An ad hoc committee of seniors plans to collect 5,000 signatures by the end of February asking the Arcadia City Council to commit itself to acquiring a senior center.
Arcadia could build a multi-purpose Senior Citizen Center for $1.5 million plus the cost of the property, according to a report submitted to the City Council by Warren Shaw, chairman of the Arcadia Senior Citizen's Commission. The report indicated that most of the money would come from state and federal sources, but that Arcadia would need to chip in at least $225,000 of matching funds. The center is necessary, Shaw said, due to a current lack of senior citizen facilities.
Arcadia's new senior center will be built at the Rose Garden at the corners of Huntington and Campus Drives. The city will start taking bids for the proposed $2.5 million, 18,000-square foot building in April. (At least 21% of the city population is over age 60.)
The Board of Directors for the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce approved a plan proposed by the Senior Citizens Commission to establish a fund for the eventual construction of a senior citizens center.
A building contract for a senior citizens center has been awarded to Nationwide Construction of Downey. Groundbreaking is anticipated in three months. The center will be built on the triangular piece of land at the intersection of Holly Avenue and Campus and Huntington Drives across from the Chamber of Commerce.
The city has decided against trying to lease a vacated elementary school for a senior citizen center. Seniors are interested in having a drop-in center but the additional cost of leasing a school would not be justified.
Construction of a new senior center in Arcadia will be funded in part through more than $200.000 allocated from federal Community Development Block Grant funds for the 1988-89 fiscal year, not through an exchange of money with another city that would have cost Arcadia about $75,000.
The new Senior Citizen Center, now in the architectural drawing stage of development will replace the Rose Garden at the corner of Huntington and Campus Drives. The center will house the administration offices of the Arcadia Parks and Recreation Department and the Historical Museum.
Plans to build a new Arcadia Senior Center are moving forward, with studies of the center's possible role, funding for the center and scouting for a site under way.
Rose Hassing, 27, currently the director of volunteer services for the Pasadena American Red Cross, will become the new senior citizens supervisor for the City of Arcadia as of February 7. She is replacing Betty Harris, who retired in December after 20 years with the city's senior citizens services.
Senior citizens center still faces many, many obstacles. Since the formation of the Arcadia Senior Citizens' Commission in 1978 one of its goals has been to acquire or construct a senior citizens/community center.