Ravelers Spam

We got some Ravelers spam in the email in-basket yesterday. The local classic rock band is celebrating the birthday of one of their band members. The Ravelers invite you to join them this Saturday night:

Hey Now...

OK, here's the story....the date is here and it's Hai's birthday celebration this Saturday night!

Please join us and a whole bunch of others for a night of food, friends, and musical fun to celebrate like we do...bring your birthday party, too!

Saturday, January 24---Hai's Birthday Gig-59 in '09--!
--Cask N Cleaver Restaurant
-- 125 N Village
-- San Dimas, CA
--( 909)592-1646

Call for Reservations to eat and party in the bar!

The Ravelers play from 8:00pm - 12:00 midnight. Meet with friends, food, and fun!
Exit 57/210 freeway (north of I-10, south of 210 freeway) at Arrow Highway, turn left...behind Sizzler and McDonalds.

We are looking forward to seeing you!

Hai, Pat, Martie, Rob
The Ravelers
http://www.ravelers.com

10th Street Assailants Caught

Beating Victim Expected to Recover

We'd love to hear it officially*, but word on the street (and from a couple of sources) is that the two guys who robbed and beat a resident on West 10th Street have been caught and copped to the crime.

Our original correspondent tells us that the victim has stabilized and is expected to recover, which is good news if true. We wish him well. The authorities say that this is the most violent crime to have occurred in Claremont in a long time, with "an amazing amount of spilled blood".

A bit later...
We see that a real reporter has taken up this story. Read the best and most complete set of details on Claremont Courier reporter Tony Krickl's Courier City Beat blog. He reports that 3 men were arrested by the Claremont PD, and that the victim's name was Vince Gottuso.

*Nothing on the Claremont PD website as of 5 p.m. Thursday; maybe City Manager Jeff Parker plans to take credit for it in his City Manager's Update tomorrow.

Frugality Makes a Comeback

FRUGAL COUNCILMEMBERS

Saturday's Daily Bulletin had an editorial titled "Frugality Welcomed" that talked about what the Bulletin's editorial board felt were some good examples of local government officials demonstrating real willingness to take their cities financial situations seriously.

The editorial gave some partial praise to Claremont's City Manager, and to the two councilmembers who were on the losing end of a 3-2 vote to approve a 4% bonus for the City's chief executive. Councilmembers Linda Elderkin and Sam Pedroza voted along with Mayor Ellen Taylor to grant the raise and bonus.

We welcome Claremont City Manager Jeff Parker's decision to freeze his own 3 percent cost-of-living salary increase for 90 days.

Parker said he would "figure out what comes next" in three months, but he accepted a separate 4 percent performance increase.

Actually, we like the approach of Councilmen Corey Calaycay and Peter Yao, who voted in the minority against the performance increase even as they praised Parker's work - "because the future is uncertain," Calaycay said.

We hate to keep harping on this, but there have been plenty of warnings over the past 18 months that a mighty big financial storm was coming. Now it's here to stay a while, and, whatever happens, it's a different budgetary world for local and state governments everywhere. One gets the sense that this message has finally begun to sink in with Claremont's City Council. They're holding a special budget meeting on Saturday, January 31st, and every one of the three candidates for City Council - Calaycay, Bridget Healy, and Larry Schroeder - have named the fiscal crisis as the most important issue we face.


CHANGING THOSE SPENDTHRIFT WAYS

It's not going to do to continue to depend on money trickling down from Sacramento and Washington anymore. We've got to come up with real budgetary solutions that will keep our books balanced. That way, if and when some grant money does get freed up, we've positioned ourselves to take advantage of that largesse without having bankrupted ourselves in the process. This means prioritizing which services are vital and which are secondary. It also means cutting back until the storm passes.

It is also important that any fiscal solutions for Claremont not rely too heavily on the sorts of grants we have counted on in the past. California, you may have noticed, is going to run out of money in a few weeks if Sacramento doesn't get it's act together. In the meantime, our dependence on municipal bonds on the local and state level has become a major issue as the state has had to place a freeze on the sale of bonds because of its poor credit rating.

The bond freeze is the reason why Padua Ave. Park is getting built without much of the landscaping the city had planned on. In that instance, $850,000 in pledged, bonded grant money suddenly became unavailable due to the state's moratorium on bond sales.

And, even if the legislature and the Governor's office come up with a last-minute budget deal, if they don't address the structure problems with California's budget process, the bond markets will take notice. The Sacramento Bee reports that California's credit rating may take hit from the credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service if state leaders don't come up with a real budget solution soon. This means no more temporary fixes. The Bee's Kevin Yamamura writes:

The credit ratings service said it will be "acutely focused on liquidity" in the next few weeks as the Legislature attempts to find a solution before the state runs out of cash. Moody's said in a release that it anticipates its review of California's bond rating to finish by the middle of April.

Democratic leaders plan to resume daily talks with Republicans and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger starting Thursday in an attempt to pass a budget by February. But Moody's expressed doubts about whether they will strike a compromise that legitimately solves the budget problem.

"Although the legislative and executive branch continue to debate fiscal and cash measures, and the Legislature is required to come up with solutions by February 3, we do not yet know whether solutions will actually be passed, or whether they will be workable, reasonable, and of a sufficient magnitude to achieve a degree of credit stabilization consistent with the current rating level," Moody's said in its release.

