Community Corner

Monrovia City Manager's Update - December 23, 2020

"A little over a year ago, I joined the Monrovia community as the City Manager and what a year it has been. "

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Press Release Desk, News Partner

Press release from the City of Monrovia:

December 23, 2020

Hello Monrovians,

Find out what's happening in Monroviafor free with the latest updates from Patch.

A little over a year ago, I joined the Monrovia community as the City Manager and what a year it has been. The year has been filled with unexpected circumstance, but it was also followed by much support and kindness from the community. Monrovia is such a strong, incredible and unique community and I look forward to what the New Year will bring. Although things may look a little different, I hope that the spirit of the holidays remains full of love and happiness.

This will be the last update for 2020, but please feel free to reach out if you need anything at all.

Find out what's happening in Monroviafor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Many wishes for a blessed holiday season,
Dylan

Email: dfeik@ci.monrovia.ca.us
Phone: (626) 932-5585

Highlights in this Issue

  • Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program
  • Staying Safe for the Holidays

Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program

Last month, the Administration announced the creation of a $500 million Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program to provide grants up to $25,000 to eligible small businesses and nonprofits to help cover expenses during the pandemic.

This morning, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development through the Office of the Small Business Advocate launched its portal & website: www.CAReliefGrant.com.

Application process. There will be two rounds of grants. During Round 1, applications will open on Wednesday, December 30, 2020, and will close on Friday, January 8, 2021. Notifications on Round 1 awards will begin as soon as January 13, 2021. Round 2 will be announced at a later date. However, one complete application will qualify the small business or nonprofit for both rounds so applicants should only apply once.

Small businesses and nonprofits are encouraged to visit CAReliefGrant.com before the application opens to learn more about their eligibility, the business documents required for the application, and other resources on how to apply.

Grant Amounts. Depending on the size of the business, grant awards will be between $5,000 to $25,000. For more information, visit CAReliefGrant.com

Webinars & Resources. The Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program will be providing daily webinars in multiple languages on the application process, and will be working with different partners throughout the State to provide assistance to applicants. To find partners, visit https://careliefgrant.com/partners/county/.

Staying Safe for the Holidays

We want to encourage everyone to continue to do your part in celebrating the holidays responsibly and safely.

There are several actions that we can all take to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. In general, the more people an individual interacts with, and the longer each interaction lasts, the higher the risk of viral spread. Please continue to stay committed to reducing the spread by doing your part! Below are some guidance from the Department of Public Health:

  • Wear a face covering when in public settings or around others not living in the same household
  • Follow healthy hygiene practices, such as frequent hand washing
  • Practice physical distancing, at least 6 feet from others
  • Stay home when sick
  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily

The actions we take this week and next, will impact whether we see more or less cases of COVID-19 two weeks from now, and beyond.

Additionally, the Community Vaccine Advisory Committee hosted a public meeting to work through the questions regarding the next phase of “Vaccinate ALL 58.” View a recording of the community meeting. “Vaccinate ALL 58” is a campaign to distribute a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine fairly to everyone who wants it in all 58 counties of California.

Limited Services for the Holidays

This year has been an unimaginable year that brought on many unexpected challenges. During this time, your City staff have continued to serve you as swiftly and safely as possible using innovative and creative ways to ensure services were minimally interrupted.

To allow for time to celebrate the holiday season, the Monrovia City Council has approved limiting non-essential services from December 28, 2020, through January 1, 2021. All City facilities will resume normal hours of operation on Monday, January 4, 2021.

The City would still continue to provide emergency response and essential services. Additionally, staff will still be available to assist you in a limited manner.

Traffic Signal Improvements Continuing at Intersections Along Duarte Road, Adjacent to METRO L Line (formerly Gold Line)

Residents of Monrovia, Arcadia, Duarte, and the surrounding Unincorporated County Area have all experience traffic jams along the Gold Line Corridor, specifically at the traffic signals along Duarte Road. Over the past several months, representatives from the Cities of Monrovia, Arcadia and Duarte as well as LA County Public Works and METRO have been working on improvements to the traffic signals to improve traffic flows, reduce wait times, and better manage vehicle traffic along the train corridor. In late November, LA County Public Works implemented the first cycle of improvements to the traffic signal at Duarte Road and Myrtle Avenue. These improvements include updated software for the traffic signal controller and an improved timing program to better manage the traffic flows. The primary improvements that will be achieved include:

  1. Reduced down time for the railroad gates.
  2. Signal priority to the traffic lanes that have been waiting the longest once the train arms go up.

