2010 Census Figures

The U.S. Census Bureau has some of its 2010 Census data up and available for review. Check out the American Factfinder to look for information about Claremont and just about any other American city.

There's some interesting Claremont data, by the way. For one thing, our population grew more slowly than the Census Bureau had estimated in 2009, when Claremont's population was supposed to be a little over 35,400. Instead, the 2010 Census listed the city of Claremont population as 34,998. That's a gain of only 928 people in 10 years, a number that supports the notion that we're a built out city.

Furthermore, Claremont's graying trend continued, a point we've come back to over the years. In 2000, 7,031 Claremonters - about 21.7% of the population - were under the age of 18. Last year, Claremont's under-18 population had dropped both in total numbers and as a percent of the population, down to 6,459 or 18.5%.

Despite those numbers, Claremont over the past decade has continued to live in a Fantasyland devised by the Claremont 400. In their separate domains, the City and the Claremont Unified School District have both refused to face our demographic reality and continue to devote millions of dollars to things like Padua Sports Park or to maintaining an overabundance of school district facilities and staff rather than allowing for the population trends in their decisions.

The City could have better spent its money on senior programs or more senior facilities, since that is where the greater need seems to be. In the school district's case, as we've argued before, they've done things like propping up enrollment figures by allowing an ever-larger number of interdistrict transfers - now nearly 20% of CUSD's enrollment. The families of that 20%, by the way, do not have to pay for CUSD bonds, and their attendance is underwritten by CUSD taxpayers.

We've learned through years of observation that no amount of hard data can change minds that long ago committed to wrongheaded courses of action. The City's staff may know better, but they're often held hostage by people saying things like, "We just have to have a downtown trolley." We can hope for change, but there's been little evidence to date of much willingness on the part of the Claremonsters to incorporate reality-based thinking into our local policy decisions.

* * * * *

Some other trivia:

• Claremont has become a little more diverse since 2000. The city's Hispanic population now numbers 6,919 or 19.8%, compared to 5,221 and 15.4% in 2000.
  
  
• Similarly, Asians now account for a larger segment of Claremont's population than before. In 2010, Asians numbered 4,564, or 13.1% of the total. In 2000, those number were 3,912 and 11.5%.
  
  
• On the other hand, the numbers of blacks/African-American dropped slightly, from 1,962 in 2000 to 1,951 in 2010.
  
  
• Claremont had an increase in housing units, thanks to the real estate boom that ended around 2008. 10 years ago, the Census listed Claremont as having 11,559 housing units. In 2010, there were 12,156.
  
  
• In a sign of the times, 548 of those housing units were unoccupied in 2010. That's 4.5% of the total, up from 2.4% in 2000.
  

Here are the Census figures, new and old:

(Click to Enlarge)
From the 2010 Census

2009 Population Estimate

2000 Census Data

City Council Meeting Tonight

The Claremont City Council meets this evening for their last session before the municipal election on March 8. The next time the council meets, it will be to have the three winning candidates sworn in on Tuesday, March 15.

The council will meet in the council chambers at 225 Second St. across from Saca's Mediterranean restaurant (you're welcome for the free product placement).

As always, you can watch the meeting here.

CLOSED SESSION

Tonight's council action starts with a closed session meeting beginning at 4pm. These closed session meetings typically start at around 5:15, so there may be some longer discussions involved in the three items on the closed session agenda.

The first agenda item involves undisclosed potential litigation. The second has to do with negotiations involving the Peppertree Square shopping center at the southeast corner of Indian Hill Blvd. and Arrow Hwy.

The last closed session item has to do with a lawsuit filed in Pomona Superior Court in June last year. We haven't had a chance to run down to the courthouse to review the suit, but the plaintiff is a dentist named Dan Sizemore. The case is a civil rights suit, and the defendants are the Claremont Police Department and several of its officers, the City of Claremont, and a Glendora marriage and family therapist named Ilissa Banhazi:

Case Number: KC058857
DR. DAN SIZEMORE, D.D.S. VS CITY OF CLAREMONT


Filing Date: 06/02/2010 Case Type: Civil Rights (General Jurisdiction) Status: Pending

Future Hearings

02/22/2011 at 08:30 am in department O at 400 Civic Center Plaza, Pomona, CA 91766 Conference-Case Management (M/STRIKE)

Parties

SIZEMORE D D.S. DR. DAN - Plaintiff
BARUCH JOEL W. ESQ. - Attorney for Plaintiff

CLAREMONT CITY OF - Defendant
CLAREMONT POLICE DEPARTMENT CITY OF - Defendant
COSTA J. SERGEANT - Defendant
ABARCA C. OFFICER - Defendant
J. TING. OFFICER - Defendant
MEDRANO J. OFFICER - Defendant
GROSSBERG SCOTT J. - Attorney for Defendant

BANHAZI MFT. ILISSA - Defendant
CAUDILL O. BRANDT - Attorney for Defendant

REGULAR SESSION

Tonight's regular session convenes at 6:30pm. You can see the agenda here.

There's one ceremonial matter, recognition of Jerry Tessier of Arteco Partners, developer of the Claremont Packing House and the Padua Hills Theatre; Jonathan Tolkin of The Tolkin Group, developer of the Claremont Village Expansion; and Harry Wu, developer of the Old School House and Griswold's complex.

After public comment, the meeting moves on to the consent calendar, which includes a couple items of interest:

• The Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs) for the City of Claremont and the Claremont Redevelopment Agency. This is something of particular interest this year thanks mostly to Governor Jerry Brown, who has proposed eliminating redevelopment agencies.
  
  
• A memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Claremont Management Association, unrepresented employees, and the Claremont Employees Association.
  
  The MOUs lock the city into agreements that the employees will start contributing their share of their CalPERS pension payments (a total of 8% per year). The employees will start contributing 2% each year until they reach 8%. CMA safety employees (police management) will end up contributing a total of 9%, which is supposed to be their contribution.
  
  Currently, the employees pay nothing with the City picking up the employees' share. This proposal came out in the Mayor's Ad Hoc Committee on Economic Sustainability's recent report and has been a council campaign issue.
  
