Public input stifled at city council meeting

Residents often take advantage of the opportunity to make comments to elected officials at public meetings like city council and school board meetings. But at Tuesday night's city council meeting, Councilmember Larry Schroeder didn't seem to like the comments of one resident.

Michael Keenan spent his 4 minutes of public comment talking about Measure CL. Keenan does not support the school bond and shared his views with the council. But halfway through his comments, Schroeder cut him off, arguing that Measure CL is not within the city council's jurisdiction.

You can watch the action unfold at this link. Click on the October 26 video and skip ahead to about the 15 minute mark.

People have addressed the city council on all sorts of topics, from state laws on medical marijuana to human rights violations in China and the cooking shows at the Claremont library. Technically speaking, much of what people bring up during public comment is not directly under the council's purview. Schroeder never objected before.

Maybe he didn't like the particular speaker's opinions about Measure CL. Maybe he didn't like the speaker. Regardless, the city council has historically given speakers free rein during public comment to talk about whatever they want. And kudos to Mayor Linda Elderkin for standing up for that right. In the future, I hope the council continues to give speakers their 4 minutes without being rudely interrupted.

Smoking ban rejected

"I choose free will." - Mayor Pro Tem Sam Pedroza, quoting a song from Rush.

The proposed outdoor ban on smoking in Claremont was not passed on Tuesday night. The city council voted 4 to 1 against the prohibition measure, citing potential negative impacts on businesses and a lack of evidence that second-hand smoke in outdoor settings is any sort of health risk.

Nearly 20 speakers addresses the council on the issue during the meeting, most of whom were opposed to the ban. One speaker, Ed Tessier, mocked the idea, saying the council should next ban strong smelling perfumes, the Metrolink because it causes pollution and crying babies.

Only Councilmember Larry Schroeder supported the proposal, saying that "the public good often trumps the personal choice."

Both Councilmember Peter Yao and Mayor Pro Tem Sam Pedroza questioned why the item was even on the council's agenda. Back in 2008, the council already discussed banning smoking in the public plaza and decided against it at that time.

They criticized the Community Services Commission for wasting the time of an already understaffed city staff with an item that was clearly not a priority for the city council.

How out of touch are city leaders?

There were a couple of eyebrow-raising incidents at Tuesday night's city council meeting that might make one wonder if some of our city leaders are out of touch with what's going on in town.

The first incident happened when the council was voting to relax some of its overbearing signage laws that regulate every little detail about how businesses can advertise their goods and services with signs. For example, banners can only be used to promote a new business or a change of ownership. And window signs can take up no more than 15 percent of window space.

With the holiday shopping season coming up and with businesses struggling to keep their doors open, the Chamber of Commerce pushed for an urgency ordinance to relax some of these restrictions. Being able to advertise and promote their businesses a little more freely might go a long way at this time of year.

The urgency ordinance needed a supermajority vote or it would fail. Luckily for business owners, 4 council members voted in favor. But one did not. That was Larry Schroeder.

"I just don’t want to give up the charm of our Village, the small town charm, for a possible short-term gain,” Schroeder said.

During his campaign for the city council last year, Schroeder's platform was largely based on promoting economic development in the city and fiscal responsibility on the council.

But now it appears "charm" outweighs economic viability for city businesses whose owners are desperate to find new and creative ways to attract more customers. Anyone who has listened to Claremont's business owners knows that signage restricts has been a serious problem. I would think a councilmember interested in economic development would know that by now.

Besides, I think business owners in the Village have some sense of what's appropriate and what isn't. As Councilmember Sam Pedroza noted, "Our businesses know how to do business. I highly trust that businesses know what's good for them and if they're going to be tacky, they're not going to be very successful in this town."

In any case, the ordinance passed. Businesses will have more free reign to use A-frame signs and banners throughout December 31, 2010. In the meantime, city staff will be reviewing Claremont's outdated signage laws in order to bring them into the 21st Century.

The other curious incident happened when the council was discussing the bailout of the Claremont Museum of Art. City Manager Jeff Parker was describing some the key businesses in the Packing House other than the museum.

"[The museum] has been one of the cornerstones [of the Packing House] along with the restaurant that unfortunately had the fire and the other restaurant on the other end, the Mediterranean restaurant, and the Hip Kitty and the children's cooking school there."

Does the city manager honestly not know the names of The Forks, Casablanca and The Young Chef's Academy - businesses he sees as "the cornerstones" of the Packing House? Maybe he was just drawing a blank at the moment. I certainly hope so.

