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Arcadia City Council Recap: Kittens, Organ Donations and Movies in the Park
Arcadia Weekly Apr 18, 2018
The Pasadena Humane Society usually brings large dogs to the Arcadia City Council, but brought kittens in honor of Kitten Week, which begins next week. – Photo by Galen Patterson / Beacon Media News
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The Pasadena Humane Society usually brings large dogs to the Arcadia City Council, but brought kittens in honor of Kitten Week, which begins next week. – Photo by Galen Patterson / Beacon Media News
By Galen Patterson
Arcadia’s City Council convened on the evening of April 17 for its bi-monthly meeting to discuss city matters.
The presentations saw the Pasadena Humane Society bringing in kittens to promote pet adoption in the San Gabriel Valley, a Legacy Award presented to Mr. David Lee for his work with the Arcadia Chinese Association and his contributions to the City. Local teacher Carol Riboli accepted a proclamation on behalf of the One Legacy Donate Life Run/Walk. One Legacy is an organization that handles organ donations.
Riboli is a kindergarten teacher in Arcadia and is a survivor of the organ donation list. A few years ago, Riboli’s liver began to fail literally overnight. The severity of her rapidly declining health propelled her to the top of the organ donation list. In a bittersweet twist of fate, an organ donor from Arizona restored Riboli’s life, and on the evening of April 17 she stood before the city encouraging Arcadians to become organ donors and save lives.
According to One Legacy, one name is added to the National Transplant Waiting List every 10 minutes. 21,000 Californians are currently on the list, and Riboli says one person could save up to eight lives. The Donate Life Run/Walk will be on April 28, at Cal State, Fullerton.
Several comments from the public made during the meeting were reading prepared speeches voicing the support of Mayor Pro Tempore Sho Tay being named Mayor for the next year in Arcadia.
The comments from the council included several council members calling for the end of negative campaigning in Arcadia’s local elections and saw councilman Tom Beck and Mayor Pro Temp. Tay publicly agree to work together in guiding Arcadia moving forward.
Mayor Peter Amundson asked the council to have a meeting where they would discuss and come to terms with each other in a process that Amundson calls “circling the wagons.” Amundson’s term as Mayor has been centered around uniting Arcadia, despite the clear district boundaries the city was forced to place on itself. “Before we can unite the city, we have to unite the council,” said Amundson. 4 councilmembers voted in favor of the teambuilding exercise.
With some deliberation, the consent calendar was approved. The sole item for legislation brought forth by the City Manager, Dominic Lazzaretto, was appropriation of $11,000 from the General Fund Reserve for the Movies in the Park Program.
According to the city, the Movies in the Park Program has been gaining attention from Arcadians, with higher attendance last year averaging 650 attendees. 4,500 people attended the Movies in the Park in 2017 which rivals the city’s Concerts in the Park. The Movies will be moved to Thursday nights this year, following the Concerts. “$11,000 is a worst-case-scenario sort of number,” said City Manager Lazzaretto. The request follows the dissolving of a sponsorship, because of the concern over parking and moving of the event time. The city is actively seeking a new sponsor for the event to offset the cost, but the appropriation of funds was approved.
