Arcadia City Council approves $70,000 to help the Downtown Business Association set up a business-improvement district. The district would tax commercial property owners to revitalize the area.
Spotlight on local business, a hair salon called 1st Ave Salon, located at 10 N. First Avenue, Arcadia, CA. Owner is Veka Estrada, a Temple City resident.
Downtown Arcadia business owners establish a Community Benefit District, mandating they each pay an annual assessment on their property taxes to fund marketing programs and activities in hopes of bringing more people to the area. It is called a Property-Based Business Improvement Model. It is a private-sector initiative that bills local businesses by the same criteria used in Old Pasadena--according to their frontage, lot size and scope of any buildings on a given property. 60% of downtown Arcadia owners chose the plan, the result of a three year effort.
Arcadia launches the new Arcadia Downtown Business Association, with plans to revitalize the downtown district. Matt McSweeney is the association's chairperson and owner of Matt Denny's Ale House Restaurant on East Huntington Drive. City officials will spend about $90,000 on a parking study and about $18,000 in redevelopment funds to get Arcadia Downtown Business Association off the ground. The revitalization plans should work nicely with the slated opening of the Gold Line station at the northwest corner of North First Avenue and East Santa Clara Street by 2014.
City officials have extended a moratorium on issuing massage therapy business licenses by another 10 1/2 months. Believing that such businesses are often a front for prostitution, officials first enacted a 45-day ban on October 21 on all new license applications for businesses that supply massages as a secondary service. The extension would give authorities time to study the issue more.
An extensive survey by a Los Angeles based real estate consulting firm rated the cost of doing business in a number of California cities, including Arcadia.
Fast Cash, a payday loan company with offices in Arcadia and Eagle Rock, faces allegations of deceptive business practices and fraud in a complaint filed by the California Attorney General's office.
Western Saddlery is a tack shop in Arcadia that has serviced the behind-the-scenes needs of Santa Anita Park's horse trainers, owners and jockeys for more than 40 years.
Arcadia resident Maggie Campbell, 45, is featured as a business leader. She is President and CEO of the Old Pasadena Management District, working to keep Old Pasadena a vibrant town.
California's minimum wage increase is going to force some restaurants to hike food prices, cut back on employee hours and reduce advertising. McGrath's Fish House in Arcadia may be forced to reduce employee hours. The minimum wage is now $7.50 per hour. Another 50 cent increase goes into effect January 1, 2008.
Business profile of Move It Aerobics Studio, an exercise facility that offers fitness classes for overweight students. Michele Silence is the owner. Her business is located at 40 E. Live Oak Avenue.
Threatened with a law suit, Arcadia may relax an ordinance governing adult business, clearing the way for an all-nude striptease club proposed for an industrial area.
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.
City Council approved closing First Avenue between Alta and California Streets from 6 AM to 1 PM on Saturdays from April 18 through Oct. 31. for a Farmer's Market.
The failure of local school districts to release teacher misconduct records has parents and residents expressing concerns about child safety and government transparency. In the wake of recent sexual misconduct scandals in Los Angeles Unified School District, Pasadena Star News requested teacher misconduct records from 28 school districts in San Gabriel Valley. Of those, only Arcadia Unified School District complied fully with the request. The other 27 school districts either refused to turn over documents, asked for clarification or requested more time to look through their records.