May Days

May is National Barbecue Month, National Salsa Month, National Egg Month, National Hamburger Month, and Bike to Work Month.

May 12-18 is Children's Book Week (see below)
May 12-16 is Bike to Work Week

@Fairplex
Wed-Sunday: 48th District Agricultural Association
(Building 10) Schools' Agricultural and Nutritional Fair "Watch your Garden Grow"
From reading their website, this is an agricultural group financed through horse track proceeds, with the mission of educating children on the role of agriculture in our society. Their education outreach includes teaching materials aimed at the elementary and secondary levels. Here is the the link to their website: Ag is our Bag The Fair in Building 10 includes the exhibits from student agricultural projects.

@Fairplex
Wed 11:30-1:30 22nd Annual Pomona Police Awards Luncheon
RSVP deadline was May 8th

@ Pomona Public Library (PPL Blog)
Tues-Thurs: Free Homework Assistance 4-6PM for Grades 1-6
Tues: Preschool and Toddler Storytime at 10:15AM
Wed: Toddler Storytime at 10AM
Thurs: Infant Storytime at 10AM (0-18months)

@ Pomona Public Library (PPL Blog)
Children's Book Week: 12th-18th
3PM Wed (14th) Meet and Greet with an author and his reptilian friend.
Author Jay B. Winderman will be at the library to share his love for tortoises.

@ Metro Pomona
Wed: Farmer's Market 4-8PM

@ City of POMONA
Wed: Planning Commission: Canceled (lack of agenda items)
Thurs: Cultural Arts Commission 6PM in Council Meeting Room (Agenda not available online)

Fighting the Boob Toob Blues

There are so many events this weekend that next week will get its own post. If dogs, roller skating, or trains are your fancy, the Fairplex has something to offer. On Saturday night the homes around Palomares Community Center will shake with the thunderous sounds of the Pomona Concert Band. If you're into baseball and folksongs, the library could be your stop on Saturday. If National Train Day warms your caboose, activities will be running all day at the Los Angeles Union Station or just stop by the historic trains at the Fairplex for the Pomona-based experience. It's also the hopping time of the month again down in Metro Pomona. Experience the uniquely urban vibe in our sea of suburbia by strolling the sidewalks during the Second Saturday Art Walk.

The Pomona Beautification Day deserved its own paragraph. From 8-12 volunteers will be putting a shine on the Goddess's face and after sweating away some pounds, the Fairplex will open its doors to the volunteers as a thank you. If you find yourself at the Fairplex, consider taking in the dog show or historic train display.

Friday 5/9:
@ Fairplex: Dog Show (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club 10AM-4PM)
@ Palomares Community Center: Pomona Concert Band Spring Performance (7:30PM) FREE!!

Saturday 5/10:
@ POMONA: The 2nd Annual Pomona Beautification Day (Chamber of Commerce)
@ Fairplex: 10AM-4PM Dog Show (Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club)

@ Pomona Public Library 3-4:30PM Baseball Hootenanny: Ross Altman will perform original baseball songs and folksongs from the 60's.
@ Los Angeles Union Station: 10:30-4:30PM National Train Day
@ Fairplex: 10-3:30 Open House of the Southern California Railway and Historic Locomotive Society
@Fairplex: LA T-Birds 7-10PM
@Dolce Cafe and Bakery in Montclair (8821 Central) Q&A with Ken White, a candidate for the 61st Assembly District
@ Metro Pomona: Second Saturday Art Walk
@ Italy: Stage one of the 91st Giro d'Italia

mustachioed malingerer eminent-domained into Claremont

Apparently the folks in the Los Angeles Times newsroom don't read the blogs, because they have reproduced the misleading information on KABC Channel 7 that Claremont Insider brought to our attention yesterday.

If you've been busy and gotten behind on the latest, Norma's Torregé Xavier Alvarez pleaded guilty on monday to claiming valors that were not his. Lying, we call that. Channel 7 referred to him as "Claremont's Xavier Alvarez," despite the fact that he represents Pomona (although not my Pomona, much less M-M-M-My Pomona). Hence Claremont Insider's exasperated "Claremont to Pomona: Take Him, He's Yours."

Alas, the Times missed the memo. There on page 10 of the California section (online here) it is again: "Claremont Water Official Pleads Guilty to Lying About Medal of Honor."

I'm not really much of a conspiracy theorist, adhering as I do to the maxim "Never attribute to careful planning what can be achieved by stupidity." If I were, however, I'd be wondering about the timing... Just when Norma Torres starts campaigning for the Assembly, X-Alv gets conveniently moved to Claremont, outside of her aspired-to district.

[PARAGRAPH REMOVED ON ADVICE OF MY WISER HALF]

Council Meeting Monday!

I downloaded the agenda for Monday's council meeting. Not much on it but there are a few juicy items:

• Closed Session discussion of Foothill / Towne project
• Closed Session discussion of project in the parking lots across from city hall between 7th & 8th (and including a pre-1945 property on Thomas Street)
• A resolution supporting Prop 99 and opposing 98 (This as they're looking to use eminent domain at the June 2 meeting--might be a place to let the council know how we feel on that issue--item 11 of the consent agenda)
• Urgent ordinance to expand the anti sexual predator ordinance (gee is someone running for election?)

Something for everyone. And it's one of the shortest agendas I've seen in quite a while.

ALSO: The Historic Preservation Commission meeting for June has been canceled due to a lack of items for the agenda.

Would you care for a pharmacy?

I'm so excited to see a new Walgreen's on the southwest corner of Foothill and Towne (instead of the existing one on the northwest corner), that I figured we all might want to know where the nearest pharmacy is located. I've only mapped out CVS, Walgreen's, Rite-Aid, and Sav-on, but after a quick look, Pomona appears to have at least an additional dozen small, independently-owned pharmacies that aren't included on the map.

PHARMACIES AROUND POMONA

Truth be told, I was watching "Atonement" on pay-per-view and after forking $3.99 for the experience, I really needed to stay awake until the end.

Foothill Towne Project Update

Today's Daily Bulletin (abbreviated version--what's with that--NO COMICS!!) has the legal ad for a change in the date of the public hearing on the environmental documents for the Lewis Homes Foothill/Towne project. The date of the hearing has been moved from May 19 to June 2. Public review of the environmental documents deadline is May 6.

Among the approvals being asked for are:

• Acquisition of the Property
• Site and elevation plans for the project
• Tentative parcel map
• Construction plans, and
• EMINENT DOMAIN

You can respond to the environmental documents to the city in writing by the May 6 date. If there is a legal challenge to the environmental issues, only those which have been brought up in the arguments during public comment will be allowed. If you're concerned about noise, traffic, or any other environmental issue, now is the time to respond.

This is all discretionary, so it will be heard by the city council on June 2. You can make arguments during that point to try and convince the council, who will vote on this important issue at that time.

This is the COATES issue!!!!

For The Person Who Has Everything

Are you looking for the perfect gift for someone special? Or do you need to buy a gift for someone who seems to already have everything?

No more wandering the aisles of your neighborhood pharmacy or AutoZone, just type in 'www.pomonastore.com' and your gift-giving worries will float away.

