Pomona city council and water board races wrapup

Some thoughts as I look at the numbers:

• Good work for John Nolte, completely dominating the field. While I understood the depth of some of the community's anger over the trash station, I was surprised that it seemed to spread beyond the immediate vicinity of the station, or just in the South Pomona area. In the Roosevelt Elementary School and Kellogg Park areas, Nolte won by over a two to one margin. 
• Where was the Soto machine? You could see that the Torres family still had a good base of supporters and volunteers, based on the strong showing of Robert Torres. But Danielle Soto's weak showing may put the nail in the coffin for this political family. How were the slate mailers in District 1? Did Soto purchase the slates in that district? 
• Debra Martin's victory over a crowded field is a victory for the grassroots. It is good to see that someone from the "peanut gallery" was able to win a seat on the city council. Steven Atchley, with his tendency to pontificate from the dais, now no longer has a platform to share his views. Some of them may be correct, but often the tone seemed patronizing and dismissive. Let's hope that Martin can cut down on the talk and make decisions, instead of spending ten minutes on some tangent.
• Paula Lantz rode Lincoln Park and absentee ballots for the win. Juan Carlos Juarez did not campaign in Lincoln Park substantially, and it showed with a 2:1 spread of the votes in the precinct, and most of the absentee votes. Meanwhile Juarez did quite well on the sections of the district between Holt and Kingsley, east of San Antonio. Although Juarez is only down by 90 votes, given the strong absentee ballot showing, unless he can get the late absentees to break for him he is not going to win. This is where the opposition to the trash station really helped Juarez. Any council member from District 4 needs to pay close attention to this area, which has historically experienced a lot of crime and quality of life issues.
• Will "Fred" Lantz quit running again for water board? While John W. "Fred" Lantz bought up all the slate mailers and had a good ballot statement, he still lost to the incumbent, John Mendoza. Mendoza's key precincts were in north Pomona and the same precincts that Juarez carried. Whether it's incumbency, a Hispanic last name, or just good old fashioned door knocking, Mendoza has proven that he is not just a gadfly but can win re-election. Now it will be up to Fred Lantz to determine if he wants to try again for 2016, and risk being labeled a perennial candidate. Meanwhile Jerry Perez, despite being supported by other water board members, finished a distant third. He campaigned on the Golden State Water Company rate increase issue, despite the fact that Pomona has city-owned water. That will be an awkward conversation back at the water board in December.  
• Congratulations to Fred Lantz for winning the water board seat on late absentees and provisionals. Demerits to John Mendoza for failing to show up to Board meetings the day after election. At least finish your term, like Danielle Soto did.