Drought ordinance approved. Beginning April 22, 2015, Arcadia water customers can water on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, after 6:00 PM and before 9:00 AM only.
Arcadia Dial-a-Ride service to return to seniors, disabled after years of students "monopolizing" the service. On July 1, the fare will increase from 25 cents to 50 cents per ride and will have new fixed routes. The Dial-a-Ride will be for seniors over 62 years old and riders who are disabled.
California has implemented mandatory watering conservation measures in order to save 25%, beginning June 1. Arcadia is required to cut up to 36% of its water use in the next 9 months, based on this community's previous water usage. Two articles on San Gabriel Valley water by Steve Scauzillo. See hard copy in VF Water.
Measure A seeks to repeal utility users tax in Arcadia, on the April 12 ballot. The utility users tax is a source of revenue expected to generate $7 million for the city this year. Arcadia charges residents 7% for gas, water, and electricity, and 5% for telephone on utility bills. The city estimates each household pays less than $10 per person per month on average. The tax is 12.5% of the city's $54.9 million general fund budget. If repealed, it would mean a 12.5% cut to city services, including cutting 12 police officers, closing a fire department, increasing blight, street sweeping would be reduced from weekly to every other week. Programs for children and seniors would be eliminated and library and museum hours would be reduced significantly. Larry Papp helped author the initiative.
Efforts to reduce water use continue in Arcadia. Sprinkler station cycles are limited to 10 minutes. The new water use restrictions limit outdoor watering of grass and plants to two days per week, Tuesday and Saturday, before 9 AM and after 6 PM.
Arcadia issues $10,000 in fines since June to homeowners who have not been helping the city reach its water conservation rate of 36% amid California's worst drought on record, and installs flow restrictors on homes.
Due to increased precipitation upstate, Arcadia relaxes watering restrictions. Residents can now water lawns Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from May through October. From November through April, residents still limited to Tuesday and Saturday.
District Attorney Jackie Lacey finds no crime or wrongdoing in horse deaths. Prosecutor says there is no evidence owners, jockeys or trainers knowingly raced injured animals at Santa Anita Park over the past year. Since July 2018, 56 horses have died at Arcadia race track. Of those, 34 died while running on Santa Anita's main dirt track. Santa Anita Park averages about 2.04 deaths per 1000 racing starts, according to the Jockey Club. The national average in 2018 was 1.68 deaths per 1000 starts. The District Attorney's report includes 27 recommended changes to improve safety and reduce fatalities. See also same story at Arcadia Weekly, p. 2, December 26, 2019.
Arcadia City Council adopted a resolution last week, which consolidates the five homeowner associations' (HOA) development standards, design guidelines and design review procedures into one cohesive document for the first time. The uniform resolution protects only oak trees from removal and gives the HOAs authority to review homeowners' landscape and hardscape designs, such as driveways and walkways.
Arcadia spends $2 million on water to offset needs for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. It is the second purchase of its kind since April. The 3000 acre-feet of water was purchased from the Upper San Gabriel Valley Water District, will be stored in a cyclic storage account in main groundwater basin, which supplies a major portion of the city's drinking water.
Arcadia unanimously adopts resolution for mandatory water prohibitions to support water conservation. These prohibitions are unique to Arcadia and include: no hose washing, no lawn, landscape, or turf areas to be watered between 10am and 4pm. No leaks permitted. No drinking water to be served unless customer requests.
Arcadia to deliberate implementation of Phase I of prohibited water use at August 5 City Council meeting. The State Water Board recently adopted an Emergency Regulation for statewide urban water conservation. Photo of Peacock Fountain.
Arcadia likely to spend $2 million on imported water for city supply. City Council will vote today on a proposal to buy 3,000 acre-feet of water to supplement the city's water demands for the 2014-2015 fiscal year, from Main San Gabriel Basin Watermaster.
Arcadia enacts water limits. City pushes 20% reduction goal by 2020 as other cities ease restrictions. The City's water conservation program is mandatory.