Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, March 2, 2019

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Mountain View News Saturday, March 2, 2019 

ARCADIA HOSTS 
SENATOR SUSAN 
RUBIO By Joan Schmidt

 This past Saturday, the City 
of Arcadia hosted a Community 
Meeting with newly-elected 
Senator Susan Rubio. Mayor Pro 
tem April Verlatto welcomed the 
Senator. Terrence Williams, Linda 
Sells and I represented the Town 
Council.

 In early 2017, we met 
Susan’s older sister, Blanca newly 
elected to the 48th State Assembly 
at the City of Duarte’s “Meet and 
Greet”. Rubio blew everyone away 
including City Officials-Tzeital 
Paras, John Fasana, Liz Reilly, 
and Margaret Finlay- with her 
enthusiasm, knowledge, and a 
desire to work for her constituents. 
She was not a politician; every bill 
was researched, and she would 
not commit her vote unless it 
benefitted the majority.

 Younger sister Senator 
Susan is very similar. Both were 
born in Juarez, Mexico. Their 
hardworking parents came to the 
US for work; their father, Sabino, 
in the Bracero program, worked 
on bridges along the border, but 
the Program ended, and the family 
deported to Mexico. They returned 
legally (youngest sister Sylvia was 
born in El Paso, Texas.) In spite of 
discouragement from High School 
teachers, both received degrees 
at Azusa Pacific University and 
are credentialed teachers. Blanca 
served on the Baldwin Park School 
Board to improve education in her 
City, and Susan on the Baldwin 
Park City Council.

 When Linda and I arrived 
at the Community Meeting, we 
were warmly welcomed by the 
Senator’s staff, Giselle Sorial and 
Edward Barrera. There was a 
table with so many informative 
flyers: “How a Bill Becomes Law 
in California”, “Fire Prepare and 
Prevent”, “County Veterans Service 
Officer”, “Landmarks of California 
Coloring Book” and more. As a 
retired teacher, I was grateful for 
the informative government hand-
outs for children, besides adult 
material.

 The Senator gave so much 
information; I will try to cover 
as much as I can. She gave her 
background first. Then she spoke 
about the Governor’s work- focus 
on additional education funding, 
more lower cost housing grants for 
local governments, increase paid 
family leave, reduce prescription 
drugs cost, focus on emergency 
preparedness and more funding 
for CA Fire-Responders also 
need medical and psychological 
services.

 When questioned about 
water issues, the Senator reminded 
us of each California region’s 
different issues; agricultural 
communities have greater needs.

 She also told us that bills 
are sometimes vague and she must 
do research before reporting back 
to her residents. 

 There has been an increase 
in teen violence. The Senator 
has introduced SB 273 to bring 
awareness to this and prevent teen 
domestic violence. The Bill will be 
part of a larger proposal package to 
promote healthy relationships and 
combat domestic violence among 
youth. 

 “As a longtime teacher, 
I’ve seen that young students don’t 
always know how to respectfully 
communicate and interact with 
each other, whether it’s part of 
dating or just being friends…
Promoting healthy relationships 
among teenagers now will lead to 
healthier adult relationships later. 
I am looking forward to working 
with the experts and young people 
to find the right path.”

ARCADIA POLICE BLOTTER

For the period of Sunday, February 17th, through 
Saturday, February 23rd, the Police Department 
responded to 979 calls for service, of which 112 
required formal investigations. The following is a 
summary report of the major incidents handled by the 
Department during this period.

Sunday, February 17:

1. Shortly before 1:27 p.m., an officer 
responded to the Santa Anita Mall, 400 South 
Baldwin Avenue, regarding the activation of 
an Arcadia Police Department GPS tracker. 
Arcadia PD detectives had previously deployed 
decoy bicycles containing tracking devices to 
combat the increase in bike thefts throughout 
the city. An investigation revealed a 37-year-old 
male from Los Angeles and a 45-year-old male 
transient from Hollywood were in possession 
of the stolen bicycle and tracker. They were 
arrested and transported to the Arcadia City 
Jail for booking. 
2. At approximately 4:25 p.m., an officer 
responded to a residence in the 400 block of 
Fairview Avenue regarding a grand theft report. 
The victim discovered her jewelry went missing 
after she hired a cleaning company come to 
clean her carpets. The investigation is ongoing. 


Monday, February 18:

3. Just after 3:16 a.m., an officer attempted 
to contact a suspicious subject walking in the 
100 block of East Live Oak Avenue when the 
subject began to run. The officer located the 
suspect and an investigation revealed the 
33-year-old male from Long Beach was on Post 
Release Community Supervision (PRCS) and 
was in possession of stolen property from a 
nearby unlocked vehicle. He was arrested and 
transported to the Arcadia City Jail for booking. 
4. At approximately 4:51 a.m., an officer 
responded to the 400 block of Harvard 
Drive regarding an activation of an Arcadia 
Police Department GPS tracker. Arcadia PD 
detectives had previously deployed decoy 
packages containing bait property and tracking 
devices to combat the increase in package thefts 
from residential areas. The officer determined a 
33-year-old male from Sylmar and a 35-year-old 
female from Panorama City were in possession 
of the stolen property. The male suspect was also 
on PRCS and both suspects were charged with 
being in possession of unlawful paraphernalia 
and controlled substances. They were arrested 
and transported to the Arcadia City Jail for 
booking. 


