Monrovia City Manager's Update - January 8, 2021

Monrovia CA

09 January, 2021

1:23 AM

Description

Press release from the City of Monrovia: January 08, 2021 Hello Monrovians, The first week of 2021 has been quite sobering. As COVID-19 continues its relentless devastation, we are trying to address an increase in gun violence, death and crime. And to watch events unfold at our nation's capital…it has been a very stressful week for all of us. If there is anything this update can share that is of value, it is this - take care of yourself and your well-being. As part of this update, there are resources available for those who need support, someone to talk to, or simple care. We have pastors and clergy in this community who seek to help. There are many organizations who serve others…that is simply what they do. To relieve stress, perhaps you can volunteer for an organization and serve one another. Please always know that if you feel the burden is becoming too heavy to carry, there are so many Monrovians who are willing to lend a hand. Sincerely, Dylan Email: [email protected] Phone: (626) 932-5585 Highlights in this Issue Support and Crisis Services Operation: Save Our Restaurants Art in Public Places Calls for Artists NOW HIRING: Jailer Suspension of Parking Enforcement for Street Sweeping Support and Crisis Services With the rise in stress due to the recent events, and the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, mental health illnesses began to rise, as well. For people suffering from mental health illnesses, there are services and resources available 24/7. You are not alone. To assist with locating services in Monrovia, the LA County Department of Mental Health published a Service Area Navigator's contacts list. Monrovia is located in the third service area. Operation: Save Our Restaurant Monrovia Chamber of Commerce and the business community are joining forces to support our local restaurants! From now until January 15, spend $30 or more at a participating restaurant and receive a $10 discount. Register for the coupon. Art in Public Places is Calls for Artists We are calling all artists to submit applications for the following projects: 2021 Art on Box Program Information and Application Neighborhood Treasure 2021 - L. Criss and A. Romney Established in 2004, Art in Public Places supports the creation of public art through a variety of programs and projects. The program extends the reach of public art into the community by sponsoring the artists to paint utility boxes, murals, Samson the Bear statues and more. NOW HIRING: Jailer We're looking for a unique individual to join our team as a Jailer in the Monrovia Police Department! A jailer is responsible for a variety of ongoing responsibilities related to safety, customer service and internal operations, and will: Book, search, fingerprint, and catalog prisoner's property and store evidence; Conduct basic medical screens on prisoners including alcohol testing and documentation of tattoos and other distinguishing features; Check files and databases to locate warrants and obtain criminal history; register arsonists, narcotics offenders, sex offenders, and gang members; Observe prisoners' physical and mental states, ensuring proper cell placement and / or need for medical or other attention; physically control prisoners as required; and Monitor activities and condition of prisoners; inspect cells for cleanliness and safety and order inventory and supplies as needed. An individual with experience working with diverse groups and has the ability to exercise cultural sensitivity awareness is desirable. To apply, an applicant must first create an applicant profile on Government Jobs. Suspension of Parking Enforcement for Street Sweeping Due to the modified Safer at Home Order, parking enforcement is suspended for street sweeping. Vehicles may park on the streets but residents are strongly encouraged to move their vehicles on their scheduled street sweeping day, if possible. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated as it will decrease the buildup of debris on the streets in your neighborhood! Traffic Signal Improvements Continuing at Intersections Along Duarte Road, Adjacent to METRO L Line (formerly Gold Line) On December 23, City staff worked with Metro and LA County Public Works to implement traffic signal improvements including updated software for the traffic signal controller and an improved timing program to better manage traffic flow. To date, the intersection of Mountain Avenue and Duarte Road along with the intersection of Myrtle Avenue and Duarte Road have implemented the aforementioned improvements. Based on staff observation, residents and motorists in the area will notice: Reduced down time for the railroad gates. Signal priority to the traffic lanes that have been waiting the longest once the train arms go up. 