Put a Fork in Them (!)

Like a lot of folks in town, we've been wondering what happened to The Forks Chop House. The overpriced eatery located in Unit 7 of the Claremont Packing House has been closed since the December 17, 2008, fire that gutted the kitchen and a stairwell. Ever since, the restaurant's management has been promising that they would reopen, but the place just sat there.

We tried checking The Forks' website, but that is no longer working. That was our first clue as to an official demise. We didn't have to search very hard to discover what had happened. The Packing House website's business directory told us that Unit 7 has a new tenant coming in the Winter of 2010:



Eureka!Burger currently has just one location (in Redlands), and their website informs us that they're supposed to open another in Fresno some time this month. There's a menu posted online that, among other things, has exhausted the company's exclamation point allotment for the next decade. They serve craft brews and upscale Angus beef burgers, as well as sandwiches and salads. The burgers are all around eight or nine bucks and include fries.

We couldn't help thinking that this is just what our town of 35,000 people needs - yet another place to get a beer and a burger. Burger bars in Claremont have suddenly become the equivalent of hair salons. Lookout, Back Abbey and Burger Bar.

A one-minute walk from the Packing House to the Village Expansion will be all that separates the Eureka from Back Abbey. We're anxious to see how those two higher end establishments compare. Eureka!Burger's fare looks good, and, if you include a soft drink with your burger and fries, that's all probably about $10 cheaper than the same order at Back Abbey, though the twice-fried pommes frites at Back Abbey are probably going to be a couple orders of magnitude up from Eureka!Burger's. On the other hand, the burgers may be better at the new place.

By the way, we thought we had a real scoop with this stuff, but we just now checked City Manager Jeff Parker's latest weekly report and learned that Parker beat us by one day:

EUREKA BURGER The City has recruited a new restaurant (Eureka Burger) to fill the former Three Forks location on the west end of the Packing House. The new restaurant is described as an authentic one-of-a-kind burger bar experience, serving a wide selection of Angus beef burgers, gourmet tossed salads, signature hand cut fries, and a distinctive assortment of craft beers and wine. For more information, see their website at http://www.eurekaburger.com/.

Looks like Parker cheated the new Packing House tenants out of an exclamation point or two.

It's a shame The Forks didn't make it, but they might not have survived the Great Recession anyway. We don't know how well The Forks was doing before the fire. When it first opened, the joint seemed crowded for dinner. Their business was no doubt aided by a glowing review from S. Irene Virbila in the Los Angeles Times review of the place.

We came across a lawsuit filed in LA County Superior Court by one of The Fork's suppliers, Premier Meat Co, a subsidiary of the Wayne Distribution Center. The defendants were Bollicorp LLC dba Three Forks Chop House aka The Forks and Mark Bollinger, along with a DOE or two. The plaintiffs sought $25,953.29 - the unpaid amount the plaintiff claimed was owed on a Forks account with Premier Meat Co.

The suit was filed on 11/25/08, about three weeks before the fire, so it's possible that business was slowing even before the fire occurred. A default judgment in the matter was entered on 5/9/09, and the plaintiff filed a satisfaction of judgment on 11/23/09.

To indulge the prying eyes among us, we dispatched the Insider Copy Service to downtown LA and got the actual filing. Here's the complaint:

Weekend Fires: La Verne, Upland, Pomona - UPDATED

A brushfire burned about 10 acres in La Verne's Marshall Canyon this afternoon. The wind was from the west and, judging from the direction the smoke was carried, the fire seemed to be about in line with the Padua Theatre, where Claremont's open house started at 5pm.

The fire department got things under control pretty quickly. According to the Daily Bulletin, the fire started around 4pm near the Marshall Canyon Golf Course. As of 9pm Sunday, there was no word on how the fire started.

UPDATED, SUNDAY, 10:00PM: The Daily Bulletin is now reporting the Marshall Canyon fire ended up burning about 100 acres and was the result of arson. Thankfully, the winds abated as the sun went down, and firefighters had a handle on the situation before things could turn ugly.

* * * * *

Other local cities had to deal with fires this weekend. A home on 23rd St. in Upland caught fire Saturday.

Also Saturday, a fire in Pomona that started in a shed near Kingsley Ave. and Gordon St. destroyed two homes on Garey Ave. and damaged two other houses and an apartment complex. Meg at M-M-M-My Pomona had a lot of information about what happened and the families who lost homes.

Meg also pointed us to the rejuvenated Goddess of Pomona site, which has added a new blogger, 15-year-old Juan Cabrera. Cabrera posted a dramatic video of the fire on his My Space page.

