Pomona Channels Claremont Unified

The Pomona City Council has approved selling $9.3 million in recovery zone facilities bonds to build a proposed business center at Fairplex along White Ave.. The bonds, according to an article in the Daily Bulletin, come courtesy of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Among other things, the center will contain a self-storage facility.

The Bulletin article, by reporter Monica Rodriguez, indicated that Pomona council members Paula Lantz and Cristina Carrizosa both had concerns that the project wouldn't generate very many jobs, which is what the federal money is supposed to do. Lantz also had reservations about the lack of much tax revenue from the proposed project.

Rodriguez also quoted Fair Association CFO Mike Seder (photo, right):

Fairplex representatives said the self-storage facility is one-half of the proposed project.

Fairplex has about 1,500 horse stalls, a large number of which are not used, said Mike Seder, vice president of finance and chief financial officer of the Los Angeles County Fair Association.

Creating a self-storage facility would allow Fairplex to take some of the excess stalls and turn them into an income-producing facility, Seder said.

"These are opportunities for us," he said, but added, "I hear your concerns about the type of project."

We're wondering if the self-storage idea was pushed by Bill Fox, one of the people behind the Claremont Unified School District's $95 million Measure CL bond. Fox owns Route 66 Self-Storage and, along with several other prominent Claremonters, is a member of the Los Angeles County Fair Association.

Fox, Seder, and Lee Jackman formed the CUSD Bond/Parcel Tax Survey Committee, which has morphed into the Measure CL bond election committee. As we've noted before, both committees have worked closely with CUSD's poll and campaign consultant, Jared Boigon.

You might recall that a couple years ago, CUSD had also agreed to convert its old district office location at Base Line Rd. and Mountain into an RV storage lot. The word on the street is that Fox, with his expertise in storage facilities, had pushed the RV idea.

(Incidentally, this all is beginning to remind us of the HBO series "The Wire," in which the same people - contractors, politicians, teachers, police, journalists, gangsters - all swirl around a dystopic Baltimore, crossing paths and pursuing their ambitions over the course of five years, while their city decays around them.)

Anyway, according to the Insider's school district moles, Fox convinced CUSD that they could make a lot of money with an RV storage facility. The RV storage idea apparently failed, because there is now a "For Lease" sign on the district's Base Line Rd. property. The sign advertises a rate of a $1 a square-foot.

This is just one more in an endless series of reasons to not trust CUSD with $95 million in bonds. Ask yourself, how much money would the school district have saved if they had left their offices at the old Base Line Rd. site instead of relocating to San Jose Ave.?

FISCAL VISION, CUSD-STYLE

Monday CUSD Recap

The Claremont Unified School District continues to fascinate inquiring minds.

We noticed that the Daily Bulletin article on the CUSD school board meeting last Thursday cited a person named Bill Fox, who spoke in favor of the board's proposed $95 million bond:

"It's an opportunity to take advantage of a crisis in the construction industry," resident Bill Fox said. "Construction costs are way down. It's a much different environment than 10 years ago. Ten years ago, when Measure Y (a $12.5 million school facilities bond) passed, we had very different challenges in bidding on what was out there. What we're seeing is prices are coming down."

(As we have pointed out, the Bulletin was incorrect. Measure Y was $48.9 million, not $12.5 million.)

We had wondered if Bill Fox was any relation to Michael K. Fox and Fox Transportation, who together donated $10,000 to the last CUSD bond campaign in 2000. We still don't know if there is any connection, but we do know that Bill Fox is a Claremont resident and is the president of The William Fox Group, which, among other things, operates a housing development company called William Fox Homes. Fox is also Claremont High baseball team sponsor.

If memory serves, Fox has served on a Claremont school district advisory committee. We believe it was Fox who first suggested that the district might be well-served leasing out it's old district office land on Base Line Rd. to an RV storage business. Fox would presumably know about the profit that CUSD could earn through such an arrangement because his company operates Route 66 Self Storage at 450 Foothill Blvd. Route 66 Self Storage advertises RV storage as one of its services.