  Candidate Opanyi Nasiali, who was a dissenting vote on this matter while on the Mayor's committee, believes the employees' contributions shouldn't be graduated because the City can realize an immediate savings of $1.2 million per year if the employees simply switched to paying their entire contributions - something the city's waste management workers agreed to do in their contract last year.
  
  
• Authorizing NBS Corporation to prepare the City's annual Landscaping and Lighting District (LLD) engineer's report. Always a point of contention, this. We'll undoubtedly have more on this once the report is released. We'll see if the LLD gets increased this year.
  
  
• Request for council approval of a land acquisition agreement for the 150-acre Cuevas Property, which will be added to the Claremont Wilderness Park. The purchase price, "not to exceed $4,850,000," was negotiated by the Trust for Public Land and will be paid through two grants of $2,425,000 each from the San Gabriel and Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy and from the state's Wildlife Conservation Board.
  

As to adminstrative items, the council will also receive and consider the City's Youth Sports Facilities Needs Assessment report, of which we'll try to have more at a later date.

There's also a police department staffing report that will disappoint some of the candidates and the police officers' union with it's assurances that the police department should be able to get along fine at its current staffing level. The police officers and some of their allies in the Claremont 400 have been working hard to put a scare into the public about understaffing as the City prepares to negotiate the CPD officers' contract.

Lastly, there's a recommendation from the Council's Ad Hoc Committee on Commission Appointments (council members Larry Schroeder and Corey Calaycay) to appoint residents Donna Lowe and Glen Hood II to the Community Services Commission.

Weekend Mailbag

The mail's been piling up here the last couple weeks, so we thought we'd pass some of our readers' thoughts along.

One soccer parent wrote us because, in addition to copper theft problems, the city of Claremont still has some kinks to work out at Padua Park:

DATE: Sat, October 9, 2010 6:44:50 PM
SUBJECT: [No Subject ]
TO: Claremont Insider


Re: Padua park

FYI - AYSO soccer games today at Padua park were interupted several times because the sprinklers kept coming on. They first came on at about 11:30am and continued in different sections for more than an hour. Why was the city watering in the middle of the day?

* * * * *

Another reader wrote in to say that, rather than floating it's $95 million Measure CL bond on the November 2 ballot, what the Claremont Unified School District should be doing is cutting back on interdistrict transfers--students from outside CUSD's enrollment area, that is.

DATE: Tue, October 12, 2010 4:41:57 PM
SUBJECT: Does Claremont need to tax itself for the benefit of students who have transferred from adjoining districts?

TO: Claremont Insider

I have read someplace, either in these pages or in the Daily Bulletin, that as many as one out of six students in Claremont schools comes from an adjoining district. The "benefit" to our district supposedly is that Claremont schools get the normal state funding for each student. That brings in a little money to the district. (Cui bono?) However, as we have found out repeatedly, state funding is not sufficient to run the Claremont District. Each student in Claremont costs more than what the state provides. Hence, we have been persuaded to pass bond issues from time to time in addition to a parcel tax.

Now, we have been asked to supplement the state funding with a whopping $95 million bond issue. The question is, how much of this money will be used to benefit students other than Claremont students? One would think that if one out of six students is from outside the district than almost $16 million dollars out of the $95 million would be for the direct benefit of other than Claremont students.

Do Claremont citizens really want to take over a tax burden that properly should be borne by adjoining towns? Should the School District not be encouraged cut back on its expenses, for example, by limiting the number of transfers to a more reasonable number so that the bond issues paid by Claremonters actually benefit Claremont students? Maybe the whole District could be downsized to a size adequate for Claremont students. In that case, we might not be confronted by such an outrageous funding request.

The matter of CUSD's interdistrict transfers hasn't really been discussed too much by the local papers. We saw this with the Daily Bulletin editorial endorsing the bond. The editorial simply parroted back the Yes on CL campaign's mailer language without digging into them to see if they were true statements, and they ignored several of the arguments against the Measure CL, including the fact that 17% of CUSD's students have transferred in from outside the district.

Claremont is able to absorb that 17% because they have too much capacity and too many teachers. Yet the school district refuses to consider cutting back on the transfers and won't trim staff or downsize its facilities. CUSD's school board stubbornly clings to the idea that they must keep their enrollment numbers artificially inflated.

[CORRECTION: After we wrote the above-section of this post, we opened up today's Claremont Courier and saw that the interdistrict transfer issue did come up at Thursday night's Active Claremont Measure CL debate. So at least the Courier is trying to delve into all the nuances of the bond campaign. According to Landus Rigsby's article, Yes on CL representative Bill Fox claimed that CUSD would have to shutter its elementary schools, El Roble Intermediate School, and Claremont High. Highly unlikely. Mr. Fox was just being true to his nature.]

Another related issue is the fact that, because all those interdistrict transfers don't live in CUSD's area, their families don't have to pay for any taxes or bonds the district levies. They aren't paying off the $30 million we still owe for the Measure Y bond, and they don't have to pay for CUSD's annual Recreation Assessment District. They won't have to pay a penny of the Measure CL costs either, costs that amount to a total of around $250 million over 40 years.

In essence, the school district has asked property owners within the district's boundaries to subsidize those children from outside the enrollment area.

The involvement of people from outside the district extends to the Measure CL campaign. Besides a Bay Area consultant running the Yes campaign from behind the scenes, there are a good many people listed as Measure CL endorsers don't even live in Claremont. For instance, many of the CUSD teachers and administrators who were listed in the first Measure CL ad in the Claremont Courier reside out of town, including CUSD Superintendent Terry Nichols, who lives in Glendora.

[BTW, IS SUPERINTENDENT NICHOLS A LIAR? Maybe not, but he comes perilously close.

In the Courier article today, Superintendent Nichols was quoted as having said the district trimmed Measure CL from its original $160 million to $95 million before submitting it to the voters. Superintendent Nichols casts the district as being frugal, saving property owners tens of millions. The truth is, $95 million is just about at the state's limit of bonded indebtedness for CUSD: 2.5% of the total assessed value of all the properties in Claremont. The district wasn't pinching pennies; CUSD was making a money grab, maxing out their credit card.