Here's a link to Juan's video. You can see Dawn and Fred Van Allen's home and nursery, The Garden, in flames. Claremont's own experience with the 2003 Padua Fire is still fresh in all our minds, and our thoughts go out to the Van Allens and to the others that suffered lost or damaged homes.

If you are interested in helping out victims of the fire, keep checking the Pomona blogs. We'll also pass on any information we can.

Padua Theatre Misplaces Guest

The weekend crime wave seems to have moved north from Foothill Blvd.

We've heard from several readers that late Saturday night the fire department received a 911 dispatch to the newly reopened Padua Hills Theatre where a wedding reception was being held.

The 911 call came from a woman whose drunken son, apparently an adult, had wandered off from the theatre and disappeared. The fire department personnel must have had some trouble locating the missing man because a Pomona police helicopter had to be called in to flash its searchlight over the area. The police call went on for about 2-1/2 hours, from a little before midnight to 2:30am, with the helicopter flashing its light all over the area. From what we've heard, police made an arrest for public intoxication, but we don't know if that was the missing guy or one of the other reception guests.

You can probably expect more such incidents (and the attendant costs for police and fire) with the theatre usage ramping up greatly from past years now that the theatre's refurbished. You might even expect a fire or two from people chucking their smokes into the Wilderness Park brush from that new terrace as they admire the view.

This incident is certainly a change from what we might have guessed would happen. People had wondered about drunk drivers leaving the theatre at night and causing accidents or striking pedestrians in the residential areas surrounding the theatre. No one bothered to think about the need to protect the drunks from themselves!

Pomona Public Library Image

At least they can sleep it off quietly in the chamise and California buckwheat with no one to bother them other than the coyotes and the occasional mountain lion. And, too, it's good to have the City, Arteco Partners (the company operating the theatre), and Chantrelles (Arteco's catering company) on notice about all these potential liabilities their property presents - car and pedestrian accidents, increased fire danger, missing partygoers - though that last one might more properly fall under the heading "Natural Selection."

We're assuming, of course, that no harm really befell the missing gentleman. One would assume we'd have heard about it if he were still unaccounted for, unless the Claremont PD wanted things hushed up. This was, after all, just one day before Claremont Heritage's big soirée at the same location and only one week after the theatre's reopening.

Count on hearing (or not hearing) about more of the same in future years. That's just the inevitable and unfortunate downside to the Padua Theatre's location, situated as it is on a dark hillside surrounded by single-family homes.

Fire in the Bernard Field Station

Just after lunch Sunday a fire erupted in the far southeast corner of the Field Station, adjacent to the corner of Foothill and Mills. By 1:30 p.m. the Fire Department appeared to have extinguished it. The Claremont Police Department closed Mills Avenue at Foothill for a time.

The fire appeared to burn only a small fraction of an acre, probably only a few hundred square yards.

Earlier Sunday morning there were a crew of people cutting down weeds on the east side of the Field Station. It is our strong suspicion--with no confirmation from the Fire Department--that this fire was not unrelated to that activity. There were several vehicles parked along the fence on dry grass and weeds--we hope it wasn't some of the BFF* of the Bernard Field Station-- and it is known that catalytic converters can get hot enough to ignite dry brush.

We are not even sure that's the most likely cause; here's another possibility. The crew were using one of those super-sized rotary lawnmowers you see advertised on late-night TV, the kind that eats entire woodlots. Maybe it was just a regular rotary lawnmower. It is entirely possible that the steel blade from that machine hit a rock and threw a spark into the just-pulverized grass which then become the moral equivalent of tinder. This is the kind of fire that can smolder unnoticed until bursting into rather uncontrollable flame.

It will be interesting to find out who was doing the brush clearance, and what safety measures, if any, they were observing. We can hear it now: "Nothing could possibly go wrong... go wrong... go wrong... go wrong..."

It wouldn't surprise us if Community Services Director Scott Carroll, or Bulldozer-in-Chief Larry Wheaton had some hand in this, but perhaps we are being unfair to suggest it.

Then again, this was just before Commencement at Harvey Mudd. Everyone knows Harvey Mudd has no love for the Bernard Field Station and in fact plans to pave some land adjacent to it for--you won't be surprised--a parking lot. Here's the speculation: Harvey Mudd President Maria Klawe runs over in her academic robes, sets fire to the Field Station, all while everyone is distracted with Commencement. This somehow makes the building of the parking lot easier. This scenario is a bit of a stretch, being arson and all, but some of the images are entertaining.