As it stands now, California will begin to run out of money on February 1st. The Los Angeles Times reports that the State Comptroller John Chiang has given the order to suspend $3.7 billion in various payments, including tax refund checks and student grants:

The controller said the suspended payments could be rolled into IOUs if California still lacks sufficient cash to pay its bills come March or April.

"It pains me to pull this trigger," Chiang said at a news conference in his office. "But it is an action that is critically necessary."

The payments to be frozen include nearly $2 billion in tax refunds; $300 million in cash grants for needy families and the elderly, blind and disabled; and $13 million in grants for college students.

Even if a budget agreement is reached by the end of this month, tax refunds and other payments could remain temporarily frozen. Chiang said a budget deal may not generate cash quickly enough to resume them immediately.

Not all payments will stop Feb. 1. Most school and healthcare programs will be paid, as required by state and federal law. The state will continue to pay more than $6.6 billion in such bills.

And Los Angeles County officials said they would cover welfare payments to more than 500,000 local recipients -- for now.

But California is projected to be $346 million short of the funds it needs to pay all its bills in February. By March, the state would be so far in the red that even continuing to suspend payments would not cover the shortfall. California would be insolvent, making the issuance of IOUs likely.

The lesson we ought to be taking from all of this is that however things end up when this is all over, we cannot go back to business as usual, not on the state level, and certainly not on the local level. All of our elected officials, from the lowliest councilmember to the most tenured state legislator, need to come away from this with an appreciation for that frugality the Bulletin editors praised. If they do not, it is up to each of us to remind them.

10th Street Robbery and Beating Updated

We have received some additional information on the "interrupted residential burglary" that occurred Tuesday morning on 10th Street. First, and most important though, we have no further information on the condition of the 61-year old male victim who was airlifted to County USC medical center and who was reported Tuesday night to have been in ICU. We of course wish fervently for his quick recovery.

Eyewitnesses to the immediate aftermath describe his wife as understandably "hysterical" on the street outside their house on the north side of 10th Street between Cambridge and Mountain. The victim was reported to be the brother-in-law of a City commissioner.

We understand neighbors were enlisted to search the area for discarded bloody clothing--that doesn't sound very good--but our sources tell us none was immediately found.

Still, our sources tell us that police believe they may have some promising leads.

We hope so.

Crime Scene

Pomona Fox Theater News

The Pomona Fox Theater's 14-month-long restoration is approaching completion, the Daily Bulletin's Monica Rodriguez informed us earlier this month. Ed Tessier of Arteco Partners, the developer involved in the restoration, was interviewed for the article and explained what we can expect:

"We've created a multi-faceted venue," Tessier said.

Everyone from "two people to 2,200 people can find a good home for their special event," he said.

A ballroom, banquet facilities, a roof-top restaurant, a lounge, a place for a romantic dinner and other amenities are part of what visitors will find at the Fox.

The auditorium alone will accommodate groups of various sizes, Tessier said. As a banquet hall the auditorium will seat about 350; as a cinema 1,700; and as a concert venue 2,100.

The Bulletin has a photo gallery showing the restoration work in progress. You can also find out more information and can also donate to the Friends of the Fox Theater here.

Arteco Partners is also the company that restored the Claremont Packing House, and they are currently involved with the City of Claremont in the restoration of the Padua Hills Theatre.

Home Invasion Robbery

We received an email yesterday afternoon from a concerned citizen who heard about an attempted home invasion robbery on 10th St.in the Claremont Village. The incident apparently resulted in serious injuries to the homeowner:

DATE: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 3:49 PM
SUBJECT: Home Invasion Robbery
TO: Claremont Buzz

Today around the noon hour, a home invasion robbery occurred in the 700 block of W. 10th Street. The occupant of the home was badly beaten and taken by air to County USC Medical Center. Anyone that saw anything unusual in that area today PLEASE contact the Claremont Police Department.

The Claremont Police Department confirms the reader's information and has a press release posted on their website:

Interrupted Residential Burglary

On January 20, 2009 at about 11:45 am, a resident in the 700 block of West 10th St. arrived home and discovered that her house had been ransacked. She could not find her 61-year-old husband who was supposed to be home. The Claremont Police Department was called to investigate and responding officers located the husband injured inside in the residence. The victim was treated at the scene by paramedics from the Los Angeles County Fire Department and flown to an area trauma center were he is currently being treated; his condition is unavailable.

Preliminary investigation indicates that suspects entered the home to commit a burglary and were confronted by the homeowner. An altercation ensued resulting in the victim being struck in the head by unknown objects. It is unclear if the victim entered the home and surprised the burglars, or if the burglars entered while the resident was already home. It is unknown if any property was taken. The suspects are described as two male blacks, 20-30 years old. No further description is available at this time.

Anyone with information about this crime or the possible suspects is asked to call the Claremont Police Department at (909) 399-5411.

Tomorrow at the Ath

Now that the spring term is in session, the calendar of events at the Claremont Colleges is looking a little more lively than it has in a few weeks. The Athenaeum at Claremont McKenna College is hosting Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (pictured, left), tomorrow night.

