Housing grades for Los Angeles County jurisdictions. Every city and county in California is required to plan for adequate housing across income levels. This is Southern California News Group's fourth housing permit report card. Arcadia has received an overall D grade, same as last year.
Housing grades given by Southern California News Group. Every city and county in California has state-mandated targets for how much additional housing it needs across a range of affordability levels. Many are failing to meet those targets, especially for lower-income housing. Arcadia has received an overall D grade. See also Pasadena Star News, p. A14, November 28, 2021.
$2 million in funding to help provide more homes. San Gabriel Valley Regional Housing Trust gets state award for affordable, transitional housing. About 2 dozen cities have partnered, including Alhambra, Arcadia, Azusa, Baldwin Park, and others, to develop affordable housing.
Maps shift election shapes. Redistricting offers little for Democrats to fear but comes as retirements open doors. Final maps were released yesterday to redraw boundaries for California's elected seats in Sacramento and Washington DC. The 14-member independent California Citizens Redistricting Commission's maps set up newly drawn Assembly, State Senate and Congressional maps, which must be formally approved. The maps did little to loosen Democrats' hold on Los Angeles County's state and federal districts. On the State Senate level, where the Commission is tasked with creating districts with 1 million people each, state Senator Susan Rubio's vast San Gabriel Valley District 22 loses several heavily Asian American communities, including San Gabriel, Alhambra, Monterey Park, Rosemead and Arcadia. Those communities would join Pasadena, Glendale and Altadena in Senator Anthony Portantino's District 25.
Local school districts provide more detailed plans for in-person learning. Arcadia Unified School District will start in-person classes for Transitional Kindergarten through 5th grades.
California State to loosen its mask mandate at end of day February 15 for vaccinated people, due to the 65% drop in infection rate since the peak of the winter surge caused by the omicron variant of the coronavirus, as well as stabilization in hospitalization numbers. This won't affect Los Angeles County, which plans to keep its own rules in place past the deadline. Lifting the indoor mask requirement in Los Angeles County will require the level of transmission to fall to the "moderate" level as defined by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and stays there for two weeks straight, said Barbara Ferrer, the Los Angeles County Public Health Director.
10 People in L.A. County test positive for COVID-19 every minute. Every minute, on average, 10 people in L.A. County test positive for COVID -19, and these 15,000 individuals who test positive each day were capable of infecting others for two days before they had any symptoms or knew they were positive, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said Monday. At least 10-12% of people infected with the virus end up hospitalized at some point, and more than 1% of people diagnosed with COVID-19 end up dying.
For the first time in two years, the Arcadia Educational Foundation (AEF) Summer School Program for 2022 will happen in person for all grade levels. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, summer school had to be conducted virtually during the summers of 2020 and 2021. As for health and safety, summer school has been adapted in accordance with the health guidelines and regulations that Arcadia Unified School District follows.
Union opposes changes to nurse-to-patient ratio. The California Nurses Association plans to stage rallies at nearly 70 hospitals and medical centers today to protest waivers that allow facilities to staff some units below state-mandated nurse-to-patient ratios as nurses are shifted to more critical patients. Union reps will gather at several Southern California hospitals, including Methodist Hospital of Southern California in Arcadia.
City of Arcadia to place three measures on November 8, 2022 ballot. 1. Proposed City Charter Amendment Measure. The City Charter was last amended in 1998. The citizen-led Charter Review Committee recommends updates to mirror changes in state laws since 1998 and to reflect current local government standards, to include a) mirroring changes in state laws to increase voter turnout by moving the date of regularly scheduled city council elections from April in even-numbered years to the November Statewide General Election in even-numbered years. b) recognizing the city's change to by-district elections as required by California Voting Rights Act. c) Creating a rotation of mayor and mayor pro tem positions every 9.5 months to allow all council members to serve during their term. d) Change position of City Clerk from elected to appointed. e) other amendments to streamline government, utilize technology and increase transparency. 2. Two measures to increase locally controlled funding. One measure would increase Arcadia's local tax on stays at hotels and motels from 10% to 12%--similar rate to many neighboring cities. The other measure would enact a local tax on sports wagers if sports betting becomes legal in California through State Proposition 26, also on the November ballot
Arcadia Public Library screens international films every third Wednesday of the month. Coming up on March 18 will be "11 Flowers." Bring your dinner, dessert is provided.
Arcadia announces August 17 public hearing on City Council redistricting. Every 10 years, after the US Census, the City Council District Map is realigned to reflect Arcadia's current population.
California offers schools $2 billion incentive to resume in-person learning. Parents of Arcadia Unified School District students plan a peaceful rally for Thursday, March 4 at noon at Arcadia County Park to address Arcadia's reopening plan.
Arcadia Unified School District earns California Pivotal Practice (CAPP) award from the state. It recognizes a school and/or school district for taking an innovative, proactive approach to reimagining teaching, learning, and important school services during the pandemic, where California schools saw State-mandated distance learning for the 2020-2021 school year. Arcadia Unified School District and Holly Avenue Elementary received CAPP honors.
Horse racing regulations lead to fewer equine deaths. Fatalities in California have been cut in half in 2 years and plummeted to the lowest levels since 1990 as a result of reforms implemented after dozens of death at Santa Anita Park in 2019. The reforms in the last two years include strict limitations on use of whips by jockey, a prohibition on most medications before races, installation of new imaging technologies to catch injuries sooner, more opportunities for veterinarians and stewards to sideline horses and a mandatory requirement for trainers to participate in the postmortem.
Arcadia adopts comprehensive pension management plan, saving $85 million. It addresses the City's $154 million in unfunded pension liabilities. It focuses on:
-use of reserves to prepay existing liabilities
-refinancing existing debt to lower interest rates to free up cash flow
-prepaying costs with surplus funds from voter-approved Measure A sales tax increase
-financing long-term capital improvements
-using pension obligation bonds to lower the overall costs of pensions
-negotiating for more employee cost-sharing.
See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 3, February 27, 2020
Arcadia Unified School District offering free COVID-19 rapid take-home tests for every student through the month of January. They held a drive-through pick-up event on January 4 and 5 at Arcadia Performing Arts Center at 188 Campus Drive. In addition to these rapid tests, which were provided by the California Department of Health, the district also has their regular testing located at Arcadia Education Center, which is for Arcadia Unified School District students and staff, free of charge.
Los Angeles County coronavirus-COVID-19 hospitalizations appear to level off, after weeks of steady increases. According to state figures released Monday, there were 1724 COVID-positive patients in Los Angeles County hospitals. The number of patients being treated in intensive care units, however, continued climbing, reaching 454 on Monday, up from 439 on Sunday.
Arcadia Methodist Hospital changing names today as it partners with USC Health System. It is now USC Arcadia Hospital. The affiliation with USC will augment existing services at the medical center, tapping into the USC Keck's resources as an academic institution and high-level research and expertise. Dan Ausman is the president and CEO of USC Arcadia Hospital. The hospital has 348 beds. Ausman said the hospital has a 120 year history, dating back to its origins of 5 beds inside a two-story house on Hewitt Street in downtown Los Angeles. From there it moved to Hope Street (Los Angeles) and then to Arcadia, in 1957. The hospital delivers nearly 2000 babies each year and treats 50,000+ in its emergency department.