* * * * *
*Best Friends Forever. Get with it.

Brush Fire Drills Today and Tomorrow

If you were thinking about a morning hike in the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park today or tomorrow, you'll need to adjust your plans. A sign posted at the parking lot at Mills Ave. and Mt. Baldy Rd. says the park will be closed from 4am to 1pm while fire crews hold fire and emergency response training.

The exercise began yesterday and continues through Thursday, according to the City's website:

Wildland Fire Exercise May 5-7

The Los Angeles County Fire Department in conjunction with San Bernardino County Fire, Angeles National Forest Fire, Chino Valley Fire District, La Verne Fire and Upland Fire Departments will be conducting the Claremont Wilderness Park Wildland Fire Exercise May 5, 6 and 7 at the Claremont Wilderness Park. This exercise will consist of a simulated brush fire response each morning from 8:30 am to 12:00 noon. The exercise will incorporate the City of Claremont Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and Park Rangers. In addition to the simulated brush fire response, search and rescue training will be conducted. The Wilderness Park will be closed from approximately 6:00 am to 1:00 pm on May 5, 6 and 7.

This seems to be turning into a yearly event, though it comes several weeks earlier this year than last.

CMA Alive and Well

We received word from a reliable source that the Claremont Museum of Art's website problems were just due to some technical problems that had nothing at all to do with the restaurant fire in the Packing House.

Even better, the museum's Permanent Collection, current exhibits, museum store, and offices are all okay, just a little smoked out. (Hey, who hasn't been?)

We've been more than a little lax on our coverage of CMA events lately, and we'll try to fix that.

_________________________________


CMA's free Family Art Day series continues on January 18th:

Sunday, January 18, 2009, 12 – 4 p.m.
(rescheduled from September, 2009)
Family Art Day: Kaleidoscopes

Free and open to the public.

Ever wonder how a kaleidoscope makes all those beautiful images when you look into it? Join us for Family Art Day and learn the secret as artist Mike Lardi teaches children and parents how to make their very own kaleidoscope. This is an activity you really don’t want to miss!

The CMA two ongoing exhibits, Multiverse and Passerby Museum have been extended to February 1, 2009, so you can still get over there to see them if you haven't had a chance. Here's some information from the CMA website:

Multiverse
Through February 1, 2009


Multiverse refers to the hypothesis that all of physical reality actually exists within a set of multiple, parallel universes, of which our universe is merely one part. The possibility of many universes raises a myriad of scientific, philosophical and theological questions that have been explored in various branches of theoretical
science, disciplines of thought and fiction. Multiverse will explore these issues artistically in a dynamic exhibition featuring photographic installations, mixed media sculptures, video projections, a light box installation, and sculpture from paper, among other media.

Artists continually create a visual vocabulary for themselves that parallels and portrays an idealized, imagined or fantasized reality. Nature and its mysteries provide endless departure points for fictitious imagery that is recognizable enough to have relevance, yet abstract enough to interrupt familiarity and probe deeper into our psyches. From chimera to corporeality, Multiverse delves into alternative outcomes for the universe we believe exists in singularity. “This exhibition represents the Museum’s interest in ideas that connect the arts and artists to
contemporary thinking and points-of-view,” said CMA Director William Moreno. “Exploring these provocative ideas creates an opportunity for interdisciplinary discourse.”

Participating artists include Sebastiaan Bremer (New York), Jedediah Caesar (Los Angeles), Emilie Halpern (Los Angeles), Violet Hopkins (Los Angeles), Emre Hüner (Istanbul, Turkey), Miler Lagos (Bogotá, Colombia), Nancy Macko (Claremont), Carter Mull (Los Angeles), Diana Thater (Los Angeles), Fred Tomaselli (New York),and Kerry Tribe (Los Angeles). Multiverse artists will engage in an email exchange with local scholars, discussing particular areas of science, psychology or the discipline of his/her choice, which will then be incorporated into the exhibition. Multiverse is curated by Pilar Tompkins.

Passerby Museum
Through February 1, 2009


The Passerby Museum makes its Southern California debut in Claremont! Created in 2002 by María Alós and Nicolás Dumit Estévez in New York City, the Passerby Museum is an itinerant institution dedicated to presenting temporary exhibitions in different cities. The museum draws its collection from donations from people who visit,work or live where it is in operation at any given time, including about 400 objects recently collected at two locations in Claremont.