The Forks has been shut down since December 2008 because of an electrical fire. Problems with securing money from their insurance company have delayed the owners from re-opening. But they are hoping to be up and running soon. I'm planning to get a complete story on The Forks and their future plans in an upcoming issue of the Courier.

Tri-City Board meeting today

Tri-City Mental Health Center will have a Governing Board meeting today.

Among the agenda items are a resolution determining salaries for staff members, a resolution to approve the 2009-10 budget and a hearing on the final list of delegates for Tri-City's upcoming Prevention and Early Intervention Planning Process.

Councilmember Larry Schroeder is Claremont's elected representative to Tr-City governing board and Chuck Leeb is the citizen representative for Claremont.

The meeting begins at 4:45 p.m. at Tr-City's main office building at 2008 N. Garey Ave. in Pomona.

The council's unique decision making process

It was quite a pathetic display in the civic process by the Claremont city council tonight. Not because of the decision they eventually came to, but the process they used to arrive there.

The council had a special meeting tonight to consider changes to the affordable housing project on College Avenue. The council had 2 options to consider.

Option one was to leave the project at 45 units for families and 30 units for seniors. Option 2 would lower the density by taking out some family units and replacing them with the smaller senior units.

I’ve never seen a race to make a motion before, but that’s exactly what happened. The first to make a motion wins.

Being the first councilmember to make comments after hearing from the public, Sam Pedroza won the race and his motion carried. The motion carried unanimously, even though 3 out of 5 council members were in favor of the alternative.

Pedroza was in such a hurry to make his motion so he could win the race that he didn’t even bother to share his thoughts about why he’s making the motion or hear what his colleagues had to say.

After a request from Councilmember Peter Yao, he did make some comments. In the name of compromise with area residents, Pedroza pushed for a project with less density and less family housing units.

The project will now have 36 family housing units rather than the 45 that were originally planned. The trade off was an increase of 10 senior housing units, upping the number to 40 from the original 30.

Yao, Mayor Pro Tem Linda Elderkin and Councilmember Larry Schroeder all wanted to keep the project in its original form. But Elderkin seemed more concerned with having consensus on the council than voting for her beliefs. When it came down to the vote, Yao and Schroeder followed suit.

One thing fiscally prudent mayor Corey Calaycay did not mention is that the changes he supported will cost the city an additional $485,000. After squabbling with Yao about Pedroza’s motion, Calaycay threatened to kill any consensus if the motion on the floor was changed.

So in summary, the city council decided to squeeze 9 low income families out of Claremont and pay half a million bucks to do it.

On a positive note; they did it by unanimous decision, even though a majority wanted no changes at all. Good work council.

Death of the trolley?

Maybe. The fate of the Village trolley remains in the hands of the Claremont city council. At tonight's meeting, the council will decide if the lackluster trolley will have a future trucking around downtown Claremont.

The council basically has 3 options to consider. They could continue with the trolley for a while longer as it is currently running, hoping that warmer weather will attract more people into the Village.

The council could tinker with the schedule or travel route, with consideration for the Claremont Colleges, the Old School House or Claremont High School as possible destinations.

Or they could decide to abandon the pilot program altogether, basically admitting that the trolley was a bad idea to begin with.

Unfortunately, there’s not much going for the trolley. The ridership numbers have sharply dropped off since its inception. In November, there were 12.3 riders per hour, 10.7 in December, about 7 per hour in January, February and March.

Even at its peak, the trolley never attracted its benchmark ridership goals of 15 per hour that the city would consider the pilot program “viable.”

There should be an interesting debate tonight. I would expect new Councilmember Larry Schroeder to speak out more tonight than he did during his first council meeting, where he said very little.

During his campaign, he was critical of the trolley and felt the money ($886,670) should have been used for a more useful purpose. We’ll see if he and other Council Members are already willing to throw in the towel on the trolley idea.

And your new Mayor is ...

Corey Calaycay is the new Mayor of Claremont or "the guy who was born to be Mayor" as Councilmember Sam Pedroza put it. He was sworn into office last night by retired State Senator Bob Margett, Calaycay's former boss.

Linda Elderkin was nominated for the Mayor Pro Tem position, which she happily accepted. There was no wrangling over who would get the 2 posts this time around.

After the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem nominations, all 5 council members spoke positively about Claremont's future and working together to accomplish goals for the city.

New Councilmember Larry Schroeder mentioned some of his hopes for the city, including the "arduous task of attracting and retaining businesses in Claremont."

"With hard work, we will have a thriving local economy that provides jobs, provides shopping opportunities and sales tax revenue to our community," he said.

