Mountain Views News          Saturday, January 29, 2011

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Mountain Views News Saturday, January 29, 2011

MONROVIA’S FINEST

Three of Monrovia’s 
finest were honored by 
the Monrovia Chamber 
of Commerce at its 
annual membership 
dinner and awards 
presentations at the 
Doubletree Hotel on 
Jan. 21. 

 From left, Lisa Barrios, 
partner of Paint 
“n” Play received the 
Monroe Award as 
Business Person of the 
Year; Ulises Gutierrez, 
Youth Alliance coordinator 
for the Santa 
Anita Family YMCA, 
was honored with The 
Iris Award, the equivalent 
of Citizen of the 
Year; and Julie Gentile, 
partner of Gentile, 
McCloskey & Co., 
who also serves of the 
board of the Santa Anita Family YMCA, was presented with The Dick Lord Award for her years of 
outstanding service to the Monrovia Chamber of Commerce.

FINALLY - Snow Day In Duarte

 Good sledding. More than 100 kids turned out to play in the snow in Duarte last Saturday (Jan. 
22). The Duarte Unified School District after school program, THINK Together (Teaching, Helping, 
Inspiring & Nurturing Kids), had 20 tons of snow trucked into Duarte Park to give kids a fun afternoon 
of sledding down a man-made hill. Volunteer organizations helping to make Duarte’s Snow Day possible 
were Duarte Kiwanis, Duarte Area Resource Team (D.A.R.T.), and Caring Helping Youth Leading in 
Life (CHYLL). 


Monrovia State of the City Recap

By Vivianne Parker

 The measurement for Monrovia’s future growth 
will be five pillars that will guide the City through 
the hard time, Mayor Mary Ann Lutz emphasized 
to the 200-plus at Krikorian Theater attending 
Monrovia’s State of the City address. These 
pillars are financial stability, keeping public safety 
a priority, maintaining the City’s infrastructure, 
managing the City government efficiently, and 
improving quality of life for Monrovians. “All of 
these have to be in place for the community to 
succeed,” she told the crowd.

“Despite these hard times, I can report to you 
as we begin 2011, that the State of Monrovia is 
good. It is stable and it is secure,” said the Mayor. 

What has made the times difficult has been 
lower-than-expected property and sales tax 
revenues. Even with this recession, Mayor Lutz 
expects to “overcome it.” “In the past 5 years, 
property taxes have dropped sharply. City 
income from property taxes was even below 
our low expectation. And sales tax revenue has 
been falling for several years. They are only 
now beginning to show signs of recovery.” In 
the 6-month budget review to the City Council 
in December, sales tax revenue were up 6%, “a 
positive for the first time in two years,” added the 
Mayor. “Still, property tax and sales tax revenue 
will account for 36% of all the money the City 
will receive in fiscal year 2010-2011. More than 
1/3 of all the money we have for the entire year 
comes from those two struggling sources,” added 
the Mayor. Another strain on the budget has been 
the State of California take-aways from local 
governments budgets, she emphasized.

To overcome these challenges, Mayor Lutz 
stressed having to “make the important decisions,” 
such as the one made in December 2010 
where the City Council heard a budget review 
recommending to reduce the operational budget 
by two percent and to postpone the reserve fund 
contribution. “We didn’t take money away from 
our reserve fund. We just didn’t add money to 
it as scheduled. With that done, our budget is 
structurally balanced,” said the Mayor. When I 
say the budget is balanced, you need to see how 
exactly fragile that balance is,” the Mayor told the 
audience. “And, you need to understand there is 
no fat in this budget. There is nothing now being 
cut that is going to be felt by the community.”

Another important decision was cutting the 
budget from $2.6 million in 2010, “which had 
already been cut three times in the last three 
years,” resulting in postponing services and/
or eliminating events like the Food and Wine 
Festival. “The city staffing has been cut 12% 
in the last two years. Nearly 30 municipal 
employees were laid off, retired early or saw 
positions eliminated. In 2008-2009, seven 
retired. In 2009-2010, another 19 more retired.” 
In other cost-saving efforts, the city cross trained 
junior employees into senior positions and/or 
converted full-time to part-time positions. 