Nichols is well aware of the limit to the amount of debt CUSD can take on, and he is behaving no better than a scamming telemarketer. If he could grab $160 million, he and the school board would.]

The faculty members who support the bond and who are working on the Yes on CL campaign don't really care about the long-term consequences of the measure. The teachers, like CUSD's contractors and vendors, will benefit financially if Measure CL passes, and the teachers union agreed to its latest contract in exchange for endorsing and working to pass the bond measure. It's pocketbook issue to some of them -- moving as much as possible from your pocketbook to theirs.

Because so many, including the Daily Bulletin's editorial board, think that we have to pass just about any school bond that comes up, these things will continue to pass, and the cumulative debt in Claremont and all around the state will continue to pile up. These bonds are simply financing schemes that are incredibly wasteful because of all the extra dollars that have to be diverted from actual projects to service debt and to line the pockets of the contractors who underwrite the bond campaigns. One way or another, it's going to have to stop.

Crime Alert

Padua Park was the scene of a crime last month, though city officials don't seem to want the public to know about it. Apparently, on Wednesday, September 29, when city workers tried to turn on the soccer field lights at the park, they discovered the lights were inoperable because someone had stolen over 130 feet of copper wire from the park's main electrical vault.

The information going around town is that the copper, presumably taken by thieves who turn around and sell the wire to metal recyclers, was worth around $500. Like gold, copper's price has shot up the past few years, and such thefts have become more common. The city of Glendale issued an alert last year because of a rise in just this sort of crime:

Glendale has seen a sudden rise in metal and copper wire theft in the last two years. Customers are urged to contact authorities if they see people lingering near electrical equipment or inactive construction sites. Stealing copper wire is a crime and very costly for the City, but the bigger issue is public safety. Tampering with wires can cause serious harm, bodily injury or death. Power and telephone outages can also result from copper wire theft.

Odd that Claremont officials haven't issued a similar alert. The only way of catching copper thieves in the act is to have more eyeballs on the lookout, and people who reside near likely targets like parks and schools need to be alerted to this fact.

We suppose the City may say this was just a case of vandalism, but this kind of theft requires specialized knowledge. Poking around a high voltage electrical panel can be very dangerous, and from time to time we hear about the occasional copper thief getting electrocuted. The Padua Park incident, however, sure sounds as if it were done by someone who knew exactly what they were doing.

City Hall and the Claremont Police are no doubt hesitant to let news of the Padua Park theft get out because one of the complaints before the park was built was that it would lead to a rise in crime. Police Chief Paul Cooper (photo, left), who has worked with Claremont AYSO Region 3 as their Volunteer Protection Advocate, himself may have an interest in keeping a lid on the information, even if means less public awareness about the matter.

Or maybe it's all just a sign of CPD's competence level. They've issued press releases before when there were scams or more serious crimes in our area, even in cases where Claremont wasn't hit. So why not now?

Speaking of crime at Padua Park, we're waiting to hear about an increase in burglaries in the area. The public restroom sits on a rise that a good 20-25 feet higher than it should be, with the result that it offers a great vantage point from which to peer into the backyards and windows of several of the surrounding homes.

When they were planning the park, the City promised to plant a screen of trees around the perimeter to create a natural screen. But you know how it works with Claremont and promises. When the park was finally built, a good part of that natural screen consisted of oak saplings, which are pretty slow growing. Maybe in 15 or 20 years, City Hall will finally make good on its word to area residents. Of course, given the City's record with landscape management, a good number of those trees won't last that long:

Strike Up the Band

The verbified nouns were flying freely yesterday morning when the Claremont City Council held a special meeting to "dialogue" their budget problems.

Years of foolish spending on things like overly generous employee benefits have finally caught up with the City in the form of a projected $2.7 million in deficits over the next two fiscal years. As we wrote earlier, the city's staff has come up with a variety of layoffs, cuts in programs and services, and borrowing from Claremont's General Fund Reserve to balance the budget.

As the City's website reports, the City Council approved staff recommendations to cut over $1.3 million from the FY 2010-11. The council deferred dealing with the FY 2011-12 budget until the end of May, when they will hold another special budget meeting:

Council Directs Staff To Bring Back Recommendations For Further Reductions

The City Council directed staff to schedule another Budget Workshop in late May to address the budget shortfall in 2011-12 Fiscal Year. The City Council approved staff recommendations for staff and program reductions for fiscal year 2010-11 resulting in a reduction of $1,318,727 in expenditures. In fiscal year 2011-12, staff has projected a $750,000 shortfall which is dependent on several undecided factors. These factors include the outcome of the State Redevelopment lawsuit, negotiations with labor unions, and the California State budget. At the late May workshop, staff will give an update on these factors, and provide additional reduction recommendations if neccessary.

• View Budget Workshop Packet (Adobe Acrobat, 567KB)

It's not all bad news, though. The city is still planning on spending thousands on a gala grand opening for Claremont's new multi-million dollar Padua Ave. Sports Park on April 24. As the City's financial situation heaves its aft end skyward just before taking that grand dive to the bottom, think of the April event as the equivalent of the Titanic's band bravely playing "Nearer My God to Thee" for its earthly farewell.

Party on, Claremont!

Click on Image to Enlarge

Coming Attractions

A glance at the ol' community calendar (really old community, really old calendar) tells us of some upcoming events:

CITY STUFF

Claremont Human Services Director Mercedes Santoro (Mercy to her Claremont 400 friends) honors her bureaucratic fiefdom with Claremont Night at the California Reign Saturday night, the city's website says:

Claremont Night at the Ontario Reign Game March 6

The City of Claremont and the Ontario Reign Hockey Team are hosting Claremont Night at the Citizen's Bank Arena on Saturday, March 6, 2010. Join Claremont fans as the Ontario Reign take on the Las Vegas Wranglers starting at 7:00pm Proceeds from the ticket sales will be used to support park improvements for Claremont's youth sports organizations.