Tuesday, February 19:

5. Around 9:02 a.m., an officer responded 
to a residence in the 600 block of West Camino 
Real Avenue regarding a fraud report. The 
victim discovered unknown suspect(s) used his 
identifiable information to open more than 10 
credit card accounts without his permission. 
The victim does not know how the suspect 
obtained their personal information or the 
identity of the suspect. 
6. Just before 12:38 a.m., an officer 
responded to Denny’s, 7 East Huntington Drive, 
regarding a theft report. The officer determined 
two female suspects left the location before 
paying for their meals. A records check revealed 
one of the suspects, a 51-year-old from Pasadena, 
had three outstanding misdemeanor warrants. 
This suspect was arrested and transported to 
the Arcadia City Jail for booking. The second 
suspect, a 58-year-old from Pasadena, was cited 
in the field. 
7. At about 10:34 p.m., officers responded 
to a residence in the 00 block of West Pamela 
Road regarding an audible alarm activation. 
Upon arrival, the officer discovered unknown 
suspects smashed a rear window, turned off the 
power to the house, ransacked the location, and 
fled with an unknown amount of property. The 
investigation is ongoing. 


Wednesday, February 20:

8. Shortly after 6:51 p.m., an officer 
responded to a residence in the 1300 block of 
North Baldwin Avenue regarding a residential 
burglary report. An investigation revealed 
unknown suspects smashed a rear window, 
ransacked the home, and fled with an unknown 
amount of property. No suspects were seen and 
no witnesses were located. 


Thursday, February 21:

9. Before 11:06 a.m., an officer responded 
to the 24-Hour Fitness parking lot, 125 North 
First Avenue, regarding an attempted vehicle 
burglary report. The victim discovered an 
unknown suspect attempted to enter her locked 
vehicle by damaging the lock, however, failed 
to gain entry. No suspects were seen and no 
witnesses were located. 
10. Around 6:03 p.m., an officer responded 
to Victoria’s Secret, 400 South Baldwin 
Avenue, regarding a grand theft report. A loss 
prevention employee witnessed the suspect steal 
approximately $4,600.00 worth of merchandise 
before he fled to an awaiting vehicle. 


The suspect is described as a black male in 
his 30’s, approximately 6’ tall, medium build, 
“scruffy” facial hair, seen wearing a black 
beanie, black pull over jacket, and black sweat 
pants. He fled in a black four-door sedan with 
tinted windows. The investigation is ongoing. 

Friday, February 22: 

11. At about 1:37 p.m., an officer responded 
to the Arcadia Police Department front counter 
regarding a fraud report. The victim stated that 
his brother, a 42-year-old male from Arcadia, 
has used his name and birth date while being 
arrested for various vehicle code violations and 
driving under the influence. The investigation 
is ongoing. 


 
Wednesday 
April 17th 
8:00-10:00 a.m. 
JOIN YOUR NEIGHBORS AND OFFICERS 
FOR COFFEE AND CONVERSATION 
* * * COMPLIMENTARY BREAKFAST * * * 
Entertainment Center 
In the Westfield Santa Anita Mall 
400 S Baldwin Avenue 
Arcadia, CA 91007 
Located at the Food Court 
Take a picture with one of our K9’s 
and our “Classic 1959 Police Car” 
ARCADIA POLICE 
DEPARTMENT 
Questions? (626) 821-2648 OR MVERCILLO@ARCADIACA.GOV 
FOR AMBULANCE TRANSPORTATION SERVICES, MONROVIA 
IS NOW BEING SERVED BY CARE AMBULANCE SERVICES

We wanted to share some additional details with 
everyone regarding the fast moving situation 
with our ambulance transportation service provider. 
This past week, the evening of February 
20, we learned that Schaefer Ambulance Services 
(Schaefer) entered bankruptcy proceedings. 
As you may know, Schaefer was been the entity 
under contract with LA County to provide ambulance 
transport services here in Monrovia. 

Given that particular development, City representatives 
met with LA County personnel on 
February 21 to address service delivery challenge 
associated with Schaefer’s bankruptcy proceedings. 
Based on those discussions, the decision 
was made to have Care Ambulance Services 
assume control of Monro-via’s ambulance transportation 
operation on Friday, February 22, at 
7:00 a.m. 

Of note, while there have been numerous operational 
and logistical issues that we’ve been working 
to address associated with this transition, 
with the bottom line is that Monrovia continues 
to have ambu-lance transportation services 
available with no disruption in service delivery.

In addition, based on conversations with LA 
County, Care Ambulance Services will provide 
services for Monrovia for no more than 365 
days. During the next year, LA County will be 
working to develop a new RFP process to procure 
a new operator to provide ambulance transportation 
services for our community, which is 
an issue that we will be watching and monitoring 
very closely here at the City.

To provide everyone with additional background 
regarding this situation, we also wanted 
to share some general details regarding how 
ambulance services are regulated. The overall 
framework for managing ambulance transportation 
is established by both the State and each 
individual county. Based on State regulations, 
some local cities (like Arcadia) have the right 
to perform ambulance ser-vices in-house. For 
all other areas that do not have that legal right, 
Los Angeles County has established nine (9) Exclusive 
Operating Areas (EOAs) throughout the 
County, and once per decade, the County will 
coordinate a bid process to allow private firms 
the chance to compete for providing ambulance 
services in those areas. Of note, Monrovia has 
been carved out as its own ambulance service 
area (EOA 2), and a map highlighting each ambulance 
transportation service area is included 
above for ref-erence.

Again, we are working here at the City to ensure 
the continued delivery ambulance services here 
in our community, and as more information becomes 
available in the coming weeks, we will be 
certain to share those details with everyone.

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