Monrovia Now: News and Comment about Monrovia, California

Monrovia Robotics Team Heading Home From St. Louis

Monrovia High's Kings and Queens robotics team reports:

"We ended up not winning any judged awards at the FTC Championship awards ceremony but we are content with the knowledge we have gained, the experiences we have shared, and the friends we have made. Tomorrow we get to sleep in, and then we are going to take in the sights and attractions of St. Louis before we fly home on Monday. Thank you to the organizers and many volunteers who made the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship such a great experience for us."

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Painting

A Monrovia painting by an un-renowned Monrovia artist. Me. If you can't figure out where this is, there's no hope for me as an artist. (The glare on this snapshot isn't helping any.)

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Keeps Its Lead in Baseball

Monrovia maintains its 3-game lead. "There's no let up with the Monrovia High School baseball team." http://goo.gl/4l1aU4

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Council: Consider New Street Fair Company | School Board: Moving to Common Core; Refinancing Bonds

~ The Monrovia City Council will hold a special session Tuesday, April 28 at 2 p.m. to consider having Los Angeles PartyWorks handle the Friday night street fair. The city expects to get an annual fee of $18,000 which will be paid on a monthly basis. http://goo.gl/mWgpHS

~ Meanwhile, over at the school district, at its April 29 meeting the Monrovia School Board (agenda: http://goo.gl/XyxyCm ) will ...

- consider adopting "bridge" math materials for the transition to Common Core state standards. http://goo.gl/aSjiuZ

- consider refinancing $30 million of the district's school bonds at today's lower rates. http://goo.gl/4G1Ep6

- Brad Haugaard

Dinner at Zen Buffet

Had dinner at Zen Buffet last night, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Huntington. Cost is $15.99, which is well worth it if you go back a lot, which I, uh, did. Very nice selection. Plus I had a beer for three dollars. Everything was really quite tasty, even better than I remember it from last time.

- Brad Haugaard

Official Count in - No Change

It's official now: Tom Adams has been elected mayor and Becky Shevlin and Gloria Grudgington are council members. http://goo.gl/RTXeJ1

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia High Seniors Select 'Revered' Teachers

The Monrovia High Senior class has selected four instructors as "Revered Teachers" for its graduation ceremony this year ( http://goo.gl/AfnhP9 ). The four are:
1) Mr. Duff
2) Mrs. Harrison
3) Mr. Dols
4) Mr. Miller

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Police: Banged Up in Car Crash; New Girlfriend vs. Old Girlfriend; Drunk Driving

[Monrovia Police activities from the Police Department's Neighborhood Watch Report for April 20-22. - Brad Haugaard]

During the last seven-day period, the Police Department handled 359 service events, resulting in 62 investigations.

Injury Traffic Collision
April 20 at 7:15 a.m., a traffic collision involving injuries was reported at Mountain and Royal Oaks. A vehicle traveling southbound failed to stop for a red light. The vehicle struck a westbound vehicle traveling through on green light. There were six passengers between the two vehicles. All of the passengers were taken to local hospitals for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

Non-Injury Traffic Collision
April 22 at 7:30 a.m., a non-injury traffic collision was reported in the 200 block of South Ivy in front of a school. A driver stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake, causing a minor dent to the vehicle and a minor scrape to school property.

Battery
April 22 at 4:00 p.m., a battery incident was reported in the 400 block of Genoa. The victim was struck in the face by her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend. The suspect struck the victim and fled the location. The investigation is continuing.

Driving Under the Influence – Suspect Arrested
April 22 at 8:24 p.m., two officers were driving south on Myrtle when they observed a vehicle making a left turn onto east Central, against traffic. The vehicle hit the southeast curb of the intersection and continued east on Central. After stopping the vehicle, the officers found that the female driver displayed signs of being under the influence of alcohol. She was arrested for driving under the influence and taken into custody. The driver was extremely intoxicated. Fearing possible alcohol poisoning, she was cited for DUI and taken to a hospital for treatment.

Monrovia Mayor Mary Ann Lutz Says Thanks

Letter from outgoing Mayor Mary Ann Lutz:

My fellow Monrovians,

Thank you for the opportunity to serve these past six years as Mayor of Monrovia, and for the six years before that on the City Council. I am proud of the accomplishments of those years and am honored to have worked alongside many fine council members and outstanding staff.

I am proud, too, of the campaign we ran these past several weeks and more grateful than I can say for the many, many Monrovians who gave their time, their dollars, their energy and their love to our effort.

I wish the new Mayor and Council all the best as they now pick up the torch.

Mayor Mary Ann Lutz

- Brad Haugaard

Examples of Water Waste in Monrovia

At Monterey and Huntington.

A Monrovian writes to say that he has contacted the city several times during the past two years about water regularly running down streets but hasn't seen any change. He wrote me a letter, which I have edited, here:

- First is all the way down Huntington Drive, from the shopping center with Oto Oto, Tashio and the old Daphne's Greek restaurant. Probably thousands of gallons every day wasted. Do you ever see the puddles around the Shell Gas Station in the mornings all the way to Highway Esplanade?

- Second is Live Oak Cemetery. Water flowing down Walker Ave, Taylor, Duarte Rd, El Norte, and Myrtle, plus down our driveway and always into our machine shop.

- Third is I believe coming from around the shopping area with the Jack In The Box at Myrtle and Duarte every morning. Water flowing past Spanner on Myrtle [three blocks away].

Still has not stopped. The cemetery been happening for over eight years, and Huntington Drive for as long as I can remember!

I send pictures, times and dates. The city says that someone will investigate, but it's still happening.

UPDATE: A relevant letter.

I am the owner of the Shell Station at Huntington and Monterey. First off, thank you for your involvement with the city and keeping the public updated. I follow your website daily as a business owner.

Regarding the water waste, I just want to make sure its clear to your readers it is not coming from the Shell Station. We have seen that water flow for many years and I believe the City did investigate. Not sure what the conclusion was.

We take the water shortage seriously and hope the water wasting will stop.

Thank you,
Ramzi Rabadi

- Brad Haugaard

Flamzz Pizza Out of Business

Apparently Flamzz Pizza (southwest corner of Colorado and Ivy) is out of business. Too bad. http://goo.gl/eMIoxk

- Brad Haugaard

Citrus College President Honored

Citrus College Superintendent/President Geraldine M. Perri, Ph.D. was recently recognized by the national Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society with its Shirley B. Gordon Award for Distinction. Citrus College serves Monrovia. Dr. Perri was the only college leader from California to receive the award, which was presented on April 17 in San Antonio. Every year, presidents and CEOs from the nation’s 1,137 community colleges are nominated to receive the award. Source: Citrus press release

- Brad Haugaard