City Staff and LA County Staff have monitored, and refined, the improvements at Myrtle and Duarte and have observed reduced gate down times, reduced wait times and an overall better flow of traffic.

Pictured below is an example of what to expect at the intersection of Mountain Avenue and Duarte Road when the L Line gate arms are down and the L Line is traveling through the intersection.

It is anticipated that with the improvements to this intersection, community members can expect more efficient traffic flow and less time when the gate arms are down with no L Line activity.

Moving forward, the County will also implement these improvements at the intersections of Duarte Road and California and Duarte Road and Buena Vista (in the City of Duarte). The team will continue to provide regular updates on the schedule of the improvements and the observations from the field.

The public is encouraged to contact us with any feedback or questions about the work that is taking place. Please contact the Public Works Department at (626) 932-5575 or pwcomments@ci.monrovia.ca.us.

Monrovia Historical Society Unveils 83 Monrovia History Videos

The Monrovia Historical Society has unveiled a set of 83 videos on Monrovia history featuring Monrovia Historical Society President - and City Historian - Steve Baker.

During this month-long "Monrovia Stories" project, Historical Society Vice President Sandy Burud interviewed Baker - a fifth-generation Monrovian with a gift for storytelling - about the great bank robbery of 1908, a murder, an explosion, the fire that destroyed our grand old hotel, early architecture, churches, schools, movie theaters, film studios, and dozens of more topics.

A selection of videos is on the Monrovia Historical Society web page, but many more are on its YouTube Channel. Or, just search YouTube for "Monrovia Historical Society."

The Monrovia Historical Society's goal is to “preserve and share Monrovia’s historical legacy” through the George H. Anderson House at 215 E Lime and the Legacy Project, an online collection of 6,000 historic photos and papers.

City Council tentatively approves Agreement with Southern California Edison (SCE) to Retrofit Street Lights to LED

At their December 15 meeting, the City Council tentatively approved an agreement with Southern California Edison (SCE) to retrofit Edison-owned Streetlights to LED. SCE owns and maintains approximately 1,700 street lights throughout the City and has proposed to upgrade all of their existing high-pressure sodium lights to LED. LED bulbs use less energy and last significantly longer than the existing high pressure sodium bulbs. In addition, the LED light is a cleaner light that shines clearer with less glare, reducing light pollution along local streets.

Under the SCE Program, known as Option E, the City will enter into an agreement with SCE that funds the retrofit of the lights with an Energy Efficiency Premium Charge (EEPC) that would be added to the existing City street lighting bill. Being that the LEDs will utilize less energy, the reduced electricity costs would fund the EEPC and provide an estimated additional $14,000 per year in street lighting electrical cost savings.

At the December 15 meeting, the Council approved the agreement pending review of a sample of LED light fixtures to be installed along the 400 block of South Ivy Avenue, directly across from Monrovia City Hall. The streetlights along this block were retrofitted to LED in October using fixtures with a higher brightness than is the standard for streetlights in residential neighborhoods. Replacements fixture with the correct brightness will be installed during the first week of January. If you have any questions or concerns about this proposed project, please contact Chris Castruita at (626) 256-8224 or ccastruita@ci.monrovia.ca.us.

Report Bulky Items around Town and Be Entered to Win a Gift Card

Have you seen bulky items around town? If you report them into Public Works, you will be entered into a raffle and could win a $50 gift card to a Monrovia Business! If you are out and about around town and see furniture, boxes, or other items in the Right of Way (not on Private Property), please report them to Public Works. In turn, Athens Services will pick these items up within about 48 hours.

How to Report Bulky Items:

Raffle tickets will be pulled each Thursday and the winners will be notified by Public Works Staff. The winner for this week’s drawing is… Stefan Lehner! Since June 4, we have received 2,667 reports for abandoned bulky items! Thank you for reporting these items!

