Monrovia Now: News and Comment about Monrovia, California

Painting of Monrovia

Thought I'd share a picture I painted of Monrovia a while ago. Anybody guess where this is? Shouldn't be hard.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia City Manager Scott Ochoa reports that in July there were 1,112 graffiti incidents which required over 94 hours of clean-up. If you see anything suspicious, please call 9-1-1 or 626-357-CELL. You may remain anonymous. Plus you'll get $100 if the police arrest someone for vandalism.

- Brad Haugaard

Online Newspaper Coming to Monrovia

A new online newspaper is coming to Monrovia called Patch.com. Patch.com is actually a national chain of publications owned - I believe - by AOL that is opening websites for smaller communities across the nation. The City Manager Scott Ochoa reports that the Monrovia Patch will go live this October.

http://www.ci.monrovia.ca.us/from-the-city-managers-desk

- Brad Haugaard

Hulking Greeter

I see the Hulk acting as a greeter every once in a while at the northeast corner of Alta Vista and Colorado. I wouldn't want to try to crash this party.

- Brad Haugaard

Building Character

A nice feature story about Rodney Jefferson, who runs the "A" Game Fundamentals Basketball Clinic in Monrovia. Not just basketball, but discipline, character and life skills."

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_15917785?IADID=Search-www.pasadenastarnews...

- Brad Haugaard

Unity Center and Firefighters Events

Charlotte Schamadan reports on Unity Center and Firefighters events:

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_15902815

- Brad Haugaard

Alleged Assault During Fire in Monrovia Canyon

The latest Neighborhood Watch Report from the Monrovia Police Department adds this interesting little aside to the fire in Monrovia Canyon Park:

"August 23 at 1:15 p.m., during the brush fire incident, a resident who lives on Ridgeside insisted on making his way home and attempted to drive by fire and police personnel. The resident refused to stop at the direction of fire personnel and hit a fireman and an Edison worker with his vehicle. The resident was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and was taken into custody. "

- Brad Haugaard

Beautiful Photograph of Myrtle Avenue

I thought for a second that this was an old black-and-white photo of Monrovia from the turn of the last century, or something, but a closer looks shows it is apparently a fairly recent black-and-white. Sometimes (ask Ansel Adams) black and white is just the thing. Here's the page the picture is on ...

http://www.gemcityimages.com/2010/08/old-town-monrovia-in-black-and-white.html

Be sure to click on the image to get a great closeup.

- Brad Haugaard

Secret Trader Joe's

Interesting article about Trader Joe's (headquartered in Monrovia). I had no idea the company was so secretive. Good food at good prices, though.

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/voracious/2010/08/secrets_and_pies_the_outside...

- Brad Haugaard

Fall Events in Monrovia

Lots of activities for everyone from children to seniors in the city's Fall/Winter Schedule of Events.

It is a fat PDF file you can download here:

http://www.ci.monrovia.ca.us/images/content/city_government/departments/commu...

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia High Auditorium

I had the opportunity to peek into the beautiful new Monrovia High School auditorium today. A few short weeks ago, I toured the facility during the construction phase and saw the auditorium stripped of its seats and looking like a ghost of its former self. Now, with the newly upholstered seats and a fresh, new, updated look, the auditorium is a work of art. It is lovely, and promises to be a wonderful performing arts center for our students. It will be some time yet before the auditorium is open to the public, but I am confident that you will like what you see when we are able to open this great refurbished facility.

Thanks to the community for making the many construction and renovation projects possible at Monrovia High School. The support of our Monrovia friends and neighbors shows throughout our schools and is greatly appreciated!

Linda Wagner

Superintendent

Monrovia Unified School District

325 E. Huntington Drive

Monrovia, CA 91106

(626) 471-2010

(626) 471-2077

lwagner@monrovia.k12.ca.us

Fire in Monrovia Canyon Park

Firefighters jumped hard and fast on what I heard was approximately a four-acre brush fire in Monrovia Canyon Park that broke out around mid-day Monday. The park was still closed Tuesday morning when I checked.

On Monday I was standing on Canyon Boulevard when full parade of fire units from Monrovia and Arcadia rushed by. And they were in a big hurry. I was told later that there were also county fire units, and even units from as far away as Glendale, plus helicopters doing air drops. According to one comment I heard, firefighters were blessed with essentially no wind.

I heard that the fire may have broken out due to a fallen power line on the steep slopes directly above the ranger station at the entrance to the park.

Here's a SGV Tribune article:

http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_15868820?source=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

- Brad Haugaard

Cancer and Canswer

You know what I find highly encouraging? (This is a rhetorical question.) I'd have never thought that cancer hospitals would need to advertise for patients. Along the 210 Freeway a while ago were those "Canswer" billboards for the City of Hope. Get it? City of Hope is the "answer" for "cancer?" Clever.

Now, more recently, I've been seeing similar billboards and ads in the Star-News for the South Pasadena Cancer Center.

Wow! Cancer hospitals competing for patients!

I don't know if this means there are fewer cancer patients - I doubt that - or that maybe early treatment is increasingly effective, or that people just built more cancer treatment facilities than we have patients. But any way, sounds like good news to me!

Maybe a fine, upstanding, local newspaper could do a story about that.

- Brad Haugaard

Summer Art Walk

Monrovia Association of the Fine Arts is having another of its Summer Art Walks this Saturday on Myrtle, from 7 to 10 p.m. Here's the schedule:

http://www.monroviafinearts.org/pages/2010_calendar_page.html

- Brad Haugaard

Arrest in Crash that Killed Monrovia Teacher

Police believe methamphetamine and marijuana may have been involved:

http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvcrime/2010/08/arrest-made-in-fatal-crash-tha.html

- Brad Haugaard

Concert in the Park and Monrovia vs. City of Bell

Column in the Star-News by Charlotte Schamadan on the over-for-the-summer concerts in the park series, and Monrovia compared to the City of Bell

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_15818019

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Satisfaction: Healthy but Could Improve

The city recently did a survey of what people think of their neighborhoods.

From the executive summary:

"While Monrovia certainly has areas that it can improve upon, most notably in cultivating a sense of community within neighborhoods, in general residents consider their neighborhood as overwhelmingly healthy or thriving."

You can download the whole PDF file here:
http://www.ci.monrovia.ca.us/images/content/city_government/departments/community_development/report_thriving_neighborhood_survey_8-3a.pdf

- Brad Haugaard