Combat Wounded to Get Special Parking Spots; Tree Lighting to Merge With Thanksgiving Celebration; Lyft for Disabled; Etc.

In his latest report (https://goo.gl/aOqX7O) City Manager Oliver Chi reports:

~ In the next week or two wounded veterans will get up to four parking spaces in Old Town. The parking spaces will be painted purple and have signs indicating they are for wounded veterans. One of the proposed parking spaces will be on Palm (between the Community Center and the Library), one on Lime (between the Library and the Lime Parking Lot), one in front of City Hall, and one somewhere in the 400 block of Myrtle Avenue.

~ The Christmas tree lighting and Christmas parade will be split into two events. The tree lighting will be during a Thanksgiving event on Tuesday, Nov. 26, from 5 to 8 p.m. in Library Park. As usual, the parade will be on the first Thursday in December, Dec. 5 this year. The Thanksgiving event, or, more correctly, the "Thankful and Grateful Holiday Gathering," is "designed to show our gratitude to all who make Monrovia special." At the Thanksgiving event there will be live entertainment, community booths, a  petting zoo, story times, crafts, a canned food drive, hay rides, and a community art project.

~ Disabled Monrovians will soon be able to call for transportation using the same app Lyft riders use. Lyft has made improvements to its system that will allow it to dispatch vehicles from Empire Transportation, which provides transportation for the disabled. A beta-test of the new system should occur "within the next month or two."

~ More than 2,700 people participated in the library's Summer Reading Program. They logged 53,359 days of reading over eight weeks.

~ Disabled Monrovians who find it difficult to find convenient off-street parking near their homes may now apply for Residential On-Street Accessible Parking. "The approved space will not be exclusive to the applicant and any other persons or vehicles with a valid Disabled Person Parking Placard or Disabled Person License Plate may park in this designated space." But you still gotta move your car for street sweeping and such. Application: https://is.gd/hDpNiP

~ If you check out a lot of library books at a time, you can now check out a basket to carry them in. The book baskets check out for three weeks and automatically renew up to two times. For questions, call the Library at 256-8274.

~ The city is accepting applications for the Youth Commission, for teens grades 6-12. Details https://is.gd/tBXmhI

- Brad Haugaard