Catching Up

CLAREMONT HOT TOPICS

Here are some updates on recent city issues:

• David Allen visited last week's Claremont City Council meeting and watched as the council approved an ordinance that allows drive-throughs in certain unimportant parts of town, such as south and northwest Claremont. Allen noted that Claremont already had a couple drive-through locations south of the 10 Freeway, and then he summed the issue up in one sentence:

  My assumption is that Claremont officials didn't mind if the area looked tacky because most people will assume it's in Pomona anyway.
  
  

• Allen also noted that the person who wants to put a 7-Eleven in the empty building at Foothill Blvd. and Mills Ave. is appealing the Planning Commission rejection of a conditional use permit for the business. The matter will now go to the City Council. The City's website has some information on the matter:
  

  7-11 Appeal Filed
  
  On March 2, 2010 the Planning Commission officially denied a request to allow the establishment of a 7-11 convenience store in a portion of the building located at 601 E. Foothill Boulevard. The proposal included the sale of beer and wine and 24 hour/ day operating hours. The applicant has appealed the Planning Commission decision. The City Council will conduct an appeal hearing on Tuesday March 23, 2010 in the Council Chamber located at 225 W. Second Street. The appeal hearing will not commence before 7 pm. A copy of the appeal document is attached. For more information, please contact the Planning Division at 909-399-5470.
  
  * View the Appeal (Adobe Acrobat, 2964KB)
  

  
  We were surprised that the applicant is proposing to limit the 7-Eleven's hours of operation from 5am to 1am seven days a week. We don't know of any 7-Eleven stores that aren't open 24-7. But, this being Claremont, we have to do everything differently. Just because.
  
  
  
• The City's has settled its claim for the Dutch Elm that had to be removed from its spot at Indian Hill Blvd. and Tenth St. The City has posted this information:
  

  City Settles Claim for Dutch Elm Tree (Mar 10, 2010)
  
  The City has successfully settled the claim with Terno Construction and its insurance company over the removal of a Dutch Elm tree at the corner of Indian Hill Boulevard and Tenth Street. The City will be reimbursed $79,000 for the replacement of the tree.
  
  The City worked with an arborist to determine the value of the tree and costs associated with replacing it. The City asked for and received $79,000 for the cost of replacing the tree and to compensate for its loss. The City will use the funds to replace the tree after the signal installation is complete. The remaining funds will be used to address the backlog of trees that need replacing in the City.
  
  The contractor will have materials and hardware to finish the project within two weeks. Staff anticipates the work to be completed March 30, 2010.
  

  
  
• Allen also tells us on his blog that the future Cheese Cave on Yale Ave. has had some further versification.
  
  
  
• FiOS Update - A reader wrote in a while ago asking about the status of Verizon's fiber optic system installation north of Base Line Rd. We hadn't heard much about this issue lately, but the City is reporting that the installation has been halted because Verizon has a contractual obligation to complete installations in "diverse underserved cities" before it can finish in other more privileged areas such as Claremont:
  

  FIOS Halted In Claremont
  
  Verizon has temporarily halted the FiOS build in Claremont due to contractual agreements with the 18 Local Franchise Agreement cities. Where contracts to finish the builds in those cities have come due, Verizon is obligated to complete the builds per the contracts. Verizon is also obligated, as per our State Franchise, to complete a certain percentage of the FiOS build in diverse underserved cities in California. Claremont does not meet the criteria of a diverse underserved city. In order to meet this obligation, Verizon has had to step up the build in those cities. Verizon hopes to be back in Claremont to continue the FiOS build, however no date has been set. Residents may call Gary George, Verizon Director of Government & External Affairs at 909/261-0663.
  

  
  

Points of Clarification

We had a couple clarifications regarding the photo we ran yesterday showing the tire tracks running over from the newly patched asphalt placed by the Verizon work crews that are installing the company's fiber optic system (FiOS) in Claremont.

First, the photo's location was Scripps Ave. between Mountain and Oxford:

Click on Image to Enlarge

Second, the reader added that the tire track marks in the photo were caused by Verizon, not by people just driving along. All in all, the reader felt Claremont could learn a lot from Fontana, where there seemed to be much more of a resident-friendly effort on the part of that city and the contractors doing the work:

DATE: Thursday, July 30, 2009 7:52 AM
SUBJECT: FIOS
TO: Claremont Buzz

Dear Buzz,

Just a quick one… the marks on the city streets are not caused by cars crossing the patch. They are all caused by Verizon. They poured the patch and immediately drove through it over and over again with their own equipment. They blocked off the streets to residents as they did this. Verizon FIOS and Claremont can take lessons from Fontana!