The Passerby Museum has been presented in Madrid, Spain, Puebla, México, Kitchener, Canada, New York, New York and twice in México City, Mexico and Havana, Cuba. At each location, visitors were asked to donate any random object from their life to the Passerby Museum’s “collection.” The only requirement is that the object fit into a sandwich bag. Its collection – which currently holds about 3,000 objects – has been exhibited to the public in two occasions, last time in 2006, bringing more than 32,000 visitors to the Galería del Ayuntamiento (Puebla) in less than a month and a half. The installation will include each of the approximately 3,000 items collected at all of the locations so far, including the approximately 400 items collected in Claremont.

Claremont Museum of Art
536 W. 1st St.
Claremont, CA 91711
(909) 621-3200

Sycamore Canyon Project Goes Looking for Money

Daily Bulletin writer Wendy Rubick had an article about Claremont's Sycamore Canyon Park, which Rubick indicated has been closed since 2002 due to fire damage, presumably as a result of the Williams Fire.

Last Thursday, Claremont officials had a public meeting to gather input on the park's restoration. According to Rubick's piece, Mark von Wodtke at the Claremont Environmental Design Group is working with the city on putting a prospective restoration budget together for the Claremont Community Services Commission's next meeting on January 8th. Ironically, Community Services was responsible for plowing under von Wodtke's ACORN Project's oak seedlings in the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park earlier this year.

Rubick also wrote that there will be some significant state permitting costs, and that the City cannot afford to fund the restoration out of the city's budget. All of which means the the City will have to go begging once again for grant funds. However, Rubick also indicated that the state's budget issues may make it difficult to secure grants tied to the sale of state bonds:

State regulatory agencies, such as the Department of Fish and Game and Regional Water Quality Control Board, will need to process paperwork and issue permits before the park reopens.

The DFG permit is estimated to cost from $100,000 to $150,000.

"We're aggressively pursuing grants," Carroll said.

The City Council will otherwise not be able to fund the project, he said.

Tim Worley, 47, director of water policy for Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, said the state on Thursday announced a freeze on expenditures of all bond funds.

Grants provided through the conservancy were already allocated for other projects.

Worley, incidentally, is an alumnus of the Claremont Graduate University and studied political science (not hydrology, oddly enough). In any case, Claremont is fortunate to have received that money from the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy for Padua Park ($850,000) and a separate, much smaller grant for Marilee Scaff's Memorial Marsh project last October, before all this hit.

Here's an image from the city's website:

10/14/08, Funding Mission Accomplished:
Rivers and Mountains Conservancy Executive Officer Belinda Faustinos
presented the City with a check for $850,000
for the Urban Park grant award.

This all makes us wonder how many projects in other cities throughout the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley (some worthy, some not) are going to go unfunded because of the state finances are screwed up.

Claremont Packing House Fire-UPDATED

Told Fire Started in Forks Kitchen
Estimate a Quarter Million in Damage

See below for Wednesday evening update

An early morning fire damaged the Packing House early Wednesday morning. A brief story was posted on the Daily Bulletin website. No injuries were reported.

Our later information is that the fire started in the Forks Restaurant kitchen, and may have caused some $250,000 in damage. The restaurant will apparently be closed for at least a few weeks--the height of the holiday season.

No word on damage to the Claremont Art Museum [click on the preceding link for an entertaining error message that the Art Museum has evaporated from cyberspace. All we can say is, it was here this morning] or about water damage in the Packing House due to its sprinkler system. Since the Packing house is constructed primarily out of 100-year old wood, and the floor at least is impregnated with polyurethane resin, comparison to a tinder-box is not inapt.

We understand that once the fire-safety sprinkler system goes off, it can dump a whole lot of water in a hurry. Don't know how the system is plumbed, or whether it goes off in zones or all at once.

We'll update as information becomes available. Nothing on the City website as this is written.

UPDATE: The Daily Bulletin has a more detailed article with a photo gallery. It seems that the fire started in a wall and gutted the kitchen. We are not trying to minimize the damage, but truth be told we've seen many kitchens in everyday use that looked in worse shape than the one in the pictures in the photo gallery. Smoke damage--again from the pictures--appears minimal; but then you smell it when you don't see it. See the pictures in the photo gallery at the Bulletin.

Arson was on everyone's lips today, so it was somewhat comforting to see in the article that "arson was ruled out", at least according to owner Mark Bollinger.

The fire started about 3:30 a.m., and was out by 4:30 a.m. Casa 425, across the street, was evacuated.

