Six candidates are running for three seats on the Arcadia City Council. They are Bob Harbicht, Paul Cheng, Mickey Segal, Peter Amundson, Jason Lee, and Sho Tay. They each answer the questions, "What should be done to improve the city's fiscal situation?" and "How should the city handle the Caruso mall proposal at Santa Anita (Park)?" The election will be in April.
Peter Chang, 60, of Long Beach, admitted in court that he shot his estranged wife, Liya ("Sandy") Lu, 32, in front of her Arcadia home on Bonita Street. He was immediately sentenced to 29 years to life in prison. The murder occurred on January 27, 2008.
Real estate developer and Arcadia resident Henry Nunez (in photo) started a hunger strike on Easter to draw attention to the importance of Arcadia's upcoming City Council elections. He is fasting and drinking only liquids and wants "a record turnout" in Tuesday's election for three city council seats and he wants people to vote for his choices--Peter Amundson, Paul Cheng and Sho Tay.
Six candidates vying for three seats on the Arcadia City Council have raised more than $250,000 in campaign contributions. The candidates are Bob Harbicht, Paul Cheng, Mickey Segal, Peter Amundson, Jason J. Lee, and Sho Tay. The amounts raised for each candidate are given. The election will be on April 13, 2010.
This article compares the public access that citizens have to local government/city council meetings. Arcadia provides minutes of council meetings dating back to 1957. About 70% of area cities offer some form of archived video, whether it's replayed on a local cable channel, or the Internet, or on DVDs available at the local library.
Results are in from yesterday's city council elections for the City of Arcadia and the City of Sierra Madre. In Arcadia, the semi-official results show the three seats will be filled by Bob Harbicht, Mark "Mickey" Segal, and Peter Amundson. Sierra Madre voted in Joe Mosca, Josh Moran and Nancy Walsh (uncertified totals).
None of the three Chinese-American candidates received enough votes to win one of the three open seats in Tuesday's Arcadia City Council elections. With the departure of Mayor John Wuo, who was the second Chinese-American to be elected to the council, Arcadia, an ethnically diverse city, is reverting to an all Caucasian council for the first time in 12 years. Many in the Chinese community prefer to relay a concern to someone of their own race and culture "because this person understands what they say, what their concern is based on," former council member Dr. Sheng Chang said. Councilman Roger Chandler, however, believes that the city has enough volunteers, associations and resources to facilitate communication and to aptly handle any issue that could come up.
MI Developments, the new owners of Santa Anita Park, defended canceling Oak Tree Racing Association's lease for fall racing, saying the contract did not account for the true economic cost of running the race track, according to Dennis Mills, vice chairman and chief executive officer of Canada-based MI Developments. On the other hand, Oak Tree's director and executive vice president Sherwood Chillingworth said the race track was getting the better deal, as Santa Anita Park got 75% of Oak Tree's profits. Chillingworth is talking about running Oak Tree at Hollywood Park or Del Mar.
George Haines, the interim president of Santa Anita Park since Ron Charles resigned, will soon be named president. He takes the reins at a time of uncertainty and change at the track and in the horse racing industry. Some of the issues and challenges that Haines will face are discussed. Haines is 55 years old and started working for Santa Anita Park in 1972.
Dennis Mills, vice chairman and CEO of Canada-based MI Developments, which owns Santa Anita Park, said the company will be unveiling a new business plan. This new business plan has many horse racing industry people worried about the future.
Local transit authorities are preparing to move forward with the Gold Line Foothill Extension to the Azusa-Glendora border and local cities are planning to place residential and commercial developments along the line. Those developments are intended to prepare for future population growth. The first phase of the extension is slated to be completed by 2014, adding new stops in Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Irwindale and Azusa. Some plans near those stops could be scaled back due to the down economy. Arcadia officials are looking to build commercial developments centered on a planned station just east of Santa Anita Avenue. Arcadia's challenge will be land acquisition. Because Arcadia has ordinances limiting the use of eminent domain, Arcadia officials have to rely on negotiating land deals, a difficult process with limited redevelopment funds.
Frank Stronach, chairman of MI Developments, is scheduled to address the California Horse Racing Board to address a number of issues, including a potential new racetrack surface for Santa Anita Park and the recent cancellation of its lease with the charitable Oak Tree Racing Association. Dennis Mills, MI Development's CEO and vice chairman has said Santa Anita Park might replace its synthetic track soon, which could jeopardize hosting Oak Tree's meet there.
Los Angeles County's median home price and sales dropped last month, a trend that was reflected statewide. Some San Gabriel Valley areas, such as Walnut, posted gains in June, but some cities, such as Duarte, Diamond Bar, and Arcadia, showed declines in their median home prices. Arcadia's median home price fell 5.8%.
Frank Stronach, chairman of MI Developments (MID), is requesting the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) to allow additional racing days at Santa Anita Park and at his other track Golden Gate Fields. He wants the number of racing days to increase from 85 to 140 days per year, to run races when he thinks he'll get the most customers. In order for MID to maintain its license and run thoroughbred racing at Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields, the CHRB has asked the company to submit a business plan. The plan has been a secret even to some of the company's board members. In the meantime, repairs are being made at Santa Anita Park in preparation for the fall Oak Tree meet (photo).
A Los Angeles County report showed that life expectancy in Los Angeles County reached 80.3 years, an all-time high, according to the county Department of Health Services. Arcadia, East San Gabriel, Walnut and Rowland Heights had some of the highest life expectancy rates in the county. Arcadia's life expectancy is 84.7 years. Females of Asian-Pacific Islander descent have the highest life expectancy in the county and all four of the SGV communities with the highest life expectancy rates also have high populations of residents of Asian Pacific Islander descent. In general, the report found that people in affluent communities tend to live longer while residents of poorer cities in more urban parts of the county had some of the lowest life expectancy rates.
Santa Anita Park will undergo an inspection arranged by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) to evaluate its safety before the Oak Tree Racing Association's upcoming fall meet. Horse owners and trainers are concerned that the track may be unsafe due, in part, to the number of rocks embedded in the racetrack's surface, said Sherwood Chillingworth, executive vice president of Oak Tree.
The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) denied a license to Oak Tree Racing Association to run its fall meet at Santa Anita Park after representatives from the Thoroughbred Owners of California and the California Thoroughbred Trainers said they opposed having Oak Tree at Santa Anita Park due to safety concerns, saying they prefer Hollywood Park. Sherwood Chillingworth, executive vice president of Oak Tree, said he was moving forward to make arrangements to run the fall meet at Hollywood Park, but did not rule out the possibility that the board could change its mind.
Arcadia has re-instated a coyote-trapping program which catches then euthanizes coyotes. The issue is being debated locally as some people want to co-exist with the animals and some feel the killing of the coyotes is inhumane, but others are terrified of coyote attacks on their pets and, possibly, their children.
In lieu of pay raises, Arcadia City Council members and city employees will see an increase in the city's contribution to their health benefits. "It is fair because in these economic times, we couldn't afford to give (employees) anything else," said Mayor Peter Amundson. The total fiscal impact will be $56,750 for all employees.