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THURSDAY, APRIL 9 - APRIL 15, 2009 VOLUME 14, NO. 15
THURSDAY EDITION News, Arts, Opinions and Community Events Since 1996
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THE SKINNY ON SIERRA MADRE’S HOUSING ELEMENT MEETING REPORT Historical Heritage Takes a Backseat to State Mandated Development •By Sir Eric Maundry•
Here’s the thing that rings particularly false on the RHNA Numbers issue. If all we’re talking about here is the construction of low income housing, why is it all the usual suspects want to build it so badly? Everyone pretty much knows by now that low income housing is not a big money maker. Or so we’ve been told. Over and over again. So why all the big fuss? Unless, of course, it isn’t really low income housing that is being discussed. Now when our highly compensated consultant on these matters, Karen Warner, was initially discussing our RHNA numbers the other evening, she insisted that it was the full 138 units that still had to be accounted for. Even to the point of rather briskly contradicting the Mayor of Sierra Madre on this matter. Which, since he has something rather important to do with the authorizing of payments to people such as her, struck this observer as being rather forward and disrespectful. And honestly, if
Skinny on 12
Photos by Terry Miller
New 28,000 Square Foot Library Dedicated in Monrovia Hundreds Attend Celebration •BY TERRY MILLER•
The City of Monrovia held a gala dedication Saturday morning of the new 16 million dollar library which may just be the envy of every city in San Gabriel Valley. The new Monrovia Library is located, appropriately enough, in Library Park where the park itself has also undergone a major renovation during the
const ruct ion of t he new facility. Hal Leavens, local Monrovia legend, stood proudly outside the new library after the dedication ceremonies holding his “Yes on Measure L” sign. Measure L was the bond measure that passed, allowing the library to be built. The public art outside
TRAVELING SHOES Thousands Take Part in First Lutheran School Derby Day 5K at Santa Anita Monrovia students are re-
Santa Anita Derby Day 5K Run and Walk winners were posted within minutes after the course closed. Here, a couple checks the results.
•BY BILL PETERS•
A cool, but pleasant morning drew thousands of runners and walkers to the 15th annual 2009 Santa Anita Derby Day 5K Runs and Walk, an event that has become a tradition before the running of the Santa Anita Derby at the track in Arcadia. The course laid out by the event planners was an easyto-navigate combination of
the library appropriately depicts Mark Twain seated on a bench - a man who once said… “A public library is the most enduring of memorials, the trustiest monument for the preservation of an event or a name or an affection; for it, and it only, is respected by wars and revolutions, and survives
them.But the truth is, that when a Library expels a book of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony of it delights me and doesn’t anger me.” The new Monrovia library features considerably more space for books, peri-
odicals, tapes and DVDs; a Community Room; a Heritage Room; adult, children and teen areas; homework and study rooms; a literacy services area; an expanded reference section; individual reading areas; self-checkout machines; and many public computers as well as a Friends of the Library
Library on 2
Sierra Madre City Council Passes New Non-Smoking Regulations
roadway, garden, and track surfaces ending in the infield at Santa Anita. After signing in at the tents located at the southwest corner of the parking lot at the track, participants ran, jogged, walked at a fast-pace, or strolled up the eastern concourse at Westfield Shopping Mall, crossed Baldwin Ave. past the old Depot, followed a circular path through the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, then crossed Baldwin Ave. into the Gate 7-barn area. Directed by volunteers along the course to a tunnel which leads to the infield area from the back-side of the track that ultimately led to the track itself. Coming around the far turn, runners and walkers arrived at the finish line. The five kilometer distance, or 3 1/8 miles, turned out to be easy for everyone from toddlers to some
sponding wit h generous hearts after student council members began a new outreach program during the months of March and April, to children in Afghanistan. The program was initiated by the First Lutheran Student Council after hearing about a conversation that took place between Sergeant Victor Martinez stationed in Afghanistan and some children he encountered. Victor Martinez is serving with the US Army in Afghanistan, in order to train the Afghan National Army. He regularly visits the base to teach classes and interact with soldiers. Families are not provided military housing and children live as squatters finding places to sleep and live around the remote base. Two children approached Sergeant
After careful consideration of established scientific studies on the health and environmental hazards of tobacco use and second-hand smoke, the Sierra Madre City Council has adopted Ordinance 1291, which prohibits smoking in the outdoor dining or patio areas of any public place where food and/or beverages are sold or served, and on the grounds of any City government-owned building or facility where food or beverages are consumed. The Ordinance will go into effect May 26, 2009. The ordinance is first and foremost a safety measure intended to minimize the public’s passive exposure to tobacco smoke and its known health threats. It also seeks to protect children from smok-
5k on 12
Shoes on 6
Smoking on 17
2009 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Queen Courtney Lee helps unveil the plans for the facilities project included in the Measure I Bond Program at Arcadia High last Thursday. -Photo by Terry Miller
Groundbreaking Ceremony Celebrates “Symbolic Start” of Renovations in AUSD •BY EMILY LITVACK•
On April 2, a diverse group of educators, administrators and others came out in support of what both Su-
perintendent Dr. Joel Shawn and President of the Arcadia Board of Education Joann Steinmeier referred to as a
AUSD on 5