Kitchen Fires Can Get Out of Hand Quickly

Belated Pictures of Yorba Linda Fire

These pictures came our way from a friend of the mother-in-law of a neighbor of the dentist of an acquaintance. They were taken on Saturday, shortly after the fire started in Santa Ana Canyon. The only attribution that we have is that the photog was "Taylor". Our kudos for some very dramatic pictures. From what we can tell, a neighborhood in northeast Yorba Linda is depicted. It is especially sobering that there is no emergency equipment to be seen. We are reminded of similar scenes that must have occurred in Claremont during the October 2003 Grand Prix fire, where some 15 homes were damaged or destroyed in Claraboya, nine in Padua Hills, and 43 of 47 in Palmer Canyon.

Claremont Wilderness Park Closed

Other than the Freeway Complex Fire, which started in Corona and burned into Yorba Linda and Anaheim Hills, no fire activity in the Inland Empire. There was one small, two-acre fire in San Bernardino, but that was put out fairly quickly.

As always, you can get up-to-date fire information from the state's Cal Fire website.

Claremont's City website reported that the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park was closed yesterday due to the high fire danger. The Wilderness Park will remain closed until further notice.

Claremont Happenings

DAILY BULLETIN BLOGS CLAREMONT

The Daily Bulletin as a relatively new blog by Claremont beat reporter Wes Woods II. It's called Claremont Now and has a lot of community events listed, as well as bits of other local news.

A couple events Woods has listed:

• Tuesday, October 21st, 7pm - Neighborhood Meeting

City Council Neighborhood Forum -Padua Hills Theatre
4467 Via Padova
Claremont
(909) 399-5460

Council Members are also hosting a series of Neighborhood Forums. Neighborhood Forums give residents from different neighborhoods the opportunity to talk with City Council Members in a relaxed and informal setting. Neighborhoods can discuss issues that are important to them, air concerns, share ideas, ask questions and get the latest information about topics and projects that are specific to each neighborhood. Although forums are scheduled for specific neighborhoods, you do not have to live in that immediate area to attend.


• Wednesday, October 22nd, 3:30pm - Padua Park Dedication
  
  Groundbreaking for Padua Park, located on Padua Ave. a half-mile south of Mt. Baldy Rd. Woods writes, "comfortable shoes and clothing are recommended." Given all the BS and hyperbole the City has employed in justifying spending down the General Fund Reserve and effectively defrauding the state of California out of $850,000 to build the park, you just might want to bring your waders.
  
  
• Tuesday, October 28th, 7:30pm - Community Talk
  
  Woods writes that two local residents who lost their home in the 2003 Padua Fire will be giving a talk about the experience of rebuilding their home:
  

  Debbie and Vern Jahnke, as part of the Mt. Baldy Group/Sierra Club meeting, will discuss their rebuild at 7:30 p.m. inside the Olin Bldg. at the college, 301 Platt Blvd.
  
  The cost is free.
  
  Information: (909) 621-7148.
  
  

  The Jahnkes' new house was featured in an LA Times article last year.
  

Speaking of home and the loss of home, we were reminded of another post we had last year when we in one of those windbaggy, waxing-poetic moments.


NO, REALLY, BRING YOUR WADERS

The City of Claremont's website informs us that tomorrow, October 18th, the city will have another of its' free mulch events going, beginning at 6am:

Claremont residents are invited to help close the recycling loop by participating in the Free Mulch Program. The City's tree maintenance contractor uses trimmings from City trees to create mulch, taking a wonderful community asset and making a sustainable product. Mulch helps not only to conserve water, but to limit the amount of waste produced in the community. The next event will be held this Saturday, October 18, 2008, at the Wilderness Park Overflow Parking Lot located at the corner of Mills Avenue and Mt. Baldy Road. Mulch will be available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 6 a.m. Please be sure to bring any equipment necessary to load and transport mulch.

If you would like more information about the program, please contact the City's Community Services Department at (909) 399-5431.

VILLAGE VENTURE

The annual Village Venture is set for Saturday, October 25th. The Claremont Chamber of Commerce has all the info:

Saturday October 25th 2008, 9am to 5pm

One day show - rain or shine.

Over 450 booths fill the tree-lined streets of Claremont Village. Over 25,000 visitors attended in 2007! Check out the Gabriel Fenoy's 2007 Village Venture photographs from the Claremont Courier here!

Children's Halloween Parade begins at 9:30 am. Participants are invited yo assemble at the corner of Harvard and Bonita Avenues at 9:15am.

