Harlem Wizards Basketball at Monrovia High

The Harlem Wizards basketball team will take on Monrovia School District staff this Saturday (March 26) for an evening of "funny, theatrical and exciting tricks, hoops and alley oops! Come out to see the Harlem Wizards show off their great skill, teamwork and crazy slams."

All are welcome!

The fundraising event will be held at 7 p.m. on March 26 at the Monrovia High School Gymnasium. Advance Tickets:  $10 for Students and Seniors, and $12 for General Admission. Tickets at the Door: $12 for Students and Seniors, and $15 for General Admission.

Advance tickets can be purchased at  Monrovia High Student Affairs Office, or at the following link: http://goo.gl/cF30U

For questions, call Mr. Paul Dols at (626) 471-2800, or  PDols@monrovia.k12.ca.us

- Brad Haugaard

Angry Adams | Monrovia's Bull's Eye Bar

~ I suggested in the previous post that Monrovia City Councilman Tom Adams was unhappy with Mayor Mary Ann Lutz. Maybe I should revise that to "hopping mad" since this morning I find he has linked one of his own Twitter posts to an article that says he "Lashes Out" at the Mayor. (See above.)

~ Story of the revamping of the bar at Monrovia Black Angus into the Bull's Eye Bar. http://goo.gl/0TNQb

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Councilman Adams Objects to Gold Line Property Sale

[This item refers to the previous post, about the Monrovia City Council considering a sale of property to the Gold Line for $39.6 million. Councilman Tom Adams objects to the idea (and appears a bit unhappy with Mayor Mary Ann Lutz) but as he can't attend the meeting, he asked for the following letter to be read into the minutes of the Tuesday night meeting. - Brad Haugaard]

First, I want to apologize for not being here for this special meeting. I do my best to coordinate my personal life around city business but at times when meetings are called outside of the normal calendar I find that I must be absent. I noticed the City Manager that I could not attend this meeting but more importantly neither will most of Monrovia because they don’t know about it. I know we are told there is danger, danger that the State could take this land and block the Gold Line from coming. I would rather risk what the state could do than rush this through in an off cycle meeting at an inconvenient time that seems to be less than transparent.

Second, I’d like to say that I am 100% in favor of the Gold Line moving forward. Looking into our history cities lived or died based on their location close to transportation and the Gold Line is the right thing at the right time.

My objection is not about the placement of the yard but at what cost? Monrovia did not start out wanting a maintenance yard, we decided to offer it when no one else would take it, or so we are told. One question is what if no one would take the yard? Would the Gold Line never come? Are the rest of the cities along the line so uncaring about the Gold Line that they would see it go?

Being a good neighbor, Monrovia offered the property to the Gold Line Authority for $80 million dollars. That was based on the current value of the land and the future loss of revenue due to several factors including the fact that once this is transferred to the Gold Line the property will never again generate tax revenue. NEVER AGAIN, for ever. Most of the decisions the council makes are temporary, buildings can be torn down and rebuilt, zoning can change, but this is one of the few that are for ever. All the more reason why this decision should not be made in a special meeting, this should be decided at a regularly scheduled meeting that people attend! As for the money, I have asked repeatedly in our closed session meetings for our representative to the Gold Line, the Mayor to ask our neighboring cities to help bear this burden. Every city along the Gold Line will benefit from the Yard yet we are the only ones taking a loss from the transfer of our land to the Gold Line, which is wrong. It is wrong because our Mayor never asked, or at least there is no evidence that the Mayor asked and it is wrong because the people of Monrovia will be taking the economic hit for this decision. Money that could have been used for a park on the south side of town is still in the hands of our neighboring cities that will not help because they were never asked. Money that could have been used in Monrovia to make a difference, money that Monrovia will never see because our representative never asked.

The Mayor told the press on January 20th and I quote, “Mayor Mary Ann Lutz said that the city has a deal in place with the construction authority and is waiting for Gold Line officials to secure additional land before the council officially executes the deal.” What this means is that it would be unlikely to make a better deal after this announcement, our position has been declared, or so it would seem.

This is beginning to look a little like the city logo, the Mayor knows what the council approves before the council has an opportunity to approve it. The Mayor needs to be reminded that each seat has but one vote and each vote is as important as the rest.

I know that by not being here I have no vote but I hope by submitting this letter I still have a voice.

Monrovia Council to Consider Sale of Property to Gold Line for $39.6 Million

At its Tuesday, March 22, meeting, the Monrovia Redevelopment Agency (the City Council wearing a different hat) will consider selling the property bounded by Evergreen Road, Shamrock Avenue, Duarte Road and California Avenue, to the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority for $39,627,818. http://goo.gl/R1OhY

- Brad Haugaard

Bark Pix / No Climbing / Monrovian: Woman of Year / AeroVironment CEO /Carden

~ Cute pictures from the Bark for Life anti-cancer fundraiser. http://goo.gl/oGK4W

~ "No climbing" sign installed at waterfall. (Good idea!) http://goo.gl/tsCl3

~ Monrovian Beth Costanza named 44th Assembly District's Woman of the Year. http://goo.gl/0eiKU

~ Nice profile in LA Times of Timothy Conver, CEO of AeroVironment. http://goo.gl/jqVq4

~ Carden of the Foothills School is sponsoring a golf tournament to raise funds for the school. http://goo.gl/eAavs

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia MAP Program a Finalist

Monrovia's "Monrovia Area Partnership" (MAP) program is a finalist - competing with cities across the nation - in two categories in an awards program sponsored by Neighborhoods USA: "Neighborhood of the Year Award," and "The Best Neighborhood Program Award." http://goo.gl/1bLzG 

 

- Brad Haugaard

Endorsements for Monrovia City Council: Tom Adams & Becky Shevlin

On April 12 Monrovians will select two of five candidates to serve on the Monrovia City Council. (Actually, two of four, since candidate Joe Espinosa has withdrawn, though his name will remain on the ballot).

