It Was the Worst of Times – It Was the Best of Times

For many years, Monrovia used redevelopment as an effective tool in revitalizing the community. – Courtesy photo

By Susan Motander

With apologizes to Charles Dickens, his phrasing has been reversed intentionally as this is not a tale of two cities, but rather the story of one town. The order is intentional as the city of Monrovia has a habit of taking bad situations and finding a way to turn it around.

20 years Old Town Monrovia was pulling itself out of several years of decline. The merchants had banded together and, with the help of the city, formed a business improvement district. As a part of that renaissance, the merchants had begun a street fair on Friday nights. While the Friday night festivities have changed over the years: there have been several different managers of the festival, some of the changes in management were amid accusations of misconduct by various managers. At one time the controversy was so great, this publication even ran a series of articles called Family Festival Fracas, but the street fair has survived and even improved.

But the festival was not the only improvement in downtown. The chamber of commerce had formed a “Vision” committee to look for ways to improve the area. One of the goals was a theater for the downtown. Redevelopment made that dream a reality when the Krikorian Theatre opened. With its 12 screens (plus one large format screen), the Old Town gained another focal point.

Just up the street, a new Library was created in Library Park, replacing the small library that had served the community since 1954. A bond measure was passed to raise the funds for the new building. With a large amount of public input, a state of the art library was created for the community, again changing the look of the downtown.

For many years, Monrovia used redevelopment as an effective tool in revitalizing the community. The city had already changed the look of West Huntington Drive with the creation of the Huntington Oaks shopping center. That endeavor culminated in the arrival of Trader Joe’s. Even before the store opened in Monrovia, the company had begun work on its new headquarters, moving from South Pasadena to Monrovia.

They were not the only large endeavor to make Monrovia its home. Using the Monrovia Redevelopment Agency, the city encouraged the development of a “high tech” corridor along East Huntington Drive. Companies, such as Aerovironment, Inc. made that part of Monrovia home and revitalized the area.

And it has been an area in transition. The old Kmart was remade into a grocery store. Unfortunately Albertson’s pulled out a few years ago and the store stood vacant sandwiched between Michael’s and O’Reilly Auto Parts. However, recently a new grocery store, Aldi, has begun the work of moving in. And this without the tool of redevelopment.

The state ending redevelopment in 2011 had a profound effect on Monrovia. Originally, the Station Square project had been planned as a major redevelopment effort, but with the death of redevelopment, those plans had to be shelved and the project downscaled. Even downsized the $25 million project was the largest the city had ever undertaken. The coming of the Gold Line to Monrovia and the opening of the park around the old depot were major events within the last year. The city had again made the best of a sad situation.

Within the last 20 years, Monrovia first saw a marked increase in gang violence, but the city took steps to change this situation. A gang injunction, in restraining order against certain activities in a specific area by individuals with known gang ties, was brought. This restricted the activities of certain individuals during specific times. And this was only one step.

The city started the Monrovia Area Partnership, a program to establish a better rapport with residents in gang-related neighborhoods. One resident in the MAP area wrote the following to the city:

“With joy and hope I report to you that my neighborhood has become quiet and safer. Now the kids come out to play and my neighbors sit with family in their front yards. Some neighbors started walking around the block in the morning or afternoons. Little by little the fear is fading and the sad moments from the past are being forgotten. Most of my neighbors appreciate and notice the difference between how it was and how quiet and safe it feels now.”

The police department has also worked hard on its Community Action Policing (started in the mid-1990s) to help the department to improve its relationship with the areas. The Youth Alliance was formed to reach out to young people through the city, and the Police Department has even started parenting classes. There is even a resource officer at Monrovia High School to improve relations between the police and the young people in the city.

When violence against police officers was becoming common in the rest of the country, in Monrovia, two local churches marched to the Police Department. They did so not in protest, but to tell the officers they cared and supported them.

Another major project taken on by the city, and another example of the community taking a ”worst of times” situation and turning it into a “best of times,” is the Hillside Wilderness Preserve. In the late 1990s a developer sought approval of plans to build at one time more than 100 homes in the hillside above the city. This lead to a marathon planning commission meeting attended by so many citizens, they had to be moved from Council Chambers in City Hall to the auditorium at Clifton Middle School. Even there it was a full house.

While the developer agreed to downsize the project, the community was still vocal in its opposition. Eric Faith, then the chair of the commission presided over many contentious meetings. Ultimately, in 2000, the citizens voted to create a Hillside Wilderness preserve and further to tax themselves to pay for the land. After years of effort, the Hillside Wilderness Preserve is now opening with four access points.

The final huge undertaking in the community is Monrovia Renewel, a $51.7 million project of infrastructure revitalization. Expected to take four to five years, the city-wide project will repair and or replace and improve the water and sewer pipeline, the water facilities, the streets, sidewalks, gutters and curbs. The work started last summer and will continue through at least 2020.

These are just a short list of the changes in the last 20 years. There were scandals (who can forget Monrovia’s Mini Madoff, the Tax Doctor) and a parade of city managers and interim city managers, there were the openings and closing of business in Old Town and throughout the community.

The city established its first Historic District on Wildrose Avenue and is working on its second on Encinitas. More than a hundred homes have been granted landmark status, and the city recently amended its building codes to reflect the need to maintain the sense of neighborhood compatibility.

All of this reminds one of the campaign slogans of a former member of the Monrovia City Council, Mary Wilcox. She used to say “Monrovia has its eye on the future, but its feet firmly planted in its history.”

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