Neighborhood Treasure Almera Romney to be Honored Saturday at Block Party

This Saturday, March, 19 Monrovia will honor its 6th Neighborhood Treasure honoree, civil rights activist, and former teacher and principle of Huntington School, Almera Romney. There will be an art unveiling and a block party celebration to follow. Free and open to the public. For questions, email map@ci.monrovia.ca.us or call (626) 932-5525.

- Brad Haugaard

High Energy Blaze Needs Someone To Match His Playful Personality

Three-year-old Blaze is a high-energy dog who loves people and being active! His hobbies include playing fetch with a ball and watching television. Blaze can be strong on a leash, so he needs someone who can continue teaching him his leash manners – and match his playful, energetic personality. Blaze would do best as the only pet in the home so he can give you all his love!

The adoption fee for dogs is $150. All dog adoptions include spay or neuter, microchip, and age-appropriate vaccines.

New adopters will receive a complimentary health-and-wellness exam from VCA Animal Hospitals, as well as a goody bag filled with information about how to care for your pet.

View photos of adoptable pets and schedule an adoption appointment at pasadenahumane.org. Adoptions are by appointment only, and new adoption appointments are available every Sunday and Wednesday at 10:00 a.m.

Pets may not be available for adoption and cannot be held for potential adopters by phone calls or email.

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Old Homes Tour Cancelled For This Year

There will be no Monrovia Old Homes Tour this year, virtual or in-person. The Monrovia Historic Preservation Group Board of Directors voted on Sunday, March 6, to cancel the annual event, which has been going on since 1983.

The organization's website reports that, "It had proven impossible to secure enough homes to guarantee the quality and variety our tour goers have come to expect with our tours."

MOHPG plans to return to an in-person home tour on May 7, 2023.

- Brad Haugaard

Grass Replacement Workshop March 19

In light of the city's requirement that water customers reduce their water usage by 10 percent, you may want to learn about grass replacement rebates and alternative landscapes. There will be a hands-on workshop on sheet mulch - a simple cost effective way to replace lawn. At the event the replacement of 50,000 square feet of lawn at the Maryknoll Sisters site (Greystone and Norumbega) will begin. Register here: GrowMonrovia.org

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia Cops Will Be on Lookout For Drunk Drivers on St. Patrick's Day

This St. Patrick’s Day, the Monrovia Police Department will be on alert for suspected impaired drivers and reminds the community to celebrate the holiday responsibly.

Additional officers will be on patrol March 17 from 8:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. looking for drivers suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.

“Have a game plan before you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day,” Lt. Oberon said. “Designate a sober driver or make other plans to get home safely.”

During the 2019 St. Patrick’s Day holiday period, nearly half of all traffic deaths throughout the country involved a drunk driver.

Monrovia PD wants to warn the community that alcohol is not the only substance that can cause impairment. Cannabis, prescription medications, over-the-counter drugs, and illegal drugs can all lead to a DUI.

If you ever see a suspected drunk driver on the road, call 911.

Funding for this checkpoint is provided to Monrovia Police Department by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Source: Monrovia Police press release

- Brad Haugaard

Drought Resilient Lawn Care Webinar, March 10, 22

Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District will sponsor a webinar on Drought Resilient Lawn Care on Thursday, March 10 at 6 p.m. and Tuesday, March 22 at noon. Workshop includes information about building healthy soil, proper watering, improving resiliency, managing weeds, pests and disease.  Register here: https://tny.im/u1XFy

- Brad Haugaard

Online Recorded Leak Detection Class

- Brad Haugaard

A Moment in Monrovia History: A.B. Chapman, Offers Water to City for $500 Per Inch

A.B. Chapman, from Historical & Biographical Record of So. Calif. J.M. Guinn A.M. 1902. "A matter of great interest to the city occurred in December. A. B. Chapman, who possessed some acreage four and a half miles west of the city, reported that he had just completed the boring of an artesian well, which flowed eight inches of water at the surface, or forty inches ten feet below the surface and he offered this water to the city for five hundred dollars per inch." John L. Wiley, History of Monrovia, p 86. From "Orange Leaves" Published in 1902. Written by James Leonard.. From the Myron Hotchkiss collection. See full details here.