More Verizon Comments

We received a couple more emails on Verizon's ongoing trenching and road repair for Verizon's fiber optic system (FiOS), which promises to bring speedier Internet service to the area.

The first email, as with the last couple we received, complained about the quality of the construction work and the tracks left behind on city streets by cars that had to cross the patched areas:

SUBJECT: FIOS Constuction
DATE: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 5:29 PM
TO: Claremont Buzz

So the city thinks by painting fresh stripes will dress up the FIOS construction? The phrase "Lipstick on a Pig" comes to mind. The attached YouTube video is what I think of the construction.

[Here the reader attached a link to a commercial by cable company Comcast lampooning Verizon FiOS and the whole system installation process.]

The reader also sent along a photo of work in his/her area:

Then, we received an email from a very satisfied FiOS customer who works in Claremont and lives in Fontana. This person says that the Fontana experience with Verizon's construction crews has been much better than what are readers are reporting. The correspondent also says that the end product offers superior service to the cable company in Fontana. One thing the reader included was a link to the City of Fontana website, which offers residents there information about construction as well as a very useful Verizon contact number for people with questions about the street work:

DATE: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 9:05 PM
SUBJECT: FiOS in Claremont
TO: Claremont Buzz

Dear C-Buzz,

I wanted to comment on the recent FiOS comments as they seem out of line with what I experienced when Verizon came through my Fontana neighborhood.

A few weeks prior to work commencing, my neighbors and I received notification from Verizon that they were about to install FiOS in our neighborhood. The notification included the scope of work as well as what we could expect as far as street/yard trenching, sidewalk removal, restoration, etc. The notification went on to include a number to call if there were questions.

The city of Fontana also went the extra mile and put up a web page on their site covering the FiOS deployment within the city. It was a great help as it included expected start/completion dates for each section of the city. Additionally, the site included valuable Verizon contact information in case of questions/complaints (hint: could still be helpful to Claremont residents). It's really a shame that Claremont isn't providing the same.

Here is the link to the City of Fontana FTTH (Fiber to the Home) web page. http://www.fontana.org/main/pr_releases/2007/verizon_fttp2.htm

Back to the install:

A day before the work was to start, a placard was placed on each door outlining what was to happen along with a questions/complaint number. The construction process was a bit of a mess with temporary patches in the street, sidewalks removed, lawns chewed up, etc. It was only at the point that the fiber-optic cable was installed a couple of weeks later that most of the mess was cleaned up. According to the fiber techs, the final clean up and patching isn't done until they know they can get the fiber through the conduits. This saves having to dig up freshly repaired areas to correct a broken conduit.

Once the fiber was in, the contractor came through the neighborhood and patched the street, poured new concrete sidewalks, repaired/planted lawns, and even sand-blasted the dig-alert marking from the curbs/street. Obviously, the fresh concrete and street paving stood out, but after six months, it was hard to tell that Verizon had been there.

All in all, the process was as smooth as any major utility overlay could be. Perhaps the two commenters with issues are only partly through the process and the final cleanup has yet to be done? I took the opportunity to drive down Scripps today (I work in Claremont), and while I could see where Verizon had been, the quality of the patching looked good to me. Hopefully, that's an indication of how the rest will look when it's finally completed.

As for the FiOS service... It will be worth every bit of the current construction hassles. I remember my Time Warner "extreme" Internet service where I could only get the advertised speed at 3 am. At 6 pm, with everyone else on-line, is was the "extremely slow" Internet service. My FiOS Internet (current package is 25/15) is always fast and running at the advertised speeds no matter the time of day. Fontana just got the FiOS TV service, and again, Time Warner's offering now looks weak. Where on Time Warner I had only one HBO in High Definition, FiOS has all the HBOs in HD (14 in total). Oh, and I'm paying must less than when I had Time Warner.

