Arcadia attorney, former mayor Jim Helms, receives "Business Icon" Award from Arcadia Chamber of Commerce CEO Scott Hettrick and Arcadia Historical Society President Gene Glasco for his dedicated work as an attorney since 1952. Jim is also a former Mayor of Arcadia (1971-1972), Arcadia Chamber President and Arcadia Citizen of the Year 1979 and 2004.
Arcadia Mayor Peter Amundson defends his speaker of choice at next month's Mayor's Community Breakfast. He has invited H. B. London, of Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group that opposes same-sex marriage. Residents and activists upset about this choice are organizing two counterevents of their own. Activists are planning a "peaceful" demonstration March 4 outside Arcadia Community Center and a bar-b-que at Pasadena's Unitarian Church for all families. Focus on the Family was founded in Arcadia by Dr. James C. Dobson and believes marriage is meant to be between a man and a woman. Amundson said the event is not about sexuality but about the Arcadia family.
Arcadia Mayor Peter Amundson's selection of Reverend H. B. London, Jr. to speak at the community breakfast on March 4, is drawing criticism from some residents and gay-rights activists. London is a vice president of ministry outreach at Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group that opposes gay marriage. Some residents are asking Mayor Amundson to reconsider and they feel Focus on the Family delivers hateful messages. The city estimates it will pay between $5000 and $5500 for its contribution to the event, which will include the speaker's plane fare.
Arcadia Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast 2019: we are all Americans in a great city. Columnist Joan Schmidt recaps the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast and City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto’s State of the City Address. Pictured: Kari Helman, Jim Helms and his daughter.
Arcadia Museum Education Center officially dedicated Saturday, June 28, 2014. It is a 2,500 square foot building. Photo shows ribbon cutting and Arcadia Museum Foundation Board of Directors.
Environmental activists are calling for an independent investigation into a Los Angeles County flood control project--6 days after they failed to stop bulldozers from clearing 11.1 acres of native oak woodland for a dam sediment dump in Arcadia. The group calling for the probe includes Glen Owens, Camron Stone, and "tree-sitters" John Quigley, Andrea Bowers and Julia Posin. Los Angeles County supervisor Michael Antonovich's deputy Tony Bell said the three-year county public works planning process for the sediment project was completely open and the facts were available to the public.
A federal investigation of a San Gabriel Valley-based Asian crime syndicate led to the arrests of 18 suspected Red Door gang members in several San Gabriel Valley cities, including Arcadia. The effort was dubbed "Operation Paint it Black." Authorities seized seven guns, 12,500 ecstasy pills, 2,230 marijuana plants and a Lamborghini. The 18 were indicted on drug trafficking and international marriage fraud charges.
H. B. London, Jr., of Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group that opposes gay marriage, spoke at the 2011 Mayor's Community Breakfast, about the importance of compassion and unconditional love in the family. Outside there were some 90 protestors that support the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Los Angeles County Public Works is scheduled to clear 11.3 acres of pristine native oak woodland to dump tons of sediment dredged from Santa Anita Dam. Glen Owens, a founder of the Big Santa Anita Historical Society and a Monrovia planning commissioner, hopes it's not too late for a grass roots effort to oppose or at least postpone the project. The sediment dump would be entirely in Arcadia.
More than 11 acres of pristine native oak woodland at the Arcadia/Monrovia border, adjacent to Wilderness Park, are scheduled to be cut down to create a dumping ground for sediment dredge from the Santa Anita Dam, in a Los Angeles County Public Works project. The dam gets cleared out every 20 years or so. About 500,000 cubic yards of dirt and debris clogging the dam will be removed. Glen Owens, a founder of the Big Santa Anita Historical Society and a Monrovia planning commissioner, said the dirt shouldn't be dumped in one of only two native woodlands left in the San Gabriel Valley. Arcadia Councilman Bob Harbicht wants to hold a meeting with the city and county public works officials to clarify plans for the dirt dispersal.
New legislation gives city clerks statewide authority to sanctify marriages. Gene Glasco, Arcadia City Clerk, has authority to marry couples in California.