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Arcadia WEEKLY arcadiaweekly.com
Thursday, JULY 7- JULY 13, 2011
Community News, Arts & Opinions Since 1996
Red Lights and Writ of Quo Warranto Dominate GLCA Meeting Tuesday in Arcadia BY RUTH LONGORIA KINGSLAND
READERS CHOICE 2011
V TE ONLINE
(THIS WEEK VOTE ON PAGE 14)
Volume XXIX, No. XXV
Construction Begins on I-210 Gold Line Bridge After nearly a year of design work, permit approvals and hiring of subcontractors, crews will start work on the I-210 Gold Line Bridge next week. The 584-linear foot bridge crosses over the eastbound lanes of the I-210 Freeway between Baldwin and Santa Anita Avenues, and will facilitate connection between the existing Sierra Madre Villa Station in East Pasadena and the future Arcadia Station. It is the first component of the Metro Gold Line Foothill
Extension light rail project from Pasadena to Azusa to move from design to construction. Over the next few months, crews will clear the center and southern freeway medians, build a 500 foot long temporary retaining wall, and then start work on the massive foundations for the bridge structure. Intermittent late-night closures of the Eastbound I-210 Freeway will be necessary during the year-long
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Writ of Quo Warranto introduces Elephant Into Meeting Room BY SUSAN MOTANDER
From left: attorneys Robert P. Silverstein, Christpher Sutton and landowner George Brokate react during the Tuesday evening meeting of the GLCA at Arcadia Police Dept’s Community Room. See Susan Motander’s sidebar story regarding the details of the writ – Photo by Terry Miller
The Metro Gold Line Construction Authority (GLCA) met with an unexpected red light Tuesday night as the GLCA Board attempted to push forward plans to build a maintenance
Stronach Acquires MI Developments’ Racing and Gaming Assets The Stronach Group today announced that it has acquired the racing and gaming assets formerly held by MI Developments Inc. (MID) (NYSE: MIM) as part of a previously announced reorganization proposal approved by MID shareholders on March 29, 2011. The racing and gaming assets acquired by The Stronach Group include: Santa Anita Park; Golden Gate Fields; Portland Meadows; MID’s joint venture interests in Maryland Jockey Club’s real estate and racing assets
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yard in the city of Monrovia, as part of the Gold Line Foothill Extension project. “I’m sorry, this is a bit awkward,” said Michael Estrada, general counsel for the Metro Gold Line Foot-
hill Extension Construction Authority, as he interrupted the Board’s vote to adopt a handful of resolutions concerning plans to take by eminent domain several Monrovia properties currently in
dispute. Estrada asked the Board for a short recess and later procured the Board’s ap-
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The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Authority’s Gold Line Construction Authority (GLCA) held a Special Board Meeting on Tuesday, July 5. Most of the members of the Monrovia City Council were in attendance, although only Council Member Tom Adams spoke to the Board. But they were all taken by surprise by anoth-
er speaker, Attorney Christopher Sutton who represents George Brokate and Excalibur Property Holdings. Sutton walked an elephant into the meeting room (metaphorically) and left it standing there. The elephant in this case came in the guise of a Writ of Quo Warranto.
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People Who Live in Glass Houses... OPINION BY TERRY MILLER July 4, that all American tradition - Parades, hot dogs and Old Glory, plus of course, controversy. That is, of course, if you were in Sierra Madre for the traditional Fourth of July pomp and circumstance show. There was quite a spot of bother over an elephant that was to be included as a “surprise” in this year’s parade. So much so that eventually at the eleventh hour, the idea of having the elephant in the parade was nixed as PETA was allegedly going to disrupt the parade if Tia the Elephant was, in fact, a participant. Now, whatever the motivation behind the inclusion of said elephant, I feel confident that those involved in trying to arrange this entry are not people who would EVER consider animal abuse ac-
ceptable. In fact, initially I thought it was a political gag…you know the GOP, always up to some kind of circus trick! We were alerted to the controversy by a local resident in an email and were the very first, legally recognized media, to announce the intended “mystery” entry in the parade on our website. Ironically, the single, most vocal opponent of the Elephant’s appearance was riding in an old Cadillac sporting an Old Glory shirt. You ask, where’s the irony? This chap, John Crawford, who likes to think that he single handedly brought the elephant controversy to PETA’s attention is a bit of a hypocrite, to say the very least. On his blog, Sierra
Madre Tattler, he was asking people to contact PETA and sign petitions and blasting anyone who would even utter the word elephant. Now, keep this in mind when I tell you that Crawford was so proud to ride in a car with a man who has worked at Santa Anita Race Track for many, many years - where people race horses. PETA is very ANTI horse racing. Now how are you going spin this, Mr. Crawford? ‘The Horseracing Industry: Drugs, Deception and Death ‘They weigh at least 1,000 pounds, they have legs that are supported by ankles the size of a human’s, and they’re forced to run around dirt tracks at speeds of more than 30 miles per hour while
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Triceratops – a last minute replacement for the parade elephant did, in fact, sport a very tiny elephant atop her tusk. – Photo by Terry Miller