If you forget the address, you can also access the site from the city of Pomona webpage.

Happy shopping!!

Beautifying Pomona

Pomona Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring another Pomona Beatification Day. It's set for May 10. You can sign up for a variety of volunteer options, ranging from donations to physical labor. I can't really understand why this event isn't being better advertised. The Chamber's website has a signup form which references school involvement, but I haven't heard anything from Lincoln or Cortez. Furthermore, I haven't seen any flyers, banners, etc. promoting the event. Even on the Chamber's website, the event qualifies for only a two-line reference, in black print. To find it, you'd have to avoid being transfixed by the rather large "State of the City" link AND its picture of Norma Torres.

Anyone seen any effort to promote this event?

Other tidbits in the city:

While looking over the Chamber's newsletter, I noticed Reyna Hernandez from the Watt Companies is also the Treasurer of the Pomona Chamber of Commerce. I'm curious if she's been active in the Pomona's Chamber prior to this year or is this an effort by the Watt Company to show its commitment to the city. If she has time, maybe the Goddess of Pomona can sleuth this one out for us.

I've been looking at the 'For Sale' sign at the former location of the Brasserie Astuce restaurant, with increasing wonderment over what the Raymond Fong and his Redevelopment Team might bring in to generate much needed sales tax revenue for the city of Pomona. After all, this retail corridor is important enough to justify an eminent domain threat against several business not far from this location. I would think buying the land outright from a willing seller would make sense. So what revenue-generating business are we going to see........a church. The former site of a viable business on one of our major commercial streets is becoming a church. A couple of years back, the large building at 275 Foothill, west of the Brasserie Astuce location, was a revenue-generating fitness club. Now it's also a church.

If you recall in a past post, I listed the three most common buildings you'll find in the city of Pomona are pharmacies, churches, and auto supply stores. Any chance I can hit a trifecta, by the city suggesting a future tenant of the proposed redevelopment at Towne and Foothill will be an auto supply store.

the puppy dog that wouldn't wag its tail

As I've mentioned before, my desk is in front of a window facing the street, so as I'm reading email etc., I can see what's going on in the nabe.

And what's going on this morning is missionaries. Lots of 'em. They appear to be led by a stuffy-looking guy in a short-sleeved white shirt and black tie, sporting a silver pompadour. His troops are all well-dressed church ladies, canvassing the neighborhood in pairs. All in all, they look like they were teleported from a small town in Kansas, straight from the church social (after they set their jello ring molds and Campbell's-soup casseroles down on the pot-luck table).

I saw two ladies head up our driveway, so I went into the living room to answer the door when they rang... except they didn't ring. One raised her hand as if she was knocking, but she didn't knock. So I didn't answer.

They stood there chatting (about someone they were worried about, from what I overheard) for 30 seconds and then left.

It kind of brings home the plight of the proselytizer. Imagine your pompadoured preacher insisting that you go bang on doors of a monday morning, when you know full well that anyone who answers either has their own church or doesn't wanna hear it. I'd fake-knock too.

Of course, that didn't keep K. from suggesting that they were actually casing the joint and that I should call the police.

The image is from the MormonChic website, which cracked me up (although these weren't Mormons, judging by their sandals). Who knew that suede was so unacceptable?

Butterflys Everywhere

OK, for me this is a VERY light post. But, has anyone else noticed the large number of Monarch Butterflies on their annual migration this year?

On both Saturday and Sunday morning our front yard gardens were covered with hundreds (maybe thousands) of Monarch butterflies. Walking anywhere near the front yard caused a virtual swarm of beautiful black and orange to flitter all around you. It was truly amazing.

The Real Power of Blogs

If you haven't been following it, there has been a fire raging in the foothills above Sierra Madre for the past couple of days. I've been really impressed with the coverage of the fire on The Foothill Cities Blog.

It must be remembered that bloggers are not being paid to do this. However, the contributors of the FCB have done an very admirable job in giving the community (and the wider community as well) a very good picture of what's going on. This coverage is so much better than any of the local media has given because it is being reported by those who are directly affected.

I salute the contributors at the Foothill Cities Blog. They show that blogging is more than just a bunch of complainers venting at their local governments. They ARE concerned citizens, who like most concerned citizens, rally together in times of trouble.

Events for 4/25 to 5/1

This weekend the Fairplex has a public car auction, Prime Time Dance competition, Rabbit show, Tennessee Walking Horse Show, and Championship Off-Road Racing.

Friday: 4/25
Pomona Police Sobriety Checkpoint???? This one's for K.
Fairplex events

Saturday: 4/26
Farmer's Market @ First Baptist Parking Lot
Black Culture Festival @ Pomona Public Library 12-4PM info
Family Fun Days "Doorway to the World" @ Cal Poly Downtown Center 1-4PM info
Fairplex events

Sunday: 4/27
Fairplex events

Tuesday: 4/29
Campus Community mixer @ the Kellogg House on Cal Poly Campus info
Pomona Library: Homework Center 4-6PM and Story Time 10:15AM

Wednesday: 4/30
US Naturalization Ceremony @ the Fairplex
Joint Concert of the Pomona Concert Band and Garey HS Band info
Pomona Library: Homework Center 4-6PM and Grandparents and Books 3:30-4:30
Downtown Farmer's Market

Thursday: 5/1
Police Community Engagement Meeting 4:30-6:30PM info
Pomona Library: Homework Center 4-6PM

deep thoughts

Does anyone know how long Sherwood Florist (at the corner of Foothill and IHB in Claremont) has been around? More to the point, does it predate or postdate 1987? Because that's when Black Canary and Green Arrow move to Seattle and open a shop named Sherwood Florist -- built of stones in order to look like a castle (Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters #1).

Yes, David Allen has Ishmael, Ahab, and the adorable Queequeg; me, I've got Dinah Lance, Oliver Queen, and Ra's al Ghul.

takes a ribbing and keeps on fibbing

The Daily Bulletin has the latest in the X-Alv story. It just gets loonier with every installment! I swear, this guy should take his show to Vegas -- he'd be an enormous hit.

Mills Act Passes Council / Alternative Materials Policy Maintained

From last night's city council meeting:

The Alternative materials question was debated with most of the public comment in favor of maintaining standards for historic homes in the districts. The final outcome was a 3-1 vote in favor of the HPC's recommendation that they be allowed to review materials on a case-by-case basis. Councilmembers Rodriquez and Carrizossa voted against. This will allow the HPC to review materials so that if at some time in the future a truly superior material is presented, they can consider its use. Councilmember George Hunter noted that this appeared to be the best alternative as it gave the HPC the flexibility that it needed to make good decisions.

Our own Meg spoke eloquently in favor of historic vs. new, even arguing that one would still want to preserve the old family printed bible even though the new digital version had "advanced features," was more compact, and easier to read. I loved the analogy.

Vice Mayor Stephen Atcheley gave a strong show of support, stating that it is important that a hundred years from now that we can look back and say that we took care of our historic properties and have maintained them in historically accurate manner.

