The City Council has created three new lighting assessment zones to replace lighting districts established in the 1970s. Residents will be sent mail-in ballots later this year to decide whether or not to approve changes to fees for street lighting. Lighting costs about $1.15 million a year.
Arcadia mail-in voters reject proposal for new lighting assessment districts. Under the proposal, the single-family homes on well-lit streets would pay up for $24 a year. Those with "sporadic" lighting would pay up to $10.12 a year, while homes on streets without lights would pay nothing. The current lighting assessment districts expire in 2010. Out of 14,600 ballots sent out, about 1/3 were returned. The proposal failed by 70 votes. 2,457 ballots voted yes and 2,530 voted no.
Arcadia residents may vote again on street lighting fees. Under the new proposal, single family homes on arterial streets would pay about $17 a year, while those not on arterial streets would pay about $27 a year, making the assessments more fair. Voters in 2008 rejected a proposal to fund the lighting and now the city is considering another mail-in vote.
Despite strong backing from the Santa Anita Oaks Homeowners Association, a proposal to replace existing street lights with new ornamental lights was overwhelmingly rejected by residents in a mail-in ballot election. All Arcadia residents will vote on new street lighting assessments in July. Under that measure, all households would pay one of three yearly assessment fees, depending on how they benefit from street lights.
City officials have authorized for the first week of October a previously postponed mail-in vote on whether to reallocate street lighting assessment fees. Residents will vote on a reorganization that would make the payments correspond fairly to the benefits received.
Arcadia property owners will be asked to renew a street lighting fee schedule and assessment in June, when funding is set to expire. Officials warned that without an extension of the lighting assessment district, the city would lose about $420,000 a year. Unless the assessment is renewed, the city might have to cut services such as police protection, fire and emergency medical response services, library services, and recreation programs. Arcadia property owners currently pay 40% of street lighting repair and maintenance costs, while the city covers the other 60%. That would remain unchanged in the new assessment district, but the amounts each household pays will be different. Family households in residential neighborhoods will be charged $28.44 a year, while single-family homes along major thoroughfares will pay $16.73 a year.
Arcadia property owners voted to continue paying for a portion of their street lights under a new formula after lighting district funds expired in June. 66% of the vote was cast in favor of extending about $428,600 of annual funding to maintain and repair street lights. A similar proposal on the ballot failed less than 2 years ago.
Arcadia's energy efficient street lighting program to start next month. Southern California Edison (SCE) is replacing SCE-owned inefficient High Pressure Sodium (HPS) street lights with energy efficient Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights. Conversion to LED technology will help reduce energy usage and cost by approximately $11,500 annually.
The Arcadia City Council reaffirmed its decision to barricade Hillcrest Blvd. near Valencia Way. The reasoning is that motorists would then be forced to disperse traffic rather than concentrate usage on one street.
The city council has decided to appropriate $35,000 toward the design of a light rail bridge over Santa Anita Avenue. This is to pay for early design work needed for an environmental impact report. The bridge project is expected to cost the city $10.7 million which may come from a bond. The Construction Authority would pay $18.4 million bringing total bridge cost to $29.1 million.
Tabulation of returns from a planning survey questionnaire sent to every 4th home in Arcadia shows that crime prevention is the #1 priority of Arcadia citizens. Next in line was street lighting. About 700 of the mailed questionnaires have been returned.
An application for state funds to help build a commuter or light rail station in the city has been approved by the City Council. The grant would pay 50% of construction costs, excluding the money needed to buy land.
Arcadia City Council today will once more reconsider whether to allow customer-requested address changes in light of concerns about a Chinese superstition involving the number four. Since the number four sounds like the word for death in Mandarin and is considered unlucky, some realtors and residents have argued that addresses that end in the number four are more difficult to sell and affect home prices. The cost of processing an address change would be about $2600.
After a five-year hiatus, Arcadia City Council is considering reinstating a policy that would let property owners pay to be assigned a more auspicious house number, which some believe would improve the value of their home. The number 4 in a street address is considered a bad omen in many Asian cultures. In Mandarin language, the word "four" sounds like the word for death, while the number eight is considered lucky, because it sounds like the word for prosper. Arcadia's Asian population is approaching 60% and most potential buyers will be Asian. In a 3-2 vote, Arcadia City Council endorsed the move in principle and directed staff to report back on the costs involved.
The Arcadia city council endorsed the construction of the second phase of the Gold Line as a light rail transit system. Grade level of the major street crossings was discussed.
City Council members voted 4-0 to change lighting plans and add a new storm drain system to the Huntington Drive streetscape project, changing the cost from $4.1 to $5.6 million.
Small Spanish-style home. Address, at the time of the photo (1927) was 2747 Olive Street in Temple City. Numbers on Olive Street were changed and same house in 1980 has street number of 10159. This was girlhood home of Vera Van Houten and her family. The children went all the way through Arcadia schools as this home was in Arcadia School District.