Claremont Insider: Affordable Housing?

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Affordable Housing?

More from CNNMoney on the #5 Best Place to Live. Money had photos of houses for sale in the top 10 Best Places, including this one from Claremont:



At a modest $2,675,000, the perfect starter home for your typical Los Angeles County family with a median yearly income of $43,518 (2004).

This was the most expensive, by several hundred thousand dollars, of all the example houses in the top 10. The asking price, by the way, was more than the combined prices for the houses shown from the top 3 Best Places.

Money, ironically, had listed "relative affordability" as one reasons for ranking Claremont #5. The magazine also overlooked air quality, in which they ranked Claremont low, and traffic, which apparently will get much worse now that the 210 Fwy. extension to San Bernardino is open.

According to a 7/23/07 LA Times article, since 2001 when segment through Claremont opened, the average daily vehicle count in both directions of the 210 at San Dimas Ave. went from 67,000 to 177,000. As a result of the added cars, the San Gabriel Valley sections of the 210 have filled with frustrated rush-hour drivers who spill over onto the surface streets of cities like Arcadia, causing headaches all around.

The Times article observed:

Some San Gabriel Valley officials are surprised at how much the 210's eastward march is congesting their cities.

John Mayberry, a former San Marino traffic commissioner, said that if he was told five years ago that the opening of the 210 east of Claremont would hit San Marino, "I'd say you're crazy. But it did. I think we took our hit, and I'd suspect somebody, whether it's in La Verne or Claremont or Upland, they're going to get nailed too."