Dan McIntire discussed an article that appeared in the Sunday LA Time by an architect saying that the problems with vinyl windows and siding (giving off fumes for years, creating dioxin when burned, and when they are replaced--usual lifespan of 15 years--they go into landfills where they don't degrade). He also noted that wood and other historic materials are just better, concluding that the only advantage of vinyl building products is that they are cheaper.

The Mills Act, was also debated and most of the council agreed that it would be a good program to encourage people to upgrade and maintain their historic homes. Councilmember Carrizossa, had concerns about the amount of property tax money that might be lost to the city's general fund and how the city would ensure that the city's best interests were maintained. John Mendoza spoke about the need to ensure that those who entered into Mills Act contracts completely undertand all ramification, noting that it's not something for nothing.

The application fee question was clarified, with the explanation that the proposed fee was to be .1% of the value of the property (for a $500,000 home that would be $500) and that the maximum $2,400 would only apply to large commercial projects which would potentially be in that price range. Meg once again spoke as a new member of the community and stated that she would be more than happy with the fee (so if you think it's too much, blame Meg :-))

The Mills Act passed with a 4-1 vote with Councilmember Carrizossa voting against, stating that she had concerns about the program. Mayor Torres wasn't there for the entire meeting and Councilmember Rothman left prior to either of these items being discussed.

Hypothetical Fleecing of Pomona

I'm a little irked, so using the the term fleecing makes me feel better.

Here's the hypothetical problem: In my little hypothetical world, I do believe I may have witnessed a hypothetical city council member donating hypothetical city funds to a hypothetical public school. Normally, I wouldn't consider this hypothetical gesture a major hypothetical problem. In fact, I would probably jump up and down in glee, hypothetically that is, because I'm an ardent supporter of public schools, whether my kids', your kids', or some hypothetical kids'. The problem, you see, is that my hypothetical city doesn't have a whole lot of money and the hypothetical school district in my city isn't flush with cash either. So I was a little shocked to hear a hypothetical council member giving our hypothetical city funds to a hypothetical school in another hypothetical school district. I could understand if the other hypothetical school district was in dire straits, or if he was using his own hypothetical money, but neither of these were true. So instead I sat in my, not quite so hypothetical, uncomfortable chair stewing over the reality that despite my city's hypothetical school district facing a real budget crisis, some of our limited hypothetical city funds will now go to enrich the fundraising pot of another city's hypothetical public school.

I'm sure glad this was all just hypothetical.

I swan

Claremont Insider covered this fully today, so there's no real reason for me to post at all, except that Xavier Alvarez done outdid hisself.

I'm sure you're aware that he was censured by his fellow members of the Three Valleys Municipal Water District Board for having lied about the state of his marriage in order to get health insurance for his ex-wife.

The other night, he attempted to persuade them to remove the censure, using the argument that he was merely following orders -- the orders of the Catholic Church. Moreover, according to X-Alv, to disagree with his position is to disrespect religion as a whole (although he showed his open-mindedness by adding "That's your prerogative").

Now, I'm no theologian, but my understanding is that the Catholic Church takes a dim view of divorce. What about that following orders now, hm?

There's probably a long philosophical investigation to be made into X-Alv's tendency to connect unquestionable authorities (the armed services, the Church) with lying, but I have other things to do with my saturday afternoon.

"I swan" is what my father said to express complete amazement. As for the pikkie, that's Pope Pius XII, another Catholic who had certain problems with the military and a selective approach to God's commands.

Pomona Events week of 4/18-4/24

Goddess of Pomona has additional events.

Friday 4/18:
**Teen Dance

• La Casita Teen Center 6PM-8PM (collaboration with Community Engagement Group)

**Fairplex Events:

• Pomona Spring Home and Garden Show
• Arabian Horse Show

Saturday 4/19:
**Inland Valley Hope Partners Farmer's Market

• 7:30-11:30AM @ Pomona First Baptist parking lot
  

**Healthy Kids day at the YMCA
**Fairplex Events: A DIY, animal lover, and geek weekend

• Pomona Spring Home and Garden Show
• Arabian Horse Show
• All Breed Cat Show $5 for adults
• Radio Control Expo
• Computer Fair
  

** Pomona Catholic, Damien, St. Lucy's Prom (just tossin' it out for you)

Sunday 4/20:
**Fairplex Events: A DIY, animal lover, and geek weekend

• Pomona Spring Home and Garden Show
• Arabian Horse Show
• Radio Control Expo
• Computer Fair
  

Monday 4/21:
**City Council Meeting (Agenda)

Tuesday 4/22: EARTH DAY
**Community Life Commission(Agenda)
**PUSD Board Meeting (7:30PM Board Room @ 800 S. Garey Ave)(Agenda)

• Final round of questioning of the five finalists for the vacant School Board position
  

**Pomona Library

• Homework Center 4-6PM
  

• Story Time 10:15 a.m. (Preschool and Toddlers Ages 2-5)

Wednesday 4/23:
**Planning Commission (Agenda) (Map)

• another Rite Aid on Garey
  

**Administrative Professionals Day (Secretaries Day!)
**Pomona Library

• Homework Center 4-6PM
• Grandparents and Books 3:30 -4:30 p.m. Grandparents read aloud to children of all ages

Thursday 4/24:
**Pomona Library

• Homework Center 4-6PM

Upcoming events:
Pomona Concert Band joint concert with Garey HS Band April 30th @ Garey High School
Pomona Chamber of Commerce may be doing a Pomona City-wide Beautification day on May 10

monday, monday --

If you're interested in the Mills Act discussion at monday's city council meeting, here is the agenda item as it appears on the web. (Should you not get the document itself, drill down to 4/17/08 -- which is not the date of the meeting but perhaps the posting date.) This information comes courtesy of Our John, not surprisingly.

My private gripe: The dates, time, and place of the city council meetings appear nowhere on the city's website. It's almost as if they don't want us there (ya think?).

grocery notes from all over

Yes, boys and girls, it's time for another installment in the Exciting Shopping Adventures of Meg!

The other day I finally checked out Fresh & Easy on Mountain and Arrow in Montclair. In case you missed the hubbub in the press and the local blogosphere when they opened back in the fall, F&E is a venture by Tesco, the British supermarket chain, aimed at busy people stopping on their way home from work.

After the initial fizz, I've heard a fair amount of grumbling about F&E, so I was pleasantly surprised by certain things, even if my low expectations were met in other ways.

High points: Good prices on some things (hummus -- which was much better than the usual storebought -- broccoli, fancy bread, dried pasta). Oil-roasted tomatoes like the ones that are so popular in the UK. Provenance labeling of all their fish ("line-caught in the North Sea"; "farmed in Chile"). European yogurts (but, sadly, no rhubarb flavor). Various products you'd never expect to see, like Spanish chorizo.

Low points: The same cheeses you'd get at Von's. Wine selection and prices very ehhhh. Underwhelming ready-meals (despite the fact that that's what English supermarkets do so well).

