We hear about many successes and achievements of Arcadia High School students.
On Saturday I was impressed and inspired by a dazzling dance performance produced by a dozen former AHS students at a performing arts theater in Baldwin Park.

by Scott Hettrick

Twelve of the 18 members of the Evoke Dance Company, including the three founders, Jeniffer Hsu, Justine Hsu, and Josephine Lau, hail from Arcadia and are now mostly twenty-something university graduates.
The 21 songs they chose, and their choreography, costuming, and complex and immaculate dance steps were a joy to watch and truly evoked emotions from more than 500 enthralled audience members.

The performances in the program called “Life Renditions” portrayed “defining moments, attitudes, struggles, and experiences during various stages of life.”
A number called “The Crash,” depicted a broken relationship between a young man and woman with the heartfelt emotion comparable to the quality and power of a performance on the TV show “So You Think You Can Dance.”
A mash-up of multiple songs and styles called “Travelers Unite” featured eight of the principle dancers wearing masks as they performed delightfully rapid-fire steps, hand movements, and facial expressions.
And the whimsical “Too Cool For School” presented many of the dancers dressed in brightly-colored child-like outfits as they expressed the unbridled enthusiasm of elementary school students to the music of The Jackson Five’s “A-B-C” and Lil Mama’s “G-Slide.”

Justine and Jeniffer Hsu, and Josephine Lau

Even more inspiring than the program and the performances was the realization that these young adults are choosing to do this completely on their own, without the structure of a high school, university or pre-existing organization. What’s more, they donate a portion of proceeds to worthy organizations, in this case, the Feed the Children charity.

These upbeat individuals are not sitting around watching TV, playing video games, hanging out at clubs, or getting into myriad forms of trouble. In fact, almost all of them have full-time jobs and many are nurturing relationships and even marriages. And yet, they still devoted many late nights and weekends during the past four months to creating this show and practicing several times a week.
<Story continues below following video produced by Evoke about their company and mission.>

Justine, Josephine, Jeniffer, and the Evoke Dance Company are living their mission to “dance, evoke, and give.”

Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
I don’t know if members of Evoke have any such lofty ambitions to change the world, but the attitude and performances of Evoke are having a positive impact on everyone they touch.

– By Scott Hettrick

Every Arcadia City Council election ballot mailed to thousands of voters this week contains erroneous instructions to vote for up to three candidates.
There are only two Council seats up for election.
The erroneous instructions are limited to the Chinese language translation on the sample and actual ballots.
There are five candidates, two of whom are Chinese-American.

by Scott Hettrick

City officials were scrambling this week to hastily prepare postcards advising of the error in the same multiple languages as on the ballot and send them to every single voter in Arcadia. Any such mailing to voters cannot target specific voters or be limited to a single language, according to election law.
Translations for the ballots and other city documents are contracted out to a company that provides such translation services for cities nationwide. The election ballot two years ago correctly noted that there were three Council seats available.

An announcement of the issue was made at the fourth and final candidates forum tonight (Friday, March 16), with attendees being advised that they must vote for no more than two candidates. In a potentially fortunate coincidence, this forum was co-sponsored by the Arcadia Chinese Association and was expected to draw several hundred attendees, a large percentage Chinese. But there were only about 50 people in attendance at the Community Center, a large number of whom were Caucasian.

This is the first City Council election to be conducted without polling precincts, but rather by mail only. Voters have less than a month to return their ballots, which must be received no later than April 10 (received, not simply postmarked by April 10). That means that voters who may have received their ballots in the mail as early as Tuesday or Wednesday, could have immediately filled them out and put them back in the mail the same day. The City was alerted to the error on Thursday.

Deputy Chief City Clerk Lisa Mussenden told ArcadiasBest.com Friday that any voter who may have already submitted their ballot marked with three candidate choices should contact City Hall to alert them of the faulty ballot. That ballot will be tagged invalid and a new ballot will be provided to the voter. The phone number at Mussenden’s office is 574-5410, or voters may report their concern in person at the City Clerk’s Office in City Hall at 240 West Huntington Drive.
Even voters who vote for the proper number of one or two candidates have the option of dropping off their ballots at the City Clerk’s office in person rather than putting them in the mail. The City Clerk’s Office drop-off center will be open Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. On alternate Fridays the hours will be 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (City Hall offices will be closed March 23 and April 6.) Hours on Election Day, Tuesday, April 10, will be 7 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Many who learned about the error expressed concern that no matter what the City does to try to minimize the impact of the error, the validity of the entire election could potentially be challenged.