The City of Claremont's parks and fields are used by more than 3,700 youth each year in organized sports groups. By providing quality sports facilities, the City hopes to encourage the community's youth to engage in healthy behaviors. The benefits of youth sports are numerous and include a reduction in obesity, self esteem building, a sense of teamwork, and improved physical development.

Tickets to the Ontario Reign game can be purchased individually are at a discounted rate for groups. Tickets are available in the upper or lower levels of the arena and range from $12-$20 for adults and $10-$15 for children. To purchase tickets, please contact the Human Services Department at (909) 399-5490. This discounted ticket price offer is not available at the Arena Box Office or TicketMaster.

The Citizen's Bank Arena is located at 4000 E. Ontario Center Parkway, CA 91764.

ANGEL'S FLIGHT

Fans of the angel in Claremont's Mallows Park, located in at the northeast corner of Indian Hill Blvd. and Harrison Ave., will want to weigh in on whether or not the angel, Ambrosia, should be moved. Again, the city website speaks:

Mallows Park Angel Feedback

The City is considering moving Ambrosia, the angel located at Mallows Park on Indian Hill Blvd.It is one of the City's public art pieces, originally located on the south side of the park. The City is seeking input from the surrounding neighborhood on if they would like it to remain at the park or if they would like to see it moved to a different location. Please contact Francine Baker, Arts Coordinator at (909) 399-5391.

• E-mail Francine Baker, Arts Coordinator

COUNCIL BUDGET MEETING

The Claremont City Council is having a budget workshop this Saturday, March 6, from 12pm to 5pm in the council chambers at 225 Second Street.


ATHENAEUM SPEAKERS

If you want your thoughts provoked, check out the upcoming speakers at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum at Claremont McKenna College. The lectures begin at 6:45pm, except for the one tomorrow, which starts at noon.

The Athenaeum is located at 385 E. 8th St., and the lectures are free and open to the public. You can get more information by calling (909) 621-8244. You can also check their website. Here are the speakers for the next couple weeks:

Thursday, March 4	Larry Diamond, professor by courtesy of political science and sociology; senior fellow, Hoover Institution; Stanford University; author, The Spirit to Build Free Societies Throughout the World (2008) and Squandered Victory: The American Occupation and the Bungled Effort to bring Democracy to Iraq (2006); "Asian Values and the Future of Democracy in Asia"
Friday, March 5	Peter Bossaerts, William D. Hacker professor of economics and management, California Institute of Technology; author, The Paradox of Asset Planning (2002) and Lecture Notes in Corporate Finance (2001); "What Decision Neuroscience Teaches Us about Financial Decision Making" (12:00 p.m.)
Monday, March 8	Ian Frazier, author, Gone to New York: Adventures in the City (2005) and On the Rez (2000) and Jamaica Kincaid, Josephine Olp Weeks Chair and Professor of Literature, CMC; author, Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalayas (2005) and The Autobiography of My Mother (1996); "Ian Frazier and Jamaica Kincaid in Dialogue"
Tuesday, March 9	Abdourahman Waberi, visiting professor of literature, CMC; author, The Land Without Shadows (2005) and In the United States of Africa (2009); "A Nomadic Soul"
Wednesday, March 10	Joanna Strober, senior managing director of private equity, Sterling Stamos; co-author, Getting to 50/50: How Working Couples Can Have It All by Sharing It All, and Why It's Great for Your Marriage, Your Career, Your Kids,... and You (2009); "Getting to 50/50"

CHS Hurdler Repeats

Congratulations to Claremont High School junior Kori Carter, who repeated as state champion in the 300-meter hurdles yesterday at Clovis Buchanan High. Carter doubled up this year by winning 100-meter hurdles as well. Pete Marshall covered the action for the Daily Bulletin:

On her biggest stage Saturday at the CIF State Track and Field Championships at Clovis Buchanan High, she was the best.

Carter won the 100-meter hurdles in 13.59 seconds, then took the 300 hurdles in 41.26 seconds to become only the fourth girls hurdler in state history to win both hurdle events in the same meet since they added the second race in 1993. Last year, Carter won the 300 but was fourth in the 100.

"I'm so happy I got the wins," Carter said. "I'm so excited, I'm trying to think of all the people I want to call."

In the 300 hurdle race, Carter has been consistently coming from behind in recent weeks and pulled it out Saturday to pass Long Beach Wilson's Nyjah Cousar.

"I guess when I'm behind, `The Beast' kicks in," Carter said.

The (Claremont) Sporting News

Congrats are in order for the Claremont High School boys tennis team, which won the CIF Southern Section Division III championship yesterday at the Claremont Club. The Daily Bulletin reported on the Wolfpack's playoff performance:

Claremont co-coach Tom Spinosa's calculated gamble in Wednesday's CIF-SS Division III final included shifting a singles player to doubles and pairing two doubles teams which had not played together before.

After the second-seeded Wolfpack's 13-5 win over No. 1 seed Placentia Valencia, Spinosa was doing some different calculations.

"The last time we were in the finals was 1967," Spinosa said. "And this is our first title since CIF started in 1929.

_________________________________


CHS junior Kori Carter won the 110- and 300-meter hurdles at the CIF Masters Championships two weekends ago. Carter is looking to repeat her victories at the CIF State Track and Field Championship at Buchanan High in Clovis.

Carter is the defending state champion in 300-meter hurdles and took fourth in 100-meter event. She also holds this year's fastest high school times in the nation for both. The Daily Bulletin also had an article about Carter and her personal coach, former Fresno State hurdler Richard Holmes:

Holmes, a former Fresno State hurdler, has a regular job and is not a full-time coach. So something special had to catch his eye to be willing to devote the time to coach Carter.

About six months ago, Holmes finally got his chance to be her personal coach.

"You don't get Kori Carters all the time. I realize how blessed I am to have a kid like that," he said. "You don't get a kid like that every year."

The world of high school track and field is realizing the same thing.

Holmes has his own interesting story, BTW, and the Claremont Courier had a profile of Holmes last August.

Good luck, Kori, and say "Hi" to former Claremont School District Superintendent David Cash when you get to Clovis!

