Arcadia will benefit from the State Municipal Advisory Reform Team : Enhanced Report (SMARTER) plan for restructuring local government finance which will help stop the city's dependence on sales tax.
With storms brewing in next week's forecast, Arcadia city officials scrambled Thursday to arrange a meeting with residents and survey homes vulnerable to mudslides from the charred slopes of the Angeles National Forest.
Firefighters rescued a 7-year old boy from an upstairs bedroom as fire engulfed the home at 70 W. Las Flores Ave. They were unable to save a man and woman inside the house, who were found dead.
After months of preparation and more than $300,000 expenditures in the aftermath of the Santa Anita II fires that diverted a wall of mud from homes, the fire-ravaged hillside seemed to be holding despite the rain storms.
The city's efforts to save homes beneath the fire-ravaged hillsides from a flood of mud and debris have been praised, but mud and debris are still flowing onto Highland Vista, Monte Place, Vista and Santa Anita Avenues.