Pomona library closure: Lessons from Salinas

The last big city to consider closing its library was Salinas, California in 2005. Salinas is demographically very similar to Pomona - heavily Latino, similar size, and comprised mainly of working class people with some rich areas. Salinas was short of $9.2 million and tried to raise taxes, which failed, and thus led to the proposed library shutdown. The closures received national attention and significant hand-wringing, yet there doesn't appear to be as much attention here paid by the national media (although hopefully this will be changing.)

Here are some major differences between Salinas and Pomona:

• More libraries in the community. Salinas had three libraries in the community, with the main library built as part of the 1950's era civic center, one assumed when the city annexed unincorporated land, and one built as a result of population growth in the 1960's. When Pomona built its civic center, they built one large library, but never created branch libraries. Even in the boom times of the 1970's, Pomona did not develop branch libraries. 
• Lack of connection to the local library. Many people in Phillips Ranch and North Pomona are closer to County libraries. The County libraries are much smaller, but offer a similar set of popular reading material and more importantly offer access to the entire County system, with many times more books than one individual library can. Interlibrary loan is generally clunky and expensive, so the advantage of placing a hold, for free, from the County system is a benefit for the savvy reader.
• Salinas is the only game in town. In addition to the County libraries, Ontario has always had a deep collection - the best in the Inland Valley, even 15 years ago, and I went on trips with a friend's parents who consciously avoided Pomona to go to Ontario. Ontario had a large AV collection, and was open until 9 pm - Pomona always closed at 8, even pre-budget crisis, and its AV collection was modest (and gutted in the early 2000's to be replaced with the computer lab). And Ontario is only six miles  away. In contrast, the nearest big library to Salinas is Monterey, 18 miles away.
• More local flavor. Salinas had John Steinbeck, and hosted the National Steinbeck Center. Pomona has some local authors but none with the international renown. It also is why Salinas got national attention immediately, while even Los Angeles media has been slow to pick up on the story.
• We're inured to budget brinksmanship. With school districts issuing pink slips every year, only to be rescinded, and government agencies announcing cuts "to the bone" that ultimately have no impact on the average resident, it numbs the public. When Salinas proposed closure, it was unique.

One thing is for certain - the horses to save the library will not be coming from outside the community. Later we'll look at another key difference with Salinas - our city leader's refusal to seek additional revenue, and even oppose community-led efforts to generate funds.

Budget showdown on Monday

It's going to be a long Monday in Pomona.

Already various interest groups have fired up their e-mail lists and discussion groups. Local 1014, the firefighter's union, has placed an all-call to their membership on the closure of Fire Station 181. There is a Facebook group, "Don't close the Pomona library!!" created by a library employee. In addition, overlooked by the media, the latest installment of trash station theater happens Monday as well, with the city manager requesting the public hearing for the Pomona Valley Transfer Station be scheduled, denying trash station opponents' claim that State time limits have expired and that the project is therefore denied.

Here are the key items to look for:

• Item 12 is the scheduling of a hearing for the trash station appeal. Possible hearing dates are July 2 or July 9. To avoid legal challenges, these hearings must end by a time certain and so could be continued indefinitely, as the Planning Commission used three meetings to hear the appeal. In addition, City Council could choose to deny a hearing, although that would trigger legal action from the proponents. But because of this risk, proponents and opponents of the trash station will spend their time convincing the council of their merits, and so all of the issues likely brought up at a public hearing would be heard now. The project itself has been modified such that all trucks leaving the facility will be CNG and the diesel fuel station has been eliminated.
• Item 13 is a discussion of the "realignment" of fire services. It includes the closure of Fire Station 181, next to the Civic Center, and moving various equipment around the city, reducing the fire contract by $1.96 million or 8%. The firefighters' union has proposed instead that the city join the Consolidated Fire Protection District, instead of contracting in a fee for services arrangement. In this manner, property taxes move directly to the fire department, similar to the situation in cities created after Proposition 13 was passed. 
• Item 15 is the state-mandated budget public hearing. Thirty positions are eliminated, with the closure of the library and the outsourcing of park maintenance. There are also accounting shifts in gas tax funding for street maintenance and internal services. Legally the budget must be adopted by the end of the year, or the previous year's budget continues on a month to month basis.