Also at the meeting, outgoing Mayor Ellen Taylor bid the community a farewell. During her speech, she outlined a lengthy list of accomplishments for the council during her tenure in office. She lamented over some goals not accomplished, like the affordable housing project on Base Line Road.

She was showered with flowers and thanks from community members and city staff before leaving the podium for the final time. She was able to have an early dinner with her husband on a Tuesday night, a rarity for her over a very busy last 4 years.

With her work on the Youth Master Plan, the board of Tri City Mental Health Center, on senior programs and her support of youth sports, Taylor was praised as a champion of Human Services in Claremont by fellow council members.

For a full report on the evening, be sure to pick up a copy of Saturday's paper.

Deciding Claremont's Mayor

At tonight's city council meeting, Corey Calaycay and Larry Schroeder will be sworn into office, a new Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem will be chosen and a farewell is planned for Mayor Ellen Taylor, who will preside over her final council meeting. Taylor will likely have a few words to say about her tenure in office.

There is no set guidelines for determining who will be the next Mayor or Mayor Pro Tem based on tenure or any defined criteria. One council member will nominate a fellow councilmember and then a vote takes place.

The mayor is largely a ceremonial post. They moderate the council meetings and act as the face of the city at public functions. But all council members eventually want the position, if nothing more than to tell their grandkids that they were once Mayor of Claremont. Over the last couple of years, there has been some wrangling on the council over who gets what position.

In 2007, Calaycay nominated Taylor for the mayor position, even though Peter Yao made it well known that he wanted the post for a second straight year. Calaycay explained his rationale in nominating Taylor over Yao. The position should be rotated annually so that all council members (including himself) have a better chance to serve as mayor during their tenure in office, Calaycay argued.

Taylor declined the nomination, knowing that Yao wanted to serve one more year as Mayor. She nominated Yao for Mayor, who accepted, and she became the Mayor Pro Tem.

A year later, Mayor Pro Tem Taylor was bumped up into the Mayor position, following the traditional pecking order. When voting came up to nominate the Mayor Pro Tem, Yao nominated Sam Pedroza instead of Calaycay, who had 2 years seniority over Pedroza on the council.

Yao never offered an explanation for the snub of Calaycay. Perhaps Yao harbored some lingering resentment from Calaycay's decision the previous year to push Yao out of the Mayor spot earlier than he'd hoped.

In any case, Pedroza respectfully declined the position, and Calaycay was then nominated for Mayor Pro Tem. He accepted.

We'll see tonight if any more jostling goes on. Calaycay's supporters have been calling him "the next Mayor of Claremont" throughout the campaign. He would be the logical choice, having already served 4 years on the council and earning the most votes in the recent election.

If Calaycay becomes Mayor, Pedroza would make the most sense as Mayor Pro Tem, having received the most votes in 2007.

But as we've seen before, logic isn't always the rule of thumb on the city council, so anything is possible.

Election results

The final numbers are in. The voters have spoken. Corey Calaycay and Larry Schroeder are your winners, and the 2 will be serving on the city council for the next 4 years.

While the numbers aren't the final talley, it's hard to believe that the remaining absentee ballots will change the end result. For a complete count of the numbers, click here.

Calaycay was the top vote getter, earning 3,083 votes or 40.1 percent. "I feel like I've closed one chapter of my life and started a new one," Calaycay said, addressing his supporters at his campaign party.

Schroeder came in second with 2,767 votes or 36 percent. "It's still very surreal," Schroeder said at his home along side friends and supporters. "I want to thank the voters for giving me this opportunity to serve them. I promise I will do the best I can for Claremont."

Former Assistant City Manager Bridget Healy finished in third place, with 1,842 total votes, or 23.9 percent.

Voter turnout was way down this year, with only 4,717 ballots cast. That's only 22 percent of registered voters in Claremont. Compared to around 30 percent over the last few elections, voter apathy appears to have played a role in this election.

The new council members will be sworn in at the next city council meeting on Tuesday, March 10.

Congratulations to the winners! The COURIER hopes they hold true to their campaign promises and hopes they serve the community well.

But enough from me. We want to hear your thoughts and observations on the election. Feel free to post a comment below.

Follow the money

We're in the final stretch before Tuesday's city council election. The 3 candidates turned in another round of financial data last week. Here's a look at how the candidates stand with their money.

Bridget Healy

Contributions received: $4,429 (during the period 1/18/09 to 2/14/09)
Expenditures: $1,487.71 (during same period)
Current Balance: $10,151.14

Corey Calaycay

Contributions received: $2,248
Expenditures: $8,804.03
Current Balance: $7,748.45

Larry Schroeder

Contributions received: $3,718.12 (including a $1,000 loan)
Expenditures: $3,119.09
Balance: $1,038.68

Election issue: the new police station

The new police station is one of the few topics of interest in this election outside of economic issues.