Gates will be the guest speaker for CMC's annual Martin Luther King, Jr., lecture. The Ath's online calendar has the following information:

Thursday, January 22, 6:45pm

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University professor; director, W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University; author, forthcoming In Search of Our Roots (2009) and Finding Oprah's Roots: Finding Your Own (2007); CMC’s 22nd Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture; "Genetics, Genealogy and African American History"

Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum
at the Claremont McKenna College
385 E. 8th St.
Claremont, CA 91711-6420 (909) 621-8244
Fax: (909) 621-8579
athenaeum@claremontmckenna.edu

Community Calendar

From the City's website:

The City Council is holding a Budget Workshop on the morning of January 31. They are inviting the public to join in. Although budgets can be pretty dry stuff, you really have to go back to the early 1990's to find a time when the city's financial picture looked as potentially dim as it does right now. So it's in your own best interest to come on out and educate yourself on what we're facing:

Community Invited to Council Budget Workshop

With economic concerns a reality, the City of Claremont fiscal year 2009-10 operating budget will be impacted significantly. The public is invited to attend a special City Council Budget Workshop to discuss the City's budget issues. This workshop will be held Saturday, January 31, from 8 a.m. to 12 noon at the Hughes Community Center in the Padua Room. For more information, please call City Hall at (909) 399-5460.

City Makes a Bid for a B.I.D.

Special Districts. Ahh, the sound of those two words is music to the ears of any city staffer. A new pot of money to dole out; a new sandbox to play in.

Comes now the Business Improvement District (B.I.D.)


You may remember this idea was alluded to last November, after Assistant City Manager Tony Ramos reported the disappointing results of the Rose Institute survey of local business: the agenda report said there appeared to be little support for a Transient Occupancy Tax and Business Improvement District. (It is interesting to note that nowhere in the Rose Institute Survey appeared the phrase, "Business Improvement District", though there were questions on the idea of a Transient Occupancy Tax, which went down 3 to 1 in the survey.) Ramos must've been thinking B.I.D., however, since he mentioned it in his report to City Council as a concept that would require "more education" of the business community.

(We guess that the idea may have been that a Transient Occupancy Tax, paid for by visitors and not by businesses, would've funded the district; but more likely the businesses figured that they would be assessed as well.)

Anyway, we hope there is a good turnout at the Wednesday and Thursday meetings noticed in the flyer above. Maybe even a few retailers will attend. And perhaps ask a few good questions of the attorney in charge of the Chamber of Commerce. Or the City staff members who will doubtless be hovering about.

Just remember this: its all about priorities. If the City is serious about supporting business, the City will pony up some cash.

Inauguration Day

Although we generally stay away from national politics, given the historic nature of today's inauguration, we're going to take a break from the our ongoing exploration (sigmoidoscopy?) into the minutiae of our humble town to catch some of the goings on in Washington, DC.

If you're not watching today's events on a big screen somewhere, you can listen to live coverage from 3am to 8pm on 89.9FM KCRW's website and get a bit of a local angle to things. NPR will cover the inauguration ceremonies, the oath of office, and the new president's speech between 7am and 11am.

If you're taking the day off, you can always check out WineStyles' Inauguration Tasting Ball between 11am and 8pm. They promise "tastings of wines, light appetizers and specials on wines by the glass ($4.40) and bottles!!!" - that's three, count 'em, three exclamation points! WineStyles is located at 201 N. Indian Hill Blvd. in the Claremont Village Expansion.

Finally, we didn't realize it, but apparently we've elected a president of Irish descent. We were listening to American Public Media's show "Marketplace" yesterday, and, during a story about the views of some Europeans about the President-elect, we caught a bit of a song by an Irish band called The Corrigan Brothers (née Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys).

The song's called "There's No One as Irish as Barack [pronounced "BEAR-ack," with a rolled R. -ed.] O'Bama":

O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara
There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama
From the old Blarney Stone to the green Hill of Tara
There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama

Debating City Pensions

CANDIDATE FORUM REPORT

The Daily Bulletin's Wes Woods II had an article Saturday about the first candidate forum for the 2009 Claremont City Council election. The forum, hosted by Active Claremont, took place last Thursday.

Woods described the three-person race as bunched, with no one breaking out from the pack. He picked out one area where he reported the candidates were of different minds:

The candidates reacted differently to a question about statements made by Councilman Peter Yao that the city could face the prospect of bankruptcy because of the struggles of the state Public Employees' Retirement System pension plan.

"This is on our priority list," Calaycay said. "PERS is going to expect a higher contribution. It's on our priority list to come back for action."

Healy said she would like to see Claremont band together with a group of other cities to find alternatives to the current PERS plan.

The group would then bring its idea to lawmakers in Sacramento.

Trying to address the issues alone would not work because if the city's contribution to the pension plan is lowered it would impact the city's ability to retain or recruit staff, Healy said.

Schroeder said he was a system retiree and the city has to keep a certain amount of wages and benefits to retain employees. Next year, if the state pushes the PERS rates up 5 percent, every city will have to deal with the matter.

The candidates also differed on council salaries.

Healy and Schroeder said they would not accept the council salary of $400 a month as well as health benefits.

Calaycay said he does accept the monthly compensation and $30 for redevelopment meetings, because it is a fair amount. He said he declines health benefits and does not take money for trips.

One of our readers who was at the Active Claremont forum wrote in to correct Woods' description of what the candidates said:

DATE: Sunday, January 18, 2009, 9:53 AM
SUBJECT: candidates forum thursday night
TO: Claremont Buzz

I don’t know if you heard any of the questions and answers given by the three Claremont City Council candidates at Active Claremont’s forum Thursday night (Jan. 15th) but the Daily Bulletin’s report on the answers given by the candidates to the question “Will any of you take the council benefits, the medical benefits or the deferred compensation?" was incorrect. Both Healy and Schroeder said they would decline the medical benefits, but did not say they would also decline the $400 per month salary as the Daily Bulletin misreported.

