OPM

Other People's Money

We see in today's Daily Bulletin an article by reporter Canan Tasci relating that the Cal Poly Pomona Board of Trustees will shortly consider a proposal to demolish Cal Poly's iconic CLA Building (Classroom, Laboratory, and Administration), housing student services and administrative offices and, we assume, classrooms and labs.

This is not a case of the university knocking down some old, dilapidated out-building remnant of Kellogg Ranch, this is a 200,000 square foot building built in 1993--it's only 17 years old! Plus, it has become a symbol of Cal Poly. Hence the term "iconic". By the way, 200,000 square feet is about 5 acres. The tower is 173 feet high. This is a huge building complex.


We can scarcely think of a better example of the phenomenon of OPM--Other People's Money. When public agencies are paying for things with OPM--which is all they really ever do--they just don't care.

Build a monumental building in 1993 that leaks and doesn't meet program needs? Sure, it's OPM.

Plan on tearing down the same building scarcely 20 years later and replacing it with a new $80 million dollar one? Sure, it's OPM.

All the while, be careful to shroud the issue in student safety (earthquakes in this case), energy efficiency, and LEED-sustainability-greenness. And don't worry, somebody else is paying for it-- "Funds would be allocated from the Chancellor's Office utilizing state construction bonds." In other words, OPM.

Come to think of it, this sounds a lot like the proponents of the $95 million Measure CL:

So what if we only built about half of what we said we'd build with Measure Y money? OPM.

Repair or replace leaky and faulty roofs. OPM.

Improve student and school safety, including fire alarms and replacing old wiring. OPM.

Install solar panels...other energy-efficiency improvements...environmentally sustainable... OPM.

Remove hazardous materials...lead...asbestos. OPM.

Maybe we all ought to go out and get some OPM of our own.

Campaign piece pushing CUSD Measure CL, prepared by the School District, and handed out at a recent elementary school Parents' Night.

Uncommon Valor

Old friend Xavier Alvarez (pictured, right) is back in the news. Alvarez, the former Three Valleys Municipal Water District boardmember from Pomona, courtesy of Assemblywoman Norma Torres, was convicted in May 2008 in federal court for having lied about being a Medal of Honor recipient. For violating the federal Stolen Valor Act, Alvarez was sentenced to five months home detention. The conviction was a misdemeanor.

The Denver Post reported Saturday that a federal judge in Colorado has ruled the Stolen Valor Act unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment. In the Colorado case, defendant Rick Strandlof was accused of falsely claiming that he was an Iraqi war vet and that he had received a Purple Heart and a Silver Star. Strandlof had been soliciting donations to a charity he had created under a false name.

Strandlof argued that the Stolen Valor Act was an abridgment of his right to free speech, and civil liberties activists filed briefs in support of Strandlof. The Post article quoted an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union:

Attorney Chris Beall, who filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the ACLU of Colorado, said the decision is remarkable.

"The First Amendment protects speech we don't like," he said. "We don't need the First Amendment for speech people like. The government cannot criminalize a statement simply because it is false, no matter how important the statement is."

Beall points out Strandlof wasn't charged with stealing money meant for the veterans group, adding that laws are already in place for those crimes.

"That's plain-old, regular-vanilla everyday fraud, and we do prosecute that every day," he said. "Congress does not need a special statute to prevent people from using false claims of valor in order to prevent fraud."

Here is Judge Robert Blackburn's ruling in the Strandlof case (Alvarez gets a mention):




According to the Post article, the precedent set in Judge Blackburn's ruling only applies to District of Colorado. Alvarez filed his own appeal in his Stolen Valor conviction, and that appeal is still pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

No matter what happens with Alvarez's appeal, his local felony convictions still stand for misappropriation of public funds, grand theft, and insurance fraud. Alvarez was convicted in September 2009 and received a sentence of five years in state prison.

State's Finances Force Cal Poly Budget Cuts

You may have heard that Cal Poly Pomona was forced to cancel a good chunk of its summer school classes - those paid for by state funding - thanks to the state's continuing budget problems.

Cal Poly's website carried this announcement:

CAL POLY POMONA CANCELS STATE-SUPPORTED SUMMER COURSES

The onset of massive budget cuts to the California State University (CSU) has forced Cal Poly Pomona to cancel state funding for the 2009 summer quarter. All classes that had been scheduled for Summer 2009 are now cancelled with the exception of Study Abroad and Early Start programs. This cancellation includes classes that had been scheduled to begin on June 22 and July 29.

To support student graduation requirements, the university will offer a fee-based summer schedule through the College of the Extended University beginning on July 13. These fully transferable accredited courses meet Cal Poly Pomona degree requirements. Formal admission to Cal Poly Pomona is not a requirement. Stafford Loans, Pell Grants and Work Study may be available for regularly admitted students. Suggest the classes you would like offered by clicking on the green button on this page.

