Backers of an initiative that would bring slot machines to Santa Anita Park and other California racetracks now have five months to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.
The Arcadia City Council voted to request an analysis of the initiative petition submitted by the citizens group Neighbors for Arcadia. The measure would keep the Santa Anita Park race track property zoned for horse racing unless Arcadia residents voted for a change.
Members of Neighbors for Arcadia, the grass roots organization opposed to Santa Anita's proposed Arts and Entertainment Center, appeared at City Hall to file over 5000 signed initiatives with the city clerk's office.
Ballot initiative targeting large scale homes in Arcadia (often referred to as McMansions) will not make it on the ballot after all. The city clerk's office discovered a discrepancy in the number of qualifying signatures. Saving Arcadia is the local activist group behind the initiative.
Dr. and Mrs. Robert Ellison hosted an open meeting in their home of a recently formed group called Neighbors for Arcadia. The group has met several times recently and was formed in a effort to unite residents in opposition to the proposed Santa Anita Entertainment Center.
City Council voted 5-0 to place the controversial ballot measure to restrict development at Santa Anita Park race track before voters in the November presidential campaign.
Signatures supporting two ballot initiatives sponsored by Westfield Shoppingtown Santa Anita went to the City Clerk's office Tuesday for validation. Westfield's iniatives would ban billboards at The Shops at Santa Anita and require free parking.
"Neighbors for Arcadia," a group in opposition to the proposed Santa Anita Entertainment Center, has elected officers and is preparing a petition for a ballot.
A small but vocal group of peacock supporters on Tuesday presented the City Council with a petition with more than 340 signatures discouraging trapping of peacocks.
Arcadia City Council does not pursue ballot iniative on home building rules. As the city's effort to update the zoning code continues into the new year, the Arcadia City Council briefly considered sponsoring its own voter initiative to rival a measure from residents that is currently the subject of a petition to qualify for an upcoming election ballot, but City Council decided against pursuing its own ballot iniative because the petition process would not conclude in time to qualify for the April ballot.
The City Council met in special session to hear a presentation by Thomas Safran, a specialist in senior citizen housing. The Arcadia Senior Citizen Commission contends the council isn't moving fast enough on the issue. An advisory vote by the people on senior citizen housing will probably appear on the June primary ballot.
The citizens group Neighbors for Arcadia said Wednesday it will take the fight against Santa Anita Entertainment Center to voters with a ballot initiative.
Westfield Group, owner of Westfield Shoppingtown Santa Anita, has proposed two ballot measures for the November election. Westfield is gathering signatures for the two initiatives: 1) to mandate free parking at all large retail projects and 2) to ban large billboards. A poll of 300 registered Arcadia voters in February showed 74% support the free parking initiative and 62% support the billboard measure.
An ad hoc committee of seniors plans to collect 5,000 signatures by the end of February asking the Arcadia City Council to commit itself to acquiring a senior center.
Arcadia teachers and students unite for Measure A, the renewal of a parcel tax that helps provide stable school funding for Arcadias, on March 7 ballot. Previously approved in 2012, Measure A would authorize a "qualified special tax of $288 per parcel of taxable real estate property," an increase of $60 over the 2012 proposal. Citizen homeowners age 65 and over would be able to exempt their primary residence from the tax.
A "doomsday" budget is being studied and capital improvements postponed until it is seen whether the Jarvis Amendment (Proposition 13) on the June ballot passes.
Organizers of the city's sixth homeowner's association are extending their deadline for gathering signatures. The group would be known as The Woods Homeowner's Association.