In any case, Fox is very deeply involved in school issues and in the community. Here's a photo from the 2009 Claremont Educational Foundation newsletter showing Fox and his wife Cindy posing with former Claremont mayor Dianne Ring, Ring's husband Robert, and Ken Corhan (whom we last saw working on Bridget Healy's failed 2009 city council campaign):


Fox is also involved with the LA County Fair Association, according to a press release from 4/11/09:

Contact:
Sharon Autry (909) 865-4262
Wendy Talarico (909) 865-4263

For Immediate Release

LOS ANGELES COUNTY FAIR ASSOCIATION NAMES NEWEST MEMBER

William R. Fox has been named to the Los Angeles County Fair Association. Fox is president of William Fox Group and William Fox Homes Inc. located In Ontario.

He founded the companies in 2003 to engage in commercial and residential construction and development. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a bachelor of science degree in business administration. He currently serves as a member of the Claremont committee for the L.A. County Fair, on the Claremont School District Site Council and Claremont School Asset Advisory Committee. He resides in Claremont with his wife, Cindy, and children Heather and Brian.

The appointment complements a roster of nearly 50 notable and dynamic community and civic leaders that serve on the association of the not-for-profit organization. The LACFA operates and manages Fairplex, home of the L.A. County Fair and more than 500 diverse year-round events.

If you read Saturday's Claremont Courier, you may have also seen reporter Landus Rigsby's coverage of the Thursday CUSD meeting (no link available). Rigsby didn't mention Bill Fox, but he did quote another bond supporter named Mike Seder:

"To me, it all comes down to timing," said Claremont resident Mike Seder. "We have an emergency right now. We have a school [district] that depends on a state budget that is unreliable at best and if we are going to take control, we need to do it now. This is an investment we need to make in our schools and in our children. What we do now will leave a legacy for future generations of students."

Seder (pictured, left), like Bill Fox, CUSD school board member Jeff Stark, and Stark's mother Jil, has a connection to the LA County Fair Association. Seder is LACFA's Vice-President of Finance and CFO. Jil Stark is (was?) and LACFA board member, and Jeff Stark, along with fellow CUSD board member Beth Bingham, Arteco Partners owner Ed Tessier, and Claremont Club owner Sue Hyland, is an LACFA member as well:

Click on Images to Enlarge

This all just goes to show how well-networked are the movers and shakers in our neck of the woods. But, then, it's like everywhere.

We just hope (but don't really expect) that they'd be open to contrarian views. As we've noted in the past, many of our community's problems have been a result of a groupthink mentality in which a collection of individually intelligent people makes collectively stupid decisions by excluding important information that just doesn't fit the group's preconceptions.

Things That Are Good for You for $200, Alex

We didn't get out to last weekend's Irish Fair & Music Festival at the Fairplex in Pomona. Digital existence does have its drawbacks. Consequently, our forays into the analog world are mostly hypothetical. It's awful hard to get around when all you have are zeros and ones for limbs. And don't get us started on opposable thumbs.

Anyway, Meg at M-M-M-My Pomona didn't get out to the event either. But her hairstylist did, and reported back, via Meg:

Appalling fact no. 1: $16 entry plus $9 parking makes for a hefty pricetag.

Appalling fact no. 2: NO IRISH BEER! They only served Budweiser products. Well, apparently they sold Michelob too -- for the appearance of the fancy. But ferchrissakes, Anheuser-Busch owns Bass -- how hard would it be to sell a little Irish beer? And don't say it's the Fairplex contract, because you can get non-Budelob beers when the LA County Fair is on.

That's always the disappointing part about venturing out into the world. There's a certain chance, however small, of the Araby effect occurring. The bazaar is never quite so splendid as the imagination makes it out to be, and it's often overpriced to boot. But if you go next year, do bring us back something from the fair.

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Speaking of product placement....

