First murder in 2 1/2 years

We don’t have a Trader Joe’s and we seem to have pretty poor cell phone service here in town, but those minor inconveniences are offset by the knowledge that we are remarkably safe here in Arcadia.

by Scott Hettrick

Last week’s murder was the first in Arcadia in 2 1/2 years. That’s pretty amazing. And it’s at least a small comfort to know that the murder was not random or part of a criminal act; it was a younger brother killing his older brother in their residence near the L.A. County border.

I asked Arcadia Police Lieutenant Bob Anderson how common murders are for our community. He said that there are typically one or two murders each year — three in 2003, three in 2004, and three in three months beginning with the December 2007 robbery/murder of the owner of the Osaka Ya restaurant followed by two more in January and March 0f 2008. But there has not been another murder since since then. Last year was the first year in the past decade without a single murder.

So, in the far less concerning but more day-to-day mild frustration category of cell phone service, I’ve been disappointed for several years in the weak Verizon cell phone signal in Arcadia, particularly in the southern portion below Duarte Road. I would switch to AT&T but everyone I know with iPhones has the same issue — barely one bar of signal strength and lots of dropped calls. The problem seems to be worse on Smart Phones, which use an advanced network to include data such as e-mail and Internet connections. But it impacts phone calls on these phones, as well as the data services.

Cell tower in fale palm tree behind former Baldwin realty building on northeast corner of intersection at Duarte Road and First Avenue

On our evening walks I see people who are forced to do the same thing as I do when I get a call — run outside to the street just to get and keep the connection. You wind up standing on the curb for 10-minutes just to talk on the phone, which isn’t always convenient if you’re not properly dressed or it’s 100-degrees.

I’d like to know how many others are experiencing this problem. Is it just me and a handful of others? City officials say they have not received many complaints, but that perhaps complaints are going to the cell phone provider. The cell provider would have to request adding a tower that the City would approve or not, and they would have to determine where to place additional towers. In southern Arcadia that’s more of a problem because it is more residential and therefore fewer buildings to mount the towers. But cell towers are mounted on school properties around town and there could be more cell towers in parks disguised to look like the fake pine tree by the Community Center or the fake palm tree by the former Baldwin realty building on northeast corner of the intersection at Duarte Road and First Avenue (pictured at right).

Please take two seconds to click on the poll at right of this page to rate the quality of your cell phone signal strength.

As for Trader Joe’s, how can one of the hottest business success stories in the country, as reported in Fortune magazine, have its heaquarters in Monrovia and stores all around us in Monrovia, Pasadena, and even  San Gabriel, but no presence of any kind in Arcadia?

City manager Don Penman says that about a decade or more ago, the company had some interest in a possible outlet in Arcadia but there were no sites available — Trader Joe’s only wanted existing unattractive vacant buildings at the time so they could keep rent low. That policy has clearly shifted in recent years but the only possible site that has come available in Arcadia was the former Vons store on Foothill Blvd. which was taken over by Fresh & Easy.

Let us know in comments below which of the local Trader Joe’s you prefer and if you would switch if one was opened here in Arcadia.

— By Scott Hettrick