CHS Baseball vs. Los Osos at the Epicenter

Sid Robinson sent out word that the Claremont High School baseball team will take on Rancho Cucamonga's Los Osos on May 9th at the Epicenter in Rancho Cucamonga. Come on out and root for the Wolfpack:

Wolfpack to Play at Epicenter May 9

The Claremont High School varsity baseball team will play against Los Osos High at the Epicenter in Rancho Cucamonga on Saturday, May 9, at 1 p.m.

The Epicenter is home to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes minor league baseball team, the single-A California League affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Tickets to the event are available for $10 each in advance and are good for admission to all three Baseline League games at the Epicenter on May 9. The Claremont-Los Osos game gets the day started at 1 p.m., followed by Upland against Etiwanda at 4 p.m. and Alta Loma versus Rancho Cucamonga at 7 p.m.

All tickets are general admission and parking is free. Re-entry to the stadium will be allowed. Gates will open at noon.

To obtain tickets for sale and purchase, download a form from the Claremont High baseball Web site at www.claremonthighbaseball.com. Ticket orders are due Monday, May 4.

For more information, call (909) 455-4059, (909) 238-7153 or (909) 227-9589.

Happy 50th, CLL

The Claremont Courier's Sean Pravica reported yesterday that the local little league season opened last Saturday for the 50th year. Congratulations to Claremont Little League on its golden anniversary.

Pravica's article quoted the Little League president as he talked about ideals the league strives for:

Bernie Bernstein, now serving his second year as Claremont League President, discussed what he and the coaches stress for their players.

“We teach the fundamentals of baseball," Mr. Bernstein said. "The kids are learning how to hit, catch, and pitch. They learn working together as a team, sharing, and having fun.”

Mr. Bernstein said that learning the game is the major emphasis for all of the athletes. He described one of the league’s current goals is to start a mentor program, which would pair older players with coaches of lower divisions. Kids playing in Juniors would help those in Majors, Majors would assist with JV, and so on. He explained the high school teams are the beneficiaries of the league, and that the mentor program would be designed to further instill the rudiments of the game.

He added there are over 250 volunteers who give their time to the league, and many local businesses support them as well through sponsoring advertisement signs on the fields.

We're told that there were a lot of dignitaries on hand to help the league celebrate its 50th season opener. Several city councilmembers were there, taking a break from their official and semi-official duties.

Also, Bob Boldig, who played in the league's inaugural season in 1959, spoke to the crowd. Thanks to the reader who forwarded these photos to us:

(Click to Enlarge)

Left to right: Claremont City Councilmembers Larry Schroeder,
Corey Calaycay, and Sam Pedroza.

Former Claremont Little Leaguer Bob Boldig
shares his memories with the crowd.

Thursday Mailbag

More mail, this time park-related talk:


LIGHTING UP

We got this email in response to our post on the light posts that went in at the two city of Claremont parking lots on Mills Ave. north of Mt. Baldy Rd. (the area is largely unlit at night):

DATE: Monday, September 30, 2008 9:58 PM
SUBJECT: City of lights
TO: Claremont Buzz


Hi Buzz -

Looks like at least some of the cement anchors near the Wilderness Park parking lot are for surveillance cameras. One oversees the east end of the Thompson Creek bike trail and parking lot across the street, while another is at the very top of Mills Ave. at the smaller parking lot for the Wilderness Park. Don't know if there's one at the top of Indian Hill, too, at the Thompson Creek Trail parking lot there. And who knows if there is a constant live feed to the Police Dept., or if they just go to a recording device to go refer to after a vehicle break-in. I'll let you pontificate on that. I hope they are a crime deterrent.

We're taking a wait-and-see view on this one. We'll just have to hear what people who live around the parking lots have to say, especially those homes on Mt. Baldy whose backyards face the Thompson Creek Trail parking lot. Do the cameras look into their upstairs windows? Also, if the City plans on similar cameras and lights along Via Santa Caterina at the trailhead to Johnson's Pasture, how will those residents feel about being watched 24-7?


VANISHING KIDS

Then there was this in response to Claremont's plowing ahead with Padua Ave. Park despite a evidence supporting the idea of a graying city population:

DATE: Monday, September 29, 2008 11:09 AM
SUBJECT: [ No Subject ]
TO: Claremont Buzz


Dear Buzz:

With a declining youth population, why Padua Park? I moved to Claremont in 1964 when my ex went to work for G.D. Our children were born in 67 and 69 (a baby boom year - one of the largest, if not the largest, graduating classes of CHS). We moved into this home in northwest Claremont in 69. It was teeming with children and aerospace engineers. La Puerta was open and it was anticipated that our north of Baseline children would go to that school. We would have 200-250 trick or treaters annually. Today. if we have 20, we think that is a bunch. We hardly have any children in this neighborhood anymore and no engineers. We now have a grandchild that we take to Higginbotham Park on a regular basis. I am desperately seeking a playmate for her. However, when I speak to other adults in the park, they are not from our neighborhood, but from South Claremont, Pomona, etc. They tell me the reason they bring their children to Higginbotham is that they want a safer environment. That is pathetic!

I was a stay at home mom in those days and did my bit with PFA, AYSO and Little League. I was president of Little League in 82. That year we had 476 boys AND girls participating. It was the largest league we had ever had. And, you need to keep in mind that the Pony/Colt League for 13-plus year olds was separate. I was on that Board as well and I vaguely recall we had about 200 playing. Little League has very strict boundary rules for participation. What is the participation level today? Somehow we managed practices at all of the parks, some of the elementary school play grounds and St. Ambrose's field. We even managed the season Field 2 at College Park was flooded. We were in competition with men's softball and hardball and all of the other soccer teams in town as well as Pony/Colt.

Are we renting our fields out to groups outside the City? I know the school district allows students outside our district to attend CHS. I presume it is to increase their state and federal monies as well as bolster the school population so they can tell us they need more bond monies. What is the school population versus prior years?

Is this another boondoggle as all of the tennis courts (lighted and non) of the 70's? I remember that fight well. The City had to have them in nearly every park and CHS increased their courts. Today as I traverse Indian Hill and the surrounding area, you got it, I don't see one court in use. Nor does Parks and Rec sponsor any leagues anymore.