The Great Pumpkin Contest will once again be located in Shelton Park, northeast corner of Harvard and Bonita. This area is also Kid's Korner which is filled with games and activities. Application forms coming here soon!

Parking:

Parking Structure First Street, west of Indian Hill Blvd

Metrolink Parking, First Street

FREE SHUTTLE service from:-

The Claremont Colleges Facilities Services parking lot on east First Street at Mills, every 5 minutes.

St. Ambrose Episcopal Church parking lot Bonita Avenue, east of Towne, every 10 minutes.

Youth Activity Center at Indian Hill Blvd at Scripps Drive, every 10 minutes.

Call 909-624-1681 or e-mail contact(at)claremontchamber.org with any questions.

LA County Fire Expo - Oct. 25th

October usually means high fire season in our foothills, and on Saturday, October 25th, five years to the day after the Padua Fire burned through Palmer Canyon and the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park, the Los Angeles County Fire Department will host an expo called "Living in the Fire Zone."

The event will run from 12pm to 3pm on the 25th at the Alexander Hughes Community Center, located at 1700 N. Danbury Rd. between Towne and Mountain Aves. Residents will be able to get information from fire officials on various fire safety and fire prevention topics.

The Claremont Police Department had all the info:

The Los Angeles County Fire Department will be hosting a Living in the Fire Zone Fire Expo to help residents prepare for a wildland fire.

Date: Saturday, October 25, 2008
Time: 12 pm - 3 pm
Location: Alexander Hughes Community Center, Padua Room
Address: 1700 Danbury Rd., Claremont, CA 91711

Prepare for your survival

* Learn about the 5 important steps to help you get ready
* Vendors will be on hand to provide information, products, and demonstrations

Presentations of:

* Fire department operations
* Vegetation management
* Building standards

Static displays:

* LA Co Fire Forestry, Prevention, & Operations
* LA Co Dept. of Animal Care & Control
* San Dimas & Temple City Sheriff's Station
* California Highway Patrol
* American Red Cross
* City of Claremont Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) & Community Patrol

Council Report

Several items of interest from last night's city council meeting:

WILDERNESS PARK DAMAGE

Speaking of broken promises, the council last night heard a report from Claremont City Manager Jeff Parker during public comment that the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park had been damaged accidentally during the city's brush clearance last month. Parker had Claremont Community Services Director Scott Carroll step up to explain what had happened.

Apparently, according to Carroll, Claremont, which owns the Wilderness Park, was ordered by the Los Angeles County Fire Department to clear brush in the Wilderness park. (The city failed to do this before the 2003 fires, and that cost the city's insurer over $17 million to settle a lawsuit by homeowners whose houses burned down.)

Carroll said that the costs of clearing the amount of Wilderness Park land LACFD was requiring was going to be much more than the city had budgeted for. So someone (Carroll?) decided to use a bulldozer to save money. The city has a Vegetation Management Plan that specifies that only manual clearance, biological clearance (by grazing animals), and controlled burns can be used. Carroll admitted the bulldozer use was wrong, and he apologized to Parker and the City Council for the error. Parker indicated the city was taking steps to repair the damage, which sounded considerable.

The bulldozer apparently ran along Thompson Creek parallel to the homes on Via Padova in Padua Hills. The Padua Hills homeowners association took notice and City Manager Parker said that he and the council received a complaint from the HOA. Padua Hills resident Ludd Trozpek spoke after Carroll finished and stated that he had tried to speak to Carroll and to Claremont Maintenance Superintendent Larry Wheaton in July when they were standing on Via Padova apparently planning the brush clearance. Trozpek said Carroll and Wheaton would not talk to him and "blew me off."

Trozpek stated that he had been around when the VMP was being created and that if Carroll and Wheaton had talked to him, everyone could have been saved the embarrassment and the cost of fixing the problem, which apparently can run into the hundreds of thousand of dollars. Besides the problems of dirt pushed into the streambed and acres of habitat being uprooted, the ground was apparently scraped clean and oaks were knocked over or damaged. Also, there is now a severe threat of erosion because there is nothing to hold the soil together at the base of the hill that Via Padova runs along.

Claremont resident and botonist Susan Schenk, who is active in the Friends of the Bernard Field Station, also spoke and said that some of the damage to the structure of the disturbed soil cannot be repaired, even with reseeding and putting in new plants. Schenk called for the city to put processes into place to ensure that such a thing does not happen again.