I suggest a bit of patience as the process runs its course, but if there are unresolved problems, have a look at the Fontana link for help.

best,
Fontana FiOS Customer

Another Dissatisfied Customer

Progress has its downside. A second resident chimes in regarding Verizon FiOS:

DATE: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 5:45 AM
SUBJECT: Another resident very unhappy with Verizon and Claremont Officials
TO: Claremont Buzz

I concur totally with the complaint made about the Verizon fiasco or another word for fiasco is fios. I have lived in Claremont since 1972 and am very unhappy with the shoddy job and furthermore, no explanation from our city government. Complaints have been made to city officials that have all fallen on deaf ears. Who is getting a financial gain for this? There was absolutely no information given to the residents regarding the installation, nor the condition of how the streets/neighborhoods would be affected by this. I find this a total disregard for the citizens, aka taxpayers, of this city. The former employee of the city that was supposed to be overseeing this job must be laughing all the way to the bank on the back of Claremont taxpayers. He gave out incorrect information and definitely did not have Claremont's best interest. His words were "he stopped them from going on his street in Upland". So what does that tell you????

Infrastructure Monday

VERIZON DIGS CLAREMONT

As you probably know, Verizon has been slowly upgrading its wiring in the area. The company is replacing the old copper wires with a new fiber optic system (FiOS), which promises to bring us faster Internet access and a television system to compete with the Time Warner cable franchise.

A reader wrote in to complain about the disruption and shoddy road patching done by the Verizon work crews:

DATE:Friday, July 24, 2009 7:27 AM
SUBJECT: FIOS construction
TO: Claremont Buzz

Hi. Just wanted to let you know that FIOS construction in Claremont is horrific. Long story short, they spent 6 weeks on my block of 6 homes. Verizon went through 3 crews from Simmons Court to Athens Court which is a matter of a few homes and trust me, once you see these guys in your neighborhood you will understand why. The quality of work, the clean up, the misinformation given to us as residents is unbelievable. Long story short, I have contacted Verizon officials and Claremont officials trying to get some straight answers and the bottom line, I wish I had never gotten involved. Verizon is supposed to come into a neighborhood and leave it as if they were never there…come drive Fairmont, Athens and Simmons Courts all the way up to Scripps and look at the streets. (Athens has been given more attention because 3 of the 6 of us called and complained.) The patch we can live with. The fact that Verizon construction drove immediately through the black tar and left marks from one end of the neighborhood to the other and Claremont is ok with this shouldn’t surprise me but it does. Claremont tells me we are on slurry schedule for 2010 so until then, I guess I should just be grateful I have FIOS underground! WOW!! So…Claremont BEWARE! FIOS is coming to a neighborhood near you and when they are gone…you will know they were there and definitely not for the better. FIOS had to come in but give me a break, I don’t have a “road degree” but sure know a good paving job when I see one and there isn’t one to be seen in my neighborhood.

WHAT WATER CRISIS?

In other infrastructure related news, there was some sort of burst water pipe yesterday morning at College Ave. directly across from the affordable housing project site at 111 S. College Ave. The leak was on the east side of the street and was just north of the Pooch Park. The source was hidden by the chainlink fence and the landscaping, but you could see the water pour from under the fence wire and flow down College Ave. in a torrent. One young fellow tried surfing the stream on a boogie board.

Work crews (presumably from Golden State Water Co.) got the leak under control by around 10am. Sorta makes you wish Golden State had reinvested some of those rate hikes from the last 10 years into infrastructure maintenance rather than stock dividends.

Phone Bill Mis-Confusion

A friend of ours recently showed us her phone bill from Verizon. We understand that the important thing on the phone bill is the big number on the front. You are supposed to copy that number onto your check and mail it to them.

But this phone bill goes on for six or seven pages, enumerating and aggregating monthly service basic, local calls, basic service taxes and surcharges, monthly service non-basic, rate adjustments, non-basic service taxes and surcharges, billing for long distance carrier, miscellaneous charges and credits, direct dialed calls, and taxes and fees on services.

Whew! Sometimes we think that computers are not wholly a blessing. Nobody would cobble up something this complicated and impenetrable without a computer.

Or would they? Our eyes were darting hopefully for any explanatory text to elucidate the foamy sea of tele-speak and numbers when they landed on the following sentence:

Non-payment of non-basic service charges WILL NOT result in the disconnection of your local telephone service.

We are not making this up. Here's a scan:


Can anyone tell us what this means, or why it takes four (4) negations to say it? Does our friend have to pay those pesky non-basic service charges or not? We got out our copy of Quine on Logic but got lost between "general and subjunctive conditionals" and "alternation and duality".

Elsewhere on the bill we found that Verizon is providing our friend an opportunity to be a Literacy Champion by signing up for a monthly donation to "Verizon Reads".

When they have a box for "Verizon Writes", we might contribute.

Careful readers will note that we don't write any of our own stuff anymore. We steal everything. The title of this post uses a word first brought to us by Xavier Alvarez, quoted here and elsewhere.