10-year-old Arcadia resident Natalia Sanchez-Nigolian started a "Save the Trees" fund to maintain trees on Paloma Drive, where she lives. She plans to start an environmental club at Hugo Reid Elementary.
The 13-member MTA board voted to leave the Gold Line Extension off a critical funding list. This delays the construction of the $1.4 billion project , a 24-mile rail link between Pasadena and Montclair, until at least the end of 2009.
A 13-year-old female was critically injured after a motorist lost control of a vehicle and struck her in front of Dana Middle School. A surgical team decided to amputate the lower portion of her right leg 5 inches below knee.
The $16 million Arcadia Police Station building, built with bond money and city and CRA funds, is on target for completion in July. WWM Associates designed the building. Mallcraft of Altadena is the contractor and Construction Control Group is the manager of the project. The station is the first civic project constructed with bond funding.
17-year-old Arcadia High School student Courtney Chou Lee has been named the 91st Rose Queen. Six other young ladies are princesses including another AHS student, Lauren Valenzuela. The Rose Queen and her royal court will reign over the 120th Rose Parade and the 95th Rose Bowl. Article contains some quotes from Courtney Lee's parents, Andrew Lee and Ulanda Lee.
The 25-year-old City Council chambers will undergo its first major renovation, a project that will relocate meetings for the next few months to the Arcadia Public Library. Renovations will be completed in February.
A $30 million plan to provide standardized breathing equipment for every fire department in Los Angeles County has been suspended after a lawsuit alleged the contract process was mishandled and firefighters complained about the quality of the equipment. Arcadia-based Allstar Fire Equipment is suing the city and county of Los Angeles, contending the contract process was improperly handled in a manner that ignored firefighter input and unfairly favored the winning bidder, L.N. Curtis and sons.
48th Annual Arcadia Festival of Bands will be held Saturday, November 17. The event, which showcases the finest high school instrumental music talent in Southern California, has been a proud tradition in Arcadia since 1953. Dennis Davies, who recently retired after serving 39 years as a music director in Arcadia Unified School District, has been named Grand Marshal.
81 percent of area schools met their growth targets on the California state Academic Performance Index (API). However, 35 percent of West San Gabriel Valley schools failed to meet the federal accountability targets determined by Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. See chart on page A6 for Arcadia Unified School District progress.
The 380-member Apache Marching Band, under the direction of Tom Landes and its 62-member color guard, will march in the 2003 Tournament of Roses Parade.
A 1927 bust of Anita Baldwin, hidden away in storage at the Arboretum, is on exhibit at the Arcadia Public Library along with photographs of Anita, examples of her musical scores, poetry and cookbook.
About 25 bird carcasses infected with the West Nile virus have been found in or near Arcadia. Dead crows found along the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo rivers could indicate a major outbreak is on the way.
About 95% of the more than 2,700 security alarms the Arcadia Police Department responded to last year turned out to be false alarms. Arcadia police Chief Bob Sanderson is asking the City Council to implement a $100 fine for a third false alarm issued in a 365-day period. A $200 fine for the fourth false alarm and $300 for the fifth and all subsequent false alarms would be part of the new ordinance that City Council will consider next month.
About 1000 feet of sound walls will be built by the westbound lanes of the 210 Foothill Freeway between Second Avenue and Fifth Avenue. There is also discussion of future sound wall construction projects.
Adelphia Communications Corp. will launch Power Link, its high-speed internet service which will operate in Arcadia and other San Gabriel Valley communities.
The Administration at Arcadia High School had to institute a new policy against freak dancing or "freaking" after students got too wild at the Homecoming Dance. Freaking is a kind of dancing in which dancers grind against each other's pelvises. Students who attended the Winter Casual dance had to sign a contract "to conduct themselves appropriately both on and off the dance floor."
After a 13-hour meeting, Arcadia City Council voted unanimously to approve the outdoor mall to be built on the Santa Anita Park race track parking lot, a development known as The Shops at Santa Anita. Opponents may push a referendum and possibly file lawsuits to block the project.
After actor Mel Gibson was arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol, he went into an anti-Semitic tirade. Rabbi Devora Fond of Congregation Shaarei Torah in Arcadia comments, "I believe that when you are drunk, what you truly believe comes out."