For those of you who don't go down the city hall often, the council chambers is small, with a capacity somewhere around 200 with about 40-50 people accommodated in the lobby. There is a loudspeaker that will blast the proceedings to the plaza. For those with cable or FIOS, meetings are also broadcast on the public access channel (Channel 29 for those with FIOS), although the quality of the audio can be questionable.

The meeting begins at 6:45 p.m., and although the city code only permits to go to 11:00 p.m. the council can choose to extend the meeting indefinitely. However, meetings have tended to be called at 7:00 p.m. or later due to straggling for council members to leave closed session. With the items on the agenda and public interest this meeting could last well beyond midnight.

Speaker cards are in the lobby and the city clerk reserves the authority to not accept cards submitted after the meeting has begun, although in practice speaker cards are accepted until the item has actually begun. The time limit is three minutes or at the discretion of the mayor. They go to the table in front of the public seating area. Generally they are not called in any particular order, with the exception of other elected officials who may be recognized earlier.

I've also been informed that the Los Angeles bureau chief for the New York Times is pursuing a story, either about the library itself or framing this and other budget decisions in a national context, to be published in the next few days. So interest is not waning on this one.

news coverage of the library

Of course our beloved D-Bomb is on the case.  His article -- with a big photo of Ms. Lois! -- has been picked up by a number of the other Singleton newspapers, I gather.

Inside Palmdale vs. State Board of Equalization

So what was this decision that busted a million dollar hole in the city budget?
Palmdale vs. State Board of Equalization.

The chronology is as follows:

• Out of state retailer sells goods from Pomona warehouse, thus all California purchasers have to pay California sales tax, which since this retailer has no resale permit in the state, is allocated to all agencies in the county (the "warehouse rule".)
• Retailer pays $9.6 million in taxes over 14 years.
• Pomona files an appeal in 1994 challenging this rule, which is exhausted in 2000.
• The rules change in 2006.
• Pomona files an appeal under the new rules in 2008.
• State Board of Equalization grants hearing in 2009. 
• Board staff recommend granting $4.8 million to Pomona, or 50% of the disputed amount.
• The elected board overrules staff and grants Pomona $7.1 million, or 75% of the disputed amount.
• Cities for which the money gets taken away from sue the State Board in 2010.
• The Superior Court overturns the State Board decision in 2011.
• Following legal back and forth, parties settle, such that the cities that sued the Board withdraw the lawsuit, the State Board's decision is reinstated and the State pays Pomona the $7.1 million, at which point Pomona would pay each city an individually agreed upon amount. Pomona reimburses each of the other cities a total of about 51% of the Board-ordered amount, such that the City of Los Angeles recovers about $2 million and the others a smaller amount. As a result of the settlement, everyone has to tell the appeals court to go along with the withdrawal of the judgment, pretending that the lawsuit never happened.
• The appeals court refuses to go along with this, and voids the settlement, noting that the City of Los Angeles would have lost $2.32 million under the State Board's decision, and that the State Board overreached in making the original decision in the first place. Therefore, no funds are paid to Pomona at all.

The appeals court noted the following:

Today, all cities in the state are in need of funds to provide adequate police and fire protection, libraries, public parks, and other public services.  [...] Cities and their residents — the public — have a right to know why a city is losing or gaining millions in local sales tax revenues, that is, a right to know the Board‘s grounds for reallocating those taxes. 

Citizens also have a right to know why the City was counting on over a million dollars in funds that didn't actually exist. Did the Finance Manager count on this settlement revenue in Fiscal Year 2012-13, out of a sense of optimism, instead of waiting for all appeals to expire? Did the City Attorney, in believing that a deal had been cut with every other party, think that the appeals court would just rubber stamp the decision? Why was this revenue even booked in the first place, considering the endless amount of legal fees that this lawsuit seems to have consumed? 

These are questions that no one will answer in public because of "litigation" and "negotiation with employee representatives", but it deserves to be asked. This failure to consider contingencies does not speak well of City management.

woe betide us?

