Arcadia's Fresh and Easy (grocery store) market at 133 East Foothill Boulevard to shut down April 3. The chain is closing about 30 stores, including ones in Arcadia, Azusa, and Pasadena.
Los Angeles County home sales dropped 8.6% last month from a year earlier. Arcadia, however, shows a 4.1% increase in median home price, from a year ago December. Arcadia's median home price was $692,000 last month. Figures for California state, Los Angeles and other San Gabriel Valley cities are shown.
Los Angeles County home prices and sales continue to decline. The median price of a Los Angeles County home fell in October to $339,910, down 2.6% from September's price of $349,040. However, Arcadia led all California cities with a 40% jump from last year's median price. Currently the median home price in Arcadia is $856,000. Other San Gabriel Valley area median home prices are given.
How Measure A is expected to affect Arcadia. Arcadia City Council will put a sales tax increase of 3/4 percent on this year's June ballot. The added sales tax would be added to the city's income to benefit the current deficit.
Measure A would increase sales tax by .75% to bring local Arcadia sales tax rate to 10.25%. It will be placed on a June 4 mail-in ballot. If passed, Measure A would yield about $8.6 million annually, which would be dedicated to keeping city services at the levels residents have come to appreciate.
Los Angeles County's median home price and sales dropped last month, a trend that was reflected statewide. Some San Gabriel Valley areas, such as Walnut, posted gains in June, but some cities, such as Duarte, Diamond Bar, and Arcadia, showed declines in their median home prices. Arcadia's median home price fell 5.8%.
Los Angeles County's 2017 homelessness count has gone up 23% from the previous year and District 5, where Arcadia, Monrovia and Pasadena lie, has exceeded the county high at 30%. Measure H funds from a 1/4 cent sales tax increase in Los Angeles County, creates estimated $355 million per year to use on homeless initiative. Los Angeles Board of Supervisors voted on how to properly allocate over a billion dollars from Measure H to help prevent and combat homelessness.
Arcadia spends $2 million on water to offset needs for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. It is the second purchase of its kind since April. The 3000 acre-feet of water was purchased from the Upper San Gabriel Valley Water District, will be stored in a cyclic storage account in main groundwater basin, which supplies a major portion of the city's drinking water.
If Oak Tree is not held at Santa Anita Park this fall, as it has for the last 41 years, it would be a significant hit to the city of Arcadia and the region, city officials said. Last year, the city of Arcadia made $185,000 from the Oak Tree meet's betting handle. In addition, the city would suffer the loss of tens of thousands of dollars in sales tax and hotel bed tax revenue. The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) denied Oak Tree Racing Association's request to run its five-week fall meet at Santa Anita Park after horse owners, trainers, and a racetrack expert expressed concerns about the synthetic surface. Oak Tree officials say they are moving forward to make arrangements to run the meet at Hollywood Park.
Search continues for missing Arcadia firefighter/paramedic Michael Herdman. He went missing last weekend in the Sespe Wilderness Area outside Fillmore, CA. Herdman is 36 years old and a 7 year veteran of the Arcadia Fire Department.
Thoroughbred horses are a big business in Southern California. Racing is a $3 billion-a-year industry in the state that includes breeding, buying and selling.
Last month's California Supreme Court decision that eliminates redevelopment agencies may jeopardize the Rusnak Mercedes-Benz dealership's expansion plans. Last year, Arcadia's redevelopment agency acquired the final piece of a two-acre site to sell to owner Paul Rusnak to expand his business to 6 acres. Rusnak is one of the city's top sales tax generators and wants to open a 40,000 square foot showroom on Santa Anita Avenue, just one block from the future Gold Line station downtown.
Outage draws probe by California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to investigate the prolonged outages in Southern California Edison's (SCE) service area following last week's powerful windstorm. About 858 SCE customers in the San Gabriel Valley were still without power as of 7:00 PM yesterday, down from a total of about 434,000 initially affected by the windstorm.
A proposed land deal will allow Rusnak Mercedes-Benz dealership to expand and Rod's Grill will not have to move. The Arcadia Redevelopment Agency has acquired the Dahlgren lot on Santa Clara Street, the last parcel of a 2-acre site it intends to sell to Rusnak. This sale would enable Rusnak to expand from 4 to 6 acres. A public hearing is scheduled for April 19. In addition to the recently acquired Dahlgren property, the current proposed site also includes the former Church of Arcadia on Morlan Place and a commercial strip along Santa Anita Avenue that contains 16 tenants. The proposed deal guarantees the city would receive at least $800,000 in sales tax a year for the next 10 years.
British retail giant Tesco considers selling its struggling U.S. grocery market Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. The El Segundo-based chain is losing money and Tesco has hired investment bank Greenhill to review options. Fresh & Easy has 200 stores in California, Nevada, and Arizona. There is a store in Arcadia (on Foothill Boulevard).
Shock of brothers' deaths still lingers. John Ziska is trying to find ways to cope with the deaths of his sons JD and Brian Ziska, two former star quarterbacks at Arcadia High School, whose deaths in the past year have left many in their hometown of Arcadia reeling. This fall, the Arcadia High School football program has ceremonies planned to honor them. Last summer JD Ziska died of a stroke at age 35. Brian Ziska had a massive heart attack.
Pasadena Star News conducted a survey of local city government websites among area cities, looking for transparency of public information. Monrovia and Rosemead scored the highest, with A grades. Arcadia came in 6th among 32 cities, with a B-minus grade.