Monrovia Now: News and Comment about Monrovia, California

Bark a Lot - Get a Ticket

The City Council has given police the power to issue citations for barky dogs, instead of requiring a lengthy mediation process.

Source: http://goo.gl/bWTV

- Brad Haugaard

Signs of the Times

It is kind of discouraging to see all these "for lease" signs on commercial buildings around Monrovia, but still, I think we have it a lot better than most in these hard times.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia School Board member Clare Chesley and her kids will be running, or "jogging, walking, wheezing, whatever it takes," on a 5k run at the Rose Bowl this Sunday to benefit animal shelters through racefortherescues.org.

If you would like to sponsor her, or one of children, Fiona or Emory, you can enter their names here ...

http://goo.gl/INBF

and donate what you want.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia's Next Assemblyman

The Star-News has an article comparing the candidates for Assembly for the 59th District, which includes Monrovia, with the focus on Republican Assembly candidate Tim Donnelly.

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_16380641

- Brad Haugaard

Max's Mex Restaurant to Monrovia

Max's Mexican Cuisine of Duarte will be opening a restaurant in Monrovia, at the site of the old La Parisienne.

Source: http://goo.gl/b3IP

- Brad Haugaard

No More Book Club Blog

The Monrovia Public Library has discontinued its Book Club blog:

http://goo.gl/syRL

- Brad Haugaard

Gas Lines

If you want to go digging up the streets (I do it all the time), you might want to check this new interactive map that shows where gas lines are located. It appears there are high pressure lines (above 60 psi) located basically along parts of Duarte Road and Live Oak Avenue.

http://www.socalgas.com/safety/pipelineMap.html

- Brad Haugaard

Barky Dog Ordinance

At its Tuesday (7:30 p.m. at City Hall) meeting, the Monrovia City Council will consider an ordinance to make it easier to give tickets for minor violations, like barky dogs.

http://goo.gl/C6Pr

- Brad Haugaard

Howl-oween Haunt

The City of Monrovia is hosting the annual Halloween Event on Saturday, October 30 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Library Park. This event will include a Costume Contest, Parade of Characters, and a Pumpkin Carving Contest. Pumpkin Carving Contest applications are available at the Monrovia Community Center and registration for the Costume Contest will be held on the day of the event. Trick-or-Treating will also be available from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Myrtle Avenue.

Source: http://goo.gl/ZD6L

- Brad Haugaard

Tree of Hell

The Monrovia Fire Department is very unhappy with the "Tree-of-Heaven," also called Ailanthus and Stinking Suma.

According to the Weekly Report from City Manager Scott Ochoa's office, the tree grows very fast (up to 6 feet in a season) and can break right through concrete. It crowds out everything else, makes an impenetrable stand and builds up fuel and is a mess.

Kill it - pull it out by the roots - if you find it in your yard. Here's how to spot it:

"It is a tall, deciduous tree (meaning that it drops its leaves in autumn) with smooth, grey bark and large, compound leaves 1-4 feet long, composed of many smaller leaflets in two rows. Crushed leaves and cut stems have a strong smell something like burned nuts or rancid peanut butter. Its leaves are somewhat similar in appearance to those of the walnut tree, but the fruits are a give-away - while walnut trees bear a nut inside a heavy, fleshy, roundish fruit (about golf-ball sized), tree-of-heaven's fruits are delicately wing-shaped and born in clusters - right now the fruits are a tan color and you can see many still on the trees, looking almost like clusters of flowers high up. Very tiny tree-of-heaven seedlings bear a slight resemblance to tomato seedlings. The smell of a crushed leaf should give it away."

Source: http://goo.gl/ZD6L

- Brad Haugaard

Water District Candidates

A very helpful article on understanding the little-followed Municipal Water District and the two candidates who want your vote to sit on its board.

http://goo.gl/MIkz

- Brad Haugaard

City Preparing for Fire in Foothills

It has been a long time since the hills above Monrovia burned, and the brush just keeps building up ...

http://goo.gl/LXMb

- Brad Haugaard

School Board Upset About HS Building Costs

We knew this, but here's a good story about the Monrovia school district and contractor having a "forceful exchange" about costs and delays.

http://goo.gl/2iH7
- Brad Haugaard

Public Art in Monrovia

How public art arose in Monrovia.

http://goo.gl/wrvT

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Patch Launches

Today is the first day of a new daily online newspaper/directory for Monrovia, called MonroviaPatch.

The Patch nationwide network of smaller-town news websites is owned by AOL. The company has hired professional journalists at (from what I've read) very attractive salaries.

I am glad Patch is here. Journalism has had a rough time adjusting to the Internet world. International, national, and state news is, I think, well covered on the Internet, but the big, gaping hole has been small-town journalism. And what happens when you don't have small-town journalism? Bell! That's what happens.

So welcome Patch, and Editor Nathan McIntire.

My only concern about Patch (other than that it sounds like a gardening site) is that I don't understand how it will make money. (I'm not even *trying* to make money with MonroviaNow.com.) From what I've read I think it plans to sell national and local ads and position itself as a local directory, sort of like a yellow pages, in which merchants can upgrade their free listings for a fee. Things like this have been done in the past (I was involved in founding CitySearch.com) and it is very difficult with the costs of selling to local merchants. And if you add in the costs of a local editorial staff, I think it will be extremely difficult. But times have changed and maybe AOL has found a way.

Best wishes, Patch! http://monrovia.patch.com/

- Brad Haugaard