Word on the street is that the public library is closing for good on August 15, with all the employees -- every last one of 'em -- pink-slipped. Can anyone confirm or deny this (preferably the latter)?

All I can think of is that this is some kind of ploy to get the citizenry to accept the outsourcing of everything to the county, but as far as I'm concerned, outsourcing is part of what got us into this financial swamp to begin with.

The one thing I know for sure is the old adage: Closing libraries in a time of plummeting test scores (to say nothing of gang activity) is like closing hospitals during an epidemic.

The image is from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Children's Room website -- soon to be gone, but never forgotten.

I've Quit Facebook

There are times when you just have to take a stand and I've decided that the greed in this country is just too much to handle. The latest example of this is that Eduardo Saverin (image at left), a co-founder of Facebook who has renounced his US citizenship.

The news has pointed out that he did this one day before the Facebook IPO which created millions of dollars of profit for him and which he now, since he's a foreign citizen, doesn't have to pay taxes on. While he defends his actions as a desire to become a citizen of Singapore, it doesn't really jibe with his timing.

While I gladly do business with companies that are foreign (I purchase gas from Arco, which is British Petroleum, or Royal Dutch Shell, for example) at least I'm aware of the foreign nature of the business and agree to that.

This situation is different. What is really galling about this situation is that he was born in Brazil, came to this country and was educated in our finest schools and at Harvard, then went on to make $2 billion from the country that he became a citizen of. Now that he's gotten it, he's taking it and leaving and renouncing that country that gave him the opportunity to get rich.

While he currently has no personal involvement with FaceBook, he is still a 5% owner and my only way of reacting to this is to ensure that he won't make any money in the future from ME. Facebook will not have my eyeballs for their advertising messages so in a small way I will diminish their potential profit.

That this information comes right around Memorial Day, when we honor those who sacrificed for our country, this %$&# is doing the exact opposite of sacrifice. You'll now be able to find me on Google+.

Again, as a result, I've gotten rid of my account and don't plan to be back.

Pomona Public Library’s Adult Summer Reading Program!

Pomona Public Library’s

 Adult Summer Reading Program!

June 4, 2012 – July 25, 2012

Join us this summer at the Pomona Public Library!

Open to adults 16 years and older. No minimum reading requirements! The Grand Prize Drawing will be a NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight! Signups start June 4 at the Pomona Library Adult Reference Desk. For more information call (909) 620-2043 x2701.

Celebrate Our Local Pomona Valley Authors

June 16, 1:00 - 3:00pm, Public Conference Room, Free

Meet Bob Smith and take a trip through Inland Valley history. Listen to Bill Wallace and his memories of growing up in post World War II Pomona. Learn about the misadventures and hidden past of fictional character Dulcie Clascock brought to life by Janet Beech.

Thanks to the Friends of the Pomona Public Library for their generous support of the Adult Summer Reading Program.

Pomona's war on recycling and Stater Brothers' future

At Monday's City Council meeting, the Council is poised to reject, without a public hearing, the existing recycling center located at Pomona's Stater Brothers at 1045 North Garey Avenue.

According to the City's own staff report, this recycling center has been in operation for about 23 years, with no complaints until a recent examination by a Planning Commissioner after other recycling centers were being considered for adoption.

The applicant makes several points regarding the operation of the recycling center. State law creates "convenience zones" within a half mile of supermarkets. What the staff report glosses over is that "convenience zones" offer a convenience not necessarily to the consumer, but to the supermarket. The supermarket can redirect persons who have recyclables to a location within a half mile, and absolve themselves of the responsibility under State law to redeem cans and bottles at the site.

Otherwise, the supermarket must either redeem cans and bottles at all open hours within its walls, causing issues with Public Health and possibly resulting in violation of other City and State Codes, or pay $36,500 a year in fees to exempt themselves of this rule. With the growing competition from low priced supermarkets like Cardenas, Super King, and El Super, and "Anglo" supermarkets like Vons and Winco only a few minutes away by car, it is possible that Stater Brothers may opt to reevaluate their business plans if they have to manage the cans and bottles redeemed by residents, or pay a large fee.