But, of course, who am I to question the powers that be. I am a cynic and was opposed to Village West, the roundabout, the trolley and any number of things that Glenn and the housewives have dreamed up. We had pretty decent government in Claremont until about 1983 when G.D. pulled out.

Great job you are doing. I so enjoy reading your blog. Oh yes, you are right to remain anonymous. Retribution in Claremont is still alive and well.

One factor is the growing competition among sports groups, youth and adult, for field space. There are two soccer clubs, the Claremont Stars and the Foothill Storm, that draw from all over the area. Also, there adult soccer and softball leagues that compete with the kids for field time. And, there are relatively new groups like the the youth All-American football league that weren't around before. Add to that the fact that AYSO has added a spring league, and you get a lot of overstressed fields.

The argument that we need more fields for "our" kids, is pretty trite. Do we really need two soccer clubs? Probably not. Those two soccer clubs could use any city's fields. Groups like AYSO and Little League ought get the top priority if we're really talking about "our kids" since they are truly community-based organizations. And the adult recreation leagues certainly do not have anything to do with kids.

So, the city and its Youth Sports Committee aren't being completely honest when they bring up the kids argument. But trying to have a reasonable discussion about the subject is like questioning motherhood, apple pie, and the American Way of Life. That's why you end up with unused tennis courts. Any sports-related decision in town cannot be questioned in the planning process. False assumptions get made and become policy.

Stinkin' Laws

After seven years, sports groups are celebrating the decision by the Claremont City Council to go forward with Phases 1 and 1A of the Padua Ave. Sports Park. The sports groups and Human Services Commissioner Valerie Martinez have long pushed for the park. The sports groups are happy because they say there is a severe shortage of lighted fields, and Martinez cheers because she sees the sports groups as a power block to support her own plans for rehabilitating her tarnished post-Preserve Claremont image. (You have to hand it to Martinez, the original Transparent Woman; she has no shame and certainly isn't lacking for chutzpah.)

Tuesday night, the Claremont City Council approved going forward with the first two phases of the park at a total cost of about $3.6 million. The council had already approved approximately spending $2.4 million for Phase 1, which consists of one unlit soccer field and 52 parking spaces. On Monday, however, the city received an additional $850,000 from the San Gabriel and Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy (RMC), and that allowed the city to go forward with Phase 1A, which includes the lit soccer field and 58 more parking spots.

One thing the council didn't really discuss is how their approval of the two park phases will mean raiding the city's General Fund Reserve and taking nearly $1 million to build Phase 1A. In addition to needing to burn an extra $527,000 of General Fund Reserve funds, they are "borrowing" another $450,000 in reserve money and promise to repay that from city Park Development Impact Fees. The problem with that is that those fees are paid by developers when they build new projects in town. As you may have noticed, there's not a whole lot of building going on right now, and there's no guarantee when developers will move forward with new projects. So that repayment money may be a long time in coming.

Another thing they didn't talk much about Tuesday night was that because the RMC money comes from a conservancy that is supposed to be preserving the 8.9 acres of sage habitat that the sports park would otherwise destroy, the city sold the project to the RMC as a project that meets the city's draft Sustainability Plan, and the city made representations (false?) that it would use part of the grant to preserve a chunk of the sage habitat. The city dangled a promise to the RMC that the city might set up a 6 acre habitat area with walking trails.

Of course, you know all about Claremont's history of promise keeping. Once they received the RMC's $850,000 for Phase 1 on Monday, the city council on Tuesday night turned around and were then able to use Claremont money that would have otherwise been used on Phase 1 and plugged it into Phase 1A. In effect, the San Gabriel and Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy is underwriting the destruction of the habitat in Phase 1A and the introduction of sports park lights into a foothill area that has very strict lighting restrictions. This is a bait-and-switch of extraordinary proportions. Well executed, Claremont!

Judging from Tuesday night's discussions, Claremont's arguments for being able to break the lighting rules for Northeast Claremont, courtesy of City Attorney Sonia Carvalho, are that the city's own rules don't apply to the city itself. No surprise there, since we know that Carvalho seemed to believe last year that the First Amendment and quaint notions about prior restraint had no place in Claremont.

The city is apparently foregoing Phase 2 for the present. Phase 2 would have included a lit softball field and unlit tennis courts. It originally included a lit roller hockey rink in place of the tennis courts.

(We've received a little more information on the RMC grant, complete with some spiffy images, and we'll be serving that up in the coming days.)

The Daily Bulletin had a story on the park decision. Because the 100-foot sports lights in Phase 1A were an issue for Councilmember Corey Calaycay, the council bifurcated the vote. The council unanimously approved going forward with Phase 1 and voted 4-1 for adding in Phase 1A, with Calaycay dissenting. According to the Bulletin:

The council voted for the project in two phases. Council members voted unanimously in the first phase for one soccer field without lights, among other items. In the second phase, Corey Calaycay cast the dissenting vote because he opposed a soccer field with lights.

``I have no objection to the park,'' Calaycay said. ``My objection is to the lights.'' Calaycay said that while he supported the park, the property needed to have its designated zoning changed from rural, and he didn't like ``bending rules.''

``They've always had lighting standards there,'' Calaycay said Wednesday.

``A big criticism of government is when they make rules apply to others and not themselves,'' Calaycay said. ``It brings government into question.''

The RMC might want to know (if they cared) that the council was already talking about replacing that 6 acres of sage habitat they said they were going to preserve with another sports field. Councilmember Peter Yao said he did not want to accept $50,000 from the RMC for a habitat feasibility study because he wanted a third sports field on the Padua site. Yao said he knew how what a conservancy's study would say, and he wanted no part of it.