This is not the only language issue in the campaign so far. The ACA’s partner in tonight’s forum was the American Association of University Women of Arcadia. For the past week, at least one member of  the AAUW has been expressing concern to candidates, city officials, and others in the community that a press release issued by the ACA regarding the forum was encouraging residents to vote only for the two Chinese candidates. The AAUW member and others also expressed concern about a Chinese translation to be conducted in real time during the forum off to the side of the room.

The English language version of the press release said nothing of that sort. Several people who saw the original Chinese language version of the press release, which was used as a basis for stories in Chinese media, said there was nothing recommending any specific vote. No one asked by ArcadiasBest.com had been able to ascertain a copy of the press release reported to have advocated voting for only two Chinese candidates. It’s believed that whomever saw that release may have been looking at a faulty English translation.

The ACA, whose mission is to integrate and unite Chinese and American cultures in Arcadia, and which donates tens of thousands of dollars to Arcadia institutions each year, such as the Arcadia Public Library and schools, has gone out of its way at every step to avoid even a perception of any favoritism.

Both of these incidents are very unfortunate for all involved, and show that, for all our progress, negative perceptions and suspicions of people of different cultures still linger just below the surface with many residents, and Arcadia still has a long ways to go in being careful to guard against any ill feelings sparked solely by a lack of sufficient attention to communications.

– By Scott Hettrick

Many Arcadians will likely recognize the man in the photo below right that was featured on the front page of the Feb. 23 edition of The Daily News.

r-l Mickey Segal, Jeffrey Katzenberg, George Clooney, Bob Beitcher. Photo by Andy Holzman of The Daily News

No, not George Clooney, and not DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. That other gentleman on the right side of the photo. Yes, that’s Arcadia City Councilman Mickey Segal rubbing shoulders with Hollywood elite.

I’m not sure how many people realize what Segal does in his day job; he’s managing partner at Nigro Karlin Segal & Feldstein in Century City, ranked this month by The Los Angeles Business Journal as the fifth biggest of the top 75 certified public accounting firms in all of Los Angeles County. The only firms bigger are the far more prominent PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, and KPMG.
Segal’s firm, which he started with only two partners in 1981, has grown to more than 220 employees with expertise in business management and other entertainment industry-related services. The firm handles every phase of finance for dozens of NBA players, dozens of Major League Baseball stars, and many actors, directors, producers, writers, and musicians. NKS&F even hires the domestic staff and handles travel for A-list clients such as David Letterman, Lenny Kravitz and Maroon 5.

by Scott Hettrick

The photo with Clooney was taken at a breakfast and press conference at the Beverly Hills Hotel during which Segal joined Clooney, Katzenberg, and Bob Beitcher in announcing  the launch of a campaign to raise $350 million for the Motion Picture & Television Fund over the next three years to provide long-term care and other health services provided at the fund’s Woodland Hills campus. The fund already has raised $238 million this year.

Two years ago Segal was hosting his own breakfast as Mayor of Arcadia. He arranged to have one of his clients speak at the annual Mayor’s Community Breakfast: David Milch, creator of the new HBO series “Luck,” starring Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte and now filming its second season at Santa Anita Park.

Segal is also the chief fundraiser for Methodist Hospital, raising millions of dollars and arranging for entertainment icons such as Paul Anka to perform at the Hospital’s annual Crystal Ball.

Last night (Tuesday, March 13) he joined in the celebration with proponents of the Measure A school parcel tax, for which he was called  to help raise more than $125,000 for the election campaign.

Segal received Variety‘s Business Manager Elite Award at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons hotel in December for his tremendous impact on business management and his tireless dedication to philanthropy.

What does a man with all that financial and celebrity clout do when he’s not at work? Twice a month you’ll find Segal working for next-to-nothing making decisions in Arcadia City Council chambers that help keep Arcadia running smoothly.

– By Scott Hettrick

Come on. How much easier can it be to exercise your right to vote?