“There are only two ways to grow revenue: higher 
taxes or new productive businesses with a vibrant 
private sector. The last thing that your city wants 
to see is an increased tax. We know, given this 
current recession and the uncertainty of the State 
of California, that this is not the time to talk about 
increasing taxes, tax assessments or fees. What 
we can do is continue to being aggressive when 
it comes to stimulating our business sector by 
raising new revenues. Ultimately, it will be those 
revenues that will make the difference in this 
community,” believes the Mayor, who cited the 
unemployment economic climate in Monrovia 
rate at 11%. “If those numbers are to be believed, 
it means more than 2,000 of our neighbors are 
without jobs right now.”

By concentrating on the business sector, the 
Mayor believes it will bring more jobs to the 
community and stimulate the local economy. 
The Mayor credits the following new businesses 
in 2010 such as London, T Phillips in Old 
Town, Petco Unleashed, Huntington Oaks, 
Jersey Mikes, Walgreens in the Rosedale 
Center, plus the relocation of City of Hope’s 
financial and administrative operations as 
stimulus to Monrovia’s economy with those 
additional employees shopping and having 
lunch in community, along with the business 
these companies generate. The Mayor stressed 
that they nearly lost Worley Parsons with its 
600 employees to the City of Pasadena, “but we 
worked hard to keep them here and we won.” 

The redevelopment picture for Monrovia from 
the past 30 years shows successes of a once 
blighted area developing into a commercial 
business development like the Autorow area, 
Huntington Oaks Shopping Center, the Marriott 
and Doubletree Hotels, and the high tech 
corridor along Huntington Drive. “It will be 
redevelopment that will move Monrovia to the 
next economic prosperity, if it is still in our future, 
that is. As part of his ambitious reform package, 
the Governor has proposed that redevelopment 
be eliminated through the State of California 
and the redevelopment dollars be redirected to 
fund other things. We in Monrovia see that as 
shortsighted. Monrovia has used redevelopment 
as it was meant to be used. To use it as a benefit 
not just for this community but for the state, too. 
We do it right and it works. Redevelopment has 
enabled us to invest and reinvest in our entire 
community for an entire generation. It has 
brought jobs and trade and served the entire 
region. Doing away with redevelopment is a leap 
in the wrong direction. It takes away the best tool 
we have for job creation and, business attraction 
and market stimulation. And to do away with it 
just when we’re ready take it to make it work to 
get us out of this recession, that’s just kicking us 
when we’re down.”

Equally vital is the role the city’s infrastructure 
plays in the character of the city. The Mayor 
credit’s the makeover of Library Park as “being 
the center of Monrovia’s civic life. All last year 
it was the place for sing-a-longs, art shows. We 
welcomed the return of the summer concert 
series.” It was the recent victory celebration site 
for the Monrovia High School CIF Championship 
win. A repavement project is expected to begin in 
February along West Huntington Drive, as well 
as scheduled maintenance throughout the city.

 The Mayor also stressed saving a historic 
home on Myrtle Avenue from demolishing 
through negotiations; the Anti-Graffiti efforts 
being conducted, Operation Safe Neighborhood, 
Chaplain for At-Risk Youth Program, Monrovia’s 
Anti-Grant Intervention Committee; the arts in 
Public Places Ordinance funded by developers 
through Councilman Joe Garcia’s initiative; the 
Paragon Apartments and the four single-family 
homes in Sherman as programs that improve the 
quality of life for the city and Monrovians. “We 
have created a program with the school district 
that could create neighborhood parks out of 
school yards when the schools are not in session. 
We have a pilot program at Monroe Elementary 
and we hope to expand it through the community 
this year.”

