Mountain Views News          Saturday, October 12, 2013

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com

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Mountain Views-News Saturday, October 12, 2013 

INSTALLATION OF MONITORING EQUIPMENT AT VALLEY 
VIEW SCHOOL TO COINCIDE WITH RESUMPTION OF VULCAN 
MINING OF VAN TASSEL RIDGE

DUARTE, CA, -- Duarte may have lost its hard-fought court battle to keep Vulcan Materials Co. 
from damaging Van Tassel Ridge above the City, but air quality monitoring equipment expected to be 
installed this month will help ensure that mining dust from the operation doesn’t destroy residents’ 
health as well.

 Duarte and South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) will keep close tabs on the 
amount of unhealthful particulate matter released into the air once Vulcan Materials Company 
resumes mining on Van Tassel Ridge this Fall.

 Monitoring instruments will be installed at Valley View Elementary School in Duarte, 
situated directly below the mining site. Of special concern is the potential impact to the more than 
400 students who attend Valley View and the thousands of residents in surrounding neighborhoods. 

 The monitoring system will provide continuous monitoring and hourly averages of PM10, 
particulate matter that are between 2.5 and 10 micrometers in size (25 to 100 times thinner than a 
human hair). The byproduct of crushing and grinding rocks and soil, PM10 are blown by the wind and 
can stay in the air for minutes or hours and travel as little as 100 yards or up to 30 miles. Inhalation of 
PM10 particles poses a danger to respiratory health because they can lodge deep in the lungs. AQMD 
will provide real time reporting of preliminary data that will be made publicly available via either the 
City or District website. The District is currently fine-tuning these technical data aspects. 

 AQMD estimates the cost for the first year of monitoring at the site to be approximately 
$50,000. Specifically, costs include: $6,500 site preparation, $36,500 for equipment and $7,000 for 
operation and maintenance. The AQMD has committed to installing and operating the system at 
its own expense for the first twelve months of operation. The City will then take over the costs of the 
station’s maintenance and operation while transitioning the task to an AQMD approved technical 
consultant. 

 Duarte fought a long and costly battle to stop the City of Azusa from allowing Vulcan to 
move mining operations from a previously approved 80 acres on the east side of its 270 acre property 
to 80 acres on the west side, above Duarte homes. In February 2013, the State Court of Appeals 
upheld a Superior Court ruling of May 2012 against Duarte’s lawsuit that challenged the validity of 
the Environmental Impact Report.

 As approved by the Azusa City Council, the Vulcan Mining expansion project is poised to 
destroy Van Tassel Ridge by extracting 105.6 million tons of aggregate from the mountain between 
now and 2038. Over the same period, the City of Azusa stands to make more than $65 million in 
mining fees and incentives from Vulcan at the expense of its neighbors in Duarte.

Monrovia Police Blotter

Highlighted Activity for the Weekend of October 7-9, 2013

During the last seven-day period, the Police Department handled 428 service events, resulting in 75 
investigations. To see a complete listing of crimes reported, go to http://www.crimemapping.com/
map/ca/monrovia for crime mapping. For Police Department news and information, visit our website 
and follow us on Twitter for police notifications.

Annoying Phone Calls / Grandparent Scam

October 7 at 3:22 p.m., a phone scam was reported from a resident in the 100 block of North Magnolia. 
The resident received calls telling her that her grandson was in jail in Puerto Vallarta. The caller 
wanted 10,000 dollars in 100 dollar bills placed throughout a magazine and mailed to a location in 
New York. The victim stopped and confirmed both of her grandsons were in the United States, and 
then reported the incident to police. The victim did not suffer any loss.

Fight in Progress / Possession of Drug Paraphernalia / Warrant – Suspects Arrested

October 8 at 9:25 p.m., officers responded to a hotel in the 900 block of South Fifth Avenue on the report 
of two male subjects fighting in the hotel hallway. One of the suspects left the location prior to the 
officers arriving. Officers located the other male uspect in a hotel room, along with two female subjects. 
One of the females was arrested for an outstanding warrant out of San Bernardino, and the second 
female was arrested for possession of a methamphetamine pipe. A baggie of methamphetamine

was found in the hotel, which possibly belonged to the outstanding male suspect.

