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Part 2: Anoakia’s lifespan Galen PATTERSON
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THEARCADIAWEEKLY
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 17 - JANUARY 23, 2019
The Fall of the House of Baldwin
ARCADIAWEEKLY
ARCADIAWEEKLY Since 1996
VOL. 23, NO. 3
Arcadia City Council Approves Sales Tax Increase
galen.patterson303@gmail.com
After receiving $10 million in assets from her father’s estate, Anita M. Baldwin was well off for an early 20th century woman. With her inherited fortune came land, and on that land, Anita built the finest home Arcadia had ever seen. It was named Anoakia. The home consisted of 17,000 squarefeet, extravagantly furnished, and built to last. The home was designed with an Italian Renaissance Revival SEE HOUSE OF BALDWIN PAGE 11
Arcadia High Graduate Killed in Suicide Bombing in Afghanistan Terry MILLER tmiller@beaconmedianews.com
An Arcadia High School graduate was among those killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, this week, his family said Wednesday. Mano “Paul” Kamaleson, 55, had just returned to Kabul from a holiday break in Chicago with his family, where they lived before moving to Afghanistan, said his SEE SUICIDE BOMBING PAGE 11
Raising the sales tax rate in the city would share the debt burden and spread it throughout everyone who comes to enjoy any of Arcadia’s unique shopping opportunities, like Rusnak Mercedes. – File photo by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
Galen PATTERSON galen.patterson303@gmail.com
T
he first City Council meeting of 2019 was met with a report from the Citizens Financial Advisory Committee (CFAC). The CFAC’s report outlined the city’s expenditures, projected finances, and
recommendations to improve Arcadia’s financially-difficult future. More than 60 percent of the city’s General Fund revenue comes from taxes, as shown by the committee’s final report, which pales in comparison to the next major source of revenue being Intergovernmental Revenue making up just 12 percent. Of that tax revenue, 37.3 percent comes from property taxes, while
29.5 percent comes from sales tax. Arcadia’s sales tax rate is ¾ of a cent below what is allowed under California law. The report suggests taking advantage of that ¾ cent rate and raising it to the full amount, which is expected to help the city regain financial stability. SEE SALES TAX PAGE 10
Travelling Down History With ‘The Green Book’ Susie LING & Roy NAKANO GUEST CONTRIBUTOR The movie “Green Book” recently won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture. The real “Green Book,” however, was a project of Victor H. Green, a postal worker in Harlem. Like Martin Luther King did years later, Victor Green pursued a dream, but for the travelling African-American motorists. The first “Green Book” in 1936 listed service stations, restaurants, lodging, and barber shops in New York that would welcome an African-American clientele. This was a great service for newcomers to the city in an era when racial segregation was common across the nation. Mr. Green expanded his
listings yearly. He explains in the 25-cent 1940 “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” ”The white traveler for years has had no difficulty in getting accommodations, but with the Negro it has been different. Before the advent of Negro Travel Guides, he has had to depend on word of mouth and then sometimes accommodations weren’t available.” By the 1963-64 edition, the title evolved to “The Travelers’ Green Book, for vacation without aggravation.” Perhaps after Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the nation had turned a page and the need for “The Green Book” lessened. The last SEE THE GREEN BOOK PAGE 9
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Keeping the Peace
Guitarist Diana Rein Plays Arcadia Blues Club - Jan. 19
at Ambrose Cafe
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During the height of segregation, you could pick up a Green Book at an Esso gas station. – Courtesy photo / Smithsonian Collection
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