In addition, a state mandate, AB 712 passed unanimously by the State Assembly and State Senate and signed by the Governor. Pomona could lose grant funding. As stated in the bill, "This bill would, notwithstanding the above expenditure requirement, prohibit the department, on and after July 1, 2012, from making any payments, grants, or loans, as provided, to a city, county, or city and county, if the city, county, or city and county has adopted or is enforcing a land use restriction that prevents the siting or operation of a certified recycling center at a supermarket site, as defined, as may be required pursuant to a specified law." 

As the City is enforcing this land use restriction, supplemental payments that the City is entitled to receive for its curbside recycling will now be cut off. The City will also be ineligible for grants related to recycling. In a year where the City Council considered holding a special election to increase the hotel tax and property transfer tax just to get a few more months of revenue, any loss of easily obtainable funds should not be acceptable. It also increases the risk that the City will not comply with trash diversion mandates, and subject the City to fines.

City staff has not identified any other location within a half mile of Stater Brothers that would be desirable for a recycling center, as most of the commercial sites along Garey abut neighborhoods.

The bottom line is, if the recycling center goes, Stater Brothers could go with it, as it has at its South and North Pomona locations, thus creating a huge blight on the neighborhood. While some markets would have no issues with redeeming containers within their walls, it is doubtful that Staters would allow cans and bottles to be stored within their boundaries. In order to maintain a quality supermarket in the Lincoln Park area, this Planning Commission decision must be overturned and the original City planning staff recommendation, which offered reasonable limitations on its operation, be upheld.

The meeting is May 18 at Pomona City Council Chambers in the Civic Center. This is Item No. 14, which if the current staff recommendation is turned down, would only allow for a new public hearing to be held, possibly on June 18. If the staff recommendation is upheld, there is no date set for closure of the recycling center, or of the market.

Pomona to raise taxes by mail?

The other day I got a flyer from John Mendoza on my door step with a copy of a recent Pomona City Council report and the following note:


Pomona resident city council of Pomona [sic] are getting ready to raise taxes by changing the way we vote. Instead of regular election in November the city council are being urged by city staff to have the first ever in Pomona Mail Ballot only elections. Most of Pomona residents would not know a election was taxing [sic] place and the city of Pomona could raise property taxes and utility taxes with the vote of only a few. NO to Mail Only Elections in Pomona and sneaky taxes. John Mendoza


To clarify, the idea currently on the table, as part of Pomona's "looking for change under the cushions" program, is to double the property transfer tax and to increase the hotel tax by 2% to 12%, not an increase of property or utility taxes. As part of this, the City Council was looking into amending the City Code to allow for mail-in elections. The mail in election would cost about $100,000 more than just adding the measure to the regularly scheduled November ballot, however if the two measures are approved the increased revenue would be $350,000 for about a $250,000 gain as a result of the tax being in place an additional three months.

Still there is a concern of mail in ballot measures sneaking taxes through to the public, although some of this is actually required under California law. The proposed Clean Water Clean Beaches initiative, which would impose a $54 additional parcel tax on most single family homes, is required to be held via a mail in ballot because it is a property assessment for which the cost is based on the square footage of the lot, and benefits the property which is being taxed.

Low turnout elections have a habit of getting only the people in the know to vote. For example, the Bell fiasco was partly caused by a charter amendment and bond measures stuck on an off cycle election scheduled on November 29, the Tuesday after the Thanksgiving holiday and in the middle of most people's year-end holiday preparations. With the Post Office shuttering distribution centers and planning to end Saturday service, mail-in elections will become even more difficult to be conducted. Although some have decried Pomona's city elections being held on the same day as the presidential election as turning out "uninformed" voters, I would argue that a higher turnout provides greater legitimacy for those who are elected.

Regardless, it would take a unanimous vote of the City Council to allow for a special emergency that would place the property transfer tax and hotel tax increase on the ballot. With such a low turnout, any organized opposition to the measure would cause it to fail handily. Overall, there are enough safeguards that, as a one-time measure, this is probably fine.

(Ultimately, this discussion was postponed to May 7, so that would be a good time to make your views known should you choose.)

