Arcadia rejected a proposal by the California Equine Retirement Foundation to offer Bingo games at Foothills High School to help finance, feed and house 13 retired racehorses.
Hedrick Enterprises has shelved a proposed $2.6 million office building for its corporate headquarters at Huntington Drive and Fifth Avenue. A downturn in the economy was the reason for the decision.
The revamped downtown debuts today with new streets, sidewalks, benches, palm trees and an all-day street fair. This marks the completion of the Downtown 2000 construction project.
The Arcadia Redevelopment Agency is looking for developers to submit building proposals for 2 new major development projects on 5 acres of downtown property. The agency wants to house corporate headquarters, business and professional offices, retail stores and restaurants.
Public employees' retirement and pensions are costing cities up to 25% of the city budget. In March, CalPERS announced its stock portfolio had lost 39.8%. Costs for retirees are ballooning and El Monte and West Covina budgets have been hit hard from the recession. Arcadia, which had the fourth highest pension costs of the 24 cities surveyed, spent $6.7 million last year for its 357 current employees and retirees. The city's general fund budget is $46 million.
Arcadia assisted living facility Arcadia Retirement Village is under investigation by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health for alleged COVID-19 health violations including the timeliness in reporting Coronavirus-related deaths and not giving staff new, sanitary supplies.
Local city governments in the San Gabriel Valley and Whittier are realizing the future costs of pensions and retirement benefits for their employees. The costs will be enormous and city governments need to save money for their future obligations. Arcadia's retiree medical cost is $375,062 this year and its unfunded health liabilities for current employees and retirees is $10.3 million. Unfunded health liability is the amount that would be needed to pay for all health obligations to current employees if they were to retire today, and for all retirees. Other cities' obligations are shown in a chart.
Grocery workers and community organizers protest outside Vons corporate offices in Arcadia, to push for better health care benefits in contract negotiations.
The Arcadia Chamber of Commerce presented awards to three outstanding Chamber members: Peter Ulrich, Michael Costuma and Elvin Pate. They are profiled. Photos.