Yao's support for the Padua project was quite a change from September, 2002, when then-candidate Yao sent a letter to the Claremont Courier that laid out all the reasons why he was against not only Padua Sport Park but Village West as well:

I initially agreed with the City's decisions to build more homes in the Village West expansion and to construct a sports facility in Padua Park. However, the comments from the public have caused me to rethink my position. Four public statements voiced in various city council meetings have prompted my re-evaluation:

1. Who would want to live in the new upscale Village West homes built next to an active railroad track?

2. Padua Park will generate a heavy volume of traffic on Padua Ave., a narrow two-lane rural road.

3. Lit up, the Padua Park, with tens of thousands of megawatts of lighting, will ruin the character of the quiet North Claremont.

4. It makes no sense to locate the largest Claremont sports facility in the extreme northern corner of the city.

The problem is that both the Village West and Padua Park capital projects do not adhere to Claremont's zoning philosophy. The zoning laws caution us not to put houses in a noisy zone and not to put large sports facilities in a quiet zone.

Click to Enlarge

It's easy to see why Yao has changed back to supporting the park. As he has learned by now with the able tutoring of one Sonia Carvalho, in Claremont, we don't need no stinkin' laws!

The Local Sporting Scene

SUMMERTIME AND THE LIVING IS EASY

Our apologies for our recent sabbatical. It being August and all, we ended up taking a brief hiatus to recharge our blogging batteries and to enjoy the end of summer. So, we gave the Insider staff some time off to live it up. The weather's been so great, we just needed to pack up and get away to enjoy the ocean breezes and sip fruity drinks from frosty glasses with little umbrellas.

As we try to ease back into the swing of things, in the spirit of the Summer Olympics we thought we'd start off with a couple notes about local sports.


CHS NAMES NEW BASEBALL COACH

Claremont High School has named as Steve Jackson as the replacement for former head baseball coach Mike Lee, whose coaching contract was not renewed after a contentious last season when Coach Lee clashed with a number of parent of CHS baseball players.

The CHS baseball team's website has the announcement:

The Claremont Unified School District Board of Education, at its meeting on Monday, Aug. 18, voted to approve the recommendation to hire Steve Jackson as new varsity baseball coach at Claremont High School.

Jackson played baseball at Chaffey College and the University of Northern Alabama. He also served as a student-assistant coach at UNA and brings 13 years of experience coaching American Legion and travel ball. Comments received by the school district describe Jackson as someone who has a thorough knowledge of the game and the ability to impart that knowledge and skills to his players. A local varsity high school baseball coach wrote, “In being associated with Steve on and off the baseball diamond, I have found him to be a true professional who possesses a genuine concern and ability to motivate athletes.”

Jackson’s full-time job is working for the City of Montclair Fire Department as a division chief, responsible for the supervision of emergency medical systems and training.

CHS Principal Brett O’Connor commented, “Whenever people talk about Mr. Jackson they talk not only about his baseball knowledge, but also his integrity, leadership and passion. I know Steve has the depth of knowledge to not only mentor young men in the game of baseball but, more importantly, as individuals.”

We've received some emails from CHS baseball parents who indicate that some of them don't approve of Jackson's hiring. Among the issues cited were the fact that Jackson has a son on the team, the fact that Jackson's job with Montclair FD might make it hard to devote enough time to his coaching duties, and that Jackson, who lives in Upland, has ties to other Upland youth baseball players and might encourage them to transfer to CHS.

On the other hand, Sid over at Sid's Side thinks Jackson is a good hire and that CHS baseball parents just need to give him a chance. Sid writes:

I’m simply not going to host another debate that knocks and bashes someone who deserves a fair chance. As I said before, this is a guy who is incredibly talented, bright and fair. That may not be what some people want. I don’t think their complaints are even about him, but, unfortunately, he will be the target. That’s too bad, because those people don’t yet understand how lucky they are. He absolutely will make a positive difference. I know he still needs to prove himself. So let him.

CLAREMONT CRUSHERS

Congratulations are in order for the Claremont Crush under-12 team, which won the Cooperstown All-Star Village tournament in Cooperstown, NY, last week. The Claremont Courier had an article about the team's big win:

With the 24 teams consisting of squads from all across the country, Claremont was given the opportunity to play against unfamiliar competition. But it was just part of the fun for the Crush, who batted .545 for the tournament and mercied 5 of its 10 opponents.

The accomplishment of the 12U team led to the team receiving a 6-foot trophy and each player receiving a championship ring. The 6-foot trophy was an enigma to the players, who found the object to either be almost just as tall or even taller than they were.

The Crush are a travel ball team and practice at Claremont's College Park.


IS IT THE WATER?

What is it with Claremont and hurdlers? The August 16th edition of the Claremont Courier had a story about Claremonter Richard Holmes, who at 41 won the 110-meter hurdles USA Masters Track & Field Championships.

Holmes, who is originally from Sacramento, competed for Fresno State University's track team as a collegian. The Courier article gave Holmes' backstory:

Relocating to southern California in 1991, Mr. Holmes tried his hand at writing and acting, even interning at Walt Disney Studios. He was featured in commercials and also played a track & field athlete in the movie Higher Learning. Meanwhile, Mr. Holmes still continued to train in hopes of qualifying for the 1992 Olympics.

The hurdler qualified for the B standard in the 110-meter high hurdles of the 1992 Olympics and was training to give the 1996 Olympics a shot when he fractured his hip at the Mt. SAC Relays that same year. Struggling to get his trail leg over the hurdle due to the pain, Mr. Holmes decided to move on from the sport, embracing married life with his wife Sabrina and taking on a sales career.

“I did not lift a weight for 4 years,” Mr. Holmes recalled.

But once his wife was pregnant with Arianna—the couple’s now 9-year-old daughter—the Claremonter decided to start training again in order for his daughter to have the chance to see him compete. He also went to see a sports orthopedist that showed him how to work through the pain and eventually found himself in better shape than he was in before he suffered his injury.

Holmes is Claremont's second hurdler to win honors this year. CHS sophomore Kori Carter won a state championship in the 300-meter hurdles and was fourth in the 110-meter race. Carter also placed second in 400-meter hurdles at the USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships in June.

Balancing Priorities

Claremont's Human Services Commission is holding a special meeting today at 3:30pm at the Alexander Hughes Community Center. The commission will discuss whether the city should swap the senior programs at the Joslyn Center in Larkin Park over to the Hughes Center and move the recreation programs from the Hughes to the Joslyn Center.

