The Arcadia Redevelopment Agency voted unanimously to begin condemnation proceedings of a property at 156 Santa Clara Street. The agency wants to claim the land for retail stores and office buildings. Eminent domain proceedings were begun since the city and the owners of the property have not been able to agree on the value of the property.
A recent court ruling that prohibits school districts from charging for bus service could prompt a restructuring of student transportation programs in Arcadia.
The 49-year-old Anoakia School, facing a June deadline for relocation, has opted for local print advertising. Owner Lowry McCaslin apparently wants to develop the property at Foothill Blvd. and Baldwin Ave. However, the school also has numerous city fire code violations and a building that is not up to seismic standards. The school currently has 279 students from K-8th grade.
John Allsbury, 39, president and sole owner of Auto Marketing Concepts, faces 18 charges of grand theft and selling cars without a license. The transactions in question occurred between late 1987 and early 1989.
The Arcadia City Council will be asked to pass a resolution calling for an immediate halt to the recent malathion-laden helicopter assaults on the medfly. Many have expressed concerns about the repeated spraying, but health and agricultural officials insist that malathion is harmless to humans in the quantities being used.
Terrance M. Towner, former Pasadena resident and school superintendent in Los Gatos, will be next superintendent for the Arcadia Unified School District. The Arcadia Board of Education selected Towner after a 4-month search. He replaces Stephen Goldstone, who left in September to become superintendent with the Chino Unified School District. Mr. Towner will earn $91,000 per year.
Arcadia George A. Bolton, social science instructor at San Bernardino Valley College and Craafton Hills College, Yucaipa, has been included in the recent edition of "Who's Who in California." Bolton is a staff analyst for the department of environmental health services for San Bernardino County, while continuing to teach part-time at the colleges. He was honored after a personal/training study he published received national attention.
The Arcadia Rotary Club awarded grants totaling $4,990 to 17 teachers at the February 13 Arcadia Board of Education meeting. Grants ranging from $175 to $300 were given to individual teachers to help with special classroom projects. The teachers represented 5 of the 6 Arcadia elementary schools, all 3 junior high schools and both Arcadia and Huntington high schools.
The Arcadia Unified School District Board of Education backed the idea of a resolution calling for an immediate halt to aerial spraying of malathion. The board's actions came less than a week after the Arcadia City Council unanimously passed a resolution asking for a halt to the spraying.
Kiewit Pacific Company, a construction firm formerly based in Arcadia and now located in Santa Fe Springs was fined $50,000 for burying 50 industrial drums, of which 2 contained hazardous liquid, on its Arcadia property between 1982 and 1985.
A many as 60 of the trees on Orange Grove Ave., the "county road" running from Michillinda Blvd. to Santa Anita Ave., could be endangered by a proposed road-widening project currently under consideration by Arcadia and Sierra Madre. The street would be widened from 30 to 36 ft. since the street is considered too narrow for the trash bins that residents often leave in the road, constituting a hazard.
Mayor Roger Chandler lost his bid for re-election as challengers George Fasching and Joseph Ciraulo and incumbent Robert Harbicht were elected to the Arcadia City Council. Fasching led with 27.2% of the vote, followed by Ciraulo with 22.1% and Harbicht with 19.8%.
Mary Young, the only woman in Arcadia's history to serve 2 terms as mayor and only the second on the city council, was unanimously elected as mayor while Charles Gilb was elected mayor pro-tem by the newly formed city council.
Test scores of Arcadia Unified School District's seniors rose this year. The reading score was 294 (up 19 points) while math score was 333 (up 20 points). Since 1987-88, students moved from the 77th to the 85th percentile in reading and from the 89th to the 96th percentile in math statewide.
Arcadia police are using SMART, or Speed Monitoring Awareness Radar Trailer, to educate residents into "voluntary compliance" with posted speeds. Placed at various locations, the trailers have a changeable sign for legal speed limits and an electronic readout of the actual speed of each car that whizzes by. The device can read speeds from about 1/4 mile away.
Kenneth Branson, 18, a senior at Arcadia High School, is one of only 6 San Gabriel Valley students to receive a $200 National Merit Scholarship. He is one of 1800 nationwide winners.
David Park, 17, a senior at Arcadia High School, is one of only 6 San Gabriel Valley students to receive a $2000 National Merit Scholarship, on of 1800 nationwide winners. Park is one of only 2 students in California to also be honored in the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, where he is one of 500 national finalists competing for 141 scholar awards.
City Finance Director Alan C. Murphy died of cancer at 34 - just two weeks after receiving a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting and an award for Financial Reporting Achievement by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA). Photo