Another question that was addressed was the PERS (Public Employee Retirement System) that all the candidates are vested in. Since both Schroeder and Healy are retirees, they are getting it now, but only Healy has worked for Claremont and is therefore drawing on Claremont’s share of her pension. Is there a possible conflict of interest there if she votes on anything to do with PERS? Just wondering.

We're not sure if there's any conflict. But it does seem to argue against having a high-ranking staff member run for the a council seat in the same city that person recently left.


DOING THE PENSION MATH

Schroeder's and Healy's takes on Claremont's CalPERS (California Public Employees Retirement System) account are mighty interesting. Both are in the enviable positions of receiving some very generous CaPERS retirement benefits. For example, for Healy, who retired October, 2008, from the city of Indio making about $220,000, that pension amount would be around $150,000 a year with cost-of-living increases built in. So, whether she accepts it or not, the council pay of $400 per month is chump change to her.

In Healy's case, Claremont's portion of her pension is 2.5% of her salary in her highest earning year, $220,000 from Indio, times 18 (the number of years she worked in Claremont). That's equal to 45% of $220,000, or $99,000 a year for her pension.

Healy would also get 2.7% for each of her three-plus years in Indio (that city has an even more generous pension plan that was $30.2 million in the red as of two years ago - when the stock market was still up). So Indio would pay Healy 2.7% times three years, or 8.1% of $220,000, which equals another $17,820. And then Pomona would pay Healy 2% (its multiplier) times nine years, for another 18% of $220,000, or $39,600.

Schroeder worked for Lakewood, which has a CalPERS benefit that pays 2% for each of Schroeder's years at that city. Schroeder also worked for Glendora, which pays 2.5% for each year Schroeder worked there. Schroeder, though, at least sounds as if he'd be willing to consider changing the current City pension plan if CalPERS' outlook doesn't improve.

It's probably natural that Healy would be loathe to alter Claremont's employee pension. After all, she was on the Claremont staff under Glenn Southard that increased the non-police employee pensions from 2% at 55 years old to the current 2.5% that Healy enjoys. That increase, by the way, added an instant $10 million in unfunded pension liablities to Claremont's CalPERS account because the change was retroactive back to each employee's date of hire. Claremont, not CalPERS and not the employees, is on the hook for that extra .5% of retroactive retirement. You may remember that change was pushed by Southard and Healy in January, 2005. By April that same year, they were both gone to Indio.

According to the Wes Woods article, Healy defends her unwillingness to change Claremont's current pension plan by introducing the false notion that Claremont could not compete in the employee marketplace if it gave out lower pensions. What she ignores, perhaps by design, is the fact that the job market has changed, as have financial markets. She's thinking like a staff person protecting her pension and not like a councilperson. Really, what good does it do to have the best employees in the state if Claremont is bankrupted by its pension obligations?

Instead of Claremont taking control of its pension problems, Healy would have us wait until the state sets limits on what cities can promise future retirees. We've seen what a great job California has done with its own budget. Now, Healy wants us to defer to Sacramento on pensions. This strikes us as nothing more than a convenient way of avoiding an imminent threat to Claremont's financial health.

As it is, Claremont will either have to layoff staff or reduce services to balance its budget, assuming there is no significant improvement in the economy in the next 12 months. And, as Woods alluded to, the cost of Claremont's CalPERS pension plan payments are likely going to rise from the current 13% of payroll to 18% or more.

Ed Mendel at Calpensions.com explained why:

...CalPERS warned that the annual pension contribution that must be paid by state and local governments could increase by nearly a third — starting July 1, 2010, for the state and schools and July 1, 2011, for local government agencies

It’s exactly what wasn’t supposed to happen when CalPERS adopted an unusual “smoothing” policy in 2005 that changed the three-year period for calculating investment gains and losses to 15 years, well beyond the average for most pension funds.

“This plan will help end the whiplash employers experience when contribution rates dramatically increase and decrease year to year,” the CalPERS board president, Rob Feckner, said in a news release.

Now CalPERS is waiting to see what happens to the value of its investment portfolio by the end of the current fiscal year, June 30, the period that will be used to calculate a new contribution rate.

The average CalPERS contribution rate paid by state and local governments is currently about 13 percent of payroll.

If the investment loss is 20 percent for the full fiscal year, CalPERS estimates that contribution rates could be increased by 2 to 5 percent of payroll. If the loss is more than 20 percent, the increase would be even higher.

That is one big hit that Claremont is set to take come June. This all comes at a time when city revenues are off by large amounts. Claremont Toyota sales tax revenues may be off by over 50%, for example, and Claremont Toyota accounts for about 53% of the city's total sales tax revenue. Other businesses are suffering as well. How will the candidates deal with a seven-figure loss in revenue and continue to pay out into a pension plan that is millions of dollars in the red? We await the answers.

Socializing Liberally

The Claremont Courier yesterday had an article about a group called Claremont Drinking Liberally. The group, organized by David Withers, meets every Wednesday night at 7:30pm at the Casablanca Bar & Grill in the Claremont Packing House.

The article is not posted on the Courier's website, but it explained that the weekly meetings provide an excuse for people of like political views to get together and socialize. There are chapters throughout the country, and Withers started CDL back in October, according to the Courier article.

The Courier piece gave this description of a CDL get-together:

With no agenda, no speeches, no dues, no work, no expectations - other than Mr.Withers' 2 life rules, "pay attention and vote" - Claremont Drinking Liberally provides an easy-going atmosphere in which to talk, learn, joke, vent frustrations and enjoy new friendships.

