It is a state-of-the-art facility that is now bigger and better equipped than the old station that has since been demolished. It waas built using an $8 million bond measure in addition to $8 million that had alerady been allocated from the city general fund and city redevelopment funds.
The city was awarded $300,000 by the federal government to be used on a project to improve traffic flow along the Santa Anita Avenue corridor. The project calls for installing an underground conduit and interconnecting twelve intersections.
In response to concerns for traffic safety, students at Arcadia High School created an original traffic safety video entitled "Cars and Schools: Everybody's Business." The video will air on Arcadia's cable channel and on the school district's channel.
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.
As part of Arcadia's centennial, the city is considering putting up historical markers around town as reminders of past people and events that have shaped Arcadia. There has been $12,000 in centennial funds allocated for the program and a tentative list of some 30 sites presented to Arcadia City Council. Some potential marker locations are given.
Deferred maintenance and capital improvement projects to be done this summer include roofing, re-roofing, painting, kitchen and plumbing work at area schools.
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.