About 95% of the more than 2,700 security alarms the Arcadia Police Department responded to last year turned out to be false alarms. Arcadia police Chief Bob Sanderson is asking the City Council to implement a $100 fine for a third false alarm issued in a 365-day period. A $200 fine for the fourth false alarm and $300 for the fifth and all subsequent false alarms would be part of the new ordinance that City Council will consider next month.
Security alarm permits in Arcadia on rise, with recent rash of residential burglaries. Residents and businesses that install a private security system must register that system and obtain a City permit so that Arcadia Police Department can maintain an accurate database of active alarms.
Post Alarm, Arcadia-based security company celebrates its 60th year of continuous operation. The third generation family-owned and operated company was founded in 1956 by former police chief Sam Post.
Dr. Badrudin Rajabali "Bud" Kurwa's medical license has been suspended and he was placed on fine years' probation for false billing charges in his ophthalmologist practice.
Arcadia warns empty-home owners: non-compliance subject to "summary abatement." This is the largest overhaul of abatement regulations since they were imposed on the City in 1972. A citation and fines will be issued and fines will increase for each day no one responds (on residential construction sites that have ceased construction, been abandoned). See correction to errors on April 6, 2017 issue of Arcadia Weekly.
The City Council has temporarily closed Wilderness Park on weekends (at least until September 7) because of overcrowding. About 200-300 visitors use the park each weekend, although it has a capacity for 100 people and 50 parking spaces.
A unanimous City Council adopted a "conservative" $42.5 million 1990-91 budget after fine-tuning some expenditures to the Chamber of Commerce and the workers' compensation program. The city has $33.8 million in reserves going into the 1990-91 fiscal year, and expects another $42.6 million in revenues.
Documents reveal fraud case against Arcadia-based Gemcoin, a cryptocurrency investment scheme. The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) ultimate goal is to make Gemcoin chief Steve Chen return alleged fraudulently acquired millions with interest, pay hefty fines, and ban him from the securities business.
Water rates in Arcadia will be lowered by $.04 per 100 cu Ft effective July 1, 1979. The burden of the water tax, now split 50% each by the city and property owners, will fall 100% on property owners. However, the increased property tax is tax deductible.
As part of Arcadia's 2003 centennial celebration, each council member has served as mayor for a three-month period of time. Mickey Segal will lead the city for the last three months until after the April 13 City Council election.
Montecito Fine Arts College of Design, which had campuses in Monrovia, Arcadia, and Brea, has shut down, leaving 1200 students stranded and employees owed thousands in unpaid wages.
Arcadia Gem Coin mastermind Steve Chen sentenced to 10 years in prison. One of Arcadia’s largest
financial scandals in 2015 involved cryptocurrency and a host of well-known public officials,
including a former Arcadia mayor, for involvement in a Ponzi scheme that ultimately shut down the
operations of the Arcadia business known as U.S. Fine Investment Arts, Inc. (USFIA).
Arcadia firm GemCoin proves it owns amber mines in Caribbean, backing E-currency (cryptocurrency), despite earlier claims those mines did not exist. Still, there is no evidence GemCoin's digital currency had any revenue backing it beyond the funds generated from investors, according to court-appointed company tasked with going through U.S. Fine Investment Art Inc.'s books. Investigators found 300 acres of land in Dominican Republic, with a working mine, purchased for $373,000 in the name of CEO Steve Chen's brother Yan Chen.
Edmund Wu of Arcadia, founder of AMAC Violin Center, donated two chinese-made violins and a viola to the University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
County home prices were up slightly in April after more than 1.5 years of declines, according to the California Association of Realtors. Arcadia's median home price was $689,090 in April, down 8% from a year ago. A chart shows figures from other local cities.
Arcadia kidnapping, rape suspect Philippe Brian Lutete, 29, is charged with false imprisonment and sexual battery of a woman on November 26 in the 2900 block of Spruce Court. He was out on bail when he was also arrested on April 8, 2015 on suspicion of kidnapping and raping a woman over an 11-hour period.