....At CDL, nothing is taboo, no one is judged, and laughter and solemnity share equal airtime. And, local politics and politicians are not exempt from the dialogue.

"I get mad at [Corey Calaycay] a lot, but you can talk to him. He's honest," said Gwen Carr, former Claremont Committee on Human Relations member and chair and Humans Services commissioner who was recently elected as a delegate to the State Democratic District.

"Who is that dodo guy on city council?" said another.

"City elections are non-partisan,"said one, to which another responded, "If only!"

Claremont Drinking Liberally has a website and its own blog, as well, maintained by Withers.

We don't know if people of other political persuasions have their own social clubs, but maybe there's a market for Quaffing Conservatively or Imbibing Independently. If they are any of those out there, let us know.

Claremont Drinking Liberally
Wednesdays, 7:30 pm

Casablanca Bar & Grill
500 W. First St. in the Packing House, at Oberlin
Claremont, CA

Unmasked!

Remember that PianoPiano photo from last month showing Claremont Councilmembers Corey Calaycay and Sam Pedroza enjoying a night out on the town with City Manager Jeff Parker and other city staffers? We were looking at the photo the other day when it occurred to us that we had seen Parker in another context.

That squarish face and mouth, narrow eyes, and angular cheekbones... where had we seen those features before? Then it hit us: Dr. Doom!

That's right, the Fantastic Four's arch-nemesis just may be posing as a mild-mannered, well-compensated Claremont city employee. All that's missing is the green, hooded cloak, the armor, and the weapons and superpowers. We do know that among Dr. Doom's powers is the ability to psionically transfer his consciousness into other nearby beings, according to Doom's Wikipedia entry. Just how did Parker convince three councilmembers to approve a gift of $15,000 at the same time they are asking the community and staff to make sacrifices? Mystery solved!

Victor von Doom just may have taken refuge in our beloved tree-lined Village. The perfect place to plot his perfidious plans for planetary peril!

Priorities

A reader wrote us after hearing about the Claremont City Council's decision to award City Manager Jeff Parker a raise of 3% of his annual salary as well as a 4% performance bonus. The two awards together are worth over $15,000. Parker has volunteered to place a 90-day hold on his pay raise, but he says he is taking that performance bonus money now.

The reader recalled a post we had written about the possibility that the city would withhold an already agreed upon contracted raise to Claremont police officers, along with other promised benefits. The reader seemed to know what message the City Council and City Manager were sending to the police department:

DATE: Friday, January 16, 2009 8:37 PM
SUBJECT: f**k the police
TO: Claremont Buzz

I can't find it, but I seem to remember a recent Claremont Insider post that said the city was warning the cops not to expect raises that they'd already negotiated (and to expect to lose some old cash benefits, like a fitness allowance). If I'm remembering correctly, that post be connected to the newer post about the city manager getting a raise and bonus. No cash for cops, plenty of extra money for management. I bet the cops have noticed, at least. My apologies if my memory of the earlier post is wrong.

The reader's memory is correct. Back on January 8th, we posted a note we received with someone who'd been talking to some in the Claremont PD, and that person said, "The city talked to the Claremont Police Officer's Association and told them that their negotiated contract raise (4%), their education pay, and their physical fitness reimbursement would not be honored this year due to their money problems."

On top of that, the city may have to look to staff layoffs and other cuts in services if the state's financial situation is not resolved quickly.

Perhaps you might now agree that it is an criminal extravagance to spend $1.2 million on a downtown trolley that at the most carries one or two people as it circumnavigates a few short blocks in the Claremont Village on its lonely sojourn.

Or to continue on with the $2.4 million the City has committed to building Padua Ave. Park (minus the $850,000 in state grant money that has been pulled because California is unable to sell its bonds at a reasonable rate).

Tony Krickl in the Claremont Courier reports today on the Padua Ave. Park news. According to Krickl's article, the park construction will begin in two weeks, without any state money, which means that the park will not have the landscaping the state grant was supposed to pay for.

These are the decisions we make when money gets tight, as it will be for at least the next year or two: spend on staff and on the benefits we have promised them in order to maintain the level of service we have committed to, or take that money and put it into projects.

The City and the Claremont 400 have made a clear decision. They will jettison staff rather than pulling the plug on the trolley and putting off construction of Padua Park until the economy and the city's own finances improve. For all the Claremonsters' talk about protecting what they're constantly calling a wonderful city staff, their actions show their priorities.

As the Great Recession continues on into 2009, we'll see decisions like these resonate as they tie the City's hands in future spending choices. To once again quote our friend out there in the real, analog community, "That's sick!"

(Refrain, please: "That's Claremont!")

Signage

We received an inquiry yesterday from an astute reader who caught sight of some city election signs in what appeared to be city property:

DATE: Thursday, January 15, 2009 8:34 AM
SUBJECT:Campaign signs in city parks?
TO: Claremont Buzz
Hi Buzz -

Are campaign signs allowed in City Parks? Driving north on Indian Hill, you can't help but see two Bridget Healy signs near the curb in Porkchop Park. What next? Calaycay signs in Memorial Park? Schroeder signs in the Wilderness Park?

No one knows what's next. Perhaps the city, cash strapped as it is about to become these hard fiscal times, can lease out signage space (maybe a few of those HiDef LED billboards) to candidates and corporate sponsors.

