Pictures of Monrovia Graduation; Congrats Grads!

Pictures of the commencement ceremony at Monrovia High. http://goo.gl/OJHIL

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia's Senator: Apparent Defeat of Smoking Tax Bad Omen for Governor's Proposed Tax

Video: Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff, who represents Monrovia, says the apparent defeat of the Prop 29 smoking tax bodes ill for Governor Jerry Brown's proposed tax vote. Also he comments on San Jose and San Diego's votes in favor of pension reform and says Republicans are not being given any input into the proposed state budget. http://goo.gl/Fidpl

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia to Adopt Tight But Balanced Budget | After Redevelopment | Fire Department Survey

~ If you are interested in the city's budget, the situation appears to be that money is tight but we're slowly doing a bit better, and the city plans to adopt a balanced budget on June 19. Here is a helpful slideshow ( http://goo.gl/H4MGf ), and if you are a glutton for this sort of thing, here  are several useful documents: http://goo.gl/2riau

~ So with redevelopment killed by the state, how will Monrovia compensate? In the weekly City Manager's Report, City Manager Laurie K. Lile writes: "Moving forward is the launch of the Business Visitation program, the Fill Up Old Town Campaign and increased partnerships with brokers and the Monrovia Chamber of Commerce. As we look ahead, it will be more important than ever to build and maintain relationships, continue to enhance a business attraction strategy and develop a more comprehensive job development program." http://goo.gl/QaLhg

~ If you have had dealings with the Monrovia Fire Department, you may wish to take the department's short customer satisfaction survey: http://goo.gl/tIZrw

- Brad Haugaard

Almost 400 Grads Tonight at Monrovia High's Wildcat Stadium

Monrovia High expects to max out Wildcat Stadium for tonight's 7 p.m. graduation ceremony. There will be almost 400 grads. http://goo.gl/jLl23

The city reports ( http://goo.gl/euKcO ) that: "43% of graduates are going to 4-year university/college (up from 34% last year in 2011); 47% going to 2-year college; 4% going to trade school; 4% going to military; 2% going to work/taking year off.

"Of those attending a 4-year college/university (165 students):

"76 (46%) going to CSU

"33 (20%) going to UC

"15 (9%) going to private California school

"39 (24%) going to out of state school (will be representing 17 states)"

- Brad Haugaard

Whitenack Retirement Party | Monrovia Florist Honored

~ Retirement party for Joan Whitenack, executive director of Foothill Unity Center, after 17 years of leadership. Party will be held June 28, 5-8 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel. $10. RSVP to Foothill Unity Center by June 20.

~ Monrovia Florist named "Small Business of the Year" by Assemblymember Anthony Portantino. http://goo.gl/T9OKF

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Police: Brazen Women Burglarize Home Depot, Stuff Swiped From Vehicles

[Monrovia Police activities from the Police Department's Neighborhood Watch Report for June 4-6. - Brad Haugaard]

 

During the last seven-day period, the Police Department handled 479 service events, resulting in 92 investigations.

 

Vehicle Burglary

June 4 at 5:24 p.m., a vehicle burglary was reported in the 400 block of West Colorado.  The vehicle, a Toyota Corolla, was parked in the victim's driveway.  The victim did not remember if the vehicle was locked.  In the morning, the victim noticed money and a phone charging cord was taken.  There was no damage to the car.  Investigation continuing.

 

Vehicle Tampering

June 5 at 5:19 a.m., an officer responded to a hotel the 900 block of Huntington regarding vehicle tampering.  A guest at the hotel walked out to his parked vehicle and found a man inside his car.  The suspect was described as a male Hispanic, approximately 30 years old, 6 foot tall, thin build, brown hair, full beard, long single braid to the middle of his back.  The victim's vehicle was unlocked and there was no loss.

 

Vehicle Burglary

June 5 at 6:42 a.m., a vehicle burglary was reported in the 200 block of East Walnut.  A suspect(s) broke the driver-side window of the victims van.  They stole the victim's iPad that was left visible on the inside of the van.  The vehicle was parked in an assigned parking space in the complex.  Investigation continuing.

 

Theft From a Vehicle

June 5 at 7:23 p.m., a theft from an unlocked vehicle was reported.  The victim lives in the 200 block of East Lime, but he is unsure where the theft occurred.  His golf GPS was taken from his vehicle console.  Investigation continuing.

 

Residential Burglary

June 6 at 8:39 a.m., a residential burglary was reported in the 1000 block of Royal Oaks.  Suspect(s) entered an unlocked storage garage and stole the victim's road bikes. 

 

Detective Bureau Case Follow-up

The Home Depot has had several commercial burglaries occur over the last two months.  These burglaries were committed by a group of females who would enter the store carrying large empty shoulder bags.  The females would fill the bags with merchandise, one female would fill a shopping cart and then they would all proceed to walk out of the store without paying.  They did not try to conceal their actions and would confront employees if they were approached.  This was caught on surveillance video, but the females were not identified and were gone by the time police arrived. 

