Gary Kovacic is Arcadia's mayor for the sixth time since 1998. Mayor Pro Tem is Roger Chandler. Mayor Kovacic is in the final year of a second consecutive four-year term. Due to term limits, he will have to step away from Arcadia City Council for at last two years after he concludes his current term as mayor, next April.
Voters support incumbents. Turnout very low.* District 2 winner is Tom Beck with 982 votes out of 1857 votes cast and Roger Chandler won in District 5 with 704 votes out of 1627 cast. In District 3, Sho Tay ran unopposed so he was appointed. *semi-official results.
Unanimous Arcadia City Council acts to place local funding measure, known as the “Arcadia Public Safety, City Services and Accountability Measure” on the June 2019 ballot to maintain public safety and other city services. City staff and the Citizen’s Financial Advisory Committee have indicated Arcadia has a multi-million dollar structural deficit.
Don't forget to send in your ballots, Arcadians. The April 10 Arcadia City Council election ballots were sent to all registered voters on March 12. Voters can mail them or drop them off at Arcadia City Hall, 240 W. Huntington Drive. Brief summary of each candidate is given.
Arcadia Mayor's Breakfast / State of the City and Methodist Hospital update at Community Connections by Joan Schmidt. Mayor Peter Amundson was born and raised in Arcadia and spoke about what a great city it is to live, love, learn and leave a legacy. He spoke about the great Arcadia Public Library with its 42 high tech computers.
Feasibility study for the provision of outside fire responses services to Sierra Madre commissioned. Arcadia City Council, led by Mayor Sho Tay, approved the study to be conducted to weigh the pros and cons of providing fire suppression services to the City of Sierra Madre.
Lost in translation: ballot error in Chinese language instructions on the mail-in ballot, directing voters to choose up to 3 City Council candidates, in the race for only 2 open seats in the April 10 election.
Arcadia Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast 2019: we are all Americans in a great city. Columnist Joan Schmidt recaps the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast and City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto’s State of the City Address. Pictured: Kari Helman, Jim Helms and his daughter.
PETA sues Arcadia over cruel plan to snare, slaughter coyotes. In the lawsuit, PETA alleges that because City Council voted to approve the plan on February 21 without first performing an environmental impact assessment, which is required under the California Environmental Quality Act, its decision is illegal. See also Pasadena Star News, p. A3, March 4, 2017.
Seven candidates for two seats on Arcadia City Council: Paul Cheng, April Verlato, Bob Harbicht, Peter Amundson, Dr. Sheng Chang, Burton Brink, and Paul Van Fleet.
Santa Anita Park and Mathis Brothers Furniture team to donate $10,000 in college scholarships on its 82nd "Winter Meet" opening day, Wednesday, December 26. See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 14, December 20, 2018.
City of Arcadia is highlighted as part of the Strong Cities-Strong State Campaign, a project of the California City Management Foundation and the League of California Cities.The city's profile is at www.strongcitiesstrongstate.com/city/arcadia. The website promotes city success stories with profiles of elected officials and city managers.
Arcadians: "No" on Measure A, the repeal of Utility Users Tax (UUT) by Joan Schmidt. The utility tax is 12.5% of the city's $54.9 billion General Fund.
President Eric Chen of Chateau Group and Robb Macmillan, Development Director, to share plans for new Marriott Le Meridien Hotel and Conference Center to be located directly across from the historic Santa Anita Park Race Track. Construction to start in 2018 and be completed by fourth quarter of 2019. On the site of the former Santa Anita Inn and Ramada Inn.
Dana Middle School's iconic concrete monument topped by an iron anchor was destroyed and removed this summer to prepare for renovations of the school's courtyard. Former students were upset over the loss, as it represented school pride. Joann Steinmeier, School Board President, said the anchor itself has been preserved and will be showcased in a fenced area in a new, smaller courtyard.