Duarte Relay for Life Set for June 9-10

at Northview Intermediate School

Cancer never sleeps and neither will participants of the 24-hour long Relay for Life event to be hosted by the City of Duarte and the American Cancer Society on June 9 and June 10 on the campus of Northview Intermediate School, 1401 Highland Ave.

Participants of the 3rd Annual Duarte Relay for Life will honor cancer survivors and pay tribute to lives lost by the disease while striving to raise $50,000 to help fight cancer in the community. Mayor John Fasana will kick off the event, hosting opening ceremonies at 9 a.m. on June 9, while Mayor Pro-Tem Liz Reilly will preside over the closing ceremony at 9 a.m. the next morning.

Last year more than 20 teams participated raising more than $30,000 for the fight against cancer. Event Chair Katherine Whatley, a Duarte Walmart employee, said she is expecting another record year. "We are so excited to be working with so many groups in the community again. I'm sure we will have even more participation and exceed our goals once again."

This year's theme, "Mardi Gras," will provide the teams with lots of inspiration for creative décor and activities throughout the Relay. Teams will maintain a 24-hour community presence, camping out overnight on the field at Northview Intermediate School. The event will feature food, games, tributes and fellowship. Every penny earned will go toward cancer research. The City of Duarte itself is sponsoring a youth team consisting of representatives from Duarte's Promise —The Alliance for Youth, Northview's Cardinals Helping Youth Live Life (C.H.Y.L.L.) and Duarte Area Resource Team (D.A.R.T.), who are gathering donations by selling "Feet" and Luminaries which represent people who have been diagnosed, died, or have beaten cancer.

The Relay for Life began in 1985 when Dr. Gordy Klatt, a colorectal surgeon in Tacoma, Washington ran and walked around a track for 24 hours to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Since then, the Relay has grown from a single man's passion into the world's largest movement to end cancer.

For more information about how to start a team, join a team or volunteer, visit www.relayforlife.org/duarteca, or call Katherine Whatley at (626) 404-3537.

Betty R. McWilliams named Executive Director

of Foothill Unity Center, Inc.

Foothill Unity Center Deputy Director Betty R. McWilliams has been chosen from a field of over 20 candidates to assume leadership of the organization effective June 4. She succeeds Joan E. Whitenack, who is retiring after nearly 17 years as head of the agency.

As a key member of the Center’s management team for 14 years, McWilliams has played a pivotal role in its growth into one of the most effective nonprofit agencies in the area. In partnership with Whitenack, she led the expansion of its program service area from three cities to eleven, now providing services to more than 4,000 unduplicated very low income local families and homeless each year. She was instrumental in securing the Center’s federal designation as Community Action Agency for the Foothill Area and in the success of its major annual fundraising event, the Golden Plate Awards Dinner. In addition to overseeing the Center’s day-to-day operations, McWilliams has helped to develop many of its client programs, including Health Services, Pet Food Bank, Senior/Disabled Home Delivery, case management and much more. She has also been instrumental in the planning and execution of its annual Back to School, Thanksgiving and Holiday Distributions. Prior to joining the Center, McWilliams served as Executive Director of the Pasadena Senior Center for six years and held other administrative positions in the private sector.

“After a months-long search and the review of a strong field of final candidates, Betty emerged as the hands-down choice of our Executive Search Committee,” said David Steinmeier, President of the Center’s Board of Directors. “As Foothill Unity Center enters a new era of helping local families in need, we are fortunate and proud to have Betty’s exceptional leadership skills, seasoned experience, caring and passion at the helm.”

NOTE: A retirement party for Joan Whitenack is planned for Thursday evening, June 28, 5–8 p.m. at the Double Tree Hotel in Monrovia. For information and reservations ($10 per person), contact Barbara Rolf at the Center, 626.358.3486 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Duarte Lemonade Brigade Named Official

Lemonade Provider by Duarte City Council

Duarte Council Votes to Launch Recycling

for Multi-Family Dwellings in July

Beginning in July, residents of Duarte’s 62 multi-family dwellings will do what the City’s single family households have been doing since the 1980’s – recycling.

The Duarte City Council recently voted unanimously to approve implementation by Burrtec Waste Services of mandatory recycling for all eligible 5-unit and larger multi-family dwellings in the City.

To relieve property owners of any burden associated with program design and implementation, the City of Duarte, together with Burrtec Waste Services, has designed a multi-family recycling program that can be tailored to each individual site while ensuring each property’s compliance with State requirements.

Over the next three months, Burrtec will be distributing bi-lingual educational materials and conducting on-site property surveys detailing various recycling options, many of them highlighting a cost savings. It is estimated that 50% of the current multi-family customers will realize a cost savings as a result of the mandated recycling program. The types of information that will be disseminated include door hangers, posters, newsletters, letters, news articles and website articles detailing the ease and benefits of the program.

Every eligible building will be provided with a recycling container, individual in-unit containers for tenants/owners and bi-lingual educational materials. Burrtec will also offer on-site resident education program for 16 unit or larger complexes detailing the location of the recycling bin, acceptable recyclable materials, how to use and store the indoor recycling container and familiarize residents with educational door hangers, and posters.

