Claremont had a little shaking yesterday, but the city reports all is fine in the City of Trees and Ph.D's. Our neighbors to the south didn't fare quite as well:
POMONA BUILDINGS OK,
MAYOR NOT SO MUCH
We were glad to hear the news that Pomona City Hall and the Pomona Library were reporting no serious damage and both are schedule to resume their normal hours today, according to the city of Pomona's website.
Both Pomona City Hall and the Library were designed by the same person, Welton Becket, who was responsible for any number of Southern California icons: the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Mark Taper Forum, the LA Sports Arena, the Capitol Records building, the old Bullock's building (now Macy's) on South Lake Street in Pasadena, and many others.
All survived the Northridge and Sylmar quakes, so a little 5.4 shaker shouldn't do too much harm.
The Goddess of Pomona had some excellent coverage of the downtown Pomona scene yesterday, complete with exclusive photos. As the comment from Garrett Sawyer indicates, no word yet on how the Pomona Fox Theatre fared.
We thought it odd that with all the focus on Pomona City Hall on television and in the news we heard not a peep from Pomona Mayor Norma Torres, who in the midst of a campaign for the State Assembly's 61st District has been oddly silent since winning the district's Democratic primary.
We suspect that Torres' party handlers have instructed her to keep quiet to avoid any flubs that might lead to the sort of embarrassment that her endorsement of now-convicted water board member Xavier Alvarez caused. Thanks to gerrymandering, the seat is very safely Democratic, so Torres can keep her mouth shut and do the important things like add to the now-$400,000-plus in special interest money she has raised to date pandering her future assembly votes for her campaign war chest.
Still, in a situation like this with City Hall closed and TV news crews running around downtown Pomona, you'd think an appearance or even a formal statement from the mayor, never one to miss a photo op, would be in order. Torres' silence in the past couple months is one sign that her party's higher ups recognize the candidate's flaws.
Hmmmm....City Hall closed, windows shattered, mayor nowhere in sight...there must be a metaphor in there someplace: Pomona, scene of disasters, natural and otherwise.
WIDER AREA COVERAGE
The Daily Bulletin had coverage today of the quake's effects outside of Pomona. The Bulletin article reports that the epicenter was under the Sleepy Hollow area of Carbon Canyon Rd.
Only a few injuries that were described as minor and some power outages, along with scattered property damage. The LA Times also had coverage today.
The U.S. Geological Survey has a site where you can fill out a questionnaire if you felt yesterday's quake. It only takes a few minutes, and the more data points the USGS can collect from as many diverse locations as possible, the more accurately they can describe the earth movement yesterday. This all helps engineers come up with better structural designs to help buildings and infrastructure survive future earthquakes. The Chino quake is USGS Event 14383980, and you can complete the questionnaire by following the link that says "Did You Feel It?"
Posts