Friends of Fox Swing Dance Anniversary Gala

Saturday, April 21--81st Anniversary of the opening of the Pomona Fox Theater and Third Anniversary of the Reopening of the restored theater.

Dinner Tickets available at DPOA or on our Web Site. All Dinner reservations must be made by Tuesday. Price: $45 or $55. Dance / Listening only tickets are $20 and are available online, at DPOA, Frantz Cleaners, Ebell Museum of Pomona Valley or at the door on the night of the event. (Sorry, no dinner tickets available at the door.)

For all the information on this event, visit www.pomonafox.org.

Funds received will be used to restore the original 1931 Gladding McBean drinking fountains which were original to the theater.

see below

For those of you reading by RSS feed, a certain Anonymous -- not sure which of our many -- has begun an interesting conversation in the comments of a three-year-old post about the murder of Emilio Moncayo. I refer you to the "Recent Comments" sidebar if you're interested. Feel free to add your two cents either there or here. (If you add them there, there will be a pause while I approve -- any comments more than two weeks old must be approved, as an anti-spam device.)

In other news, I was down in Pomona all of last week -- sorry not to have seen many of y'all. The old nabe is as beautiful as ever, although there seems to be more activity in the alleys (which the PPD seem to be addressing with more assiduousness than in years previous).

I believe the image is the magnificent work of Juan Thorp at Bunny Gunner, but I'm not entirely sure.

Parking costs increase in Downtown Pomona

On Monday the Pomona City Council will be considering charging for nighttime parking in Downtown Pomona, and for expanding the hours and increasing the prices of parking in the downtown. Currently parking is charged during business hours weekdays only - the new fee structure would increase the rate from $2 to $3, while creating free parking for three hours between 7 am and 7 pm, seven days a week.

After 7 pm, most lots downtown will now charge a flat $1 rate. Although city staff did not do a comprehensive parking study, most cities in the Inland Empire do not charge for parking in their traditional downtowns in the evening hours. Even downtown Riverside, arguably one of the more vibrant downtowns in the Inland Empire, has free parking at parking structures on weekends and evenings. The comparison is being made to Pasadena, but Pomona is not Pasadena, and Pasadena is the only city in the San Gabriel Valley that imposes night and weekend parking fees for visitors to their traditional downtown.

While Pomona draws a lot of people during the evening to the Fox Theater, Glass House, and clubs on Thomas, as well as people from throughout the region on Art Walk nights, the level of activity in Downtown Pomona is nowhere near cities such as Pasadena, Santa Ana, or Los Angeles which charge for parking seven days a week and on nights in their downtowns. Places like Monrovia, Riverside, San Bernardino, Claremont, and Redlands which have evening attractions do not charge for parking.

The funding is supposed to be going for a parking structure, however until serious infill begins the need for the structure is minimal. Western University has already accommodated much of its parking needs through construction of the parking structure on Towne Avenue. In addition, there are opportunities to build a parking structure using Proposition A Local Return transit dollars, which would serve Metrolink parking needs during the day and commercial needs at night.

After the parking fee is imposed there will still be a handful of lots downtown that will not charge for parking, as well as parking spaces on the street (unless parking meters are planned to be placed there as well) and all private property lots (subject to enforcement by the private property owner). I've taken the staff report and highlighted in green the lots that will remain free. The average visitor, however, is not likely to find these lots. There will also be spillover parking impacts to Mission Promenade and residential neighborhoods surrounding the downtown. Especially in this economy we need to encourage as much visitation as possible, while managing the legitimate traffic concerns during concert nights. One dollar will not necessary break the bank of someone spending over $100 per car on drinks and a show, but it could discourage casual visitors from coming back.

The City Council will be hearing this public hearing item Monday evening. The meeting begins some time after 7 p.m. If approved nighttime parking charges could begin as soon as April 1.

Remembering Joe Romero

Posting with a heavy heart...

Former Pomona Police Chief Joe Romero dies at age 56 - DailyBulletin.com

CicLAvia could come to Pomona

The Pomona Director of Public Works is inviting all "stakeholders" to join in a discussion next Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. regarding an "open streets" event, or ciclovia. The Los Angeles version is called CicLAvia. CicLAvias are great opportunities to bring communities together through eliminating car traffic for six to eight hours, while encouraging active transportation. The concept began in Bogata, Colombia, in 1976.

