No acceptable opening bid has been offered for Santa Anita Park, and the thoroughbred race track will not go on the auction block Tuesday as planned. There's been a "lot of interest," but since no baseline bid was received by the July 31 deadline the sale has been postponed, said Michael Wildish, a managing director of Miller Buckfire, the New York City-based bankruptcy consultants handling the sale.  read more »

In an effort to provide business owners in Arcadia with the opportunity to voice concerns and suggestions, the City of Arcadia and Chamber of Commerce co-sponsored a General Plan Business Workshop on Tuesday, August 4 at the City Hall Council Chambers. Despite a low turnout, the meeting provided a few business owners and members of the General Plan Advisory Committee to review the plan's goals and approach, and to discuss potential problems.   read more »

ARCADIA - The rivalry between shopping center giants Caruso Affiliated and Westfield appears to be coming to a head in this city, as City Council members considered a 830,000-square-foot outdoor mall proposal brought before them Wednesday night. Caruso's upscale project, slated for the parking lot of the landmark Santa Anita Race Track, entered the final stages of city approval in a night filled with red "Yes!" buttons and black T-shirts printed with stop signs. The meeting began about 7 p.m.; an inch-thick stack of requests to speak was barely dented by 9:30p.m. Audience members packed the Masonic Lodge, which had seats for 700.  read more »

THE $7BILLION THAT PASSES through California's Indian gaming facilities already surpasses the collective take of all the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. Our state is home to more than 50 Nevada-style gambling resorts, more than 60,000 slot machines and hundreds of blackjack and poker tables. Throw in the lottery and horse racing, and we're spending six times more on gambling in California than 10 years ago - more than $13 billion a year.  read more »

ARCADIA - Opponents of the proposed The Shops at Santa Anita need to get their facts straight, according to developer Caruso Affiliated. Responding to allegations made by Arcadia First! that Caruso representatives participated in private negotiations with the City Council, the developer said Friday that the community group - which is financed by Caruso's commercial arch-rival - should apologize and make a public retraction.  read more »

ARCADIA - The latest salvo in this city's mall wars is aimed directly at City Hall. Opponents of the proposed Caruso Affiliated development near the Santa Anita Park race track have filed a complaint accusing the City Council of breaking open-meeting laws. An attorney for Arcadia First! asked the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office to investigate whether negotiations between the city and Caruso violated the Brown Act because they were held outside of public view.  read more »

Putting homes, schools and parks by freeways was seen as a final frontier in L.A., but a USC study on pollution could force a rethinking. The effects of local highway pollution on children's health.  read more »

I think putting a mall next to a huge mall (Caruso, Westfield, etc) is just a no-brainer stupid idea…You advertise more people with more money are going to come spend, spend, spend and you are going to get more crimes and traffic.  read more »

"I no longer go to Dodger games, or the L.A. Philharmonic…. I only go out to dinner at restaurants within two miles of my house."  This is but a tiny sampling from the traffic jam of angst that clogged my mailbag after last Sunday's column. But many readers saved their best work and sharpest barbs for those they hold responsible for an irresponsible explosion of residential and commercial projects erected without adequate consideration of the horrors they generate. "Our problems can be traced directly to the development community, lobbyists, attorneys and the elected officials," said Sandy Brown, a Westside activist.  read more »

In the largest and longest study of its kind, USC researchers have found that children living near busy highways have significant impairments in the development of their lungs that can lead to respiratory problems for the rest of their lives.  read more »