2019 Rose Parade. Tournament of Roses names 44 court finalists. Four are from Arcadia High School. They are Faith van Haaster, Pourobee Saha, Linzi Qi, Helena Simpson, and Margaret Chang.
After a five-year hiatus, Arcadia City Council is considering reinstating a policy that would let property owners pay to be assigned a more auspicious house number, which some believe would improve the value of their home. The number 4 in a street address is considered a bad omen in many Asian cultures. In Mandarin language, the word "four" sounds like the word for death, while the number eight is considered lucky, because it sounds like the word for prosper. Arcadia's Asian population is approaching 60% and most potential buyers will be Asian. In a 3-2 vote, Arcadia City Council endorsed the move in principle and directed staff to report back on the costs involved.
An activist group called Save the Arcadia Highlands is suing the City of Arcadia over two residential developments that Arcadia City Council approved in February, citing possible violations to "specific provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the California Planning and Zoning Law, filed March 12. The addresses involved are 29 East Orange Grove Avenue and 1600 Highland Oaks Drive. See also Arcadia Weekly, p. 1, 17, March 19, 2015.
Anti-mansionization candidates snag seats on Arcadia City Council. Peter Amundson received 4122 votes and April Verlato received 4077 votes to become the two new city council members. Bob Harbicht received the third highest number of votes.
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.
"Apache News" is a news show produced by the advanced video production class at Arcadia High School, under the tutelage of Bill Citron. The weekly show keeps students on campus informed. Citron's students can be quite marketable in the video production industry once they leave his program.
April 12, 2016 municipal election divides the community. The big issues are mansions (over-building) in Arcadia and Measure A, the repeal of the Utility Users Tax (UUT).
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 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 certifies city council election victories for John Wuo and Gary A. Kovacic. The results were certified this week after election officials were able to verify and count 661 of the remaining 681 ballots of the April 10 election. There were 105 ballots that had to be disqualified because voters selected more than 2 candidates in the all-mail election. At least some of those were caused by an error in the ballots' Chinese-language instructions that directed voters to select no more than 3 instead of 2 candidates, prompting the city to send out correction notices. Gene Glasco was elected City Clerk. Measure D, the hotel room tax, passed.
Arcadia Chamber of Commerce launches new networking campaign. Pop-Up mixers are held monthly at Arcadia bars whose owners are Chamber members. The first one was at Monkey Bar at Westfield Santa Anita mall, January 9. Pop-Up mixers are not advertised in advance, instead information is posted through social media within days of the event. RSVPs are not necessary.
Arcadia Chess Club meets on Monday nights. The club is open to members of the U. S. Chess Federation and has annual dues of $10. For more information, visit arcadiachessclub.com.
Arcadia Circa 2020. Economic Development Analyst Tim Schwehr (photo) will present a commercial development preview of City of Arcadia circa 2020 at the Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Forum.
Arcadia Citizen’s Financial Advisory Committee releases last report. The committee, an independent, ad-hoc advisory body of civic volunteers empaneled by the City Council to review the City’s General Fund long-range financial forecast and provide recommendations to the City Council for cost containment and/or revenue enhancements, recently released its final report. The 40-page report includes 15 recommendations to Arcadia City Council to address the $8,000,000 structural budget deficit. A key recommendation is for the city to consider increasing the city’s local sales tax rate by ¾ of one cent in order to maintain current levels of services.