For more historic photos and papers, see the Monrovia Historical Society’s complete Legacy Project collection here. Learn more about the Monrovia Historical Society here.

- Brad Haugaard

Council To Consider $1.6 Million Contract To Remove Rubble From Canyon Park; Returning Power to City Committees; Vietnam War Vets Day

Some of the mess in Canyon Park.

At its next meeting (agenda: https://tny.im/lqQIc) the Monrovia City Council will consider ...

~ Contracting with Monrovia's Pokrajac Corporation for up to $1.6 million to remove wood, soil, rocks, and boulders from Canyon Park as part of the city's park repair project.  https://tny.im/qBte5

~ Return the power to make decisions related to Historic Preservation and Development Review to ... the Historic Preservation Commission and the Development Review Committee. During COVID some of those powers had been temporarily delegated to the Director of Community Development.  https://tny.im/kxTUf

~ Proclaiming March 29 to be National Vietnam War Veterans Day. https://tny.im/nVxsN

- Brad Haugaard

Compost and Mulch Event at City Yard March 26

Compost & Mulch event on Saturday, March 26, from 8 a.m. to noon, at the Public Works Yard, 600 S. Mountain. Free compost and mulch. To make a reservation, call 932-5562 or email pbeglarian@ci.monrovia.ca.us. Bring ID or Athens bill, sturdy container and a shovel. (No plastic bags.)

- Brad Haugaard

Toxic Waste Collection March 19

A free Household Hazardous and Electronic Waste Drive-Through will be held Saturday, March 19, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the San Gabriel Valley Airport, 4233 North Santa Anita Avenue, El Monte, CA 91731.

- Brad Haugaard

Prepare Your Business for an Emergency; Low Water Landscaping Workshop; Monrovia is Hiring

In his latest report (https://goo.gl/aOqX7O) City Manager Dylan Feik reports: 

~ Prepare your business for an emergency at the Business Emergency Resiliency Training (BERT) seminar on March 24. Details: https://tny.im/1zdtu

~  Water Optimization Workshop focusing on grass removal on March 19 at Maryknoll Sisters property (Greystone and Norumbega), sponsored by Grow Monrovia. A water district speaker will discuss grass rebates, Leigh Adams, from the LA Arboretum and Studio Petrichor, will discuss water-efficient landscaping. There will then be a hands-on workshop on grass removal techniques by beginning the removal of 50,000 square feet of grass at the Maryknoll Sisters property.

~ The city is planning to hire: Police Officer Recruit (entry level); Police Cadet; Recreation Coordinator. Details: https://tny.im/OJDQS

- Brad Haugaard

Monrovia-Based Trader Joe's Recalls Crunchy Slaw Salad

Monrovia-based Trader Joe’s is recalling its Crunchy Slaw with Chicken, Crispy Noodles & Peanut Dressing with use-by dates 03/09/22 through 03/12/22 because it may contain hard plastic. No injuries have been reported so far and all potentially affected products have been removed from shelves. https://tny.im/Dr7u9

- Brad Haugaard

First Presbyterian Church Reopening Preschool

First Presbyterian Church, at the corner of Myrtle and Foothill, has decided to re-open its preschool, which has been closed for some time.

- Brad Haugaard 

Weekly Monrovia Coronavirus Count: 24 New Cases, One New Death

Coronavirus cases from LA Department of Public Health as of 8 p.m., 03/09/2022. Changes since 03/02/2022.

City of Monrovia: 8,144 cases (up 24), 100 deaths (up 1)
Unincorporated Monrovia: 845 cases (up 5), 4 deaths (unchanged)

- Brad Haugaard