The Upper Room Stage Production at 
Duarte Performing Arts Center, Feb. 26

DUARTE, CA, January 21, 2011 – The Upper Room, a play about faith, family, and the gulf 
between men and women, will be presented at the Duarte Performing Arts Center on Saturday, Feb. 
26 at 4 p.m., sponsored by the City of Duarte and Second Baptist Church in celebration of Black 
History Month. The Duarte Performing Arts Center is located at 1401 Highland Ave.

The event brings together residents of Duarte and Monrovia of all races and ages, along with local 
businesses, organizations and churches to celebrate the rich history of African Americans in the 
community.

Performed by the Ixthus Players of Second Baptist Church in Monrovia, the production also honors 
the 37th Jubilee of Bishop William LaRue Dillard of Second Baptist Church.

General admission is $20. Children and seniors, $10. Limited VIP ticket seating is $25. For more 
information, call (626) 345-0867 or visit www.sbcmonrovia.org. 

Monrovia Police Blotter

During the last seven day period, the Police Department handled 453 service events, resulting 
in 109 investigations. Following are the last week's highlighted issues and events:

Domestic Violence

On January 13 at 12:28 p.m., a resident in the 900 block of West Olive reported her neighbors were 
fighting and that the male subject had a knife. Officers arrived and summoned paramedics, as both 
the male and female had injuries. They were taken to separate hospitals; their injuries were not life 
threatening. An Emergency Protection Order was obtained on the female's behalf. Due to their injuries, 
neither party was arrested. The investigation will be completed and forwarded to the District 
Attorney's office. 

Ex-Felon in Possession of a Loaded Firearm / Ex-Felon in Possession of Ammunition - Suspect 
Arrested

January 13 at 9:41 p.m., an officer was patrolling the area of Magnolia and Central when she observed 
a Lexus with tinted windows that rolled through a stop sign. She attempted a traffic stop. The driver 
did not yield immediately, but eventually stopped at Alta Vista and Montana. Upon approaching, the 
officer observed a rifle in the vehicle and ordered the driver to put his hands on the steering wheel. 
She requested additional officers. Assisting officers arrived and were able to safely remove the driver 
and detain him. The weapon had one round of unexpended ammunition in the chamber and a magazine 
with three additional rounds was found next to the driver seat. The driver is a convicted felon. 
He was arrested and booked for several felony charges.

Injury Traffic Collision

On January 17 at 5:08 p.m., a 13-year-old bicyclist was hit in the crosswalk at Mountain and Wildrose. 
The bicyclist was thrown from his bicycle and paramedics were requested. The 13-year-old said he 
was a little sore, but did not want to be taken to a hospital by ambulance. His parents said they would 
take him later if there was a need. A traffic accident investigation was conducted.

Possession of Burglary Tools - Suspect Arrested

On January 18 at 3:29 a.m., an officer was patrolling the area of Pomona and California and observed 
a suspicious subject who is known for burglary and is on parole. The officer contacted and searched 
the individual and found he was in possession of lock picks and slugs in the size and shape of a U.S. 
dollar coin. The suspect was arrested.

Commercial Burglary

On January 19 at 3:07 a.m., an employee of a hotel in the 900 block of South Fifth reported a burglary 
committed by a male suspect seen on video entering the rear of the hotel through an unlocked door. 
The suspect approached the front counter while the clerk was away, forced open the cash register, and 
removed an unknown amount of cash. Once a copy of the video is available, it will be provided to 
police. The investigation is continuing.

Residential Hot Prowl Burglary

On January 19 at 4:43 a.m., a resident in the 400 block of East Duarte was preparing to go to work 
when she discovered her purse was missing. Upon further investigation, she discovered her kitchen 
window screen had been removed. Apparently, someone opened the unlocked kitchen window, removed 
the victim's keys from the kitchen counter, and unlocked the door. Once inside, the suspect 
took the victim's purse. The investigation is continuing. 


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