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View Winners → Arcadia Council Recap: $80K for Street Striping, El Niño Preparedness, Youth Council
Arcadia Weekly Dec 02, 2015
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El Niño reached a record weekly high in mid-November and hasn’t let up since. – Photo Courtesy NOAA
Council Approves Youth Committee, Contract for Street Repainting; County Provides Flood-Prevention Update
By Joe Taglieri
The Arcadia City Council on Tuesday approved nearly $80,000 for annual upgrades to pavement markings. In addition to green-lighting the establishment of a local youth advisory panel, members also received an update from the county on preparing for the upcoming rainy season.
Each year the city repaints traffic lanes and crosswalks on all major thoroughfares and streets adjacent to schools in the summer when classes are not in session, according to a city staff report. Less trafficked roads, called “collector streets” that are designed to move traffic from residential streets to major traffic arteries, are repainted every three years.
Four companies bid on the project ranging from $79,800 to $172,300.
“It was determined that J & S Striping Company, Inc. submitted the lowest responsive bid and has satisfactorily performed street striping and pavement marking services for the City in the past,” the staff report states. “Reference checks resulted in positive comments regarding [J & S’s] competence and performance in providing similar services for other municipal agencies in Los Angeles and Orange County.”
El Niño Preparedness
As predictions of a wet winter persist, Los Angeles County officials are getting the word out about preparing for an aggressive El Niño rainy season.
In a presentation to the council Terri Grant from the county’s Public Works Department unveiled a flier, which is available to the public at Arcadia City Hall, with information on preparing for and dealing with flood conditions. The information is also accessible online at lacounty.gov/elnino.
“Our system is designed to minimize the risk of impacts to property and lives,” Grant said. “In preparation for the storm season we’ve cleared our catch basins, removed vegetation from our open channels to restore their capacity, removed debris from the debris basin, checked the facilities at the dams to be sure that all our facilities are ready and will be effective.”
Grant cautioned, however, that the county’s advance preparations “don’t eliminate all the risks,” and she cited the need for community awareness in order to best mitigate flood hazards.
Council members drew attention to a sandbag distribution event scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Fire Station 107, 79 W. Orange Grove Ave. Arcadia residents can receive up to 20 free sandbags.
As part of a sizable checklist pertaining to flood emergencies, the county’s flier advises residents to “look for tilted trees, telephone poles, fences or walls, and for new holes or bare spots on hillsides” and to avoid “steep slopes that may become unstable when saturated.”
The flier also advises people to “report small problems as soon as they occur so they don’t turn into bigger problems.”
Grant and City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto suggested the public sign up for alerts on emergency conditions sent to email and cell phones which both municipalities offer via their websites.
Youth Council
Apparently back by popular demand, the city will soon have a council comprised of local high school and middle school students to serve in an advisory capacity on local issues of concern to the youth of Arcadia.
City council members voted unanimously to move forward with the establishment of a panel of youngsters that will meet quarterly. The Parks and Recreation Department will facilitate the seven-member committee.
The group’s goal is “to spread civic education to Arcadia’s youth, give students a voice within the City of Arcadia, provide opportunities for community service initiatives, and provide input for youth programming in Arcadia,” a staff report explains.
According to the resolution city council members unanimously adopted, the youth council will:
“Act in an advisory capacity to the City Council on matters pertaining to the youth population of the community.
“[Encourage] the interest and participation of the youth community in the various activities and recreational services offered by the City of Arcadia.
“Develop additional, more effective methods of communication to actively engage the youth of Arcadia.
“Provide collaboration between and among the City of Arcadia and the various community youth groups.”
The resolution calls for a trial run of 2.5 years culminating in June 2018 to assess the youth committee’s viability and level of participation.
The panel “would be subject to the Brown Act, conflict of interest regulations, and all other policies that apply to City boards and commissions,” according to the staff report.