Mayor Ellen Taylor, doing her best Marie Antoinette impression, told Trozpek after he spoke that Director Carroll said he was sorry and implied, "What MORE do you want?" As is her wont and arrogant as ever, Taylor ignored the key point: In saying he was sorry, Community Services Director Carroll apologized only to City Manager Parker and to the City Council. He did not apologize to the residents who live above the damaged area nor did he apologize to the citizens of Claremont whose resources have been irreparably damaged and whose tax dollars will have to pay for fixing a thing that could have easily been avoided.

So, score one point for the city for taking the high road and acknowledging its error, and deduct two points for not extending the apology to the real damaged parties and for not being open to input that would have avoided the problem in the first place.


HONOREES

The City Council acknowledged its three new commissioners: Angela Bekzadian-Avila (Human Services), Rosemary Fisher-Anaya (Police Commission), and Sayeed Shaikh (Police Commission).

After they greeted the incoming commission members, the Council bade farewell to Jenetta Harris, Southern California Edison's Local Public Affairs Manager, who has worked with the city and city staff as Edison's public face. Harris later mentioned an upgrade to Edison's infrastructure that would require tearing up the south side of Base Line Rd. between Towne Ave. and Mountain Ave., and the north side between the Indian Hill Blvd. and Grand Ave.

From what City Manager Parker said, the latter sounded as if it required ripping up the bike lane in the newly resurfaced section of Base Line Rd. So there may have been a mixup in coordinating the projects. Parker said that Edison would match the rubberized asphalt that has been installed on Base Line Rd.

The Council also recognized CHS junior Kori Carter for her achievements as a hurdler this past year and the Claremont Kiwanis Club for its support of the city's Summer Concert Series and the Children's Concert Series.


RESOLUTIONS

The City Council also approved resolutions against the LA County Metropolitan Transportation Administration's Measure R this November. The measure would increase the county sales tax by a half cent and use the money to fund transportation projects. The resolution said the city was supporting the Gold Line Foothill Extension.

The Council also expressed its frustration with the state budget process (or non-process) by issuing a "Resolution Opposing Fiscally Irresponsible State Budget Decisions that Would 'Borrow' Local Government, Redevelopment and Transportation Funds." (That's a mouthful!)

And, the Council came out with a resolution opposing Proposition 7 on the November ballot. The proposition, which would require utilities in California to get 50% of their energy from renewable sources by 2025, is opposed by an odd coalition:

• PG&E
• Edison
• Sempra Energy
  
• The California Democratic Party
• The California Republican Party
• The California Labor Federation
• The California Taxpayers' Association
• The League of California Cities
• The California Solar Energy Industries Association
• A coalition of environmental organizations that includes the California League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies

PARKING PERMITS

The Council also approved the parking permit process recommended by staff allowing neighborhoods to set up the permits. The council made the following modifications to the proposed ordinance:

• Permitting must be approved by 50% of the responding property owners in a neighborhood seeking permits.
• The City Council will have some additional purview over the permits.
• There will be a six-month trial period for permits once they are approved for a neighborhood.
• The permits will sunset after two years.
  

MANSIONIZATION

The council also approved the staff recommendations for guidelines for a proposed mansionization ordinance.

Brush Fire Drill Concludes Today

If you noticed helicopters whizzing around the local foothills, don't be alarmed. A multi-agency brush fire drill has been going on in the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park since Tuesday and concludes at noon today.

The drill participants include fire fighters from the following fire departments: Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County, the U.S. Forest Service, La Verne, Upland, and Chino Valley.

Even with last week's cool, rainy weather, the fire season has gotten off to a quick start, and figures to pick up as the summer wears on. The Daily Bulletin had a brief article about the fire season's early arrival:

At a press conference Wednesday in Diamond Bar, Ventura County Fire Department Chief Bob Roper said the grassland and chaparral on the slopes of Southern California hills and mountains are already in midsummer form.

With the rain arriving earlier and the grasses having matured, "it is ready to take a fire and carry it with heavy fuels," Roper said.

"The severity of the fire season will be determined by the number of days of wind, humidity and the fuel conditions we have with us."

More than 87,000 acres of brushland were burned during the 2007 season, compared with about 85,000 acres for the previous three years combined. Fire damage, estimated at $274 million, was up nearly $150 million from the previous year.

The article also reported that the total number of fires actually dropped last year, but the damage costs rose because the homes that were burned were in pricey areas.

It's reassuring to see the fire departments going through there paces. During the last big fire in 2003, there seemed to be a good deal of confusion and miscommunication that added to the problems residents reported in after-action reviews. As we've since learned, a little investment now goes a long way towards avoiding big costs down the line.