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 [email protected]. City Tree Planting Program Beginning next week the City will launch a tree planting program to expand the City's urban forest and replace trees that have been lost over the past several years due to drought, construction, and other impacts. The City was recognized as a National Arbor Day Tree City USA in 1987 in recognition of the City's stewardship efforts related to trees. At present the City maintains an inventory of more than 8,500 trees and we have committed to growing our urban forest by replacing all lost and removed trees on a 2 for 1 basis. Beginning on Monday, January 11, tree planting will begin with a goal of planting approximately 80 new trees by the end of the month. Most of the trees in this initial phase of planting will be established in parkways at the request of the residents. If you are interested in having a tree planted in the parkway in front of your home, please fill out the interest form or contact Jaden Louie at (626) 932-5584 or [email protected]. City working with Southern California Edison (SCE) on Possible LED Retrofit for Street Lights The Public Words Department is coordinating with Southern California Edison (SCE) to review and finalize details of a project 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. The move to LED lights would reduce the energy use of street lighting, and would reduce both City electricity costs and carbon emissions. At their December 15 meeting, the City Council tentatively approved an agreement to proceed with the retrofit project through the SCE Option E program. Given that a switch to LED street lighting would undoubtedly change the look of the City at night, the Council will base their approval on a review of LED streetlights similar to what would be installed by SCE currently in place in residential neighborhoods of the surrounding communities of Arcadia and Duarte as well as a sample of LED lighting along the 400 block of South Ivy Avenue, across the street from City Hall. Following their review and possible approval, the Public Works Department would work with SCE staff to schedule the project phasing and communicate this schedule to the public. If you have any questions or concerns about this proposed project, please contact Chris Castruita at (626) 256-8224 or [email protected]. View a map of the LED street light demonstration sites. 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: Call Public Works at (626) 932-5575; or Email [email protected] Be sure to provide our name and address to be entered into the raffle. 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… Tricia Hobbs! Since June 4, we have received 2,811 reports for abandoned bulky items! Thank you for reporting these items! Christmas Tree Recycling Curbside Christmas Tree recycling will be available through January 16. Please note, solid waste collection will take place prior to Christmas Tree collection, which may result in a one business day delay in collection of the trees. To recycle your Christmas Tree, be sure to: 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 Monrovia - 2,183 confirmed cases | 44 deaths L.A. County – 871,404 cases | 11,545 deaths California – 2,518,611 confirmed cases | 28,045 deaths Residential / Non-Residential Settings in Monrovia Wyland House - 2 staff cases, 1 resident case Caltrans Monrovia - 6 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 Vaccine Distribution in LA County Centers for Disease Control and Prevention California Department of Public Health To keep the community informed, the Los Angeles County provides updates, which can be viewed on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. City of Monrovia Monrovia Strong Monrovia Renewal Construction Updates Work is 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 project section includes the area of the City that is bound by the City limit to the east, Myrtle Avenue to the west, Greystone Avenue and Hillcrest Boulevard to the north, Colorado Boulevard and Royal Oaks to the south. 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 [email protected]. For the week of January 11, work will include: Fine grading, concrete pouring and restoration, with slot patching and saw cutting on the following streets: Streets North of Foothill: Madison Avenue, Encinitas Avenue, Ivy Avenue, Canyon Boulevard, Greystone Avenue, Hill Street, Kirkwood Lane, Beechworth Avenue, Prospect Avenue, and Pine Tree Lane 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 [email protected]. 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 Monrovia City Council Meeting | January 19 | 7:30 p.m. Ad Hoc Committee on Equity and Inclusion Meeting | January 14 | 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Monrovia Street Fair & Market | Fridays | 5 p.m. - 9 p.m. E-Waste Drop-off | Daily | Monrovia Public Works Yard Gravel (Sand) Bags Available for Residents | Self-Serve Submit a Tree Planting Interest Form Request a Bulky Item Pick-Up Reserve Library Items for Curbside Pick-up | Monday - Saturday Job Opportunities with the City of Monrovia Jailer 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 During the last seven-day period, the Police Department handled 292 service events, resulting in 60 investigations. View the Neighborhood Watch Report. This press release was produced by the City of Monrovia. The views expressed are the author's own.