I have lived in Arcadia my whole life. It’s where I went to school, it’s where I have my business and it’s where I have chosen to raise my family.
My accomplishments, since you first elected me to City Council in 2016, include:
- I championed harmonious and compatible design of new homes with new design review rules, a Floor Area Ratio (FAR): limiting the size of new homes to a percentage of the lot size, and the first Historic Preservation Ordinance for Arcadia;
- I secured $167,000 from LA County to help homeless in Arcadia find housing;
- I helped introduce the Ring Doorbell home security program to our residents, making neighborhoods safer;
- I created a Financial Advisory Committee made up of Arcadia residents, to provide recommendations to pay down the unfunded pensions, promoting transparency and accountability;
- I worked to bring back a basketball court with the renovation of Eisenhower Park, reinforcing the priorities of the community;
- I brought the Patriotic Festival, Holiday Fair and Halloween Haunting to Downtown Arcadia, enhancing the quality of life for residents;
- I connected to the community through many activities including Mahjong with the Mayor and Coffee with the Mayor;
- I convinced LA County to re-open the Spreading Basins in the Highlands, so more water was diverted into our aquifer instead of flowing to the ocean;
- I currently serve as Mayor.
I hope I get the opportunity to meet you in person and share more of what I have done and what I plan to do if re-elected.
Sincerely,
-April Verlato
LATEST NEWS
The County of LA published the official numbers for the homeless count by City last week. The City of Arcadia found 107 homeless within its boundaries on the night of the Point In Time Count in January 2020. This number is 30 more than the year before, a 40% increase. I have been working with City staff over the last year to apply for more Measure H funds to help address this growing problem. Measure H funds, not our General Fund tax dollars should be used to pay for case managers and more relief. It was what the taxpayers intended in 2016 when Measure H was adopted and County sales tax was increased by 1/2% for 10 years to fund this purpose. We are 4 years into this sales tax measure and the problem is only getting worse. The Pandemic is sure to have a negative effect and cause homelessness to rise throughout LA County at a time when sales tax revenues are plummeting. So there will be less dollars coming into Measure H then before when we need it most.
www.lahsa.org/data?id=45-2020-homeless-count-by-community-city
A neighbor who is a molecular biologist at CalTech sent me this link. I found this podcast interesting. There would be so many ways to use a Covid test that only took 10 minutes to get results!
www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-640/
TWiV 640: Test often, fast turnaround, with Michael Mina | This Week in Virology
www.microbe.tv
Michael Mina joins TWiV to reveal why frequent and rapid SARS-CoV-2 testing is more important than accuracy, how a daily $1 rapid test could control the pandemic, and why group testing works.Thank you to the Forest Service, Arcadia Firefighters, Sierra Madre Firefighters and San Gabriel Firefighters for swooping in (some via helicopter) and quickly snuffing out the brush fire at Chantry Flats today. All residents near our National Forest should be reminded to be prepared to evacuate in case of a wildfire threatening homes. Today, we were lucky and there was no need for evacuations. #grateful #arcadiaca #arcadiafire #heroesamongus #wildfireseason @arcadiafiredept @sgvnow