We're not quite sure the Porkchop is entirely City property, but we're inclined to think so. If so, any signs by any candidates would be a no-no - the use of city property for electioneering, you know. But then, one would expect Healy would know best, with over 30 years of experience as a city employee, 17 of them right here in Claremont as Glenn Southard's right-hand woman.

Then again, there are rules and there are The Bridget Rules. Seriously, though, if there really is something wrong the positioning of her signs, you can expect them to quietly disappear by the time you finish reading this.

Election Signage in Porkchop Park

Click to Enlarge

Details of Personal Care Procedures We'd Rather Not Think About

Seen on the 300 block of north Indian Hill

in Claremont Village

...

Party On, Dude! - UPDATED

Being a councilperson is hard, thankless work. You spend countless hours attending community meetings and events, sitting on joint agency boards, traveling to far-off conferences, and setting policy for dear old Claremont. After a hard day at City Hall and elsewhere, you really need a break.

Here's a suggestion: Run over to PianoPiano, the new piano bar at Foothill and Indian Hill Blvds., with some of your trusted staff and blow off some steam by partying hearty.

That's apparently just what some of our councilmembers did back on December 19th. Turns out PianoPiano has a Facebook page where they the post photos they take each night showing their customers. The PianoPiano photo album for December 19th carries the title "City of Claremont in the House!"

The PianoPiano Facebook page has a couple interesting photos, including one that captures a particularly "happy" City Manager Jeff Parker, perhaps basking in the knowledge that he'd received a 3% raise, bringing his annual salary to $211,000, as well as performance bonus equal to 4% of his salary. That's equal to about $15,000 in salary and bonus combined. All the more reason to hoist a cold one and toast the gods of municipal finance.

UPDATED, 7:15AM: As the Daily Bulletin reports, these details came to light at the most recent City Council meeting on Tuesday, January 13th. To be fair, Parker did voluntarily place a 90-day freeze on his 3% cost-of-living increase. He is, however, taking that bonus - worth $8,000 - to the bank.

In addition, Claremont Courier reporter and blogger Tony Krickl has a post about the council's 3-2 vote approving Parker's pay. Krickl writes:

Corey Calaycay did not support a bonus or the COLA increase.

Peter Yao only supported the cost of living increase but felt a bonus was not a responsible move right now.

“We put together a budget just a few months ago, 6 months ago, and we're not meeting the budget in terms of revenue coming in,” Yao said. “... I voted against [the bonus] simply because of the fact that I don't have money in the budget and I don't know where that money is coming from, and to spend money that I don't have isn't part of my job.”

Ellen Taylor, Linda Elderkin and Sam Pedroza weren’t so concerned about spending money that’s not available and voted in favor of the increase.

One might think, as a couple of speakers at the meeting touched on, that in the toughest economic times since the Great Depression, that the city council would put some added emphasis on fiscal prudence.

Nobody’s doubting Parker’s performance over the past year (save for a certain bulldozing incident), but when businesses are closing, auto sales are tanking, and city jobs and services might be threatened, the city should probably tuck away every dollar it has.

Here's the 12/19/08 PianoPiano photo:

Click to Enlarge

Left to Right: Councilmember Corey Calaycay,
Councilmember Sam Pedroza,
City Manager Jeff Parker, unidentified party.

And then there was another photo that must have been taken later in the evening showing an inebriated Sam Pedroza and company enjoying the evening out, though Pedroza's fellow Councilmember Corey Calaycay and Assistant City Manager Tony Ramos don't look half as wasted as Mr. Sam. What were Calaycay and Ramos drinking, anyway, Shirley Temples?

Click to Enlarge

Left to Right, 1st Row: Councilmember Corey Calaycay,
Councilmember Sam Pedroza
2nd Row, Far Right: Assistant City Manager Tony Ramos

With these photos being posted on the Internet for all the world to see, you'd think our City would do like James Caan's Santino Corleone in "The Godfather" and grab that paparazzo's camera and smash it to bits.

Nonetheless, with all the problems facing Claremont - a precipitous drop in revenues, business failures and home foreclosures, potential staff cuts and/or layoffs, cuts in services, delays in capital projects, a possible CalPERS pension hit - you can see why the folks in City Hall might want to tie one on. It really is enough to drive one to drink.

Healy Continuing to Provide Kicks - UPDATED

COURIER COVERS HEALY KICK-OFF

Claremont Courier reporter Tony Krickl had a blog post about Bridget Healy's campaign kick-off event last Sunday. Krickl wrote that a Claremont resident had an interesting question for Healy:

An interesting question came up at Bridget Healy's campaign kickoff party, held in the highly acoustic halls of the Packing House on Sunday.

It came from resident Ken Corhan, whose been following Claremont politics for years.

“There were some tense moments with [city] staff, and you were here for some of that. How would you approach being a council member to avoid those kinds of tensions?” he asked.

Healy responded, “I think the current council has done a really good job of alleviating some of those tensions and working together to improve, and I will continue in that vein. I think it's well prudent when we look at the current council that working together and listening to each other is the key.”

I talked to Corhan after he asked the question. He was referring to the tense political environment after the Landrum shooting in 2001 and what appeared to be an unresponsive city staff to the council's and community's concerns.

He said that he was satisfied with Healy's response to his question. “She seemed to answer the question genuinely,” Corhan said.