One more thing: The ingredient lists of anything prepared are a breath of fresh air. Not only are they completely lacking in what a friend calls "shampoo ingredients" (synthesized compounds that could just as easily be on a bottle of shampoo, like PGPR), but they also lack the "natural" ingredients we don't have in our homes, like guar gum and carageenan. Everything I looked at only contained the stuff I would use to make the item in my own kitchen. And I didn't find a single F&E product that contained high fructose corn syrup! Not surprising, given the UK's lack of a giant corn industry + subsidy, but it's still a welcome change.

Overall, there's a place for F&E in my shopping adventures, although only if I'm out that way anyhow. A lot of folks were disappointed when F&E opened that it didn't serve up a whole host of British delicacies (and not-so-delicacies), but I'm surprised at the little ways in which the Britishness expresses itself.

Mills Act is NOT a Tax on Historic Districts

I guess we live too far on the edge of Lincoln Park. I received a couple of emails about a flyer that was being passed out in the district (but not on my street) warning residents of a new TAX that was going to be discussed at next Monday's city council meeting. The flyer is attributed to John Mendoza, who has run a series of petition drives for various subjects and was a candidate for School Board in the last election.

His scare flyer is wrong on many of the details, although to his credit he did include the notice for the issue.

Monday's meeting actually does include two items of importance to the residents of Lincoln Park as well as the other two districts, but it's NOT a new tax. The Mills Act was created as the main tool by the state to encourage owners of historic properties to renovate and maintain their property in a historically accurate manner. The Act allows property owners to enter into contracts with the city whereby the property will be taxed, not by the value of the property, but as if it were a rental business. This can result in tax savings of up to 60% depending on the assessed value of the property and the rental rates within the area.

In exchange for the property tax savings, the property owner agrees to use those savings to do an approved (within the contract) number of renovation projects. The idea is that this is a win-win as the property owner can use tax savings to improve the property and the city ensures that their historic properties are maintained in a historically accurate manner.

Pomona has had the Mills Act in place for some time. However, the original city version of the act was so restrictive that we only have three current contracts in the city. Pomona's Mills Act requirements were much more difficult than any of the surrounding cities. Pomona Heritage worked hard with city staff to review and revisit the act and to see how it could be improved to make it a better tool for historic Pomona.

The version of the Act that passed the Historic Preservation Commission will greatly enhance the way that Mills Act contracts are done in Pomona. Monday's meeting does have a twist that had not previously been discussed. Under the current Pomona version of the Act there is no fee. However state law allows cities to charge an application fee to recoup the costs of processing Mills contracts. The City Clerk has determined that cost to be around $2,400. Pomona Heritage is concerned that this upfront cost would be onerous, and hope to argue at Monday's meeting that the fee be more in line with other cities in the area whose fees range from nothing to under $500.

The other issue on Monday's agenda will be the use of alternative materials in the historic districts. This is an issue that was supposed to be discussed in the study sessions that were postponed and then canceled. So this will be the first opportunity that the council will have to hear this issue, and they're planning on voting on a policy.

If you're interested in either of these issues, we hope that you will be at the council meeting on Monday, April 21. Council meetings start at 7:00 pm in the council chambers at city hall.

Uncivilized, Yep!

I'm finding it really hard to hold my head up today. In an attempt to kill a few minutes, I typed 'Pomona' into the DB's search function and up popped a Letter to the Editor from a Claremont resident. I'll digress here, for the moment, and say that it took a few minutes JUST for the Daily Bulletin home page to load up (yeah, I could just pay the 50 cents.....or buy a new computer).

Well, back to my story. In this letter, our city (Pomona, CA not to be confused with Pomona, Kansas) was suggested to be less civilized than La Verne, Claremont, and Chino. I don't know what happened to poor Montclair--perhaps the uncivilized all look the same. From my reading, the writer seems to be genuinely concerned that our crime problem may ooze into the more dignified streets of our neighbors. And just to prove that he is a man of action, he sent a letter to our Police Chief imploring a multi-agency task force be assembled to sweep into those tough, crime-infested Pomona neighborhoods and round up all the derelict, pot-smoking, gun-totting hooligans. (He didn't actually use those words, but what the hell). And here's the real kicker, after going to all the trouble of enlightening our Police Chief on crime enforcement, the Chief didn't even have the courtesy to respond to his letter.

I just feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing that at least one of our lofty neighbors to the North is looking down on us from the rarefied air of the foothills.

free thorks

Sunday K & I decided to finally try (disquisition on the bogosity of the split-infinitive rule available upon request) Three Forks. I believe that we are the last human beings in the West Inland Empire to go there.

We ran into friends who live in Village Walk, the condos right next to 3F, as we moseyed to the restaurant. When we told them we were planning on trying the Farmers Market Dinner (a sunday special every week -- three courses for $45), they put on brave smiles and bid us goodbye as if we were heading off to a tax audit or a biopsy. Apparently the Farmers Market Dinner is precisely what NOT to have at 3F (she told me afterward).

Our verdict: Okay. Pretty good for the 909. Ambitious (and it took me three years in college to realize that when a professor wrote that on my paper, it wasn't high praise).

Item by item (fine-dining alert! Food snobbery ahead!):

• The amuse bouche (the little mouthful that starts the meal) was "shrimp toast with paprika aioli." It was perfectly fine, but it was a bit odd, in that it was a little wedge of rustic European baguette that tasted like Chinese shrimp toast. I think they must have infused some olive oil with Chinese dried shrimp... but why? Just for the pun of shrimp toast on toast?

• The starter was a panzanella (bread salad). This one had baby spinach, grape tomatoes, frisée, small chunks of olive bread, shaved parmesan, and a couple of slices of beefsteak tomato. It was tasty, although the beefsteak tomato was an embarrassment (think supermarket tomatoes in winter). I thought the dressing was a bit sweet, but K, who is a carb-based life form, insisted that it was no such thing.

• For his main, K had the wild boar and wild mushroom manicotti. It was pretty darn good, although I would have used a different tomato sauce. This one was cooked down too much, so that it had lost all the brightness of the tomato, and again, it was too sweet (and this time K agreed with me).

• For my main, I had the chicken piccata. I would have ordered the manicotti, except that we have a policy of not ordering the same thing. The flavors of the chicken piccata were excellent -- strong enough, which can be a major pitfall for this dish -- but the breading of the chicken had obviously been done hours earlier, so that instead of crusty goodness, the paillard of chicken seemed to be coated in kindergarten paste. They must have flattened that chicken breast with road-building equipment, though, because it was huge -- easily the size of a comic book. I gave a third to K, ate a third, and had the last third for lunch yesterday.

• Dessert was where they really fell down on the job. They promised panna cotta, but what we got was a super-gelatinized Asian-style custard that had no dairy taste whatsoever. It was so rubbery that if you pulled at it with your spoon, it formed rips and tears. My best guess at its construction is that it used about four times as much gelatin as real panna cotta, plus a little milk and perhaps a tablespoon of flour to provide a cloudy appearance. The macerated strawberries and balsamic vinegar reduction (a classic panna cotta combination) could not save this jellied mess.

Service was perfectly fine, although in classic New Mall fashion, it was more friendly than clueful. Frankly, when you're spending $90 on a hunk of meat, serving from the left and removing from the right doesn't seem like too much to ask. Or am I showing my age?

