$12 million headquarters of the Angeles National Forest Service was dedicated yesterday. It is an environmentaly energy efficient 24,000 square feet administrative facility at 701 N. Santa Anita Avenue. Mary McGrath, of Mary McGrath Architects, was the executive architect on the project.
Arcadia has new hiking shuttle. U.S. Forest Service starts bus service to Chantry Flat trails from Arcadia Gold Line station. The shuttle goes to Chantry Flat Road, an area that connects to trails that lead to Sturtevant Falls, Hermit Falls, and historic Mount Wilson. The shuttle will run the next three weekends. Plans to make it permanent have not been formulated. See also Pasadena Star News, September 21, 2016, p. A7.
A day after the Arcadia County Park was closed for sending people exposed to excess chlorine to the hospital, the pool remained closed yesterday while Los Angeles County supervisors ordered a top-down safety review for all 27 county pools. The Arcadia pool will remain closed until the problem can be fixed to ensure public safety.
Los Angeles County Arboretum. $8 million cleanup and restoration of Baldwin Lake sought. Flood control district assigns funding; expense to go before supervisors in July. Baldwin Lake is severely polluted centerpiece of the county Arboretum, visited by 400,000 people annually. The 144-year-old lake, dug out by 19th century real estate pioneer Elias Jackson “Lucky” Baldwin on his estate, has been dying a slow death because of the accumulation of street runoff laced with heavy metals, automobile brake fragments and other chemicals that create algae blooms and strong odors. Supervisor Kathryn Barger is championing the project.
Los Angeles County agrees to a minimum 30-day moratorium on its plan to cut down 11.1 acres of oak and sycamore woodland for a dumping site for debris dredged from the Santa Anita Dam. The site is below Arcadia's Wilderness Park. During this time, opponents to the project will be looking at alternatives and the county will communicate the project's impact to the environmental community.
New state-of-the-art library coming to Arcadia. The Los Angeles County Public Library will replace the current branch in unincorporated Arcadia (4153 East Live Oak Avenue) sometime in 2017 at a new site at 22 West Live Oak Boulevard. It will cost about $9 million from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors capital projects funding.
Environmental activists are calling for an independent investigation into a Los Angeles County flood control project--6 days after they failed to stop bulldozers from clearing 11.1 acres of native oak woodland for a dam sediment dump in Arcadia. The group calling for the probe includes Glen Owens, Camron Stone, and "tree-sitters" John Quigley, Andrea Bowers and Julia Posin. Los Angeles County supervisor Michael Antonovich's deputy Tony Bell said the three-year county public works planning process for the sediment project was completely open and the facts were available to the public.
Arcadia Fire Department and Monrovia Fire Department resonded to a fire that destroyed a vacant Arcadia house in the 1300 block of South First Avenue. The house was in the process of being sold and was in escrow. The damage is estimated at $300,000.
Environmentalists, such as the Sierra Club in Pasadena and other groups, have requested an urgent meeting with Los Angeles County Department of Public Works officials to discuss last minute alternatives to the flood control project that would involve demolishing 11.1 acres of Arcadia woodlands. A 30-day moratorium on work at the site is ending in 2 days.
Arcadia woman was hurt in apartment fire in 900 block of West Huntington Drive on August 7. The 50-something year old woman was taken to Arcadia Methodist Hospital in critical condition.
Los Angeles County supervisor Mike Antonovich plans to set aside $650,000 of county funds to re-seed the oak woodland habitat in Arcadia that was demolished last week for flood control purposes, after mud and debris dredged from the Santa Anita Dam has been spread at the site. Bob Spencer, spokesman for Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, said there is much more debris poised to come down the hills and "We need to find a solution." Other county wilderness areas face destruction to make way for sediment. Officials are already considering the relocation of sediment from Devil's Gate Dam, which could end up on a 40-acre mature black willow woodland in the Hahamongna Watershed Park. Environmental activists won't let that happen without a fight.
A recent audit of fire department response times in 12 cities shows San Marino and Pasadena firefighters were the quickest in responding to emergency calls. The report covered April, May and June. San Marino's and Pasadena's average response times were 4:03 and 4:02, respectively. Arcadia's average, in comparison, was 4:21.
Arcadia recognized as "Most Business Friendly" for its mix of a strong local economy, well-known attractions, and responsive city hall workers, at the Eddy Awards, presented by Los Angeles County Economic Development, in the category of city with population less than 68,000. See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 13, November 16, 2017.
Los Angeles County Public Works is scheduled to clear 11.3 acres of pristine native oak woodland to dump tons of sediment dredged from Santa Anita Dam. Glen Owens, a founder of the Big Santa Anita Historical Society and a Monrovia planning commissioner, hopes it's not too late for a grass roots effort to oppose or at least postpone the project. The sediment dump would be entirely in Arcadia.
Los Angeles County keeps environmental activists and media off the site where the 11 acres of oak tree woodlands are being bulldozed near Wilderness Park. It is called Santa Anita Dam Sediment Placement Site. Activists were unable to save the area from becoming a debris basin. See related story "Razing woodland: protesters watch as trees are cut down" Pasadena Star News, January 13, 2011, p. A1, A7.
The Beltran family struggles after losing their home in a fire in February. It was a house they were renting in the 1500 block of 10th Avenue in Arcadia. The fire caused an estimated $100,000 in property loss and roughly $50,000 in content damage.
Los Angeles County Supervisors are set to approve $8.5 million to build a new pool building, pool and splash pond at Arcadia County Park. Officials recommended hiring Sparano & Mooney Architecture. The firm designed the Arcadia Historical Society Museum.
More than 11 acres of pristine native oak woodland at the Arcadia/Monrovia border, adjacent to Wilderness Park, are scheduled to be cut down to create a dumping ground for sediment dredge from the Santa Anita Dam, in a Los Angeles County Public Works project. The dam gets cleared out every 20 years or so. About 500,000 cubic yards of dirt and debris clogging the dam will be removed. Glen Owens, a founder of the Big Santa Anita Historical Society and a Monrovia planning commissioner, said the dirt shouldn't be dumped in one of only two native woodlands left in the San Gabriel Valley. Arcadia Councilman Bob Harbicht wants to hold a meeting with the city and county public works officials to clarify plans for the dirt dispersal.