 

Detective's spoke with other agencies in the area to see if they were experiencing similar thefts and discovered Arcadia, Pasadena, and Glendale were having the same crimes occur.  All three agencies compared leads, and several arrests were made implicating a Pasadena gang and nine female gang members.  Two of the three females who were involved in the Monrovia incidents have been identified and arrested. 

Albertsons Cutting Employees, Unclear if Monrovia Affected

Albertsons will be cutting up to 2,500 employees. No indication if Monrovia store will be affected. http://goo.gl/Z5yX9

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Company Launches LoveIt.com | Police Over Fire for Charity | Volunteering | Award for Clifton Girl

~ The company that will soon move in to the old Dogwoods Market on Foothill, Juvo Capital ( http://juvocapital.com/ ), is today launching a new Internet company called LoveIt.com, which is similar to the hyper-popular Pinterest, but with some twists. http://goo.gl/zBxOr

~ Monrovia Police win basketball game over Monrovia Fire 29 to 24. :-| Also, the game raised $2600 to fight cancer. http://goo.gl/uomXc

~ Interested in volunteering with the City of Monrovia? Here's how: http://goo.gl/yfBS4

~ Clifton girl struck by hit-and-run driver given special award. http://goo.gl/exX5r

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Woman in Death Race | Ray Bradbury at Monrovia Library | Clean-Up Day | Neighborhood Conference | CPR | Clifton

~ Monrovia woman will undertake death race. http://goo.gl/MA6Jm

~ SciFi/fantasy author Ray Bradbury, who died Tuesday at age 91, helped to open the new Monrovia Library. A picture: http://goo.gl/TprK0

~ Monrovia Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs are sponsoring a trash-pick-up day Saturday, June 23, from 8-11 a.m. at Recreation Park. Meet at Recreation Park, Library Park or Old Town. Contact Becky Shevlin for details: 626-253-0072

~ The third annual Monrovia Area Partnership Neighborhood Conference is scheduled for Saturday, August 11. The conference incudes a day full of free workshops, continental breakfast, lunch, and ice cream. Details: http://goo.gl/114jY

~ Tomorrow, CPR training in front of the Library: http://goo.gl/IbLzt

~ As part of its partnership with Clifton Middle School, Monrovia First Presbyterian Church provided a "Caring for Clifton" meal Wednesday for the staff at the school: http://goo.gl/leqDG

- Brad Haugaard

Reinforcing Steel Installed for Gold Line Bridge | Jeopardy

~ The internal support structure for the Gold Line 210 bridge superstructure is about done. Gold Line spokesman Habib Balian reports that: "500 tons of reinforcing steel has been installed along the 584-linear-foot structure, and internal walls are now being formed to support the bridge deck. In the coming weeks, 2,100 cubic yards of concrete will be placed within this area."

~ Teacher wins again on Jeopardy. http://goo.gl/yU5ar
  

- Brad Haugaard

Final Monrovia-Area Election Results

Final vote counts for top two candidates in each Monrovia-area election. The Democratic candidate was the winner in each case. --

~ Top two votegetters in 41st Assembly District: Chris Holden (D), 16,942 (29.6%); Donna Lowe (R), 13,272 (23.2%).

~ 25th State Senate District: Carol Liu (D), 51,105 (51.7%); Gilbert V. Gonzales (R), 42,370 (42.9%).

~ 27th Congressional District: Judy Chu (D), 40,518 (58.1%); Jack Orswell (R), 16,550 (23.7%).

~ 32nd Congressional District: Grace F. Napolitano (D), 19,764 (46.1%); David L. Miller (R), 17,947 (41.9%).

And if you are interested in the fate of outgoing Monrovia Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, he beat two opponents, taking 51.7 percent of the vote.

- Brad Haugaard

Early Returns

In very early returns it looks like ...

Chris Holden is well ahead of the pack in the 41st Assembly District with Donna Lowe a strong second and Victoria Rusnak third.

Democrat Judy Chu is way far ahead in the 27th Congressional District.

Democrat Carol Liu looks comfortably ahead in the 25th Senate District, but Gilbert V. Gonzales is making a very respectable showing.

Same in the 32nd Congressional District. Democrat Grace F. Napolitano is doing well but David L. Miller is also doing very respectably.

Again. It's still early.

Update: Although he will no longer be representing Monrovia when the winners take their seats in the Assembly, Tim Donnelly is doing very well in the 33rd Assembly District, well ahead of two other contenders. http://goo.gl/tfErv

Update: I'm going to bed. I don't see any cliffhangers, but we'll see in the morning.

- Brad Haugaard

Watch Monrovia-Area Election Results Come In

Here are quickly-loading web pages where you can watch local election results come in tonight. (Thank you, Alex Zucco, for pointing this out.) Polls close at 8 p.m., so no point in checking before then.

