Monrovia Christmas Tree Lighting and Home Decorating Contest

~ The annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony will take place on Thursday, Dec. 1, at 6 p.m. in Library Park, followed by the holiday parade - "Santa, Snowmen and Song" - at 7 p.m.

 

~ There will also be a holiday home decorating contest. Details here ( http://goo.gl/jx3ID ), at the bottom of the page, and here is the application form: http://goo.gl/LJq5I

 

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia's State Senator Backs Off High-Speed Rail

State Senator Bob Huff, who represents Monrovia, said he likes high-speed rail in concept, but with details of the LA-to-San Francisco plan now public, "I can no longer support this project as it is now framed." He said it costs too much ($98.5 billion), would not be finished until 2033, and early construction would be "far away from the state’s major population centers." He says the project needs to be scaled back or modified: http://goo.gl/0q13g

 

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia CEO is Entrepreneur of Year | Paintings by Cynthia Britain | Monrovia Hummingbird Wins Award

~ The CEO of Monrovia's Green Dot, Steve Streit, has been named Entrepreneur of the Year in the Financial Services sector by Ernst & Young. http://goo.gl/CbQmK

 

~ Works by oil painter Cynthia Britain now on display at Segil Fine Art, 110 W. Lime. Here's an article about her in American Art Collector Magazine: http://goo.gl/P88Ux

 

~ AeroVironment's nano hummingbird drone wins one of Popular Science's "Best of What's New" awards ( http://goo.gl/ITTWK ). And here's a write-up in Patch: http://goo.gl/U1g6h

- Brad Haugaard

The New Monrovia High School

At the ribbon-cutting tonight for the refurbished Monrovia High School, Board of Education President Ed Gililland called it "a world-class school for world-class students."Pictures show the computer lab in the new science building (that's Mayor Mary Ann Lutz looking on), the refurbished cafeteria, and the refurbished auditorium.

- Brad Haugaard

Portantino Says: I Told You So - Education is at Risk | Duarte City Council to Promote Monrovia

~ In a press release, Assemblymember Anthony Portantino, who represents part of Monrovia, writes that: "Today’s numbers from the well-respected Legislative Analyst’s Office confirm what I feared all along: education funding is at risk.  Back in June, the budget was hastily adopted without vetting the impact on our students and schools.  I thought then and feel the same way now, that it was more important to get the budget right than fast.  Unfortunately, fast was the order of the day and I voted 'no'. I am hopeful that future projections are better but I am quite concerned that the risks facing our schools are too great to take without comprehensive public review."

UPDATE: From the other side of the aisle, State Senator Bob Huff, who represents Monrovia, said the budget shortfall "doesn’t come as a surprise to Senate Republicans." He said "Democrats are already seeking to sidestep the 'trigger reductions' they voted for and calling for new tax increases instead." http://goo.gl/WzjZf

~ The Duarte City Council will soon be wearing Monrovia t-shirts for a lunch or dinner engagement. (Our neighboring city council lost a friendly wager with the Monrovia City Council.) http://goo.gl/G95cY

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Cross Country Qualifier | Headhunter Firm to Find New City Manager

~ Max Armenta is Monrovia High's first Cross Country CIF Prelims qualifier in the last 10 years.  He finished the course in 15:31.0, a personal record that placed him 34th out of 107 runners. http://goo.gl/ba4Su

 

~ The Monrovia City Council has selected the headhunter company, Bob Murray & Associates, to find a city manager to replace Scott Ochoa, who will be city manager in Glendale. http://goo.gl/o3YbJ

 

- Brad Haugaard

First Monrovia New Year's Eve Party

A band, a ball drop, beer and wine, at the First Annual New Year's Eve Party on Myrtle Avenue. http://goo.gl/Nel9q

 

- Brad Haugaard

Gold Line Bridge - Possible Partial Freeway Closures

Working on the Gold Line freeway bridge abutments.

Construction on the Gold Line bridge near Santa Anita Avenue may mean partial closures of the eastbound 210 between now and Nov. 26 (except for sure not on Nov. 24 and 25), between 10 p.m. and 1 p.m. the following day. The crew will be working on the east abutment (where the bridge hits ground), including digging 18 foundation holes. They may also get some work done on the west abutment and perhaps start pouring concrete for the three main columns.

- Brad Haugaard (from Gold Line press release)

Support Monrovia's Wild Rose School at Souplantation

Help Wild Rose Elementary by having dinner at the Arcadia Souplantation on Tuesday, Nov. 15, from 5-8 p.m. 20% of sales go to Wild Rose, but you gotta present this coupon: http://goo.gl/Esm6t

- Brad Haugaard

Cutting Down Monrovia Eucalyptus Trees | Holiday Parade | Reducing Pollution | Green Dot Emergency Prep

~ Fire crews from LA County Fire Camp 19 have been cutting down eucalyptus trees in Ruby Canyon, next to Monrovia homes. Monrovia Fire Department reports the trees "are notorious for their fire behavior, present a potential obstruction to flood control efforts, and having escaped cultivation and aggressively spread, they threatened to do significant damage to the diverse natural canyon wildlife habitat."