University business operations will remain open throughout the summer on a 4/10 schedule. For more information, please view the Frequently Asked Questions page.

Fee increasing are in the offing as well, and Cal grants are another item on the Sacramento chopping block, something that would affect students at private colleges like the 5C's as well as state schools.

For the foreseeable future, students, faculty, and administrators at college campuses all over California will have set aside their frustrations and deal with the fallout from the state's fiscal crisis. Over at Cal Poly it means the university will have to find a way to cut $20-35 million from its budget.

Cal Poly President Michael Ortiz spent a few hours yesterday at the school's student center talking to students and faculty about the problems they face. The Daily Bulletin's Canan Tasci reported on the meeting:

For two hours on Thursday, Ortiz and his staff responded to a multitude of comments, suggestions, personal and specific questions pertaining to graduation, fall schedule, housing and financial aid.

"It was very informative but I still feel there were some questions I'd like to be answered," said graduate Justin Baron. "We still don't know if student housing and parking fees will increase as a result of the budget cuts."

Ortiz said the university doesn't know a number of the students' answers because the state has not yet completed its budget for the next year.

LWV Sponsors Journalism/Internet Discussion

Click to Enlarge

You probably saw the ad in last Saturday's Claremont Courier. The League of Women Voters of the Claremont Area is sponsoring a panel discussion called "Print Journalism and the Challenge of the Internet."

The event is scheduled for next Saturday, March 21st, from 11:30am to 2pm at the City's Hughes Center. It costs $10, and the price includes lunch. The discussion begins at 12:15pm.

According to the ad, the panel includes:

• Peter Weinberger, Editor and Publisher, Claremont Courier
• Steve Lambert, Editor and General Manager, San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group
• Meg Worley, Assistant Professor of English, Pomona College
• Larry Pryor, Associate Professor, Department of Journalism, USC
• John Seery, Professor of Politics, Pomona College
• Danny Paskin, Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism, CSU Long Beach
• Eric Richardson, Publisher and Founder of blogdowntown.com
• Anand Gupta, Ace Reporter, Claremont Insider
  

Just kidding about that last guy. We all know he's really in Bangalore. Besides, no one in Claremont reads Gupta's gossip rag, or at least no one will cop to it.

In all seriousness, though, it's a shame the League didn't see fit to invite any actual local bloggers, of which there are many doing fine jobs. The list of speakers seems a little talking heads-heavy, as if this newfangled Internet thing had just now arrived and needed proper LWV-sponsored study. Panelist Eric Richardson's blog seems to be just the type of serio-communi-non-profit the LWV would like: "blogdowntown is a project of verbdowntown, a non-profit whose mission is to build community online resources for Downtown Los Angeles."

We think the event could use some local balance from writers actually doing the work. David Allen from the Bulletin, for instance. What about Tony Krickl from the Courier's City Beat, or former Courier reporter and current "To the Point" producer Gary Scott? How about Charles Johnson from Claremont McKenna College or the folks at the Metro Pomona Blog? Or Jack Pitney, whose GOV 101 and GOV115 classes at CMC maintain blogs about politics and journalism?

Print Journalism and
the Challenge of the Internet
Sponsored by the Claremont LWV

Saturday, March 21 - 11:30am to 2pm
Alexander Hughes Community Center
1700 Danbury Rd.
Claremont, CA 91711

Cost: $10

* * * * *

Coincidentally, Gary Scott wrote about the venerable Columbia School of Journalism having to come to grips late in the game with the rise of the Internet.

Scott was referring to a New York Magazine article about the fact that when the New York Times decided to try out a hyperlocal blog called "The Local," the NYT approached the City College of New York rather than Columbia for interns.

Columbia's apparently fallen behind the times when it comes to new media, not that everyone on Columbia's faculty considers this an imperative. The magazine article said:

But the push for modernization has also raised the ire of some professors, particularly those closely tied to Columbia’s crown jewel, RW1 [Reporting and Writing, an intensive journalism training class, see here]. “Fuck new media,” the coordinator of the RW1 program, Ari Goldman, said to his RW1 students on their first day of class, according to one student. Goldman, a former Times reporter and sixteen-year veteran RW1 professor, described new-media training as “playing with toys,” according to another student, and characterized the digital movement as “an experimentation in gadgetry.”

Mailbag

We received this email yesterday in response to our post about contracting police services out to the LA County Sheriff's Department:

DATE: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 11:37 AM
SUBJECT: "Contract Policing"
TO: Claremont Buzz

I live in West Hollywood, which is policed by the LASD, and I've lived in Altadena, which is also policed by the LASD. They're great -- highly professional, quick to respond, well-trained, all that stuff. Pomona is badly underpoliced -- the Sheriff's Department would make a lot of sense there. Claremont is maybe a different question, but the LASD is a *really* high-quality agency.