The agenda for the special meeting gives the commission two choices:

1. That the commission receive the proposal to shift the senior programs to the Alexander Hughes Community Center and recreation programs to the Joslyn Center.
   
   
2. That the commission determine if there is general support for staff to continue to investigate this option.
   

Why the need to switch the programs? You might recall that the city had talked about a $10-12 million expansion of the Joslyn Center to accommodate the demand for more space for senior programs. The staff report for today's meeting informs us that the Joslyn expansion is pretty much dead, a casualty of our tough economic times and competition for dollars from other capital projects.

As we wrote yesterday, the projects on the city council's priority list include the new police station ($25-35 million), Padua Ave. Sports Park ($10-12 million total when complete), the water company purchase ($100+ million), and whatever affordable housing the city decides to build.

According to the Human Services Department's analysis, staff has consistently overestimated the need for its recreation programs. The report says:

What the staff learned, in looking over the previous three years of revenues, was that the Department never achieved its budgeted projections [for revenues from recreation programs], but continued to increase its budget projections. The gap between revenue projections and actual revenues received grew each fiscal year. In an effort to bring actual revenues in line, staff reduced revenues by 12% and next set out to analyze participation levels.

It turned out that staff had also overestimated the demand for its Human Services recreation programs: "Staff learned that many programs offered were achieving minimal or no sign ups. In order to change this, staff began to promote the programs in different ways."

These "different ways" included marketing Claremont's recreation programs to Upland, La Verne and Montclair residents. In addition, the programs were discounted. However, the staff report says, "None of these efforts had a significant impact on participation or revenue received and revenue projections were reduced again by 23% in the 2008-09 budget."

The report goes on to say that about 40% of the recreation programs at the Hughes Center were underutilized. At the same time, the senior programs at the Joslyn and Blaisdell Centers were bursting at the seams. Why? Because seniors represent the fastest growing segment of Claremont's population. The staff report states:

According to the the 2006 General Plan, seniors currently make up approximately 27% of the total population in Claremont. They represent the fastest growing segment of the City's population as the Baby Boomers have begun to reach the age of 60. The Committee on Aging has long led the charge for more facilities for senior programs and has pursued the need for a facility expansion of both Joslyn and Blaisdell.

This is news? We and other have argued the same thing before and have said that rather than pursue the full (and very expensive) Padua Sports Park, which would serve a youth population that is stable or even slightly shrinking, the city should instead invest in more senior programs. Those arguments have apparently finally found some receptive ears, and it was refreshing to see a Human Services staff report that lays out the truth of the matter in clear, simple terms.

Claremont Human Services Commission
Special Meeting - Wednesday, July 16th, 3:30pm
Alexander Hughes Community Center, Padua Room
1700 N. Danbury Rd.
Claremont, CA 91711

Courier Covers CHS Sports News

The Claremont Courier had two articles this past Saturday on Claremont High School sports. The first was an article by Tony Krickl about baseball coach Mike Lee. Krickl's articles gave some details on the decision to not renew Lee's coaching contract (Lee will continue on as a PE teacher).

The other article, by Landus Rigsby, was about CHS hurdler Kori Carter, who as a sophomore won a state championship in the 300-meter hurdles. The article reported that Carter will be off to Poland to represent the US in the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) World Junior Championships, which will be held from July 8 to July 13:

Last Saturday’s USA Track & Field Junior Nationals was held at Ohio State University. At the event held in Columbus, Kori took 2nd overall in the 400-meter hurdles and placed 7th in the 100-meter hurdles (14.24).

The efforts of the CHS track and field standout earned her a place in the IAAF championships as a hurdler and also as part of a pool of US athletes that are eligible to run in the 4x400-meter relay. Now, instead of representing Claremont and representing the state of California, Kori now will represent the nation against competitors from other countries.

“I’m really excited,” Kori said. “I didn’t think I would make it there and didn’t think that I would even make the finals. It’s crazy because I was competing against girls who are in college. But after the prelims, I saw I could run with them.”

We should also note that the IAAF Junior category is for runners ages 18 and 19 but is open to athletes as young as 16 years old, so Carter, who will be a high school junior is really competing against hurdlers older and more experienced than herself.

Here is an interview with Carter after her 2nd place finish in Ohio:

Area Sports News

Sorry to be late on this one. Congratulations to Claremont High School sophomore Kori Carter, who won a state championship in the 300-meter hurdles on May 31st. Carter also placed fourth in the 100-meter hurdles.

Here is a video of the 300-meter state final (Carter is in lane 5 wearing a red top).

It's worth noting that the three runners who placed ahead of Carter in the 100-meter hurdles were all seniors. Claremont tied for 9th place in the team standings with Carter scoring all of the Wolfpack's 14 points.

You can see also a video of Kori running and being interview here.

* * *

We expect to hear a lot about another area athlete, Los Osos High School quarterback Richard Brehaut, in the future. Although he doesn't attend Claremont High, Brehaut has some strong ties to our town. We're told his dad went to CHS, and his mother still lives in town.

Brehaut will be attending UCLA in the fall of 2009 and should benefit from working under the tutelage of Bruins offensive coordinator Norm Chow, assuming that Chow is still with UCLA in another year. Chow helped develop the skills of some great college quarterbacks over the course of his career. 13 of the top 30 NCAA Division single-season passing yardage leaders have been coached by Chow, including Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Ty Detmer, Philip Rivers, Carson Palmer, and Matt Leinhart. Detmer, Palmer, and Leinhart all won Heisman trophies as well.

* * *

One last bit of news on the story of CHS baseball coach Mike Lee, whose coaching contract was not renewed by CHS administrators. LA Times sports blogger Eric Sondheimer had a short post on the subject. He made an interesting observation about Claremont, something that certainly applies to the Claremont Unified School District, but which applies to the city government as well:

A Claremont parent writing a blog offers some observations. What's clear is that Claremont's fondness for secrecy only adds to the likelihood that the people in charge don't know what they're doing.