I've been to the Los Angeles event twice and it is a great event. The Pomona one would be on a smaller scale, as the Los Angeles event attracts people region-wide, up to 100,000 of them at once. My primary concern with the Los Angeles event is the fact that some bicyclists treat it as a raceway and not an opportunity for all human-powered uses, including skateboarders, pedestrians, and just people hanging out on the street, to use the additional space created. In other words, it's a linear park, not a bicycle freeway.

It is also great to see that leadership has changed in Pomona from the retrograde days of just six years ago, when City leaders flushed a million dollar bike lane down the drain due to neighborhood opposition and political opportunism. AB 32 and SB 375 have forced Californians to be more cognizant of greenhouse gas emissions, and include greenhouse gas reductions in planning and land use decisions. An attempt to suspend AB 32 failed miserably in 2010 so it is clear that planning for greenhouse gases will only grow in the future, and one of the most effective ways to reduce carbon emissions, increase public health, and reduce dependence on foreign oil is to provide environments where people can use active transportation for daily tasks. Even today Pomona just has one bike lane, on Hamilton Boulevard, while many of the streets in South Pomona and Phillips Ranch are excessively wide and could be restriped easily to add a bike lane.


The stakeholder meeting is on Tuesday, January 31st, at 6 pm at the Cal Poly Downtown Center. The consultant will have maps of proposed closed streets and other information for consideration.


Please RSVP to Maura Montellano at 909-620-2262 or via email at maura_montellano@ci.pomona.ca.us.

Human Trafficing Film at Fox

I received an email from Nathan Neighbor of Mosaic Community who have an art gallery on Thomas Street and conduct weekly Church services at the Pomona Fox Theater on Sundays. I think that this may be of interest to some of you. Here's Nathan's message:

My name is Nathan Neighbour, and I work with the Mosaic community that meets in the Fox Theater each Sunday.  Next Sunday, January 29th at 2pm we are hosting a community awareness event at The Fox around the issue of human trafficking, a huge problem in the Pomona Valley.  Thousands of girls as young as age 12 are bought and sold in the sex trade industry right here in our city.  

 We will be screening a film called FLESH: Bought & Sold in the US and will have a panel of film makers and community leaders joining us (including the mayor and chief of police).  The Fox has graciously partnered with us to make this event happen and get the word out to the community.

right here in river city!

I can't believe I had to learn it from a Claremont friend, but apparently there's a Pomona pride (lower-case P, because I don't think it's the Prop. 8 kind of Pride) event this weekend -- including a performance by Flavor Flav. Take me back to my youth, Calgon!

Of course, looking at the poster, the misspelling of "amateur" jumps right out at me. Oh, Pomona, why must you always match every step forward with half a step back? Do we want the rest of the West Inland Empire thinking we can't spell? No we do not!

Do any of our fine readers know anything about Diamonds Love Foundation, the co-sponsor of the event?

I learned about this via Twitter. I'm wondering, how many Pomoniacs are on Twitter? I follow @pomonafeed and @tweetpomona (which mainly seems to tweet Pasadena)... Anybody else out there I should follow? [For what it's worth, I'm @mmwwah, but I don't tweet much about local matters, either SoCal or NorCal.]

Redistricting takes center stage

In the span of 16 hours, key decisions will be made that will impact the lives of Pomona residents for the next ten years. This is about redistricting - the decennial redrawing of lines to ensure equitable distribution of population after each census. Redistricting impacts the representation that residents have, and on a greater scale determines whether communities of interest are kept together or are broken apart, and whether the rights of minorities are maintained or regressed. Poorly drawn districts can result in some areas being considered less than others and receiving fewer resources and attention from the elected official, or could invite extensive and costly litigation as attorneys for protected groups challenge the new lines.

