Celebrity and super model Tyra Banks' television show "Top Model" did a photo shoot at Santa Anita Park Race Track, using semi-nude models. Pete Siberell, Director of Community Service at Santa Anita Park, described it as "kinda sleazy."
The Arcadia Board of Education approved a joint powers agreement with the city regarding use of part of the First Avenue Junior High School site for recreational purposes.
Five tennis courts have been proposed for the top of two water reservoirs at the corner of Baldwin and Orange Grove. The Parks and Recreation Department has set aside $25,000 for the project. The City Council must approve.
All sworn officers of the Arcadia Police Department have been specially trained and certified in the use of Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs). Each officer on patrol is equipped with an AED.
Volunteers In Patrol is a new program to be launched by the Police Department. Volunteers will be trained to conduct vacation house checks, provide subpoena service, deliver documents, handle transportation details, direct traffic, school patrols and parking enforcement.
The City Council was embarrassed to learn that the reservoirs at Orange Grove and Baldwin, where it was thought that tennis courts could be added for nominal costs due to an earlier reinforcing of the reservoir surfaces, will not support such a project. No tennis courts will be added.
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.
Recreation classes and programs for Arcadia residents will be increased for everyone except senior citizens under a new fee schedule adopted by the City Council.
Orange County artist Dave Chapple will create a bronze statue of two uniformed officers that will be installed at the entrance to the new $16 million police station. The cost of the sculpture will be about $50,000.
A recent string of robberies in Arcadia may have been committed by two serial robbers. The latest crime was reported at the 500 block of Las Tunas Drive. The suspects are two Latino men driving a green or blue, newer-model, 4-door sedan, in their mid-20s.