Election Tuesday, July 23

Tomorrow, July 23, is the date set for the special election to fill the seat vacated when Norma Torres was elected to the state Senate.

The election has been somewhat heated, especially AGAINST former Republican (who reregistered as Independent for this election) mayor of Ontario, Paul Leon. Pomona is well represented in the race with councilman Freddie Rodriguez, school board member Jason Rothman, former councilperson Danielle Soto, and former aid to Nell Soto and Joe Baca Manuel Saucedo. In addition, perenniel candidate from Ontario, Paul Vincent Avila is on the ballot along with Democrats Doris Louise Wallace, and Tom Haughey, along with Republican Dorothy Pineda.

If no candidate receives over 50% of the vote (which in this 9-person election is highly likely), a runoff will be held with the top two vote getters (regardless of party) facing off.

The polls will be open from 7 am to 8 pm. If you need to find your polling place, visit www.lavote.net.

Fundraiser for Fifth Season of Opera in Pomona

Anybody within the sound of my voice (which is quite a range) or my computer (possibly bigger) knows that Repertory Opera Company has received a LA County Arts Commission grant for $5,800 for each of the next two seasons (the dA Center for the Arts has also received a grant award, way to go Pomona).  But we must raise a matching $5,800 to get that money.  So to raise money for the fifth season in Pomona (wow!), the company's Musical Director, instead of accompanying the singers and being the orchestra, is going to play solo.  Since he is an international competition-winning concert pianist, it will be guaranteed stunning. And I will be singing as well. Lady MacBeth anyone?  So come out to support this local asset, to mock me, or (yeah, you guessed it) just send a check, so we can kick off the season and grab LA County's money.  The only opera companies this year to get the grant were LA Opera, Long Beach Opera and Pomona's Own, Repertory Opera Company.

Nothin' but love for Pomona,

LizBeth

Repertory Opera Company
Business Address
168 West Willow Ave., #112
Pomona, CA  91768
www.repoperaco.org

Thinking about Trash in Pomona

Thinking about having  much of the county's trash coming through my city has made me rethink my own disposal habits. How can I reduce and reuse? No more sparkling water in small bottles for me. What about green waste? I was shocked to learn recently that the green bin waste went into the landfill, as reported in the Daily Bulletin? Time to think about a bigger compost pile, or maybe a small scale community compost. And yes, let's reglue the cat scratching post rather than chuck it and buy another.

There is a Zero Waste movement in California, see here, here, and here. Wouldn't it be great if Pomona joined that trend? Becoming known as environmentally friendly (for real) would certainly complement the city's potential reputation as a place of music, learning, and art.

As Valley Vista Services gears up to build their 1500 ton-per-day trash station, I continue to be amazed that city council saw fit to approve it.  I also have to ask why is it so big? The current station only handles 150 tons per day. Certainly it is problematic because it is open air and it is so close to one school. But the proposed station is ten times bigger.

Most cities report their disposal statistics see here, but Pomona does not appear to do so. Still Glendale, which is a bigger city than Pomona only produces 135 255 tons per year; so why is the Pomona trash transfer station permitted to handle around 500 000 tons per year? Valley Vista says it will take Pomona only trash, but clearly that cannot be the case.

Maybe city council will rethink the idea of making Pomona a city of trash and instead pass a resolution to become Zero Waste by 2025.