Yes, excellent question there Ken. Of course, Krickl missed the fact that Corhan, who is married to former Claremont Human Services Commission Chair Suzanne Hall, has been far more than a mere observer of the local political scene. He and his wife have been intricately wound up in past campaigns for both the City Council and the Claremont Unified School District.

For instance, in 2005, he and Hall donated $200 to the Preserve Claremont campaign, and Hall herself was part of Official Claremont's culture of unresponsiveness as a commission chair at the height of the Glenn Southard regime in Claremont. And, make no mistake about it, Corhan, a graduate of Yale and the Columbia School of Law, is not your average Joe Citizen. In fact, he's counsel to the Lewis Operating Company in Upland, one of the largest real estate companies in Southern California.

(UPDATED, 1/15/09, 8:00am: Most significantly, Corhan's esposa Suzanne Hall is one of 30 people who signed Healy's nomination papers for the council.)

Nothing like having batting practice pitches lobbed to you by your friends in the crowd, eh? It's simply more of the old "River City" tactic the Claremont 400 has employed for years.


STRANGE FRUIT, STRANGER BEDFELLOWS

Not to pick too much on Healy, but her own responsiveness as Claremont's Assistant City Manager left much to be desired in the wake of the Irvin Landrum shooting that so concerned Ken Corhan. Landrum was killed on January 11, 1999. Large-scale protests began very quickly in the wake of the shooting.

Click to Enlarge

Two weeks after the shooting, on January 26, 1999, the Clarmeont City Council received an agenda report co-authored by Claremont police lieutenant Paul Cooper (our current chief of police) and Bridget Healy. The report was also vetted by the City Attorney and signed by then-City Manager Glenn Southard. That staff report laid out a proposed code of conduct for people wishing to address the City Council during meetings. It also included, under item M, "Threat Assessment," a provision for having public speakers evaluated by mental health professionals:

At the request of a council member, commissioner, committee member or staff member, mental health professionals will be called in to determine the level of threat an individual may be posing. Appropriate action will be taken based on the assessment findings.

Yes, under the staff proposal, a psychologist or social worker would have been on call for council meetings, and the Council or the City Manager could pick anyone they didn't want to hear and have that person detained and referred to the "mental health professional" for some helpful and timely straitjacketing and/or muzzling.

Incidentally, if there is any question as to authorship, the report was marked "P:/bhealy/Admin Policy - Public Mtg Disturb 1-20-99.doc." It represented nothing more than a heavy-handed, police state method of dealing with dissent, in large part by students from the Claremont Colleges, over the Landrum shooting.

Click to Enlarge

The proposal generated a good deal of controversy and was never enacted, by the way.

That's why it's utterly laughable to see supposed civil libertarians supporting Healy. One of Healy's nominators, for instance, is Scripps College Vice-President and Dean of Faculty Cecilia Conrad. Conrad, along with her husband Llewellyn Miller, were among those most moved to action by the Landrum shooting. You may remember that Miller ended up being the first African-American elected to the Claremont City Council as part of the community's reaction to the shooting. Yet here Conrad is, ten years later, supporting one of the people most responsible for the City's shoddy handling of that crisis.

The apparently infinite capacity of those smart, well-credentialed people who run Official Claremont to support contradictory positions and to bury the past continues to amaze us. It has nothing to do with what's right or just and everything to do with what one's friends tell one to do.

Local politics truly makes the strangest bedfellows.


MORE OF THAT HEALY TREATMENT

Finally, we recall that back in 2000, there used to be a website called ClaremontCA.com. It was a sort of Insider long before there was an Insider and was staffed by real, not digital, people.

In August, 2000, not only was the City having to deal with the aftermath of the Landrum shooting, but they received some bad PR over City Attorney Sonia Carvalho's reported role in helping the city oppose what later became the successful Measure A anti-conflict of interest initiative. The city decided to hold a press conference to clarify what they thought were some misperceptions about Carvalho's role in the matter.

ClaremontCA called the city and asked to attend the press conference. Their website recorded what happened:

Informed that there was to be a news conference Wednesday, ClaremontCA.com called the city manager's office for time and place information. Assistant City Manager Bridget Healy, a bureaucrat paid $105,000 per year to represent the city, told ClaremontCA.com that the meeting was "only for the invited press." When cautioned that such an arrangement was improper, Ms. Healy responded, "Whatever". When asked to include ClaremontCA.com in the meeting she refused to assist. "There's nothing more I can do for you". When asked if ClaremontCA.com would be allowed into the meeting Ms. Healy laughed and said "You'll just have to go and find out for yourself". When pressed to extend the invitation to ClaremontCA.com Ms. Healy hung-up the phone in mid-sentence.

Can’t we all just get along, Bridget?

Indeed. Which makes Tony Krickl's closing sentence all the more deliciously ironic:

Her supporters [including Ken Corhan] would say that having Healy on the council is bringing the best from the past into Claremont's future.

CHS and El Roble Jazz Fundraiser - Jan. 24th

Click to Enlarge

We received a press release announcing a January 24th fundraiser at Bridges Auditorium for the El Roble and Claremont High School Jazz Bands. Come on out and support a good cause if you have the time. Two professional jazz groups, NUTTY and Night Blooming Jazzmen, will also perform.

The show starts at 6:30pm. Tickets are $12 at the door, or $10 pre-sale through the Claremont Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber is located at 205 Yale Ave., next to the Wells Fargo Bank in the Claremont Village.