You’ve got to send in your ballot this week regarding Measure A — the school parcel tax  – in order for it to be received by Tuesday, March 13 (received by March 13, not just postmarked by that date).

by Scott Hettrick

The ballot was mailed to your house, only takes a few seconds to fill out, and only has to be stamped and put back in your mailbox. It’s as easy as receiving and returning a movie from Netflix, for goodness sake.
And yet, most of you registered voters have failed to do so over the last several weeks. Incredible.

So, do it, and get ready to do it again in a few days when you get your next voting ballot asking you to simply pick two of the five candidates running for City Council. How can you justify not taking a combined five minutes to help determine the future for our kids and Arcadia?

As for the school tax, it will only cost $228 per year for most property owners for five years, and 100% of the $3mil.-plus will go directly to the schools each year, not even close to covering the projected budget deficit but significantly reducing the cuts to school staffing and activities and increases in class sizes that will otherwise be likely.

Among the organizations and individuals endorsing Measure A:

Organizations

• AEF
• Arcadia Teachers Association
• Arcadia Pupil Support Services Association
• Arcadia Council PTA
• Arcadia Association of Realtors
• Arcadia Chamber of Commerce
• Arcadia Chinese Association
• Arcadia High School PTA
• Arcadia High School Athletic Boosters
• AHS Chinese Parent Booster Club
• Arcadia Music Club
• Dana PTA
• Foothills PTA
• Foothill Federal Credit Union
• Baldwin Stocker PTA
• Camino Grove PTA
• First Avenue PTA
• Holly Avenue PTA
• Highland Oaks PTA
• Hugo Reid PTA
• Longley Way PTA

Local Leaders & Officials

• Janet Chew, President,School Board
• Kay Kinsler, School Board Member
• Cung Nguyen, School Board Member
• Lori Phillipi, School Board Member
• Joann Steinmeier, School Board Member
• Dr. Joel Shawn, AUSD Superintendent
• Gary Kovacic, Mayor
• Roger Chandler, City Council Member
• Bob Harbicht, City Council Member
• Mickey Segal, City Council Member
• Jim Barrows, City Clerk

——————————-

• Dr. Ilene Anderson, Highland Oaks Principal
• Christina Aragon, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services
• Christine Blackstock, Holly Avenue Principal
• Scott Bramley, Director of Technology & Information Services
• Tom Bruce, Hugo Reid Principal
• Lee Callander, Council PTA President
• Castalia Chan, AHS CPBC President
• Sherrie DuFresne, Longley Way Principal
• Imy Dulake, Realtor
• Diana Eisele, Hugo Reid PTA President
• Maryann Gibson, Former School Board Member
• Daniel Hacking, Dana MS Principal
• James Helms, Former Mayor
• Nadia Hillman, Principal Foothills MS
• Soledad King, Dana PTA President
• David Lee, Past President Arcadia Chinese Association
• Lisa Lucas, AEF President
• Dr. Robert Leri, Deputy Superintendent, Educational Services and Programs
• Jayne Nickles, Baldwin Stocker Principal
• Lan Nguyen, Foothills PTA President
• Danae Popovich, Principal Camino Grove Elementary
• Brook Reynolds, Director of Operations, Transportation and Food Services
• Jim Romo, former School Board member
• Erin Slessor, Camino Grove PTA President
• Fred Stevens, Arcadia Music Club President
• Vicky Stiles, First Avenue PTA President
• Patrick Tierney, Arcadia Teacher Association President
• Andrew Poon, APSSA Co-President
• David Vannasdall, Arcadia High School Principal
• Jeff Wilson, First Avenue MS Principal
• Julie Yeh, Holly Avenue PTA President
• Annie Yuen, Former School Board Member

——————————-

• Mary Dougherty, City Council candidate/Former School Board Member
• Henry Nunez, City Council candidate
• Sho Tay, City Council candidate
• John Wuo, City Council candidate/Former Mayor

