Arcadia aims to upgrade city library. The library is getting community feedback at a community needs assessment forum tonight and has hired an outside party to create a survey written in three languages. The goal is to determine what barriers they need to overcome to bring more people to the library and which programs and services need improvement, particularly in the technology sector.
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.
This article compares the public access that citizens have to local government/city council meetings. Arcadia provides minutes of council meetings dating back to 1957. About 70% of area cities offer some form of archived video, whether it's replayed on a local cable channel, or the Internet, or on DVDs available at the local library.
The Los Angeles County Arboretum and parts of the Huntington Library remain closed to the public more than two weeks after a ferocious windstorm hit the region overnight on November 30 and December 1. At the historic Arboretum, more than 325 trees were toppled and more than 700 others were damaged. The Arboretum officials want to reopen by December 31. At the Huntington Library in San Marino, more than 50 major trees went down but officials estimate that between 150 and 200 trees will be lost altogether from the damage.
Clean-up crews are collecting wind debris. Tom Tate, Director of Public Works for Arcadia, said that "on December 10, we started a systematic clean-up of the city, starting with city crews and contractors, one on the north end, one on the south end. We plan to move through the city, street by street, and hopefully meet in the middle." Tate said his crews have moved about 5,000 tons of debris off the streets since the windstorm hit on November 30-December 1, and estimates they are at least a quarter of the way done. Arcadia Public Works is trying to keep residents updated with Twitter and their website, as well as media releases, on their progress. Tate hopes to conclude the clean-up before Christmas.
Rides are hard to find for seniors. Dial-a-Ride, meant for home-bound elderly, being misused shuttling school children. In 2014 consultant group IBI Group recommended three changes--new fixed routes for the general public, a shuttle service from the Metro Gold Line station to popular locations in the city, and a return to Dial-a-Ride service to seniors and disabled. The changes were planned to coincide with the Gold Line opening in march but after hearing concerns from students and parents, city officials agreed not to cut off the Dial-a-Ride service to the general public until the end of the school year.
Local friends and supporters of Arcadia's figure skater Mirai Nagasu meet at Matt Denny's Ale House in Arcadia to watch her perform at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.
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.
Mary Chiu sued nursing home Arcadia Health Care Center for the negligent care that her mother Sui Mee Chiu received. In October 2013, an arbitrator ruled that Sui Mee Chiu had been a victim of elder abuse, negligence and wrongful death, and her daughter Mary Chiu was awarded more than half a million dollars. The investigation is still in progress and Public Health is inquiring into the cause of the delay in the final report and closure of this case.
Arcadia ice skater Mirai Nagasu is going to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Friends and family send her off with a party at Arcadia Presbyterian Church. She will skate in the singles competition starting February 23, 2010.
Arcadia Dial-a-Ride service to return to seniors, disabled after years of students "monopolizing" the service. On July 1, the fare will increase from 25 cents to 50 cents per ride and will have new fixed routes. The Dial-a-Ride will be for seniors over 62 years old and riders who are disabled.
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.
Tonight Arcadia City Council will explore building a new $12 million City Hall after the proposal was shelved in 2009 for financial reasons. The existing City Hall is undergoing a $2.3 million renovation and remodeling that includes a new heating and air conditioning system, energy efficient windows, new wiring, carpeting and painting. If Council moves forward with new building, the existing one could be used as a community center.
Environmental activists plan to block work crews from clearing 179 oak and sycamore trees, north of Arcadia. Bob Spencer, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, confirmed that construction would begin this morning to clear the 11 acres of trees, to make room for an estimated 500 cubic yards of sediment from Santa Anita Dam, as well as debris from seven other area catch basins. Spencer said, "The purpose behind this project is public safety; the damn built in 1927 does not meet seismic standards. Arcadia city manager Don Penman hopes that the several hundred thousand cubic yards of extra capacity is not an invitation for frequent trucking from other basins.
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.
Bulldozers finished demolishing the 11 acres of oak tree woodlands in Arcadia, at the Los Angeles County Santa Anita Dam Sediment Placement Site yesterday. Four environmental activists, called "tree-sitters," were booked on trespassing and obstruction, then were later released. Los Angeles County Public Works said demolishing the 179 trees to make room for sediment dredged from nearby dams is a flood control effort necessary to ensure public safety. The bitter debate continues. Activists claim the project was not transparent to the public and media.
Pension reform is happening with Arcadia city employees. Arcadia City Council approved an ordinance last week whereby police officers and firefighters hired by the city are now required to pay their full employee share, or 9 percent, of their pension costs--an amount previously covered by the city. In addition, tentative agreements are in place with 4 out of 5 employee unions, to have members pay their full share by the next 3 years. Annual increases in employee costs during that period would be offset by equivalent annual raises. Other San Gabriel cities may follow suit.
Friends of the victims of a car crash that killed 3 when their car hit a wall and overturned at Live Oak Avenue and Las Tunas Drive, said they had been at a Pasadena bar before the accident.
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.