The hostess gets a special mention, because she seemed to have trouble understanding the concept of a reservation when we called up, and once we got there, neither one of us could take our eyes off her comically-large rack whenever she walked past.

Obviously we need to go back for meat (meatmeatmeatmeat) in order to get the true Three Forks experience, but that may be a while: we need to replenish the bank account first.

Update: How could I have forgotten to mention the music? That was one place they scored big with us. It was just loud enough to recognize some of your favorite songs -- early Neil Young for me, the Replacements for K. When was the last time you heard either one of those in a restaurant, I ask you -- much less a restaurant quite pleased with itself for being both hoity and toity.

The frontispiece is of Sacajawea pointing the way to Three Forks for Lewis & Clark. Yes, really.

Taste of the Pomona Valley

A heads up for anyone interested in tasting Pomona Valley cuisine.

The event is tonight from 5-8PM at the Avalon Pavilion in the Fairplex. If you procrastinated buying your tickets it's 35 bucks. It's brought to you by the Pomona Chamber of Commerce.

Can anyone toss me some insight on why it's held on a Monday night? I'm sure there's a good reason, but a Saturday late afternoon event might generate more interest..........maybe as a prelude to the Second Saturday Art Walk. Just sticking my nose into other people's business, so feel free to smack me down.

Visual Clarification Of Foothill Towne

Some more visual clarification (you can click on the images to get a better view) on what’s going on at the corner of Foothill and Towne.

Here is the corner we’re talking about from Google Maps Streetview:

Note that Walgreens is on the Northwest corner, with 7-11 on the Southwest corner. Next to 7-11 is Giovanni’s and just beyond that is Coates. The plan calls for the purchase and demolition of 7-11, Giovanni’s, and Coates, with the added property just beyond Coates which is currently a vacant lot.

Here’s what the site looks like in the MND documentation:

The plan that is presented in the MND shows Walgreens moving to where 7-11 and the nini-car wash are now: (the mini car wash is just to the north on Towne) with only three new stores and lots of parking (this image is also from the MND report):

Does this look like a project we want at that intersection. There are no commitments for the three retail spaces shown at this time. So we’d be replacing three going businesses with three unknowns and moving Walgreens. And for this we need to use eminent domain?

Sylvanus and Pomona

We have a tree that needs to come down (yes, I know all about getting permits, don't worry -- and I'll probably post about the agonies thereof at a later date).

Does anyone have an arborist/tree service to recommend? We've talked to Alpine, and they seem quite good, but we'd like to talk to at least one more before we pull the trigger. I'll just attack the phone book if necessary, but I'd prefer to have recommendations from friends, neighbors, and countrymen.

[Sylvanus, if you'd forgotten all that mythology you learned in grade school, is the Roman god of trees.]

journalism spotlight of the day

First, your orthography less of the day, courtesy of Merriam-Webster:

TROOP, n. 1 a: a group of soldiers b: a cavalry unit corresponding to an infantry company cplural : armed forces, soldiers 2: a collection of people or things : crew 3: a flock of mammals or birds 4: the basic organizational unit of Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts under an adult leader.

TROUPE, n. a group of theatrical performers

TROUP. The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary. Click on a spelling suggestion below or try again using the search bar above.


Now for some journalism, courtesy of the Daily Bulletin:
Group of Adult Muslims Learn to Form Troups

I'll forgive them for opting out of definition (4) above -- can you imagine the uproar engendered by a headline that mentioned Muslims forming troops? I prefer the theatrical metaphor for scouting over the military metaphor myself, although given the BSA's atavistic no-queers-and-no-godless-heathens policy, the military metaphor is closer to the truth.

But I'm not letting them off the hook for the spelling mistake. Actually, now that I think of it, perhaps we should see this as a work of brilliance: Who else could cram a spelling mistake AND a subject-verb disagreement into eight short words?

Under ordinary circumstances, at this point I would launch into spittle-flinging invective about the real reasons for the decline of print journalism, punctuated by the example of the Daily Journal sacking its entire copy desk, but I really need to get some work done today, before I get sacked myself.

dining about town

The people I work with really love Los Jarritos II (no one ever talks about LJ-I, although it's not that far from the office). As far as I'm concerned, it's perfectly fine, but nowhere as good as GuaSalMex (on Holt, between Garey and Park) or even Casa Jimenez (I or II).

But I've never had a celebrity spotting at GuaSalMex or C-Jim, as we did the other night when dining at Los Jarritos II with friends from work. Who should walk in but Xavier Alvarez? At first I thought it was just some random Latino guy with a similar 'stache, but when he started glad-handing acquaintances like a politician, I realized he had to be the mustachioed misappropriator and Torres protegé (Torregé?) himself. Wow, a celebrity right here in Pomona! I didn't hear him make any bombastic claims about military service, but he certainly had the swagger.


Another night we went to Vince's Spaghetti Shack with Admiral Seamus and Mrs. Tiki. I've passed it many times (it's on Holt just past Mountain, and there are also branches in Rancho and Torrance) and wanted to try it, and I'm glad we did.

Vince's isn't fine dining (and we are big fans of fine dining), but it's good food and good fun. If you haven't been and if you have no pretensions (or if, like us, you can compartmentalize your pretensions), you should go sometime. For $10, you get a half order of spaghetti (which would be an order and a half anywhere else), beef barley soup, a side salad, and a day's calories' worth of garlic bread. For an extra $12, you can add a liter of decent chianti.

The spaghetti is pretty good, although I would recommend getting a side of cheese -- the sauce is a bit sweet, and the cheese balances it out. But get a smaller side than you think you need; the four of us didn't use up the heaping "cup" (read: 3 c.) of cheese we got for the table.

Foothill / Towne Project

Yesterday, Monday April 7, there was an ad in the legal section of the Daily Bulletin that the city of Pomona had issued a Negative Declaration for the project at Foothill and Towne. This is a project that the Redevelopment Department is working on for the Southwest corner.

First: The project, as proposed is basically a strip center, anchored by Walgreens (currently located across the street in the Staples/CVS center. Walgreens, as a corporate policy, prefers to have their stores located on corner lots and they're somewhat mid-block across the street. The project is to be built by Lewis Homes and the city is in the process of "assembling" the property for this private developer. Please note that this is not a school, a library, a civic building, or a roadway, but a private development.

The reason that I mention that it's a private development, is that the reason that the city has prepared environmental documents, before there are any entitlements, is that this project is planning to use eminent domain to force the sale of the property. The properties that we're talking about are a mini-car wash, 7-11 store, Coates Cyclery, and Giovanni's Men's Suits. All of these appear to be thriving businesses and would not be what I would consider "blight" (one of the requirements for using eminent domain for redevelopment), however there are other properties within the site, the vacant motorhome sales site especially, which could be considered blighted and the argument will be made that the project requires the other properties to be viable and eliminate the blighted area.

While the US Supreme Court ruled in the case of Kelo v. City of New London , No. 04-108 on June 24, 2005 that this is legal, as the increase in property taxes is a benefit to the community, I have some serious problems with this particular project.