A listing of recyclables, including all beverage containers, plastic, paper, glass, cardboard, and metal products, will appear on the front of the bin. Only specialized recycling bins, designed to prevent scavenging and litter, will be used in conjunction with the program.

The mandate re-initiates a program first introduced as voluntary in 2009 when the City applied for and was awarded a $57,500 CalRecycle grant to fund and promote the costs associated with launching a citywide multi-family recycling program. Duarte’s CalRecycle grant covers the costs of educational materials, collection, recycling containers, bins and some minor personnel costs. The program, then only in its earliest outreach stage, was interrupted for 18 months by the ongoing state budget crisis. In the interim, the California Legislature signed into law AB 341 requiring CalRecycle to increase the diversion of solid waste from the currently required statewide level of 50% to 75% by 2020. To achieve this goal, the new law requires all multi-family complexes of 5 units or more to begin recycling by July 1, 2012.

In 1988 Duarte became the first city in the San Gabriel Valley to introduce residential curbside recycling. In 2011, Duarte residents recycled more than 1,153 tons of their recyclables.

For more information, call Burrtec Waste Services at 1-866-287-7832 or the City of Duarte (626) 357-7931, ext. 221.

Next Duarte Family Movie

Night in the Park is May 25

Duarte’s popular Movie Nights in the Park returns Friday, May 25, at Beardslee Park, 2000 Buena Vista St., from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. A complimentary BBQ dinner and popcorn are also on the menu along with the feature movie presentation.

Duarte Movie Nights in the Park are made possible through the sponsorship of THINK Together, SCE Federal Credit Union, L.A. County Parks & Recreation, Santa Anita Family YMCA and Y Life Project, Duarte’s Promise – The Alliance for Youth, Duarte Rotary’s Interact Club, Duarte Kiwanis’ Key Club and Builders Club, Duarte Lemonade Brigade, Life Church of Pasadena, and Marvell West.

For more information, contact Aida Torres at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call (626) 359-5671, ext. 316.

Duarte Contracts for Major

Street Maintenance Project

A major street maintenance project is on the calendar for later this year to slurry seal and cape seal all residential streets west of Highland Ave., from north to the south City limits.

The Duarte City Council awarded All American Asphalt of Corona a $1.15 million contract funded with a combination of State Gas Tax and a CalRecycle Grant. The CalRecycle Grant reimburses the City one dollar for every square yard of asphalt rubber aggregate membrane (ARAM) constructed. It is estimated that 132,500 square yards of ARAM will be placed during the course of the project and $132,500 returned to the City via the CalRecycle Rubberized Pavement Grant for the recycling of approximately 11,000 used rubber tires.

For the project, streets in fair condition will receive a surface treatment of an asphalt rubber aggregate membrane, chip seal, followed by an application of a Type II slurry seal. This combination of materials is known as a cape seal. The remaining streets, which are good condition, will receive just the Type II slurry seal. All of the streets have had any failed pavement areas removed and replaced; and all pavement cracks one-quarter inch or greater have been sealed with asphalt rubber under separate contracts.

The City has not yet determined when the project will begin, but it will be sometime between mid-May and late summer since road work utilizing the ARAM product requires placement during warm weather.

For more information, call the City of Duarte Community Development Dept. at (626) 357-7931, ext. 230.

Duarte Businesses Collect Batteries

Making Recycling Easier

Two businesses in the City of Duarte are part of 38 establishments in the San Gabriel Valley participating in a pilot program that aims to increase battery recycling within the City and throughout the Valley. The state of California banned batteries from disposal in landfills in 2006 in an effort to recycle more metals and to reduce groundwater contamination caused by the presence of batteries in landfills.

The following locations are participating in Duarte as battery take-back sites:

• Frontier Hardware, 2137 Huntington Dr.
• Route 66 Car Wash, 2110 Huntington Dr.

Residents can conveniently bring any household batteries (rechargeable or alkaline that weigh less than 11 lbs.) and cell phones to the take-back locations. This means that old lithium-ion cell phone and camera batteries along with traditional AAA-D batteries can be brought to the same convenient take-back location. Signs on store windows identify take-back locations. Customers can turn in their batteries at the marked battery recycling boxes inside the store. Simple instructions on how to safely recycle batteries are located on each take-back box. Full boxes of batteries are mailed to recycling facilities at no charge to the participating businesses.

Thanks to an approximate $396,000 grant from the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments (SGVCOG) has been able to facilitate a pilot-recycling program for household batteries. The SGVCOG is working to make battery recycling more convenient by partnering with local businesses to become battery take-back locations. The Call2Recycle® program is paying for all disposal costs associated with the battery recycling. This take-back process reduces costs to the public because battery producers pay for the shipping and recycling. Furthermore, recycling is more convenient for consumers because local retailers throughout the San Gabriel Valley host collection locations.

For more information about the battery-recycling program or to find a take-back location near you go to www.SGVCOG.org/batteryrecycling or contact Nicholas Conway, SGVCOG Executive Director at (626) 457-1800. For more information about CalRecycle go to www.calrecycle.ca.gov.

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