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.
30th annual Breeders' Cup World Championships brings exciting racing to Santa Anita Park. Record crowds filled the stands. Sierra Madre jockey Gary Stevens came out of retirement to win the Breeders' Cup Classic aboard horse Mucho Macho Man.
41-year-old female Xiaolin Li, a resident of Arcadia, was stabbed and murdered on January 7, 2014 at an apartment in the 900 block of Arcadia Avenue. The arrested suspect was identified as the victim's father-in-law Li Zhu, a 68-year-old resident of Arcadia. The motive appears to be related to an on-going dispute within the family. The victim and suspect resided together.
1980s pop group Air Supply plays at the Arcadia Performing Arts Center on January 25, 2014. Also playing this season are America (2/22), Susan Egan (3/1), and The Temptations (6/7).
The abandoned rail bridge over Colorado Boulevard in Arcadia will be removed because it could not accommodate the two-track light rail system and the Gold Line Construction Authority determined it was more efficient and cost effective to remove the structure than to widen it or add a second structure directly adjacent to the ole one. Bridge demolition was the first significant construction effort for Foothill Transit Constructors (FTC) and the alignment project. The Construction Authority will have three open houses in the next two weeks to update the community.
Animal Pest Management Services, Inc. will conduct a peafowl census in Arcadia during the week of May 20. The results and courses of action to contain the peafowl population will be given to City Council to review.
Anita Baldwin statue to be unveiled at Le Méridien Hotel in Arcadia
The Anita May Baldwin statue at the Le Méridien Hotel will be unveiled on Monday, Oct. 25, 2021 at 11 a.m. Anita is the daughter of city founder, Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin. The statue will be featured on the opposite end of the Huntington Drive islands’ hotel property.
“We are very excited to be bringing Anita back to Arcadia,” said Mayor Sho Tay in a statement released by the city. “I would like to thank the Shen, Liu and Chen Families, Jeff Lee, the Dextra Baldwin McGonagle Foundation, Heather D. Gibson and Margaux L. Gibson, and the Arcadia Historical Society, for their generous donations.”
“On behalf of the Baldwin family, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Arcadia City Council, the Arcadia Historical Society, the Le Méridien Hotel and all those who have supported this effort to pay homage to my great-great grandmother, Anita May Baldwin,” said Margaux Gibson. “This magnificent statue of Anita will showcase a strong woman who was ahead of her time. I am proud to call Anita May Baldwin my great-great grandmother, and I am truly proud to be a part of this historic project.”
The Anita statue was sculpted by local artist and southern California native Alfred Paredes — who created the Lucky Baldwin statue on the corner of Huntington Drive and Holly Avenue — and is aptly named, “A Legacy of Charity” in honor of Anita’s contributions to life in early Arcadia and throughout California.
Annual Taste of Arcadia, an Arcadia Chamber of Commerce event, will take place Monday, September 19 at the Los Angeles County Arboretum. As always, a percentage of proceeds goes to three local non-profit organizations. This year, the beneficiaries are Assistance League of Arcadia, the Boy Scouts of America/Lucky Baldwin District, and the Arboretum Foundation.
Anti-mansionization goes to the ballot. Zoning code issue continues as anti-mansionization group Saving Arcadia (an outgrowth of Save the Arcadia Highlands) takes it to the ballot in April 2018. At issue are Floor Area Ratios (FAR). See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 1, 17, April 7, 2016-initiative did not make it onto ballot because of signature discrepancy.
Arcadia aims to increase tourism and makes breakthrough in residential burglaries. Recap of Arcadia City Council meeting. New Arcadia tourism video was presented to promote Arcadia, with the goal of bringing new business investment to the city. Arcadia Police Chief Bob Guthrie gave a report on crime in the city and has recently uncovered a ring of burglars in the county through the cracking of codes on a captured burglar’s cell phone and has a couple of those criminals in custody.
Arcadia and Monrovia will be split into two assembly districts in the redistricting plan signed by Governor Gray Davis last week. Under the new plan, the 59th District, currently represented by Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, will move 84% of Arcadia and 40% of Monrovia to Assemblywoman Carol Liu's 44th District. The new plan is still being challenged in court. Senate district boundaries were also modified but did not affect Arcadia.
Arcadia Association of Realtors cancels city council candidate forum that had been scheduled for March 7 at the Arcadia Public Library. But since the city elections have moved from "at large" elections to district elections, the public would be better served by other, upcoming district-specific forums.
Arcadia-based Dr. Terrence Baruch installs interactive monitors in Westfield Santa Anita mall to increase awareness of heart attacks and he hopes this leads to reduced lag time between the onset of symptoms and applying a key life-saving medical procedure. He is the "Heart Attack Blues" doctor and the director of Arcadia Methodist Hospital's Cardiac Catheterization Lab.
The Arcadia Board of Education approved a Local Agency Education plan to bring the district into compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind program, which requires that students meet state proficiency standards by 2013-2014. For California, the standard is 100% graduation with all requirements for University of California admission met.
Arcadia Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) sponsors local Arcadia girls' week at Tech Trek Science and Math Camp June 14 through June 20 at Whittier College. The girls will explore science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) courses and careers.
Arcadia brothers Eric and Richard Dong (they attend San Marino High School) receive Outstanding Young Philanthropists award. They offered piano lessons to kids at the Union Station family center. They gave money and talked to the kids about investing in the stock market. With profits they made from their investments, they established the Richard and Eric Dong Endowment Fund for Union Station to provide scholarships for children in sports, music and the arts, leadership, and human rights promotion, to buy books for the family library; to fund staff appreciation and recognition and to finance the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights educational programs.