First, the project will move Walgreens from a location across the street. This would not appear to increase taxes but shift them from one parcel to another. In talking with city staff, it appears that they're working with Giovanni's to see if they can't help them with relocation funds to move them back to Covina, so taxes we're now getting, leaving the city. Then there's Coates Cyclery (there was a lively discussion of this issue on the Goddess of Pomona site back in January), who have been doing business in Pomona since 1934 and at its current location since the mid '50s. They are basically being forced out of their business. They have been offered space in the new center (subject to an agreement with the new owners, Lewis Homes) but it would be at a price approximately 3x what they pay now. Here's a business that has been paying Pomona taxes for over 70 years, and now the city wants to potentially put them out of business.

I know that there are those who oppose the work that I do for historic preservation and will say that I'm a hypocrite for wanting to restrict what people can do with their property on one hand and then say the city can't develop on the other. But really, the issues are similar. I'm not suggesting that the site should be able to devolve and become blighted. I appreciate that Lewis Homes wants to do a project such as this (maybe not this exact one, but something such as this) in our city. But taking away thriving businesses (how thriving is a point of discussion, but they've been in business long enough that I'm sure they're not losing money) is something else.

While I'm not against eminent domain for public usage, I'm VERY against using it to give to a private developer. We need businesses like Giovanni's and Coates in our city. Even the 7-11 serves a useful purpose as it's right on the edge of our residential neighborhoods.

This issue will come before the city council once the 30-day environmental review is completed. If you wish to respond to the environmental impacts on traffic, noise, etc. then you can pick up a copy of the report at the Redevelopment Department and you have 30-days from yesterday.

I plan to write to the council and mayor regarding this subject and to be at the council meeting when it comes up for a vote. I'll post any updates as they become available.

RBOP: Random Bullets of Pomoniana

• Some pals conjectured last night that the four of us would make an unstoppable trivia team -- but they know of nowhere in the West Inland Empire to play trivia. Anybody know of bars that have a trivia night?

(For the record, I think they're fooling themselves -- the only sports we have covered between the four of us are cycling, horse racing, and college football. And sumo, which I hear is a very popular topic at trivia nights.)

• While I was gone, they up and numbered the exits on the 10! What I want to know is, how did Indian Hill get numbered 47?

• Koki's -- the Korean joint in the same shopping center as Pho Ha on Indian Hill -- is now Pittsburgh Chicken & Ribs. It's too bad -- I never even got a chance to try Koki's out. Every time we tried, they were closed, either for repairs after the Hummer smashed into their storefront or for mysterious reasons.

• That said, "Pittsburgh Chicken & Ribs"??? What particular claim to chicken and ribs does Pittsburgh, of all places, have?

The frontispiece is the first hit I got on the word "trivia."

blame it on Rio

I love cafes. I love ordering them, in places where coffee's called "cafe," and I love sitting in them, whether in LaVerne or Laval.

One of my regular stops is Café Rio, next to the Vons at Foothill and White. Truth be told, the coffee was terrible, but it was quiet, comfortable, friendly, and equipped with free and dependable wi-fi. To my dismay, however, Café Rio has closed. I wouldn't argue that it deserved to stay open -- the coffee really, really stank -- but I'm going to miss it.

Can anyone suggest a non-Starbuck's replacement? Yesterday I ended up reading my book in LePainQuot, but they don't pay me enough to visit there regularly, and sometimes a girl wants to avoid Claremont Village. ARE there any other independent cafes around?

The 'H' word

Before we step too far into April, here is the distribution of March homicides for the inland area.

Just to avoid confusion here are a couple of disclosures:

• I don't include vehicular homicides unless an arrest is likely.
• Address locations are often approximations based on block numbers.
• I do included police shootings.

I found the sheer number of blue spots to be overwhelming so I gave March its own map.
March 2008
Jan/Feb 2008

Mills Act to be discussed at HPC

I know that this is quite late in being posted, and I apologize for that. I was SURE that Ed would post with his great maps, but I guess it's up to me this month. (just giving you a hard time Ed.)

Tonight at 6:30 pm in the council chambers will be the monthly meeting of the Pomona Historic Preservation Commission (HPC). There are only two public hearings this evening. The first is the issue of the changes to a home on Preciado Street in the Hacienda Park Historic District, which has been agendized several times in the past. The second is yet another case of a homeowner, this time on Wisconsin in the Wilton Heights Historic District who put in 10 vinyl windows without a permit and now wants the city to allow it, when if they had just gotten a permit, they would have been told what they could and couldn't do.

However, there is a third item, under New Business, which is of major importance to those of us in historic districts and single historic homes. The HPC will be presented with a proposed ordinance for approval (They don't approve it, they recommend it to the city council) which will significantly change the qualifications, requirements, and terms of Mills Act contracts in the city.

This was one of the issues what was SUPPOSED to be discussed at the canceled joint Planning Commission/City Council meeting last month. The Mills Act is used to encourage preservation and maintenance of historic properties. Entering into a Mills Act contract can reduce property taxes by up to about 60%, which funds are then used by the homeowner for preservation and renovation of the subject property.

Again, this meeting potentially may have an impact on the historic districts. If you're interested in this, I encourage you to attend this meeting.

Hope to see you all there.

petitionary politics

Anne raised an interesting question in the comments section of the last post, so I thought I'd spin it off for its own discussion. Namely: Are paid signature collectors a good or bad thing? Is it a nice way of making the underemployed a little less so, or is it a corruption of the democratic process?

I guess you can tell where I fall on that question by the way I phrase it. And I got a ration of shit back in the old homestead when K. read my response to Anne ("I can't believe you didn't even address the issue of paid petition collectors!!!").

Don't get me wrong -- I am all for employing the down-and-out. But if the petition-collector at Target yesterday was wrong about the contents of his petition, as Anne suggests, it is his paid status that made him wrong: A Marsy's Law activist wouldn't have been so mistaken about the gist of the proposal. Heck, that mistake may very well have lost signatures: I might have signed if I had been correctly informed [1].

My larger objection, however, is that paid signature collectors are a corruption of the petition process. Petitions are clearly intended to measure public enthusiasm for a proposal, which strikes me as a useful safeguard on the proposition process (which is itself an end run around representative democracy if you ask me). Without petitions, any crackpot could waste resources (remember, elections cost big buck$) by drafting propositions to make spitwads a vegetable.

With paid signature collectors, however, any crackpot can do just that, as long as s/he's got the money to send out the troops. Instead of measuring how serious people are about the proposed law (serious enough to give up your time and energy to work for its passage?), the petition process now measures the wealth of the crackpot and the gullibility of the chumps when confronted with a minimum-wage worker with a clipboard.

And then there's the spectre of massive numbers of invalid signatures, which has doomed at least a couple of propositions. That, though, seems like an equal temptation for the paid crews and the rabid supporters.


