Arcadia will benefit from the State Municipal Advisory Reform Team : Enhanced Report (SMARTER) plan for restructuring local government finance which will help stop the city's dependence on sales tax.
Arcadia seeks to extend the right to collect cell phone usage tax. Officials plan to hold a special election in May or June in 2009 for a ballot measure. If communicated to voters correctly, it should pass, because it would not raise the tax but protect the city's revenues. At stake is about $1 million in yearly revenue. To do that, voters must allow the city to legally redefine what a telecommunications tax is. Recent court rulings have suggested cities cannot tax cell phone use by relying on older telecommunications tax ordinances.
City officials resume talks with Rusnak Mercedes-Benz about its expansion now that Measure B has passed. The Church in Arcadia will move to Live Oak Street.
Arcadia government officials and centennial committee members are planning a yearlong civic celebration beginning January 1, 2003. On January 18, a gala event will honor people who have served the city. The history of Arcadia's incorporation, including the decision to use August 5, 1903, as the official date, is included.
U. S. Forest Service officials met with cabin owners and residence permit holders to hear concerns regarding evacuation of the Big Santa Anita Canyon area.
Early tallies in the City Council elections show Bob Harbicht, Peter Amundson and John Wuo in the lead. Measure A, calling for a train bridge over Santa Anita Avenue, appears to have passed.
The City Council formally designated the Peacock as Arcadia's official city bird. It also named the oak (no particular type) as the official city tree.
The City of Pasadena may seek lost sales tax revenue from Rusnak Mercedes-Benz, a business that relocated from Pasadena to Arcadia four years ago. Pasadena officials think Arcadia may have used the promise of an expansion loan as an enticement when Rusnak first considered leaving Pasadena. Arcadia officials deny it.
A shortage of trauma centers leaves people in the East San Gabriel Valley unprotected. Officials from the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments are upset that the valley received 1.4 percent of Measure B though it paid 19.8 percent of the tax.
The peacock is the official bird of Arcadia. The designation happened last week.The city has had an official flower, the azalea, since 1963. City Council selected the oak as the official tree.
Arcadia City Council is reviewing revisions in the city's General Plan to create land-use concepts that meet statewide density requirements and still preserve Arcadia as a "Community of Homes." The revisions call for increasing the maximum density from 24 units per acre to 30 in high density-zoned areas and following mixed-use development in downtown, First Avenue and Live Oak Avenue areas. Officials want the new land-use guidelines to meet the requirements of SB375, the "anti-sprawl" legislation passed last year that aims to cut down on carbon emissions by requiring local agencies to minimize vehicle travel time through city planning.
Heavy rains triggered a mudslide along Santa Anita Canyon Road, blocking access to the Angeles National Forest and prompting city officials Thursday to declare a local emergency. Recent storm-related problems caused an estimated $1 million in damage to private and public property.
Developer Rick Caruso spoke to a crowd of more than 800 people at the Arcadia Masonic Temple about plans for The Shops at Santa Anita at a Planning Commission meeting. The public was invited to voice their opinions in 3-minute blocks of time. Caruso had supporters among police and firefighters unions, Chamber of Commerce, Arcadia Unified School District, several homeowners associations, and city officials. 369 people at the meeting signed a petition opposing the project.
Arcadia City Council unanimously voted to draft language that could potentially be inserted into future contracts that preserves the city's right to ask contractors for documentation of their employees at any point. The move could be considered a token gesture, since the city already requires contractors to generally comply with all state and federal laws, including the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.