Arcadia's transportation program has just put into service four new 20-passenger Dial-A-Ride buses. Four additional new buses will be added later this month.
Luanne Cayer (photo) retires from Arcadia Unified School District after 34 years. She started as a bus driver in 1967. Her last job was Director of Maintenance, Operations and Transportation.
A bus shelter will be built on the west side of the Arcadia Public Library. The shelter will be Arcadia Transit's bus stop. Benches and forty trees will be added.
Joe Miller writes a semi-regular column called Rotary Corner in Arcadia Weekly. It covers activities of the Arcadia Rotary Club and Rotary International. The page number varies by the issue.
7-year-old Maria Lugo Rocha of Sinaloa, Mexico, is recovering after a surgery to remove a bone tumor from her chin, performed last week at Arcadia Methodist Hospital. LIGA International, a non-profit group of medical experts, pilots and volunteers, helped to bring the girl to Arcadia to have the surgery.
On February 23, the Arcadia chapter of the Rotary International Club will unveil and dedicate an old-time tower clock to the City of Arcadia. Rotary International celebrates its 100th anniversary next week.
Altrusa International, Inc. of Arcadia, an international association of business and professional women and men who volunteer to make their communities better, will host the 48th annual District 11 Conference. Dena Spanos-Hawkey, director of literacy services for Monrovia, Arcadia and South Pasadena, is the keynote speaker.
John Fasana, a Duarte City Council member and Metropolitan Transportation Agency (MTA) board member, will introduce a measure today to include the 24-mile Gold Line Extension to Claremont in the MTA's long range transportation plan. To get federal stimulus money, the Gold Line needs to be listed in the MTA's long-range plan. Fasana wants to see the MTA reinforce the commitments made in Measure R, the tax measure that Los Angeles County voters approved to provide more than $700 million for the Gold Line.
Measure R, by which voters approved a half-cent sales tax last November, was to fund dozens of new transportation projects across Los Angeles County. However, rather than launch new projects, several San Gabriel Valley cities plan to use the windfall to keep municipal bus routes and Dial-a-Ride shuttles in operation. Arcadia may store up some of the funding it is due to receive, 290,000 this year and $496,000 next year, for a larger project down the line, said Transportation Services Manager Linda Hui. Possible projects include funding part of a grade separation at a future Gold Line station in Arcadia, or funding other Gold Line station enhancements, such as shuttle services. Street improvements are also a possibility for Arcadia.
The Rotary Club met at and toured Arcadia Methodist Hospital. Rotarian Dennis Lee is CEO of the hospital and Rotarian Greg Bond is president of the Methodist Hospital Foundation. Other Rotary service projects discussed.
The new landscaping and bus shelter for the west side of the Arcadia Public Library will cost $152,126.03 and will be done by Mariposa Horticultural Enterprises Inc.
Monrovia's Aztec Hotel is showcasing fine art in its non-profit Aztec Art Center Route 66 Gallery. Visitors are not just from Monrovia, but from Pasadena, Duarte and Arcadia. A painting by Manuel Barillas is pictured. The hotel is owned by Kathie Reece-McNeill. The hotel was designed in 1925 by English architect Robert Stacy-Judd and was inspired by Mayan and Aztect structures. The building has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976.