Daily Bulletin

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin reported quoted Peter Yao as saying he saw the top priorities as building Padua Sports Park and purchasing the water utility from Golden State Water Company.

The quote from Ellen Taylor also indicated that the water company purchase was now a priority.

We generally like the idea of a municipal water utility. Of course, Claremont citizens should understand that water prices in the short run (meaning the 30 years it will take to pay off the $100-plus million purchase price) will be higher than they are now. On the other hand, with water becoming a scarcer comodity, it makes sense for it to be controlled by a public entity.

The sports park is more problematic. While we like the idea of more lighted sports fields, we think the city's being short-sighted in thinking Padua Park will satisfy the needs of groups like AYSO or girls softball. The city has indicated that it needs something on the order of eight more lighted soccer fields and six more baseball/softball fields.

Padua Park only adds two soccer fields (one lighted) and one baseball/softball diamond. So, the city will spend over $10 million to build Padua Park, and will have barely made a dent in the sports field needs. The city could light fields in other parks, such as Lewis Park, but neighbors in those other areas are opposed to lights.

So, after Padua Park is built, the city will still be short seven lighted soccer fields and five lighted baseball/softball fields. The city will then have to either impose lights on other neighborhood parks in areas opposed to lighted fields (as they are imposing them now on the Northeast Claremont area) or they will have to resurrect Opanyi Nasiali's idea about a sports complex in the gravel pit as Baseline Rd. and Monte Vista Ave. And, they will have to come back to Claremont taxpayers to ask for the additional tens of millions to build their sports complex.

If, after Padua Sports Park is built, the youth sports groups still have over-crowded fields, they should point to this council and to Mayor Yao for their failure to address the root problem with a real solution. They will have no one else to blame.

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Question: In the priorities listed in the Bulletin article, what happened to mining? The anti-mining group Claremonters Against Strip Mining made such a big deal out of it during the election. Did mining go away? Isn't the city still in litigation with Vulcan Materials Co.? Isn't the landowner, Pomona Valley Protective Association, still trying to sell the land to a developer?

And what about Johnson's Pasture? Where was that in the Mayor's and Sam Pedroza's and Linda Elderkin's list of post-election priorities? They sure made a lot of noise during the election about both the pasture and the mining. What happened?


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The Claremont 400 apparently feels it has a mandate of some sort--as seen in the Mayor's comment about a "super-majority". A word of caution to the mayor: a 29% turnout for the city election hardly constitutes a mandate. Compared to the 2006 assessment district election when 54% of the ballots were returned and the Johnson's Pasture Measure S Bond, which had a 55 % turnout (higher than surrounding areas for the November 2006 election), 29% is indicative of low interest in the city election. People were generally happy with how things were going.

The 400 really is going back to the future in its thinking if they believe they represent the majority of Claremont citizens. The disconnect is already building. As we pointed out yesterday, the councilmembers elected on Tuesday won election in two precincts, Joslyn Center and Sycamore School. Areas like South Claremont, Northeast Claremont, Piedmont Mesa didn't turn out in huge numbers. And, it is likely that those areas will be under-represented in future city decisions as a result--something that has occurred regularly in the past.

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Inside baseball: It also seems that the 400 has decided on the mayorship. Pedroza's comments in the Bulletin article made it clear that he will support Yao for another term as mayor. Ellen Taylor will be mayor pro tem. This means Taylor will be positioned as mayor in the year leading up to her re-election campaign in 2009. Yao gets to be mayor for the Claremont Centennial, something he covets, in exchange for supporting the 400's agenda.