Fire Threat Fades

The U.S. Forest Service has been busy this past week managing the fire response personnel fighting the Big Horn Fire. The fire was listed as 72% contained yesterday, and is expected to be fully contained by 6pm Sunday, barring an unforeseen flare-up. The fire has burned 461 acres as of yesterday's incident report.

Demobilization of the firefighting crews has begun, and the number of personnel attached to the incident was down to 388 yesterday from a high of 755. Mt. Baldy Rd. remained closed at Shinn Rd. to non-residents, but the Mt. Baldy Village school reopened yesterday.

Today's Claremont Courier has a story by Tony Krickl on the fire. Krickl's article notes that Claremont's CodeRed system was used to notify about 21,000 residents of the fire's status. (Long-time readers may recall that CodeRed was implemented during the City Attorney-induced turmoil of Paystubgate last September.)

Krickl's article also reports that fire investigators believe the fire was caused by people, though it is unknown at this point if it was intentional.

The Daily Bulletin had an article of a different sort about the Forest Service. According to a piece by Rod Leveque, Rancho Cucamonga resident and former Forest Service accountant Kathy Stamps was arrested yesterday and stands accused of embezzling over $1.4 million from the Forest Service:

Prosecutors allege Stamps, who worked as an accountant for the Forest Service office in Arcadia, transferred the money from government coffers into the bank account of her family's corporation, DKLD, between January 2002 and October 2004.

They say the money had been allocated to the Forest Service by private companies for public-works projects in the Angeles National Forest.

The lost money was discovered by other employees after Stamps left her job.

According to public records and the corporation's Web site, Stamps and her husband used money from DKLD to open several franchise businesses in the Inland Empire, including a Wing Stop restaurant at 7212 Archibald Ave. in Rancho Cucamonga.

The restaurant, which opened in 2004, specializes in chicken wings.

Talk about the federal government pumping money into the local economy!

Fire News

InciWeb updated its information for the Big Horn Fire yesterday. As of 6:00am Thursday, the fire had burned 420 acres. InciWeb's map (right) shows the fire location pretty clearly with Mt. Baldy Village south of the fire and Ice House Canyon to the east.

The fire was listed as 60% contained, and InciWeb lists the probability of movement as minimal. 755 personnel from different agencies are now assigned to the fire.

Big Horn Fire Update

The InciWeb wildfire information site reported that as of 7:30am this morning, the Big Horn Fire in the Angeles National Forest near Mt. Baldy Village was 25% contained. 668 personnel from various agencies have been committed to the firefighting efforts. The U.S. Forest Service is in charge of incident management.

The fire is listed as having burned 340 acres. It could reach 100 degrees today, and higher temperatures means lower relative humidity, making for drier fuel sitting on the mountain slopes. Also, north and northeast winds are expected to pick up slightly, gusting up to 30 mph at times, and that could push the fire to the southwest. The fire's growth potential is still listed at medium.

Mt. Baldy Road is closed to non-residents at Shinn Rd. just past the San Antonio Dam, and Mt. Baldy Village is under a voluntary evacuation.

The Daily Bulletin reported on the potential of the weather conditions to hamper the firefighters' efforts. The Bulletin also has an article updating readers on yesterday's developments with the fire and the effect the fire is having on Mt. Baldy area residents.

Big Horn Fire Burns 310 Acres

The wildfire season continued its early start when a wildfire broke out near Bear Flat north of the Mt. Baldy Village yesterday at around 4:30am. The cause of the blaze, known as the Big Horn Fire, is unknown, according the Daily Bulletin's fire coverage.

The Daily Bulletin's website also has a photo gallery and video of the fire.

An interagency website called InciWeb posts updates on fire news and listed the Big Horn Fire as 10% contained. According to InciWeb, 396 firefighters have been committed to the incident and are being supported by helicopters and fixed wing aircraft.

The winds are low, and the temperatures haven't fully heated up yet, so the fire isn't as bad as it could be. Consequently, the growth potential is listed as medium. The steep terrain makes firefighting efforts difficult, but the fire seems to have moved relatively slowly, more like the 2002 Williams Fire than the 2003 Grand Prix-Padua Fire that burned through Palmer Canyon. Under low wind conditions, the Williams Fire hung around the local foothills for days after burning east from Azusa Canyon.

InciWeb lists the projected movement for the Big Horn Fire as southwesterly if predicted weather patterns hold up.