The Arcadia intersection of Huntington Drive and Sunset Blvd. was one of the nine worst in Los Angeles County in 1998 according to a study by the Automobile Association of Southern California.
Arcadia's new city government first formed in 1903 and its first meeting took place at Elias J. "Lucky" Baldwin's Oakwood Hotel, located at First Avenue and Santa Clara Road. Baldwin's hotel featured gambling and fine dining along with city government. The Oakwood Hotel burned down in 1911, and the city government moved to the McCoy Building at First Avenue and St. Joseph Street. Two years later, City Hall moved across the street to the Hibbard Building. In 1917, the first building was constructed as a City Hall at Huntington Drive and Second Avenue (?). A two-story colonial building was built for $18,000. This City Hall opened on July 13, 1918. City Hall moved in 1949 to a 13-acre parcel between Huntington Drive and the Pacific Electric railroad tracks.
The City Council approved a contract with Rokni Electric for a new 800 Kilowatt generator and a new telephone system (not to exceed $342,251) from SBC-Pacific Bell for City Hall. A contract with Systems Source Inc. for furnishings for the new police station was also approved. The City Librarian job title was changed to Director of Library and Museum Services.
The Arcadia Police Department has moved to a new police station building at 250 W. Huntington Drive, Arcadia, CA, 91007, that is 42,000 square feet and cost $16 million. The official opening ceremony will be October 3, 2003. The old building that was built around 1956 will be demolished in a few weeks. Dispatchers Rosemarie Espejo and Carol Hunter are shown in a photo.
Arcadia City Council has gone on record as supporting the building of a new city hall that would be built on the other side of the Civic Center property. Out of three options presented by city manager Bill Kelly, the council consensus was for a new building at a cost of $6.6 million and adjacent to Huntington Drive West.
Take the Gold Line to see the ponies at Santa Anita Park. Santa Anita Park offering the Santa Anita Shuttle to run on all race days and will operate in addition to Arcadia Transit's Shuttle service. The Santa Anita Shuttle runs non-stop from Arcadia Station (First Avenue and Santa Clara Street) of the Gold Line, through July 10, closing day of the spring meet.
The City Council took the first step toward placing a bond issue of up to $8 million on the ballot for the November 2 election. The bond is needed for building a new police station.
The $16 million Arcadia Police Station building, built with bond money and city and CRA funds, is on target for completion in July. WWM Associates designed the building. Mallcraft of Altadena is the contractor and Construction Control Group is the manager of the project. The station is the first civic project constructed with bond funding.
The police station is scheduled to be demolished and a new one will be built behind the current facility. The project is estimated to cost $16 million. The new building will be 52,000 square feet and slated to open in the first part of 2003.
Construction has started on the expansion of the Westfield Shoppingtown Santa Anita. There will be two parking structures to replace current surface parking, 104,400 square feet of retail space, 18,400 square feet of restaurants, a 7,800 square foot food court, 45,000 square feet of specialty stores, 54,300 square feet of movie theaters, and a 5,400 square foot auto center. The tenant list includes an AMC theater, Borders bookstore, and a Sports Chalet. The expansion is scheduled to be completed September 2004. City manager Bill Kelly said Arcadia will proceed to expand Fire Station 105 to serve as the new fire department headquarters and will rebuild Station 106. The city is considering building a new City Hall and youth center from city revenues from Santa Anita Park. The new police station, the first city facility partly financed through bonds, will be open this fall. A $1/2 million project to remodel City Council Chambers is finally complete, with the opening of the council conference room.
Effort underway by Arcadia resident and environmentalist Cameron Stone to save historic Adams Pack Station after Bobcat Fire destroyed 15 of the 100-year-old cabins in Big Santa Anita Canyon above Arcadia.
Arcadia Unified School District students show impressive scores on the Standard Achievement Test (SAT 9) and on advanced placement tests. See chart of scores from 1994-2001.
New Arcadia police station opens to the public on Friday, October 3, 2003 at 4:30 PM. It is a state-of-the-art facility that is now bigger and better equipped than the old station that has since been demolished. It waas built using an $8 million bond measure in addition to $8 million that had alerady been allocated from the city general fund and city redevelopment funds.
The new fiscal year will bring about changes in the city. Most notably, construction will begin on a new $16 million police station. Other possible projects include moving fire stations around, new signs, upgrades to infrastructure and more.
City Manager Bill Kelly outlined a $16 million program to finish all public building projects for Arcadia in three years, as part of the city's five-year capital budget. The spending would include a new $6.5 million City Hall, a $1.3 million upgrade to Fire Station 106 on Baldwin Avenue. The city plans to build a new fire station to replace Fire Station 105 on Santa Anita Avenue. A city gym for the civic center property is in planning stages. The city plans to re-roof the community center for $150,000 and to put up 1/2 of the $800,000 cost to make the high school sports field an all-weather facility.
Arcadia's bond rating raised to highest possible AAA rating from Standard and Poor's (S&P), with the outlook for the city as "stable." The rating increase from AA to the highest rating of AAA is a reflection of Arcadia's strong economy, budgetary performance and flexibility and liquidity, but namely strong management and solid financial practices and responsibility by city leaders. See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 13, November 3, 2016.