41st Assembly District (Michael A. Cacciotti, Ed Colton, Chris Holden, Donna Lowe, Victoria Rusnak) http://goo.gl/VykI8

25th Senate District (Ameenah Fuller, Gilbert V. Gonzales, Carol Liu) http://goo.gl/CK354

27th Congressional District, covering Monrovia north of Hillcrest-Greystone (Judy Chu, Bob Duran, Jack Orswell) http://goo.gl/7Ix8V

32nd Congressional District, covering the rest of Monrovia (G. Bill Gonzalez, David L. Miller, Grace F. Napolitano) http://goo.gl/QkabQ

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Kiwanian Dies | Dollmakers' Kattywompus Turns 21

~ Monrovia Kiwanis member Don Yost dies. http://goo.gl/LDx5S

~ The Dollmakers' Kattywompus shop is celebrating its 21st birthday this month. http://goo.gl/nwEQ7

- Brad Haugaard

Curbside Voting

I've never seen curbside voting before.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Y Celebrating 125 Years

Santa Anita Family YMCA in Monrovia is celebrating its 125th birthday and unveiling its donor wall on Saturday, June 16, 2012 at 3 p.m. If you would like to join the celebration, contact Cheryl Reynolds at (213) 639-7682 or cherylreynolds@ymcala.org by June 14.

- Brad Haugaard

Election Day in Monrovia

Don't forget to get out and vote today.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia's AeroVironment Makes it Into New Yorker Magazine | Less Hack-able City Website | Substitute Teacher on Jeopardy

Monrovia's AeroVironment makes the pages of The New Yorker in an article about surveillance drones in civilian life that asks, "Should we worry about the rise of the drone?" http://goo.gl/DS4Ti

~ As you may recall ( http://goo.gl/wEuy8 ), the City of Monrovia's website was hacked last month. The city says upgraded software lessens the chance that the site will be hacked again. http://goo.gl/R6SUc

~ Monrovia substitute treacher Claudia Gray wins on Jeopardy. http://goo.gl/CWCco

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Police: Mixing the Wrong Chemicals, Thefts from Cars, Vandalizing City Mural

[Monrovia Police activities from the Police Department's Neighborhood Watch Report for May 31 - June 3. - Brad Haugaard]

 

Following are the weekend's highlighted issues and events.

 

Vandalism in Progress

On May 31 at 10:23 p.m., an officer responded to the report of vandalism in progress in the 1300 block of South Shamrock.  The reporting party was on the southwest corner of Shamrock and Evergreen when he saw a male subject vandalize the city mural under the freeway overpass.  The witness was able to get the license plate number of the suspect's vehicle and called police.  An officer responded to the address where the vehicle is registered, but did not find the vehicle.  The investigation is continuing.

 

Fire Assist

On June 1 at 9:44 a.m., fire and police personnel responded to a business in the 800 block of Royal Oaks regarding a possible Hazmat situation, resulting from the mixing of chemicals. Employees were evacuated and the Monrovia Fire Department checked the building.  The area was contained by the Fire Department and Los Angeles County Hazmat was requested and responded to the incident.

 

Vehicle Burglary

On June 1 at 11:18 a.m., a vehicle burglary was reported in the 100 block of North Myrtle.  The female victim had parked and locked her vehicle in her assigned parking stall in the rear of the complex on May 28.  When she returned to her vehicle on May 30, she found the rear passenger-side window had been smashed and her green purse had been taken from the rear floorboard.  Investigation continuing.

 

Vandalism - Suspects Arrested

On June 2 at 1:38 a.m., an officer was on patrol heading eastbound on Evergreen towards Myrtle when he saw a vehicle stopped by the freeway onramp.  A subject exited the passenger side of the vehicle, tagged the wall, stepped back into the vehicle and the driver drove away.  The officer conducted a traffic stop and arrested the two suspects for vandalism; one of the suspects was also charged with transporting a controlled substance and open container. 

 

Vehicle Burglary

On June 2 at 8:27 a.m., the victim of a vehicle burglary came to the Monrovia Police Department lobby to file a report.  An expensive pair of shoes were stolen from her vehicle.  She parked and locked her vehicle in her assigned stall in the 200 block of South Primrose.  When she returned to her vehicle the next day, she found the shoes had been stolen from the vehicle.  Investigation continuing.

 

Theft from a Vehicle

On June 3 at 9:48 a.m., a vehicle theft was reported in the 200 block of El Nido.  The victim parked his vehicle in the driveway, but could not remember if he locked the doors. When he returned to his vehicle about three hours later, his trunk was open.  He did not think anything of it until later in the day when he noticed several items missing from inside the car.  Investigation continuing.

Monrovia Library Reading Club to Rip Up Books | Gang Member Sentenced | Hong Kong Market | Vegetables

~ Monrovia Library's Summer Reading Club will take discarded books and "fold them, paint them, tear pages out, cut them into shapes, stamp them, glue them, re-bind them...in other words, transform them into altered works of art." http://goo.gl/SwZnK

~ Monrovia gang member sentenced for 2008 shooting that paralyzed teen. http://goo.gl/IKX3S

~ A peek at the work going on inside the new Hong Kong Market on Duarte Road. http://goo.gl/yvFUe

~ Pictures from the latest Produce in the Park. http://goo.gl/B6sGf

- Brad Haugaard