* * *

Another reader sent in a link to a Desert Sun article about Indio Assistant Manager and Claremont City Council candidate Bridget Healy's retirement from Indio. The Sun article noted Healy's candidacy and also noted how close she is to Indio City Manager Glenn Southard, who in his capacity as Claremont's City Manager was the source of endless strife and crises.

The Sun also noted that Healy spent most of her time these past three years in Indio, coming back to her Claremont home on weekends:

Her reason for leaving: “I need to get home. My family, my friends ... are all in the Claremont area,” Healy, 56, said.

She rented in Indio while maintaining her Claremont home and would travel there on the weekends.

Prior to Indio, Healy worked with City Manager Glenn Southard as assistant city manager for 17 years in Claremont.

Southard hired Healy as his second in command when he started in Indio as city manager in April 2005.

“We finish each other's sentences. We have an exceptional relationship,” he said.

All the more to look forward to when Healy assumes her seat at the dais in our Council Chambers.

Affordable Housing Comes (Close) to Claremont

Fair Oaks Walk,
141 E. Foothill Blvd., Pomona, CA
(Click to Enlarge)

Imagine our surprise when a reader brought to our attention a new affordable housing project going in on Foothill Blvd. near the border of Claremont and Pomona. The project, Fair Oaks Walk, is the result of a partnership between Cal Poly Pomona, the Cal Poly Foundation, and The Olson Company, which built the Claremont Village Walk townhomes and was going to build a similar development on the old Claremont Courier site at 111 S. College Ave. in Claremont.

The Fair Oaks development is open to employees of Cal Poly and other local educational institutions. The project's website gave a description:

Just 25 miles east of Los Angeles in Pomona, at the foot of the beautiful San Gabriel Mountains, Fair Oaks Walk—developed for Heroes in the Education Sector(Faculty & Staff)—strikes the perfect balance between charming small town life and convenient city living.

Enjoy local parks, great schools, shopping, dining and more. Or head to nearby Claremont Village, one of Southern California’s most idyllic college town destinations. And it’s all yours with easy access to the 10, 210 and 57 freeways, plus the always convenient Metrolink.

These classic townhomes feature up to 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, plus a host of modern amenities.

Fair Oaks Walk in Pomona serves up the ultimate combination of small town comforts and Los Angeles County fun.

• Plans starting at $289k
• Close to shopping, dining, schools and Metrolink
• 34 stylish homes
• Up to 3 bedrooms & 2.5 baths
• From 1,548 to 1,741 sq. ft.
• Two-car attached garage
• Outdoor BBQs and community “Tot Lot”
• Kids can walk to Sumner Elementary School
• Outstanding Claremont School District

The website also explains who can buy one of these units:

Who is eligible to purchase homes in Fair Oaks Walk?
Current Cal Poly Pomona Faculty, staff, as well as employees of other academic partners of Cal Poly Pomona: CSU Fullerton; Mount San Antonio College; Western University of Health Sciences; Claremont Colleges; school districts of nearby cities such as Pomona-Walnut-Diamond Bar-San Dimas-La Verne-Industry-Claremont; CSU Emeriti; Cal Poly Pomona alumni; Innovation Village affiliates. All purchasers must live in Fair Oaks Walk as their principal place of residence and remain affiliated with Cal Poly Pomona during their residency.

Yes, that's right. Employees of the Claremont Colleges and the Claremont Unified School District are eligible.

Did we miss something, or did Cal Poly Pomona and The Olson Companies actually manage to get an affordable housing project built near Claremont's western edge while the Claremont 400, the Claremont Area League of Women Voters (LWV), and the Claremont City Council, led by former Mayor Peter Yao and current Mayor Ellen Taylor, wasted four years dithering and throwing money at a project doomed to failure from the outset?

You might have noticed that the Cal Poly's Fair Oaks Walk is smaller than Claremont's defunct Base Line Affordable Housing Project (34 units versus 45) and has purchase units rather than rentals, both things that would have been acceptable to the Base Line project opponents. Mayor Taylor and the Claremont LWV refused to budge on these points, however, and the project eventually died because its proximity to the 210 Freeway made it unable to qualify for LA County affordable housing funds.

It's also interesting that one of Fair Oaks' selling points is the fact that children living there will go to Claremont schools and that the homes are close to the Claremont Village.

It is remarkable what you can get done when you're not trying to shove a misconceived, poorly sited project down the throats of a community that has a better idea of what should be done. Practicality trumps intractability and foolishness every time.

Score: Cal Poly Broncos 1, Claremonsters 0.