A behind-the-scenes look at the news of Claremont, CA. We focus on city hall, city staff, and the so-called "Claremont 400" or "Preserve Claremonters" or "Claremonsters", those goofy, too-serious, power types that run most of the town's service organizations, charities, and city commissions. Claremont is indeed a unique place, and we'll try to bring a flavor of that absurd "uniqueness" to the outside world, as well as spotlighting some of the finer things about our city and region.
Showing posts with label Claremont City Council. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Claremont City Council. Show all posts
One of our readers wrote us to say that they received an automated "robocall" saying that they should talk to their councilmembers and tell them a crime wave was going to sweep over Claremont if the City Council doesn't accede to the contract demands of the Claremont Police Officers Association.
DATE: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 9:32 AM TO: Claremont Buzz SUBJECT: Automated Phone Call
Buzz,
Don't know if you received one, but I got an automated phone message yesterday telling me that I needed to attend the next neighborhood meeting with council members and tell them that Claremont will be over-run with crime if we don't give police officers everything they're asking for. I didn't have the patience to listen to the whole message, but it was basically repeating the same dribble found in the COPFIRE letter.
The council meeting starts at 6:30pm in the council chambers at 225 Second St. and is also available via a video feed.
Some days just thinking about the backroom deals that go into local government is enough to make us want to take a long, hot bath. One really feels the need for a good, thorough cleansing, inside and out.
After our post yesterday, the urge was upon us. So, following a refreshing soak, we headed off to the Claremont Village for a good purge. Unfortunately, now that the pottery studio next door is closed, Claremont Colonic Center has lost some of its unintentional charm. They've become a little too clinical for our tastes:
(Click image to enlarge)
Aldonza Graphics
Talk about a tough sell! Even CCC's owners would have to admit they've got a mountain to climb, marketing-wise. We checked out their website and saw that they do offer a variety of treatments and even gift cards.
With Valentine's Day coming up, it might be just the thing your local councilmembers could use from the taxpayers. As the CCC says, "Consider treating someone special...." It's the next best thing to an election for catching their attention.
The City of Claremont's online new video archive is up and running. So far, there are only two meetings, May 12 and May 26.
Now the meetings are "on demand," which makes it much easier to view an item of interest at your convenience without having to tune in to the live streaming video on Tuesday night and wait for the particular item of interest to come up for discussion.
The video archive allows you click on a given council meeting - last night's, say - and watch the meeting in its entirety. Or you can click on a particular agenda item (box, lower left, see image) and the video will start playing from that point.
Hats off to the City for improving its website functionality and for the added transparency and convenience the improvement brings to the table.
From the Mailbag... We received an email last week from a reader wondering whether Oliver Chi, ousted Rosemead City Manager and former Claremont Assistant City Manager, would run for Claremont City Council next time around, in March of 2011.
This was a scary thought, but as we reflected on it, an obvious one. Despite one obvious difference between Bridget Healy and Oliver Chi, there are already some parallels: Both are proteges of Glenn Southard; both left the city of Claremont; both are acceptably malleable in their veracities; neither had notable success here in town; both merely labored in the vineyard and did the bidding of the overseer; both have their nest lined with hundreds of thousands of dollars of money from their cities--Bridget in her six-figure pension payment for time spent (honest graft), Oliver in his extraordinary $300,000+ severance payment for services not rendered with a little extra to get him out within 90 days of the Rosemead municipal election (dishonest graft).
The email:
so when does... Wednesday, April 15, 2009 4:45 PM From: To: claremontbuzz@yahoo.com
...Oliver Chi run for a seat on the Claremont City Council
The Claremont City Council is having a special session meeting today that is open to the public. The meeting runs from 8am to noon in the Padua Room of the Alexander Hughes Community Center. The Hughes Center is located at 1700 Danbury Rd., just south of Scripps Rd. between Towne and Mountain Aves.
If you don't have anything better to do, or even if you do, you may want to get out to the meeting. The City Council will be discussing the worst financial situation it has faced since the early 1990's. The City is breaking the bad budget news it has quietly alluded to recently. According to the staff report for the meeting, the City of Claremont is facinga $3.5 million combined budget short fall for rest of this fiscal year and for FY 2009-10 - that's roughly 17 months.
The shortfall breaks down this way: $1.5 million for FY 2008-2009, the budget year ending June 30, 2009, and $2 million for FY 2009-10. We're not sure if these numbers include things like a possible June increase in the City's payments into its CalPERS employee pension account by up to a third of current payments, and there are numerous other variables: the housing market, the unemployment rate, the economy and the continued sales tax slump.
The staff report gives an analysis of the problem:
The City of Claremont is feeling the impacts of the current economic situation across the country and the world. While the City has been fortunate to not suffer as severely from the foreclosure crisis as some of our neighbors, nevertheless, Claremont's other key revenue sources are down. Automobile and other sales are down Transient Occupancy Tax paid by visitors staying at our hotels are down, and development has all but stopped.
The report gives a table showing the projected 2008-09 revenue shortfalls:
Click to Enlarge
And here are the revenue shortfall figures for FY 2009-10:
Click to Enlarge
In addition to the decrease in revenues, the remainder of the projected deficits will come from anticipated increases in operational expenses.