I think the best choices are the two incumbents, Tom Adams and Becky Shevlin.

My reasoning is that the overriding concern for Monrovia today is the city budget, and Shevlin and Adams have the focus and experience to deal with that.

At the candidates' forum I attended this seemed to be the main issue for both of them. Both talked about the city fixing its pension system and both spoke of attempts by the state to extract even more money from local government.

That was exactly the focus I wanted to hear.

Now I'm sure the challengers don't want to blow the budget either, but the incumbents are familiar with the problem and have been wrestling with it, and however competent the challengers may be, there is always a learning period before people become effective in a new position. But the situation is critical and I don't feel there is time for on-the-job training. We already have two competent people who understand the problem and are working on it - Tom Adams and Becky Shevlin - and I think we should stick with them.

I welcome other opinions.

[UPDATE: Please see responses by clicking the Comment link to the right, below.]

- Brad Haugaard

Association of Schools Visits Monrovia School

The Monrovia Adult School is welcoming a visiting team from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. (That's the group that accredits schools, so it's important.)  http://goo.gl/7lx91

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia's Farmers Market / Youth Vote / Thai Bistro Discount

~ A review of Monrovia's Farmers' Market - "just keeps getting better & better." http://goo.gl/27vvV

~ Promoting the youth vote in Monrovia. http://goo.gl/fr8X2

~ Chang Thai Bistro at 614 S. Myrtle. Bring in proof of Monrovia residence and get 20% off on lunch. http://goo.gl/hgsQe

- Brad Haugaard

Items the Monrovia School Board Will Consider

At its March 23 Meeting ( http://goo.gl/ucj2F ), the Monrovia Board of Education will consider, among other things ...
- Changes to its Board Policies, including its Independent Study program and foster youth program. If either of those apply to you, you may want to read this document: http://goo.gl/OlPK9
- Approving a Monrovia High School plan to add a year-long Mandarin 2 Chinese language course to its curriculum, following up on the Mandarin 1 course already in place. http://goo.gl/urbgO
- Leasing 2,500 square feet of spare space at Santa Fe Middle School to Verizon for a cell phone antenna. The district will get about $24,000 per year. http://goo.gl/XLNHg . Also, the district will consider continuing a lease to MetroPCS for an antenna at Monrovia High. That one brings in $21,600 a year. http://goo.gl/5EOpx
- Passing a resolution supporting Governor Jerry Brown's plan to put an extension of a temporary state tax on the June 2011 ballot. http://goo.gl/6mFeb
- A report saying that since November, the district has implemented a new web filtering service, instituted new procedures to keep student data safe, implemented a parent telephone notification system, installed interactive classroom equipment at Monrovia High and installed WiFi at Monroe and Wild Rose elementary schools. http://goo.gl/wXzd2
- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Schools: $390,000 for Elementary English Books?

The Monrovia Board of Education will consider spending $390,000 to purchase the "California Treasures" English textbooks for kindergarten through fifth grade. http://goo.gl/QaT9W
Let's see, with 2,636 Monrovia elementary students as of 10/6/2010, and one book per student, that comes to $147.95 per student. Yowza! Well, come to think of it, kids are hard on books, plus there are probably some teachers' guides to go with it, so let's order half again as many books, 3,954. So, that comes to $98.63 per book.
Unless I'm missing something big, that still seems like an insane amount of money for a book.
Right now I am looking at a book I own called "World Art." It is large-format, 448 pages, printed on glossy, heavy paper, with beautifully-printed full-color images on 350 of its pages, and it is filled with intelligent prose. You can buy this book in its hardcover edition on Amazon for a (comparatively) piddly $26.47: http://goo.gl/ZLQfK
Not that I'm saying anything new, but there seems to be something seriously wrong in the world of textbooks.
- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Anti-Cancer Foundation in Wall Street Journal

St. Baldrick's Foundation ( http://goo.gl/nYdge ) of Monrovia just got a write-up in the Wall Street Journal ( http://goo.gl/2fNtt ). St. Baldrick's funds childhood cancer research with shaved heads.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia's AeroVironment Gets Hawaii Contract

Monrovia's AeroVironment has an $820,000 deal with Hawaii to provide electric charging stations throughout the state. http://goo.gl/gdUkv

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Quake Insurance / ZuniConnect

~ Insurance agent says earthquake insurance cost for Monrovia is pretty reasonable. http://goo.gl/8wOFu

~ Monrovia company, ZuniDigital, has created "ZuniConnect Travel," a device that creates a secure wireless network from a wired or wireless internet connection and charges multiple portable electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, MP3 players and gaming systems. http://goo.gl/BPFJa

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Police Formative Years Project

If you have young children, you may want to sign up for the Monrovia Police Department's Formative Years Project, scheduled to begin May 5.  The project is for parents and their children, grades 1-3, and introduces life values and skills to children, beginning the process of building healthy and safe practices.  See the flyer for information on how to register for classes. 

- Brad Haugaard