Here's all the info:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeanne Berrong
Tel: (909) 451–3726
Email: jkberrongatverizon.net

THE EL ROBLE AND CLAREMONT HIGH SCHOOL
MUSIC BOOSTERS PRESENT
CONCERT WITH THE PROS AT BRIDGES AUDITORIUM

Claremont, California—December 30, 2009— The El Roble Intermediate School and Claremont High School Music Boosters will present their annual Concert with the Pros event at the historic Bridges Auditorium, on Saturday, January 24, 2009, from 6:30 – 10:00 pm. In addition to the two headlining professional jazz acts, NUTTY and The Night Blooming Jazzmen, the El Roble and Claremont High School Jazz Bands, under the direction of Rick Melanson, will perform. $10 tickets will be available for presale at the Claremont Chamber of Commerce at 205 Yale Avenue in the Claremont Village; tickets may also be purchased at the door for $12.

This annual concert showcases the talent of Claremont’s young jazz musicians and aims to raise essential funding for the El Roble Intermediate School and Claremont High School Jazz Band programs.

The El Roble Jazz Band takes the stage first, followed by the seven-piece, Los Angeles-based NUTTY (www.nuttyjazz.com). NUTTY turns classic rock tunes inside-out, as Monk, Mingus, Brubeck and Miles stand side by side with The Beatles, Hendrix, AC/DC and The Police. Jazz, swing, bop, lounge, and TV/movie themes are woven throughout their set. Led by singer Sonny Moon, NUTTY delivers a musical concoction served up Rat Pack style, right down to the dark suits and skinny ties.

Following the Claremont High School Jazz Band is Claremont’s own native sons of Dixieland, The Night Blooming Jazzmen (www.nightbloomingjazzmen.com). Formed in 1975, The Night Blooming Jazzmen have played thousands of concerts, both nationally and internationally. Frontman Chet Jaeger is always sure to entertain the crowd with his sharp wit and even sharper cornet playing as he leads the seven-piece band through their repertoire of traditional jazz offerings.

The line-up for the evening is as follows: El Roble Jazz Band, 6:30 pm; NUTTY, 7:05 pm; Claremont High School Jazz Band, 8:05 pm; and The Night Blooming Jazzmen, 8:45 pm.

Bridges Auditorium
4th St. and College Way
Claremont, CA 91711

City Council Meets Tonight--UPDATED

The Claremont City Council holds its first meeting of 2009 tonight, beginning at 5:15pm with another in a seemingly endless series of special closed session meetings. (You get the impression this is where the real business of the city gets done, without that bothersome public to interrupt the flow of things.)

The closed session agenda lists two items up for discussion:

• A conference with the city's labor negotiators: City Manager Jeff Parker, Assistant City Manager Tony Ramos, and Personnel Manager Shawna Urban.
  
  
• A conference with the city's legal counsel, City Attorney Sonia Carvalho, regarding "anticipated litigation." Or, money in the bank for Carvalho's firm, Best, Best & Krieger - gotta love those billable hours.
  

The regular, public City Council meeting will convene at 6:30pm, beginning with a sanitized summary of the earlier closed session. The regular agenda seems pretty pedestrian:

• Ceremonial matters: Introduction of new Human Services Commissioner Bob Miletich and a recognition of the Doubletree Hotel for their sponsorship of the city's Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration.
  
  
• Consideration of City Manager Parker's "proposed and amended" employment contract. As a result of the Council's December evaluation of the City Manager's performance, they've rewarded him with a 3% raise and a pay-for-performance bonus of an undisclosed amount. Of course, the devil is in the bonus details, conveniently hidden away.
  
  At least Parker, whose salary will now be $211,150 per year, made out better with his raise than his predecessor, Glenn Southard.
  
  [Update: See today's Wes Woods Daily Bulletin article here. Parker will offer to freeze his COL raise for 90 days. He has "no problem" leading on this one. Makes one even more curious about the TOP-SECRET "pay for performance" portion. The comments to the aforementioned Bulletin article are especially biting.]
  
  
• Delaying discussion of a sidewalk installation plan for Foothill Blvd. between Mountain and Berkeley Aves. until staff can consider some alternatives. This plan generated some controversy because it would involved removal of the large trees that line that section of Foothill. The residents in the homes on the other side of the block wall there weren't too happy about the prospect of losing those trees.
  
  The council is being asked to hold this one over until their February 24th meeting.
  
  
• Review of the Human Services Commission Strategic Work Plan. This is the guiding template for most of Claremont's community programs and services. The most interesting bullet point under the work plan is "Alternative Revenue Generation," which includes "Approval and Implementation of Sponsorship Policy."
  
  Can you say, "Naming Rights?" Imagine, if you will, a newly built Padua Park with a great big neon Claremont Toyota sign festooning the entrance. Or the "Metamucil Senior Center" in Larkin Park.
  
  This is how things get done in Claremont. Policy changes buried as tiny bullet points in little-read commission work plan.
  
  
• Approval of an entertainment permit for Walters Restaurant. This link was dead, so we have no idea what sort of entertainment is being proposed.
  
  
• Appointments to the City's Sustainability Committee. A number of names listed here. The most interesting of which is Barbara Musselman, the president of the local League of Women Voters chapter, chair of the Police Commission, a member of the city's Affordable Housing Task Force, and a member of the city's Committee on Human Relations.
  
  Talk about recycling! Barbara's taking up enough space as it is. How about opening this one up to one of the many equally qualified community members who don't have a committee or a commission seat?
  

Claremont City Council Meeting
Tonight, 7:00pm
City Council Chambers
225 Second St.