All acting council members and candidates recognize the need for a new station. We've all heard how the place is too small, falling apart and has the technological capacity equivalent to an Amish farm.

The main job of the Police Commission in recent months has been to pinpoint the best location for a new police station and give its recommendations to the city council. PR work for the CPD seems a far cry from the commission's original mandate, but that's a post for another day.

Back in September, the council wasn't sold on the recommendations from the commission when a presentation was made at a council meeting. The Commission recommended 4 possible sites, its top choice being the Corey Nursery location, just south of the city yard.

But the report didn't offer any financial information about the sites, where the city would have to use eminent domain or financing options for the project. All relevant info for a project with a price tag in the range of $25 to $35 million.

Expect a more detailed report at a future council meeting. My guess is the topic won't come up before the election in March.

Here's where the city council candidates stand on the new police station. We snipped the answers out of our Candidate Q&A (see tomorrow's paper).

Do you support the construction of a new police station? If so, where do you think the best location is and why?

Larry Schroeder

I support a practical, more efficient police facility when financing is available, but not a monument like some cities have constructed. The current facility is cramped, does not meet ADA standards, and does not provide adequate locker facilities for female officers. Financing could come from State and Federal economic stimulus packages.

My preference is that the police facility remains at its current location. The City owns the property, there is adequate space, and people are familiar with that location. The police department also operates an impound yard at the current location which produces revenue that offsets some department costs.

Bridget Healy

Yes. The current site is too small and would require building costly parking either above or below ground and possible relocation of operations during construction.

The Corey Nursery location on the far eastern boundary of the city is problematic. The Towne and Baseline site is more centrally located and we own part of the land. Its proximity to the freeway and the City of La Verne works well for the joint jail, dispatch and practice range operations being discussed with La Verne officials. There is also the potential for partnerships with other public agencies such as the LA County Fire Department.

Corey Calaycay

I acknowledge the need for modernized police facilities due to space constraints and structural issues with our existing police station. An important consideration in site selection, especially with the economics we've already discussed, is potential partnership arrangements that will help reduce everyone's costs. An opportunity exists to partner with La Verne. We may also have an opportunity to partner with Los Angeles County in upgrading its oldest fire station (102 on Sumner near Baseline) to construct a joint public safety facility. If this were to be viable, the proposed site near Baseline and Towne would be optimal.

Are the Council elections non-partisan? I don’t think so.

Election fever is underway. For all the election junkies out there, the COURIER City Beat will have plenty of coverage, interviews and opinions about candidates and their fight for every last vote in the weeks to come.

Candidate Larry Schroeder kicked things off on Friday by speaking to the Democratic Club of Claremont. Schroeder is a retired finance director for Glendora and Lakewood. As far as his platform, he wants to push economic development, sustainability and responsible budget management.

In 2007, former Councilmember Jackie McHenry, who was running for re-election at the time, made a big stink about the DCC inviting only party-affiliated candidates to speak to their members.

Regardless of what they said, the Democratic candidates in 2007, Linda Elderkin, Sam Pedroza and Michael Keenan, got the club's unofficial endorsement. The same holds true this time around for Schroeder. They're Democrats after all, and the DCC wants Democrats in positions of power.

“You have to take into account a person's party and their ideas on various things,” said DCC President Bob Gerecke at Friday's event. “We don't give endorsements, but we urge our members to support fellow Democrats because we share the same ideals.”

The problem, according to McHenry, is that city council elections are supposed to be non-partisan. McHenry said her political leanings are plenty liberal, but as a registered Independent, she never got invited by the DCC to share her positions with potential voters.
In any event, the other candidates, Corey Calaycay (Republican) and Bridget Healy (Independent), were not invited to speak at the DDC lunch. They will have their campaign kickoff events on Sunday. Calaycay at the Claremont Place from 2 to 4 p.m. and Healy at the Claremont Forum in the Packing House from 3 to 5 p.m.

Schroeder will have his kickoff event at his home at 619 N. Indian Hill Boulevard. It's also on Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. I will try to be at all 3 places at once.

As the least known of the 3 candidates, Schroeder will have his work cut out for him. To be successful in this election, he may need the wisdom offered by his fortune cookie from Captain KJ, where he spoke to the DCC at their monthly meeting.

“Cut through organizational impediments and get some real work done.”

For complete stories on Schroeder, Calaycay and Healy's kickoff events, be sure to pick the Wednesday, Jan. 14 edition of the COURIER.