TIP OF THE WEEK

Grandparent Scam – Don’t Be a Victim

The suspects in this type of scam will call an elderly person and pretend to be a grandchild or young 
relative of the victim. They tell the elderly victim they are in some type of trouble and are in jail, and 
that they need bail money. They ask the elderly person not to tell their parents. A second suspect then 
calls pretending to be the police and proceeds to give the victim instructions on were to wire the bail 
money.

The suspects target older folks, hoping they can gain an emotional and quick response to the "need" to 
help out the young relative, and many times it works. The victims will quickly go to their bank, withdraw 
and transfer the money in an attempt to help, and by the time they realize the scam, the money 
has already been picked up by the suspects and is gone.

It is so important to spread awareness and to educate those that we know in hopes of preventing this 
crime from happening. If you have a loved one, a friend, or perhaps a neighbor that is older, share this 
information with them and help keep them from becoming a victim.

FOOTHILL EXTENSION UPDATE: GOLD LINE BRIDGE WINS TWO 
MORE AWARDS

Over the last several weeks, a number 
of officials have been out along 
the corridor viewing our progress. 
They have been impressed with the 
amount of work already accomplished, 
and pleased to hear that our 
contractors are on schedule. Below 
are recent photos taken with Assembly 
member Chris Holden and 
Monrovia Mayor Pro Tem Becky 
Shevlin and Councilman Larry 
Spicer at the Operations Campus 
(top left); Duarte Mayor Margaret 
Finlay and Councilman John Fasana 
at the future Duarte Station (left) 
; Azusa Mayor Joe Rocha with key 
staff at the future Downtown Azusa 
Station and the Santa Anita Bridge bond committee from the city of Arcadia at the Santa Anita bridge 
site.

Crews recently completed the center pier of the Santa Anita Ave bridge (shown above), and will be 
completing all street level work in the next few weeks. Following Breeders Cup weekend in early November, 
the 12 pre-cast girders forming the deck of the bridge will be installed.

The San Gabriel River Bridge structure (shown below) was completed late last month, in time for 
crews to be out of the river bed before the official rainy season began this month. The 700-foot-long 
bridge, built within the Santa Fe Recreation Area, took more than three years from design to construction, 
and I want to thank my team and the cooperation given by the Army Corp of Engineers 
and others to help us meet this important milestone. Below is a photo taken yesterday, after the area’s 
first rain:

Finally, the Gold Line Bridge has recently won two additional awards. The American Society of Civil 
Engineers awarded the bridge the Outstanding Public Civil Engineering Transportation Project over 
$10 million; and Engineering News-Record (ENR) awarded it the Best Project in Southern California, 
Highways/Bridges category. 


MONDAY MOVIE NIGHT AT THE MONROVIA PUBLIC LIBRARY 
ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2013 AT 6:00 P.M. IN LIBRARY 
COMMUNITY ROOM. 

Dress in your pajamas, bring your blanket, pillow and your favorite stuffed friend to join us for 
Monday Movie Night! Enjoy freshly popped popcorn as we cuddle up to watch a terrific Halloween 
themed movie with your family! Know your child; some content may not be suitable for some kids. 
This event is sponsored by Friends of the Monrovia Public Library. The library is located at 321 S. 
Myrtle Avenue, in Old Town Monrovia’s Library Park. 

 

Can you guess the movie by reading the clue below?

 

Tonight's Movie Clue: Three sister witches are resurrected on Halloween night, and it us up to two 
teenagers, a young girl, and an immortal cat to put an end to the witches reign of terror once and for 
all. (Rated PG)

No registration is required. Visit www.cityofmonrovia.org/library for more details