We received an email regarding 66-year-old Claremonter Jim Hickey, who likes to skydive and who plugs vegetable juice beverages in his spare time. Wow, he coulda had a....

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And then we heard this bit of non-commercial news from Claremont Graduate University, where the School of Information Systems and Technology (SISAT) has developed a pilot program to create health information kiosks that work like ATMs. According to CGU's information:

These interactive stations will allow people without healthcare to get a health card and have access to their records, order prescriptions, and set up appointments. The program is as easy to use as an ATM, and is a novel way to address how to help those without healthcare coverage. If the program goes well, it may be a turning point in healthcare for 50 million Americans.

SISAT and CGU are understandably excited about their system because of all the talk about converting healthcare records and information into digital forms, as well as the money the Obama administration wants to devote to that endeavor. CGU's received an $80,000 grant to fund a nine-month pilot program aimed at low-income clinic patients in the Los Angeles area.

The concept makes sense. Take the confusing mess of personal health care information and consolidate it all in a form that most people are familiar with: the ATM machine. The idea is to give people who don't have Internet access the ability to find information they need in an easy-to-use form.

Here's a short video with an explanation of how this all works:
















CGU's website has more information on the new system.

LA County Fair Opens September 5th

Hankering for your favorite fried food on a stick? Your chance to get a year's supply of trans fat in one sitting is coming soon!

The 2008 LA County Fair opens 11am Friday, September 5th, at the Pomona Fairplex. Here's a rundown of general info from the Fair's website:

General Information

September 5-28, 2008 – Closed Mondays and Tuesdays (18 days and nights)
September 5-22, 2008 – Live thoroughbred horse racing-closed Tuesdays only (16 days)

FAIR HOURS

Wednesday: 11 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Thursday: 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.
Friday: 11 a.m. - midnight
Saturday: 10 a.m. - midnight
Sunday: 10 a.m. - 10 p.m.


Opening Week thru Sept. 28, 2008

Wed. - Sun. (Sept. 3 thru 28)
Closed Mon. and Tues. (Open Tues. Sept. 2)
8a.m.-8p.m.

ADMISSION PRICES

Ages 13+ (Weekends) $17
Ages 13+ (Weekdays) $12
Ages 6 -12 (Weekends) $12
Ages 6 -12 (Weekdays) $7
Ages 5 and younger (every day)Free

Seniors
Ages 60+ (weekends) $14
Ages 60+ (weekdays) $9
Ages 60+ Senior Wednesdays $6

Groups
Group Sales, ages 13+ (20 or more adults) $10
Group Sales, ages 6-12 (20 or more) $6
Group Sales, ages 60+ (20 or more) $5

Season Pass
Ages 13+ (Season Pass) $50
Ages 6-12 (Season Pass)$24

Opening Day admission, Fri., Sept. 5 $1
($1 admission 11 a.m.-5 p.m.)

Opening Day admission 5 p.m.-midnight

Ages 13+ $12

Opening Day admission 5 p.m.-midnight
Ages 6-12 $7

$5 after 5 p.m. (Wednesdays & Thursdays)$5

College Thursdays (students w/valid ID) $5

RaceFan ClubCard (each, 2 admission tickets per day)$8

Parking

General $10
Preferred $15
Red Lot $20
Hotel Valet $25

The Fair also hosts Community Days for different area cities. Here's a sampling:

• Friday, September 5 - Pomona Day
• Wednesday, September 10 - Chino Day, Montclair Day, Ontario Day, Upland Day
• Friday, September 12 - San Dimas Day
• Wednesday, September 17 - Glendora Day
• Thursday, September 18 - Claremont Day
• Wednesday, September 24 - La Verne Day
  
  The Fair is offering discount tickets for your city’s Day at the Fair, which will be available at City Hall or your local Chamber of Commerce. For more information, contact Community & Government Relations Coordinator Brandy Williams at (909) 865-4648 or via email at bwilliams@fairplex.com. We’ll see you at the Fair!