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Thursday, February 16, 2017 - February 22, 2017
Your Voice, Your Community
Since 1996
COMPLIMENTARY COPY VOLUME 21, NO. 7
Monrovia City Council Delivers State of the City Address BY SUSAN MOTANDER
T
he Monrovia City Council presented the State of the City as a group effort with each member of the council recapping a different aspect of the progress the city made in the preceding year. While the remarks of most of the members of the council would be well known to anyone attending or watching the City Council Meetings on a regular basis, those of the Mayor Pro Tem were more revealing. Mayor Pro Tem Alex Blackburn discussed the economic accomplishments of the city. He noted that the council had directed, and the city staff was working to implement, “a new economic development strategy that has been geared towards attracting new high-end employers to Monrovia, while also working to develop a biotechnology and science-based, local economic ecosystem. He pointed to some of the companies in those fields that had recently come to the city including Beckman Research Institute and Oak Crest Institute of Science. He also noted the activities of LabLaunch, the biotech/science incubator located in Monrovia, the only such facility in the San Gabriel Valley. He made special mention of the commitments of the Oak Crest Institute in that “helping the City develop a stronger
Mayor Tom Adams emphasizes a point during the reception portion of the State of the City Monday evening. - Photos by Terry Miller / Beacon Media News
local biotech and science presence.” One of the ways Oak Crest intends to do this is by creating another “incubator operation,” this one dedicated to biotech. Another is by working with local young people to see how careers in science “help change the world.” Balckburn also said that within the year the city hopes to work with Oak Crest to support the biotech and science industries by developing and supporting the local “ecosystem.” He also briefly reviewed the other new companies that had come to Monrovia including nine new businesses in Old Town. Coming soon is a revitalized shopping center where the Albertson’s was located. This will include an Aldi grocery store and a TJMaxx/Homegoods store as well as revamping the existing Michaels. His report also included mention of the two new housing projects underway: the 154 unit complex on Fifth Avenue at Huntington Drive and the 261 unit apartment complex, MODA, at Station Square. Gloria Crudgington discussed the historic preservation actions including the new neighborhood preservation ordinance. Crudgington also touched on the opening of the Hillside Wilderness preserve to passive SEE PAGE 11
Drought is ‘Not Over’ Says Upper District San Gabriel Valley MWD Official BY TERRY MILLER
According to the city manager’s report this week, the Main San Gabriel Basin Watermaster has been developing plans for implementing a new assessment to be used
towards purchasing imported water to recharge the local aquifer. Even though the rain has been plentiful, the basin, where Monrovia gets its water, is still in a critically un-
healthy state. In simple terms, for the Main San Gabriel Basin to be considered healthy, the groundwater level is supposed to be at between 200
– 250 feet. With the current rain the area have received of late, the groundwater level is now only at around 180 feet. In fact, Charles M. Trevi-
no, Director Division 2 of the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District told Monrovia Weekly Monday that the drought, “….is definitely NOT over.
Trevino was in attendance for the annual State of the City speech and was concerned that the recent rains SEE PAGE 10