[1] In fact, I would not have signed in any case, particularly now that I have read over the text of the bill (a 19.2M download!). The initiative opens with a lament that we have surrendered our "right" to impose punishment, as individuals, on wrongdoers (vigilante justice by any other name would stink as much), and goes on to undermine our judicial system in a variety of ways. All of this is justified by the fact that Marsy's mother ran into the murderer at the grocery store when he was out on bail and also suffered a heart attack shortly after one of his parole hearings (where he was denied parole). Marsy, btw, was killed by her boyfriend; there was no rape-and-re-rape.

Marsy's father, Steve Ipsen, is apparently running for LA County District Attorney. I intend to vote for the other guy.

cultural critique at the five and dime

I know you think I do nothing but roam city streets and buy stuff, which I categorically deny. But some of the most interesting cultural observations can be made while in contact with the maximum tangle of humanity, which in my case means while shopping, since I don't go to ballgames.

Towit:

Scene: exiting the LaVerne Target

Grubby older man: Sign a petition to support victims' rights and keep drug users behind bars?

Meg: No, thanks. I'm for letting 'em out.

G.O.M.: YOU belong behind bars, you crazy bitch!

Meg: (extra perky) Have a nice day!

back in the saddle again

Hidey-ho, neighbor! (as Mr. Hanky would say)

I'm back from my sojourn in the Old World, where I had a great couple of months -- but I'm happy to be home. All hail John and Ed, who kept the lights on here at the blog! (And I hope they'll both agree to continue as co-bloggers.)

The first (blog-relevant) thing I did when I got home was to go grocery shopping. K. on his own has a rather different diet than when I'm here, so the larder needed restocking.

Many stops and forays later, I have two grave observations:

1. The vegetables may be a better deal at our Stater Brothers, but the bread sure ain't. The same loaf of mass-market seven-grain bread costs $4.19 on Garey Ave. and $2.99 (NOT on sale) at the Baseline Von's. That's a 40% poverty tax, unless Mnemosyne has robbed me of my arithmetic micropowers. Harrumph.

2. The carniceria on the corner of Indian Hill and Arrow has closed! Now, there's only one thing I ever bought there, but that was an important thing: BEER. They had a pretty excellent selection of non-clear beers, and the prices were decent as well.

Where are we gonna buy our beer now? The stuff at Trader Joe's is skunked half the time, and at BevMo it's skunked even more often than that (plus BevMo has pissed me off with their wine bait-and-switches a few too many times). Sure, you can get a twelver of Full Sail or Sierra Nevada at the supermarkets, but that's pretty much your choice unless you yearn for yellow.

Where does Lincoln Park buy its beer?

At this point it will be obvious that K. and I -- economic refugees from NorCal -- do not subscribe to the philosophy behind the LA Beer Curse found in local restaurants: twenty lagers and a Guinness.

For the frontispiece, I wanted a photo of someone kneeling in the dirt with a desperate look on his/her face, shaking a fist at the skies, but when an image search for "damn you" returned a fridge full of beer, I took at as a sign from above.

A Conditional Use Permit Please!

Sorry to bump the Torres story from the top of the heap, but the Planning Commission meets yet again.

Here's what awaits the resident volunteers on the Planning Commission: (1) more church buildings on San Antonio, (2) a request to sell wine and beer at a restaurant on Holt, and (3) a new multi-retail development on south Garey. The gurus at the Planning Department are recommending a thumbs up for #1, but thumbs down for #2 and #3. Good luck to the applicants.

My unscientific analysis of the three buildings most likely to be found in Pomona: churches, auto supply stores, and pharmacies.

Here's the map for the 3/26/08 Planning Commission agenda.

Photo from Harrison Hot Springs sand sculpture competition in beautiful British Columbia.

Torres LA Times Puff Piece

There is a story in today's Los Angeles Times about Norma Torres and how important she is as a hero to Guatemalan imigrants. As noted by Edward Barrera, Metro Editor for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune in the Editor's Corner blog, this article reads like a campaign ad. An obvious PR piece in the news business is usually called a "puff" piece and this certainly qualifies. How anyone can spin the mayor's "feud" with chief Romero as a positive, really doesn't understand the outrage of the community.

While noting that she supported the candidacy of Councilman Rodriguez, they failed to mention her support for Xavier Alvarez, which put him on the 3-Valleys Water Board, where he continues to collect and collect and collect for attending meetings, even while facing federal charges for claiming to have a Congressional Medal of Honor when he never even served in the military.

Somehow they made it appear as if her editorials blasting the chief made her a strong leader. Of course the Times also made it appear not to be a campaign piece as they stated that she was "considering" a run for the Assembly, even though she's now a confirmed candidate. I agree with Mr. Barrera in wondering when the Times will include nicestories about the other candidates.

Newspaper! Newspaper! My kingdom for a newspaper!

Meg hasn't posted for awhile so I took liberties with a literary reference.

Anyone catch the DB's regurgitation of a recent Chief Romero news release. The reporter happily let us know that shots were fired on three separate occasions near the intersection of Gibbs and Holt. She even tossed in the 'gang' word for good measure. (Yippee for all of those realtors or landlords trying to sell/rent houses in that neighborhood!) What she failed to mention and what could actually be a wonderful story is that the rental property near Gibbs and Holt where the shooting occurred is owned by a resident from Claremont. Don't we all feel better knowing that residents in other cities are providing affordable housing in Pomona for gang members. Here's a fun idea, maybe the city of Pomona should redirect some of their Section 8 dollars into the purchase of an apartment building in Claremont.

How about that in depth coverage of the recent murder in Covina hills? The location, just off Grand Ave, is minutes from Pomona, but I didn't see a story in the online version of the DB. The story was worthy of the LA Times, CBS2 news, and after a quick google search........the Sun-Sentinel in Florida. Yes, I said a newspaper in Florida, the state of the hanging chad, is more likely to cover a horrific murder minutes from our city than our "local" paper.

And just when I fear Pomona may be forgotten and slip into oblivion, I'm reassured to find that the Pomona PD has conducted a prostitution sting. Although not newsworthy enough to reach Florida, the tidbit did appear in the online versions of the SGVTribune, the Whittier Daily News, and the Pasadena Star News. Could it be that the Los Angeles Newspaper Group is giving a heads up to all the "johns" on the other side of the hill that they should look elsewhere for their quick fix. What a thoughtful public service!!

There's nothing like reports of gangs and prostitutes to stimulate the housing market.

I feel sooooo much better getting that off my chest.

Coming to a Neighborhood Near You 3/12

Nothing really earth-shattering at tonight's Planning Commission meeting. There are a couple of higher density projects (small scale) and two "please let me sell alcohol" projects. The Mission 71 Business Park modification could be interesting, but the online information is insufficient to render much opinion. If any of these interest or affect you, the meeting in the Council Chambers starts at 7PM tonight (3/12).

Here's the map.

Famous Barmaid, I hear you singing -- pour me another song

I don't usually copy over material from Claremont Insider, since I reckon all of y'all read it, but my inner fangirl insisted that I bring your attention to this.

Exene! Coming to Claremont! X in Pomona, sure, but Exene in Claremont? Honey, fetch mama the moonshine before she swoons.

Half-full or Half-empty

This post is just a continuation of the "Students shine ......in Pomona?"

