The Arcadia Redevelopment Agency voted unanimously to begin condemnation proceedings of a property at 156 Santa Clara Street. The agency wants to claim the land for retail stores and office buildings. Eminent domain proceedings were begun since the city and the owners of the property have not been able to agree on the value of the property.
Arcadia police arrested two Arcadia High School students 16, and 15, in connection with a December 11 racial incident in which a cross was burned and anti-Asian epithets were scrawled on the front yard of a home in the 200 block of Arbolada Drive. The two boys were booked for damaging property based on ethnic origin and were released to the custody of their parents.
The 49-year-old Anoakia School, facing a June deadline for relocation, has opted for local print advertising. Owner Lowry McCaslin apparently wants to develop the property at Foothill Blvd. and Baldwin Ave. However, the school also has numerous city fire code violations and a building that is not up to seismic standards. The school currently has 279 students from K-8th grade.
Rose Hassing, 27, currently the director of volunteer services for the Pasadena American Red Cross, will become the new senior citizens supervisor for the City of Arcadia as of February 7. She is replacing Betty Harris, who retired in December after 20 years with the city's senior citizens services.
The Arcadia City Council will be asked to pass a resolution calling for an immediate halt to the recent malathion-laden helicopter assaults on the medfly. Many have expressed concerns about the repeated spraying, but health and agricultural officials insist that malathion is harmless to humans in the quantities being used.
Clyde Condon, Arcadia clinical psychologist, was recently named the 1989 Psychologist of the Year by Division 31 of the American Psychological Association. For the past 3 years, Condon has practiced at Arcadia Counseling and Psychiatric Associates, where about 1/3 of his patients are children.
The Arcadia Rotary Club awarded grants totaling $4,990 to 17 teachers at the February 13 Arcadia Board of Education meeting. Grants ranging from $175 to $300 were given to individual teachers to help with special classroom projects. The teachers represented 5 of the 6 Arcadia elementary schools, all 3 junior high schools and both Arcadia and Huntington high schools.
The Arcadia Unified School District Board of Education backed the idea of a resolution calling for an immediate halt to aerial spraying of malathion. The board's actions came less than a week after the Arcadia City Council unanimously passed a resolution asking for a halt to the spraying.
James Domney, 49, is leaving his position as City Librarian after 11 years in this position and 18 years with the library. Kent Ross, 45, who started at the library at about the same time as Domney, was recently appointed as the new City Librarian.
Jason Koh, 13, a student at First Avenue Junior High School, was named Los Angeles Theater Organ Society Organist of the Year for his performance at the Sexson Auditorium at Pasadena City College.
Mayor Roger Chandler lost his bid for re-election as challengers George Fasching and Joseph Ciraulo and incumbent Robert Harbicht were elected to the Arcadia City Council. Fasching led with 27.2% of the vote, followed by Ciraulo with 22.1% and Harbicht with 19.8%.
Incumbent councilwoman Mary Young is scheduled to take the gavel as the new Mayor of Arcadia. In the election, about 22% of the city's 25,000 registered voters participated. Here are the final results: George Fasching, 27.2%, 3996, Roger Chandler, 14.7%, 2162, Joseph Ciraulo, 22.1%, 3242, Charles Chivetta, 9.4% 1368, Robert Harbicht, 19.8%, 2907, Eileen Stephan, 6.9% 1014
Mary Young, the only woman in Arcadia's history to serve 2 terms as mayor and only the second on the city council, was unanimously elected as mayor while Charles Gilb was elected mayor pro-tem by the newly formed city council.
First Avenue Junior High was one of 3 area schools to receive the state Dept. of Education's Distinguished High School and Middle School Awards. Arcadia's Foothill Jr. High received the award in 1988. The other winners included San Marino High School and the L. A. County High School for the Arts at Cal State Los Angeles.
23 "heroes and heroines" in the Arcadia Unified School District were honored by the Board of Education in the first "Profiles in Excellence" awards. The awards were presented to "individuals who maintain a standard of excellence in their work and who represent those values and qualities which make Arcadia a special place for students." Names and positions of winners are given.
Charles "Chip" Sturniolo, owner of the Derby restaurant, announced that he is withdrawing from the downtown redevelopment project because the proposed parking structure "just wasn't feasible." The City Council will now reconsider previous plans.
City Finance Director Alan C. Murphy died of cancer at 34 - just two weeks after receiving a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting and an award for Financial Reporting Achievement by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA). Photo
Gerald A. Parker, last years's City Employee of the Year, has been appointed director of finance. Parker replaces Alan Murphy, who died earlier this month after a long battle with cancer.