 

~ Monrovia's Holiday Parade is scheduled for Thursday, Dec, 1, starting with a tree lighting ceremony at 6 p.m. in Library Park. The parade begins at 7 p.m. at the corner of Myrtle and Chestnut Avenues, traveling north and ending at Myrtle and Palm. The parade is sponsored by Monrovia's Old Town merchants.

 

~ The City of Monrovia has again met the South Coast Air Quality Management District's requirement to reduce pollution caused by employee commuting. The weekly city manager's report says: "Monrovia has continuously exceeded its AVR [average vehicle ridership] target by a comfortable margin."

 

~ Seventeen Green Dot employees are currently halfway through Monrovia Fire Department emergency response training and will be graduating by the end of November.

 

Source: http://goo.gl/mh4AS

 

- Brad Haugaard

Star-News Cuts Paper Size

The Pasadena Star-News, which covers Monrovia, has announced that for its paper edition it will discontinue its weekly television listings on Nov. 27, instead offering subscribers a subscription to TV Weekly magazine "at a highly discounted rate off the cover price."

OPINION: Sad... again. A little while ago the Star-News dropped its Saturday editorial page, now it is dropping TV listings (which will save it from having to print four pages). This does not seem to be going in the right direction.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Football | Profile of Green Dot CEO | Trial Starts for Killing of Monrovia Woman | Maryknoll Boutique

~ A look at the CIF-SS Mid-Valley Division football playoffs. http://goo.gl/EowKe

 

~ Profile of Steven W. Streit, founder and CEO of Monrovia's Green Dot. http://goo.gl/gcvru

 

~ Trial begins for suspect in slaying of Monrovia woman, Felicia Lee. http://goo.gl/7WIQt

 

~ Maryknoll Guild annual brunch and boutique. http://goo.gl/MP88p

 

- Brad Haugaard

Donate a Turkey for Free to Monrovia's Unity Center

Albertsons is offering a "buy one turkey and get another one free" deal. And if you don't need two turkeys, you can have the market donate the second turkey to Foothill Unity Center to give to a local, needy family. http://goo.gl/VijeN

 

- Brad Haugaard

Portantino vs. Liu?

Will Anthony Portantino (who represents part of Monrovia in the state Assembly) challenge State Senator Carol Liu? http://goo.gl/TXV55

 

- Brad Haugaard

How to Help Monrovia's Foothill Unity Center

A cheat sheet for how you can help Monrovia's Foothill Unity Center for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. http://goo.gl/UKXnj

 

- Brad Haugaard

Lunch at Church's Chicken

I noticed that the KFC on Foothill in Arcadia is gone, so thought I'd check out an alternative, Church's Chicken on Huntington at Shamrock. Got a two-piece spicy. Crunchy breading and quite tasty. Maybe not super healthy, but tasty.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Veterans Day Celebration

Veterans Day celebration in Library Park. Including a Nisei Congressional Gold Medal winner from one of the very-highly decorated ethnic Japanese (Nisei) units that fought in Europe during World War Two. Also, the unveiling of a plaque honoring Korean War vets.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Wins Rio Hondo Title :-)

Monrovia High defeats South Pasadena in football, 34-22, winning fifth consecutive Rio Hondo title. http://goo.gl/MgcBE

- Brad Haugaard

Will Your Street Be Paved? | Buying Radios and Computers

At its Nov. 15 meeting ( http://goo.gl/a76wy ) the Monrovia City Council will ...

~ Consider paying Copp Contracting $523,172.50 for the fiscal year 2011-2012 to do street resurfacing. Streets to be repaved:

- Walnut Ave. from Monterey Ave. to Fifth Ave. – 2,740 Linear Feet

- Sunset Place between Violet Ave. and Foothill Blvd. – 2,270 Linear Feet

- Bella Vista – 433 Linear Feet

- Stedman Place from Foothill Blvd. to Hillcrest Blvd. – 2,760 Linear Feet

- Encino Ave. from Duarte Road to south City Limits – 765 Linear Feet

- Fifth Ave. from Colorado Blvd. to Chestnut Ave. – 1,140 Linear Feet

- California Ave. from Duarte Road to Hurstview Ave. – 485 Linear Feet

- Wildrose Ave. from Canyon Blvd. to California Ave. – 430 Linear Feet

~ Consider buying portable radios and accessories from Motorola for $148,686.88, and ruggedized Panasonic mobile computers from CDCE Engineered Solutions for $64,935.13, and paying Day Wireless $7,472.00 to install the lot. Mostly paid for by a grant from Uncle Sam. http://goo.gl/V1TbI

- Brad Haugaard

New Monrovia City Manager by May 2012?

Regarding City Manager Scott Ochoa's own replacement (he's moving on to Glendale), Ochoa estimates that if Monrovia hops on it, "it is conceivable that the new city manager could begin in Monrovia as early as May 1, 2012." He adds: "A worst case scenario might be a July 1, 2012, start date." Also, he says it could cost up to $27,000 for a headhunter firm, plus $60,000 to $90,000 (through next May) to pay for an interim city manager. All of it paid for by not having to pay him. http://goo.gl/VsHCu

 

- Brad Haugaard