To address the shortfall, Claremont City Manager Jeff Parker has come up with a proposed plan to take $1,011,000 in "onetime unanticipated revenue" (money from grants and fees that the city received but did not budget for) and apply those towards the FY 2008-09 deficit.
The remainder of the deficit reduction for 2008-09 and 2009-10 will come from across-the-board departmental reductions, including reductions in employee benefits, which Parker and his senior staff have been negotiating with the employee unions.
Parker is asking the City Council to approve his recommendations for adjusting the 2008-09 budget, to receive and file Parker's draft 2009-10 budget plan, and to direct Parker to come back to the Council with a final 2009-10 plan on February 24th.
We should note that $2.2 million of the total deficit - about one-third - comes from the city's (primarily Mayor Ellen Taylor's) refusal to put off construction of the Padua Ave. Park until the fiscal crisis passes. Also, the downtown trolley represents a diversion of $1.2 million in funds that might have otherwise been used for traffic related projects like road repair and maintenance.
But Taylor and others see things like the park and the trolley one portion of their legacy to Claremont. The deficit, which may turn out to be larger than projected if the economy does not improve soon, will be the other.
Below is the staff report for today's special budget meeting. Click on the box in the upper right corner of the window to view a full-screen version of the document. 1 31 09 City Budget Report
Because Veterans Day is tomorrow, the Claremont City Council has moved its regularly scheduled meeting to tonight at 6:30pm in the council chambers at City Hall, located at 225 W. 2nd St. in the Claremont Village.
You can read the agenda here. If you're so inclined, you can also watch tonight's meeting on the City's website.
Among the items on the council's slate for tonight:
Chief Cooper wants to use the money to: purchase some new equipment; upgrade some existing equipment; and fund training, additional community outreach, more bike patrols, and more patrols in the Wilderness Park.
Oh, and then there's that $1,200 for a McGruff the Crime Dog costume. Seriously.
Guess we know what Chief Cooper is going as to next year's staff Halloween Party.
Dear Members of the Claremont City Council and Members of the Human Services Commission:
It is with great regret that I inform you that I can no longer serve on the Human Services Commission. My schedule can't accommodate the commitment necessary to do a proper job.
I have been extremely honored to work with such a wonderful staff and dedicated volunteers. I count myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to be a part of "the process" and I thank you for that. [Are the scare quotes supposed to indicate sarcasm? - ed.]
I apologize for this mid-year decision, but it could not be avoided I wish you all the very best and again thank you.
Sincerely,
Anne K Turner
Anne K Turner MPA. VMA Communications
As you can see, Turner is employed by VMA Communications, the public relations firm owned by Preserve Claremonter Valerie Martinez. Martinez is also on the Human Services Commission and reportedly had a hand in the behind-the-scenes machinations that led to the recent resignation of Commission Chair Gwen Carr. You can always count on Martinez to stir the pot.
No word yet on which VMA employee will fill the seat vacated by Turner.
The Claremont City Council last night voted 3-1 against implementing a proposed medical marijuana dispensary ordinance. Mayor Ellen Taylor was the only person to vote for the measure. Councilmember Peter Yao was absent.
The Daily Bulletin covered the council meeting and has an article on the vote. The Bulletin article indicates that the council referred the matter back to city staff to draft an ordinance banning dispensaries.
The new marching orders to staff represent a complete about-face by the council, which had voted 3-2 last July to direct city staff draft a ordinance that would have legalized dispensaries (or at least one) in Claremont. In that July vote, councilmembers Peter Yao and Corey Calaycay voted against going forward with the draft ordinance that was voted down last night.
Councilmembers Linda Elderkin and Sam Pedroza reversed their positions from being for an ordinance to voting against it.
A temporary moratorium against dispensaries remains in place and will expire in September.
TSL is notorious for just accepting what they are told by speakers. I am sure they don't remember (or maybe even knew) about the 2005 [Claremont City Council] race and all the animus it created. I am sure they won't check the facts on the Johnson's Pasture issue, or the preposterous claim that Ellen is being picked on because she is a strong woman.
We have had several strong women on the council, and they never whined about being picked on just because they were strong women but rather because there were people in this city that just did not like what they were doing while they were on council. Man (or woman ) up, Ellen, and take the hits for the bone-headed and self-destructive things you do. If you can't take the heat.......
At the Claremont City Council meeting two weeks ago, City Planner Belle Newman pushed the Claremont City Council to approve the banning of new personal care establishments at ground-floor locations in the Village. Here is a clip from the March 25, 2008 city council meeting where she gave the staff report. (We found ourselves a little bit distracted during the 3 minute clip)
Following the crazy procedure of general law cities in California, the action two weeks ago by city council, on a 4-0 vote, Taylor recused because of a conflict of interest, was effectively but not formally the last word.
Citizens could be excused for thinking that because it came up Tuesday, April 8, on the consent agenda, there might be some more consideration. There wasn't, but hair salon owner Nancy Lodolo spoke again pleading for council to have some sense. We give you her remarks in full. Which of course got no response from council except for a reiteration by Councilmember Calaycay of his grudging support for this measure (clip is just under 5 minutes).
Ya know what we think? We think this whole thing started a few years ago when Powell's Hardware closed and a beauty salon took over its retail location on Yale Avenue. That got a burr under someone's saddle--a Person of Authority--and what is the result in Claremont? Another regulation.
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