A $3 million building project to increase stable capacity by 150 stalls is underway at Santa Anita Park. Completion, which is planned before the start of the Oak Tree meeting, will bring the total number of stalls to 2,100. The project is discussed in detail.
The 3-toilet turmoil in South Arcadia has become a battle of constitutional proportions. The lawsuit alleges that El Monte is attempting to extort land use concessions from Arcadia.
5,133 attended the first day of inter-track wagering at Santa Anita Park where wagering was offered on racing at Del Mar. $1,069,980 was wagered on the simulcast races. Santa Anita Park is one of 10 off-track wagering satellites.
The $10.5 million renovation project at Santa Anita Fashion Park has begun, with a formal ground-breaking ceremony to be held January 26. The project is expected to last 10 months.
The 1980 Oak Tree Racing Association season set records in attendance, parimutual handle, wagering and horsemen benefits. Awards for the meet are enumerated: John Henry was voted Horse of the Meeting. Sandy Hawley won the riding championship.
About 40 members of the Arcadia Chinese Association protested in front of the Chinese Consulate General offices, condemning the Chinese government for killing unarmed students in Beijing.
About 90 Arcadia teachers held a rally in front of the school district administration building to support their bargaining team during an impasse in contract negotiations.
About 800 Arcadia High School students walked out of classes and gathered on the library lawn to demonstrate support for their teachers and to protest the cancellation of the senior assembly, an annual high school tradition.
According to Peter Kinnahan, Arcadia's manager for economic development, Arcadia needs to pursue redevelopment projects more aggressively or surrounding communities like Monrovia will take major businesses away. He cited the delay over location of the proposed Target Department Store in Arcadia as an example.
According to the Arcadia Police Department's monthly activity report for the month of December, which reports statistics for the entire year, daytime burglaries increased while night burglaries decreased. Also, there were no murders, 3 rapes, 2 attempted rapes, 36 assaults with a gun and 13 arrests for indecent exposure in 1987.
After narrowly rejecting a Target Department Store as a suitable use for a property on Huntington Drive Tuesday night, the Arcadia City Council will have to await another proposal if it still plans to redevelop the property. The vote was 2-2 with and abstention. the measure needed 3 votes to win.
After presentations by 3 architectural firms Tuesday night, the Arcadia City Council voted 4-1 to ask one of the companies back for further discussion on doing a master plan for the city's proposed civic center project. The proposed center would probably be located on the Huntington Drive median where the city hall and police station are now located. Mayor David Hannah indicated that this could be a long-term project, perhaps lasting as long as 20 years.
After serving 17 years as a crossing guard, 83-year-old Harry Christianson is retiring. The children at Highland Oaks honored him with a special Mr. Chris Day.
Air conditioning is being installed at the track as part of $3.4 million in improvements being made this summer in preparation for the first season of inter-track wagering offered at Santa Anita Park this year from July 27 to September 14.