Fine Speechifying for the 4th

Claremont's annual Speakers' Corner, a 4th of July celebration of free speech, carries its tradition on today from 10:30am to 3:30pm in Memorial Park.

According to the map in the Claremont Courier's 4th of July insert, the Speakers' Corner podium will be set up along Indian Hill Blvd. just south of 10th St.

The Courier insert listed the speakers' schedule. Speakers are limited to 10 minutes, and some of the speakers had not listed their topics as of the Courier's press time. There are also some unprogrammed blocks.

Girl Scouts beware! Claremont Mayor Ellen Taylor speaks at 10:50am. And Councilmember Sam Pedroza follows with a speech titled "The Government You Can Touch" (and which touches you back, we might add - IN THE POCKETBOOK!).

Citzen Michael John Keenan, Democratic congressional candidate Russ Warner, former Preserve Claremonster and retired United Church of Christ pastor Butch Henderson, and League of Women Voters leaders Marilee Scaff and C. Freeman Allen are also scheduled:

SPEAKERS' CORNER - 10:30AM TO 3:30PM

10:50am - Ellen Taylor
Welcome to Claremont's Independence Day Celebration

11:00am - Sam Pedroza
The Government You Can Touch

11:10am - Michael Keenan
Not Determined

11:20am - Marilee Scaff
Save Water and Welcome a Park [and spend $32 million]

11:30am - Freeman Allen
Sustainabiliy: Something New or Business As Usual

11:40am - Butch Henderson
Not determined

11:50am - Charles Doskow
Not Determined

Noon - Dave Laybourn
Not Determined

12:10pm - Dave Never
Why Obama Will Improve Our Politics and Our Government

[NOTE: This may actually be Dave Nemer. The Courier had him listed as "Never," so we faithfully reproduced it. Of course, a copy editor might have left out a punctuation mark or two: "Dave? Never!" ]

12:20

12:30pm - Russ Warner
My Candidacy for the 26th Congressional District

We've got a more complete list of today's festivities here.



Left: William Jennings Bryan speaking at Claremont's 4th of July Speakers' Corner in 1908 during Mayor Ellen Taylor's forgotten first term.

(Click image to enlarge.)

Kruse Lawsuit - UPDATED

Citizen Michael John Keenan sent us an update on the lawsuit the city of Claremont filed against Darrell Kruse, the guy who opened the medical marijuana dispensary without a city business license:

Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2008, 19:56:39 - 0700 (PDT)
Subject: Darrel Kruse and City Settled in Court Today
To: claremontbuzzatyahoo.com

No info just yet. So the next council agenda may include a decision on a merry jane med clinic/cooperative.Palm Springs is leaning towards a cooperative setup.http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_marijuana17.3ff98ec.html

I think Claremont will land somewhere in between Palm Springs on regs and Corona's outright land use ban. I do believe these are the two other ordinance's Sonia claimed to be working on before Active Claremont.

Happy Trails, Michael Keenan

We haven't been able to confirm the settlement. The last bit of Keenan's email is in reference to last week's Active Claremont meeting, where Claremont City Attorney Sonia Carvalho spoke about the draft medical marijuana dispensary ordinance she has been working.

UPDATED, 7:35PM: Claremont City Manager Jeff Parker reported on the Kruse case in his City Manager's report earlier today. Parker said that the judge in the case sided with the city and issued a tentative ruling in the city's favor:

The Court found that Mr. Kruse's operation of CANNABIS [Kruse's dispensary] without a license created a nuisance and rejected Mr. Kruse's arguments that the Compassionate Use Act preempts the City's zoning laws. The Court also found that the moratorium is correct under Gov. Code 65858 and that the [dismissal] of Mr. Kruse's administrative appeal was proper. The court issued a permanent injunction against Mr. Kruse operating CANNABIS, pending the end of the moratorium, and unless and until the City actually grants Kruse a license at some future date. The City is also awarded its costs. The tentative decision becomes final in 10 days, unless a party "specifies controverted issues or makes proposals not covered in the tentative decision" or appeals.

Coincidentally (or not) Parker also reported that the city's draft marijuana dispensary ordinance is also ready and will be released for public review on April 30th. The ordinance will be posted on the city website and will also be available for review at City Hall or at the Claremont Public Library. Parker's weekly update said:

In crafting the ordinance, staff along with the City Attorney's office, reviewed ordinances from many other cities and incorporated provisions that suit Claremont's needs. The provisions are designed, and necessary, to protect the public health, safety and welfare of the residents, children, and businesses from harmful secondary effects that could result from a dispensary. The ordinance, as drafted, regulates many aspects of the potential businesses, and contains provisions regarding review process, security, operation methods, enforcement, and prohibitions.

Gold Line News

Thanks to Citizen Michael John Keenan for providing this news:

The Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for the Metro Gold Line is complete. You can review the entire document at the Gold Line website. The Claremont Public Library also has a copy of the FEIR.

The Metro Gold Line Extension Construction Authority Board of Directors will be meeting at 7pm on Wednesday, March 28th to consider certifying the FEIR. The board will be meeting at the Arcadia City Council chambers at 240 W. Huntington Dr.

The board will still have to secure full funding to complete the extension.

The Gold Line website includes a map of the proposed line showing stops that have been determined so far. Claremont seems to be one of the few cities along the extension that has a stop located where people would want to visit. In Monrovia, for instance, the stop is located south of the 210 Freeway and west of Myrtle. That's probably too far to expect people to walk to Monrovia's Old Town area on Myrtle where their most interesting shopping and restaurants, as well as their Friday farmers market, are located.

The LA Times website maintains a blog about traffic and transportation called the Bottleneck Blog. As several of the readers note, one of the problems with light rail systems is that their capacity is too low to have much of an impact on car traffic. With the Gold Line, for instance, it would have made more sense to put in a heavy rail system like the Metro Link. Light rail, according to several of the Bottleneck bloggers, isn't really effective over the distances the Gold Line will have to cover.

Keenan Writes

We've had a standing rule against posting emails from candidates (and we've had a few), but we'll make an exception to note that Michael Keenan has a blog up and running.

Mike's a decent guy, and his blogging certainly exceeds ours by miles.