Anonymous offered a view of my post that I hadn't fully expected, so I wanted to elaborate on my intent behind that type of a post. The critique if I understand it correctly was that students are succeeding at Pomona schools without a puff piece, so is there really any value to that type of a story. I guess I always see someone's accomplishments as a story. Whether that story rises above dinner conversation to reach the level of a Pomona schools news release is the school district's choice, but I fundamentally don't think PUSD is wrong in their effort at self-promotion. My rationale for the post reflects my view that the biggest hurdle facing this city is misperception: whether it's an overexaggerated concern about crime or a fear about the public schools.

The "feel good" stories, however annoying, are key to changing perception of PUSD. We live in a world of marketing and with a crop of parents who no longer feel an obligation to use their neighborhood schools, school districts need to "sell" their schools. Do I like it? No, but I'm not blind either. Successful schools actively cultivate their image by plastering these "feel good" stories into our psyche so we accept them as the norm. Would Anonymous have said "Look honey, those gangbangers and teenage mothers at Claremont really can do something!" if the post was about Claremont schools? Or would we just roll our eyes and say what do you expect, it's Claremont schools. I'm guessing these types of stories show up all the time in the Claremont Courier, so why not give these Pomona students and Pomona schools some credit.

If I could convince at least one of the "some of us" that aren't attending Pomona schools to take the chance, then maybe a school has a new classroom parent volunteer or a new student who can work independently. Perhaps the entire classroom will benefit if we can steal back these students that are fleeing to Claremont. Just in financial terms, how much revenue is PUSD losing because of the "perceived" superiority of the Claremont schools?

I don't know if others have noticed the couple of "feel good" stories that have trickled out of the Daily Bulletin in the last month or two. Is that an effort on PUSD's part to shape its image? I hope so. PUSD's negative image has taken years to evolve, so I doubt a handful of puff pieces will suddenly alter people's perceptions, but at least it's a start. I see the same hurdles facing the city. How do we convince residents both in this city and in adjacent cities to shop in Pomona? to spend time in metro Pomona? to dine in Pomona? I'm suggesting we need to control the message and focus on the positive.......like PUSD is doing with these bits of news. We need to pummel the doubters with the reality that Pomona schools are succeeding through innovation, committed parents and students, and excellent teachers. We need the city employees and elected officials to show more restraint when playing the crime card and restrict their depictions to a city that is a safe place to live, shop, and eat.

Was there a story? Hell, yes and expect me to relentlessly applaud any students' accomplishments when they come to my attention.

If Anon wants to share their experience in PUSD and how it prepared them for college, feel free.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Homicide map for January-February 2008.

I read about crime being Pomona's number one problem, but then I take a quick look at this map and wonder who really has blinders on. Crime prevention sure looks like a regional problem, along with affordable housing, homelessness and services for the needy. Come on, are the police in Claremont really better than Pomona's finest? Should San Bernardino hire the Sheriff Department, since Rancho has far less homicides? Did all the police in San Gabriel Valley suddenly go on vacation? Anyone think the problem may lie elsewhere? Here's an idea: how about a per resident minimum that each city must provide for affordable housing/homeless assistance? How about a minimum number of parolees for each city? Let's spread the wealth, so to speak.


photo is from Hang'em High not really from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Students Shine.........in Pomona?

OK, OK, here I'll go, and admit that I am a parent of PUSD students. I know what you might be thinking...........Are you a lunatic, naive, or just an irresponsible parent? I forgot economically-challenged (PC for being too poor to pay for private schools). Since apparently, participants in blogosphere shouldn't disclose too much personal information, let's just say I might be all four, or I might not. **And please don't go asking my kids!**

But enough about me. Really I just wanted to pass along a couple of "news" stories I read on the PUSD website.

Garey High: Jesus Cueva, Arlene Cortes, Claudia Serrano, Marlen Mendoza, and Alexis Armendariz volunteered their time and artistic ability to paint a ballwall at Mendoza Elementary. And to you pundits out there, no, they didn't get arrested for graffiti. Who would guess such civic-minded young people call Garey High School.....their high school.

Garey High and Ganesha High: For you soccer fans, Garey High School boys soccer team won the Baseline League title, while Ganesha High School won the Valle Vista title. All three, Pomona, Ganesha, and Garey made it to the postseason play in boys soccer.

Ganesha and Diamond Ranch: Not to be outdone, almost 30 students from these two high schools volunteered their time at "Storybook night" which was put on by the Ranch Hills Elementary PTA. My hats off to the individual(s) that came up with this idea and to the teenagers that participated.

Diamond Ranch and Village Academy: US News and World Report has selected these two high schools in its list of outstanding schools. Can you imagine that?

Emerson Middle School: This one might be my personal favorite. A group of students from Michael Konick's class "edged 300 other California middle schools to reach the regional finals of the Future Cities Project competition with a positive -- and positively exciting! -- vision of Pomona's future." You can find an article on these students in the Daily Bulletin. And just think, this accomplishment from students a local realtor recently described to me as looking "rowdy".

Marshall Middle School: 47 students recently moved from the category "English Learners" to "Fluent English Proficient". Wow, I wish could brag about being fluent in two languages. Now I almost feel like contacting my old Spanish teachers just to apologize.

I guess you can't always tell what's on the inside when you're only looking from the outside.

City Clerk Updates Web Site

For those of you who might regularly try and navigate the city's web site, I'm sure you're as frustrated as I am at times. As someone whose been writing HTML code since the late 1980s and has been webmaster for over a dozen sites and helped to create oscars.org, I have a pretty good understanding of what it take to do a web site. And Pomona's has been just plain bad.

However, I saw a notice today on the Foothill Cities blog that the city had joined the ranks of those who posted council minutes. I immediately had to check it out for myself. What I found was that the City Clerk page has been completely reworked and will be including a lot of great additions. Among those are: Minutes, Agendas, Legal notices (no longer have to pour over them in the classified section of the DB to find the few regarding Pomona), winners of bids, election information, city codes (which have been there but hidden), public records, campaign statements, statement of economic interest filings, city claims forms, and information on the city's commissions, along with the form for applying for a commission seat.

I immediately contacted Maria Macias, our very professional city clerk (I had wanted to let her know what a great idea I thought it was that she had to have high school students working at the polls on election day) and let her know that I thought the changes to the web site were terrific and hoped that it might have an effect on other departments web offerings. She indicated that in addition to the agendas, that it is her intent to also post complete meeting packets as well (this will be a boon to those of us who try and read them 15 minutes before the meeting in the lobby).

She also apologized that the agenda for tonight's meeting didn't get posted, but it is a victim of the migration to her new page. She then forwarded the agenda to me via email (Thank you!).

This is a great start. I had been asked by Publius of The Foothill Cities blog to write up a critique of Pomona's web site which I'm still planning to do (don't worry Publius, it's coming). Again, kudos to Marie Macias for making communication with our city a little easier.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Just wanted to take the briefest of moments to wish Pomona's very own John Clifford a HAPPY Birthday. Rather than say which birthday this might be, let's just say, in true Pomona Heritage fashion, that he's at least younger than his house.

Or aren't you?