• Karen Acosta
• Nancy Adams
• Elaine Aguayo
• Leticia Alejandre
• Edit Alemmon
• Margaret Barrows
• Kevin Beaumont
• Oliver Beckwith
• Deborah Beveridge
• Anne-Marie Bishara
• Darlene & Jeff Bowen
• Richard Branson
• Mary & Steve Brockmeyer
• Marsha Burkhalter
• Larry Callaham
• Leigh Chavez
• Eric Chen
• Pearl Chen
• Hsuichen Chen
• Will Chew
• Christina Ching
• Amy Christaianto
• Helena Chu
• Scott Conley
• Helen Conroy
• Erin Dahle
• Marilyn Daleo
• Niroo Dev
• Joe Eisele
• Judy & Don Fickas
• Michelle Ganis
• Aili Gardea
• Pat Gibson
• Marcie Gladson
• Fred Good
• Coyla Grumm
• Serge Haddad
• Brenda Halberstadt
• Diane Hart
• Sharon & Gary Hayward
• Carla & Tom Heer
• Penny & Mike Hoover
• Carol Howard
• Bee Hsu
• Chia-Chieu Hu
• Semeen Issa
• Clarence Irvin
• Seema Johnson
• Anne Joseph
• Julie Kelley
• Matthew King
• Warren Kinsler
• Kerri Kiyomura
• William Klipstein
• Barb Kovacic
• Jonathan Kwok
• Nicole Lee
• Ronald Lee
• Paul Loh
• Barry Lisbin
• Cathy Liu
• Jessica Louie
• Linda Lowry
• Diane & Craig Lucas
• Randy Macdonald
• Rajendra Mallichetty
• Jennifer Martin
• Ken Matsuura
• Mary McGinnis
• Susan & Thomas Meikle
• Anne Mettler
• Judy & Chuck Miller
• Connie Mimura
• Charlene Mutter
• Margarita Ortiz
• Irene Owen
• Steve Phillipi
• Dr. Peter Poon
• Carolyn Prater
• Lana & Dean Radle
• Pavithra Ramasubramaniam
• Becky & Doug Rees
• Cynthia Roberts
• Shelly Romo
• Joyce Sakai
• Maria Sansui
• Sonal & Kirit Shah
• Paul Shaikh
• Joseph Shiuan
• Yee Horn Shuai
• Mary & John Snider
• Nan Song
• David Steinmeier
• Hilda Street
• Mike Stiles
• Brenda Stimpson
• Jampana Subrahmanya
• Yukie Sugiyama
• Kathy Swanson
• Audree Swanson
• Al Sylvia
• Jinny Tang
• Kelli Tang
• Kristen Tedei
• Johnny Tseng
• John Tung
• John Van Haaster
• Alex Wang
• Alice Wang
• David Wang
• Donna Wang
• Willy Wei
• Lynne & Vern Whitaker
• Sheldon Wright
• Edward Wong
• Kim Wu
• Jasmine Wu
• William Yeh
• Agnes Yen
• Andrew Yim
• Michelle Yim
• Debbie Young
• Henry Yu

– By Scott Hettrick

Taking a page out of the marketing handbook of Los Angeles Angels baseball team owner Arte Moreno, the Breeders’ Cup has left the name Arcadia off the logo for this year’s two-day event at Santa Anita Park Nov. 2-3.
Updated 8 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1: For that matter, there’s not even any mention of Santa Anita on the primary new logo, though there is an alternate logo that says Santa Anita instead of Los Angeles.

Like Moreno, who changed the name of the Anaheim Angels to the bigger and more advertiser-friendly Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) — for which he took a lot of ribbing, Los Angeles is now the only city noted on the Breeders’ Cup logo unveiled this week, with searchlights in the background evoking the glitz of Hollywood.

According to the announcement, “the logo captures the prestige of the Breeders’ Cup with the Hollywood esteem of Los Angeles.”

I suppose this was to be expected when the press conference announcing the decision to stage this year’s Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita was held last year at a hotel in downtown Los Angeles, with L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa being given the primary spotlight.

Both Santa Anita and Breeders’ Cup are targeting a much broader range of customers these days from much further away than the San Gabriel Valley. Ironically, Santa Anita has been advertising its current meet on the electronic billboard at Angel Stadium near the 57 freeway in Anaheim.

More curious is not having Santa Anita mentioned on every version of the logo, since the track is considered one of the finest in the world.

The 29th running of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships will mark the sixth time that Santa Anita will host the event, returning for the first time since back-to-back years in 2008 and 2009. Total purses for the two-day event are more than $25 million.

Tickets for this year’s event are scheduled to go on sale to the general public in early June. Fans may register today at www.breederscup.com/tickets to receive a special pre-sale ticket offer in late May which will allow them to purchase tickets before they go on sale to the general public.

– By Scott Hettrick