A Piece of His Mind

Reading the lengthy agenda item for tonight's City Council meeting on the subject of Claraboya/Johnson's Pasture parking, we were struck by this paragraph from the June 30, 2008, Traffic and Transportation Committee meeting (at page 34 of 36 of the aforesaid agenda report).

We wonder: Did he have much to spare?

The commissioner, Chaim Rinde, is the husband of local realtor Malka Rinde. Both were Ellen Taylor supporters in the 2005 election.

Claremont: Land of Unintended Consequences

Claremont has always prided itself on being a visionary city, a community unafraid of finding a new way of getting something done, a pioneering city.

So it's fitting that the town finds itself having to cut a new path to Johnson's Pasture in the north part of town. The current trailhead, situated as it is in a small cul-de-sac on Via Santa Catarina in the Claremont's Claraboya neighborhood, has always been problem. Because there's no parking lot, cars fill up the small street, making for trouble with the neighbors there.

Now that the city has purchased the pasture and has added the land to its Wilderness Park, the homes next to the trailhead have felt a heavy impact from increased traffic and crime.

It's just another unintended consequence in a city full of unanticipated problems that were easily foreseeable had the blinders not been on. Remember the Claremont 400's first scheme to buy Johnson's Pasture - one that failed miserably in 2006? Or that extra $1 million we had to pay to purchase the land after the state grant the 400 had promised us fell through because of the way the deed language was miswritten?

The problem will come before the city's Traffic and Transportation Commission this Thursday, and the city is considering a number of actions, including establishing a new trailhead and parking area at the north end of Mountain Ave. Will Bigham wrote about the problem in the Daily Bulletin:

The Traffic and Transportation Commission is scheduled to consider the proposal at its 7 p.m. meeting Thursday at City Hall.

At a commission meeting in February, one resident of Via Santa Catarina spoke at length about the new problems in his once-quiet neighborhood.

David Jacks said that four of the residents' cars had been broken into, couples had been seen having sex in public, beer bottles were left in yards and statues were stolen out of front yards. The litany of complaints continued for six minutes.

"It's creepy," Jacks said. "It's gotten to the point where something that was once really nice has gotten really out of hand."

Because the solution proposed by the city would not cut off public access, conservationists who were the driving force behind the purchase of Johnson's Pasture say they approve of the idea.

"If they wait and put in a trailhead and have adequate parking, then that's fine," said Suzanne Thompson, head of the Claremont Wildlands Conservancy.

"There's a huge other constituency in Claremont that uses Johnson's Pasture," Thompson added. "The solution needs to work for them as well."

Councilman Peter Yao also said he was supportive of the idea.

He said that if the area at the northern end of Mountain Avenue is not large enough to accommodate visitors' needs - there is space for about 15 cars - a parking lot may be considered.

Leave it to Councilmember Yao to float the parking lot idea. Yao seems to have no problem fitting inappropriate uses into residential neighborhoods. The Padua Theater renovation proposal by Arteco Partners, for instance, anticipates 50,000 visitors a year into an area surrounded by the Wilderness Park and single-family homes. Yao is all for those 50,000 and more if we can jam it in there.

What is it exactly that Yao doesn't like about Claremont residents?

Besides the new parking arrangement and trailhead, the Traffic and Transportation Commission will consider approving a preferential permit policy requiring people parking on Via Santa Catarina to display a special resident placard. You can read the city's staff report on the issue here.

Something will be needed if the current trailhead is closed. As we wrote in February, the ascent to Johnson's Pasture will become much more difficult without the access from Via Santa Catarina.

And we have no idea if there's any truth to the rumor that the city's Off Track Trolley Citizen's Committee has come up its own solution to the problem: a funicular. That might, however, explain the prison work crews and loads of railroad ties and steel rails being trucked up Mountain Ave.


Photo Right:
City Engineer Craig Bradshaw oversees the installation of railway to Johnson's Pasture. Train will cut travel time and speed mail delivery, city staff report says.

Thursday, May 22, 2008, 7:00PM
Traffic and Transportation Commission Meeting
225 West Second Street - City Council Chamber
Claremont
(909) 399-5460

Expedition to Johnson's Pasture

An Alliterative Adventure

The planned parking prohibition on the upper streets of Claraboya (Klar-A-boya in the indigenous language) is reminiscent of the decades-ago closure by the Chinese of the direct route through Tibet to Mount Everest, forcing climbers to make a lengthy approach through Nepal.

Now, the City of Claremont, headed by Politburo Chief Peter Sunway Yao (Chairman Yao) will likely close off the routes for the most direct ascent to Johnson's Pasture. This has the nature-loving world scrambling. How will they get to Johnson's Pasture without aerobic effort? What will happen to the formerly-clandestine moonlight hikes? Where will the founding members of the Claremont Wildlands Conservancy conduct their private and mystic rituals?

Heretofore, intrepid mountaineers would approach Johnson's Pasture via the direct-aid route up the South Wall to the South Col. The primitive road system of Klar-A-boya would provide a steep but usually-reliable path where the teams could park their Land Rovers for the final pitch to the Col.

Click on Image to Enlarge

Now, however, mountaineers will have to establish Base Camp in the flatlands and make a long, dry approach march up the mighty Cobal, fording many rivers, before switching back and edging along the exposed and precipitous slopes hurtling to the depths of Suzanne's Couloir. After the "Long Traverse", Camp One is established on the divide between Suzanne's Couloir and Burbank Canyon.

From Camp One, a steep route grades inexorably upward ever upward to the knife-edge ridge and High Camp and a well-earned rest. Many is the climber reaching this point who has said, "I've had enough!" and turned back to comfort and safety.

But our Johnson's Pasture explorers are made of sterner stuff, and they proceed generally south along the ridge keeping the mighty East Buttress to the left, before coming out in the verdant mead of exotic grasses dotted with loden stands of non-native trees that is Johnson's Pasture.

A wonderful view is the traveler's reward. Don't forget to see Chi Cwm in the southeast corner of the pasture. While you are there, be sure to regard Worley's Waterway, tumbling downward ever downward from Johnson's Pasture to the east and south, and in season watering Thompson Creek Concrete Drainage Ditch amid a spray of debris and trash. The Geographer in our group may point out that the South Chute drains much of Johnson's Pasture along the west edge of Klar-A-boya and waters--well--it waters the same Thompson Creek Concrete Drainage Ditch but further downstream, near the corner of Webb School. These waters remain safely in concrete, adding nothing to the water table, until being deposited in the San Gabriel River above Whittier Narrows. A little of the water falling on the far west of Johnson's Pasture makes its way into Live Oak Canyon where it does its small part to enhance the water supply--of La Verne.

The fortunate wanderer may catch a glimpse at the first dagger of dawn, or as the sun softly sets, of the down- and fleece-clad she-priests of the Conservancy leading a small group to the highest hill of the Pasture. There, where the coarse grass lays down before the wind, we see a pillar of dust rise on the gray breeze and the soul of some departed solves silently into the firmament.

We quietly follow the narrow tread back to High Camp, reflecting on these many matters.

The trail down to Base Camp can normally be made by a healthy person in less than a day, and it is with a heavy heart but with keen anticipation of another trek that we leave this natural Paradise, having seen many Wonderful Things.