Athens Services Holiday Scheduling & Decorations Recycling

Athens Services will observe the holidays on Friday, December 25 and Friday, January 1, 2021. If your regularly rescheduled trash day is Friday, please be advised that it will be scheduled for pickup on Saturday for these two weeks.

Christmas Tree recycling will be available from December 26, 2020, through January 16, 2021.

To recycle your Christmas Tree, be sure to:

  • Place your tree curbside on your regularly scheduled trash collection day.
  • Remove all ornaments, tinsel, plastic bags, nails, lights and plastic or metal stands need to be removed.

To properly dispose of your Christmas lights, you may place them in your trash bin. We ask for the light strings to be cut in half to prevent tangling. As a reminder, fluorescent light bulbs are prohibited from trash disposal.

COVID-19 At a Glance

Latest Facts & Figures

Residential / Non-Residential Settings in Monrovia

  • Caltrans Monrovia - 6 staff cases
  • Redell Pine - 2 staff cases
  • Miracle Works - 5 staff cases

Facilities that have no reported positive COVID-19 cases for 14 days are considered to no longer have an outbreak and removed from the list. Confirmed cases of employees from residential/non-residential settings get counted under their home city.

Additional details on cases and deaths were not provided by the County of Los Angeles. View the Public Health Statement Regarding COVID-19 and Patient Privacy.

Stay Informed

Monrovia Renewal Construction Updates

As you might have seen, work is well underway in the Northeast Section of the Monrovia Renewal Project. This represents the final section of work for Monrovia Renewal, which is the largest public works project in City history! The Northeast area represents the area of the City that is depicted in the attached map. At this time, work is being finalized in the Phase III area as well as the initial stages of concrete work in the Phase IV area, which includes the circulation of construction notices and posting of parking restriction signs.

We appreciate your patience and support while we work to execute these improvements throughout our community! Should you have any questions, please call the Public Works at (626) 932-5575 or email monroviarenewal@ci.monrovia.ca.us.

Please note that no work will take place on Thursday, December 24 and Friday, December 25 for the Christmas Holiday. During this period, no construction related parking restrictions will be enforced.

For the week of December 28, work will include:

  • Concrete pouring and restoration on the following streets:
    • Streets North of Foothill: Encinitas Avenue, Ivy Avenue, and Canyon Boulevard between Foothill Boulevard and Greystone Avenue

Please note that City of Monrovia staff will be off for this week, however, construction will be taking place this week with the exception of Thursday, December 30 and Friday, December 31, where no work will take place to observe the New Year’s Holiday. During this period, no construction related parking restrictions will be enforced.

We appreciate your patience and support while we work to execute these improvements throughout the community! If you have any questions regarding Monrovia Renewal, please feel free to contact Public Works at (626) 932-5575 or monroviarenewal@ci.monrovia.ca.us.

Monrovia Strong

The Monrovia Strong webpage was created to share with the community different resources to help you and your family get through these challenging times.

Visit Monrovia Strongto explore the many activities and resources. We're in this together, Monrovia!

Development Spotlight

Several significant projects are working their way through the review process and stages of construction here at the City. Among these are the Adaptive Reuse of the Monrovia Market Building (approved on Oct. 1), the Overton Moore Pacific Self Storage Project in the former Verizon Building in Old Town (approved on Nov. 19), 127 Pomona Multi-Family Development with 310 units at Station Square (approved on Jan. 21), the Alexan Multi-Family Development with 436 units at Station Square (approved on Feb. 4), and the Arroyo at Monrovia Station Multi-Family Development with 302 units (Planning Commission approved on Feb. 12). For more details, visit the Development Spotlight or Building Monrovia webpages.

Key Dates, Programs & Virtual Events

Job Opportunities with the City of Monrovia

  • Police Officer (Lateral)

The City of Monrovia offers interested individuals a chance to keep themselves notified on our job openings through the job interest card. This card will help interested individuals receive notifications about positions that open within the city without having to continuously log on to view our employment opportunities page.

Neighborhood Watch Report

The report highlights the calls for service and incidents received over the last 7-day period. View the Neighborhood Watch Report.

This press release was produced by the City of Monrovia. The views expressed are the author's own.

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