At 5:30 pm on Tuesday, the Pomona City Council will meet to discuss council redistricting. The city staff has opted to handle it themselves, and not go into an outside consultant. Staff and the City Attorney have gamely identified 24 possible areas for moving populations and tried to shift them around to reduce deviation as much as possible. With the Phillips Ranch area, District 5 having the least population and North Pomona, District 6, with the greatest population, any district move would have a domino effect on the whole city. Unfortunately, due to poor scanning of the staff report, it is unclear where all these chess pieces will end up. Nevertheless areas near the boundaries of districts, such as Val Verde, Westmont, and Downtown Pomona could be at risk of moving to another district.

Critics of the staff-driven process say that it is not transparent where these considerations come from, that they have not allowed the community to express their preferences as to what they consider a community of interest is, and that they do not provide racial demographic information to ensure that protected ethnic groups are not adversely impacted by these moves, due to Voting Rights Act considerations (which are referred to in the staff report but subsequently not evaluated with respect to the new district proposal). Many cities with districts choose to go to one of the major providers in California of redistricting services - Matt Rexroad's Meridian Pacific, Paul Mitchell's Redistricting Partners, or Doug Johnson's National Demographics Corporation. Having the experience of doing many cities' redistricting helps greatly in understanding the key legal issues that, if not addressed, could result in extensive and costly litigation.

The next morning (Wednesday) at 8 a.m. the Three Valleys Water Board will discuss redistricting of its water district lines. The Water District has two proposals provided by Redistricting Partners that could radically shift the City-based lines of today into lines that do not match up with any water district lines or City lines. In particular, small portions of North Pomona could be disunited with the rest of the city under the "minimal changes" option, with the primary impact breaking Walnut up from one district into three. In "Option A", Claremont and South Pomona could be united in one district that would be extremely diverse in terms of demographics and water purveyors.

Again, there are issues of transparency as Redistricting Partners was selected without any indication of the selection process or how they were chosen. The public input on this has been minimal, with one resident comment and one comment from an elected official.

Everyone has a different perspective of their community. Some would like to see Downtown Pomona as part of one district, while others feel that as many council members as possible should share an interest in Downtown. Similarly, City lines may not be important for some people, and having South Pomona and Claremont in the same Water Board district may still be in a community of interest, being on the east end of the County line.

If you don't feel that your community is being kept whole, let your voices be heard. You can write to the members of the City Council here, and to the Three Valleys Municipal Water District at vhahn@tvmwd.com. You can also speak at the public hearing for the Three Valleys Municipal Water District in Claremont at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, or to the City Council at the Council Chambers during public comment some time after 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Repertory Opera Company

Pomona’s Opera Company

presents Gaetano Donizetti's rousing comedy of disguise and deception: Don Pasquale, A Dramma buffo in three acts sung in Italian with English narration.

Brian Farrell at the piano.

Saturdays at 2 pm - February 4, 11 & 18

Wednesday, February 8 at 7 pm

Tickets are $30 for adults. Children $10.

Student Rush with ID $15 on Feb 4 & 8.

Performances are at First Christian Church, 1751 N. Park Ave, Pomona CA 91768

Continuing to bring quality opera performances to our community.

For more information go to www.repertoryoperacompany.org or call (909) 230-4949

Happy New Year

 

As we've left 2011, we now have 2012 to look forward to. This should be an interesting year in our fair city. 

Hopefully the city will move forward on a general plan and the specific plans for the various corridors. How will the elimination of the Redevelopment Agency affect this?

Moving into the new year the Friends of the Pomona Fox has a slate of programs through about May which will be announced as soon as dates are confirmed. The Opera Company has a season set, and the Fox and Glass House are continuing to book quality programs into our thriving downtown.

As always, Pomona Heritage will have its Home Tour in October, and other events as the year progresses and we've always got the downtown 2nd and 4th Saturday events to look forward to.

By May, we should be seeing a flurry of activity leaning toward our civic elections on November 6. Three council districts will be holding elections (the 1st --currently with Danielle Soto representing the area from Garey West to the city line and from the 10 Freeway south to 2nd Street; the 4th--currently with Paula Lantz representing the area from Garey East to the county line and from the 10 freeway south to 2nd Street; and the 6th--currently with Stephen Atcheley representing all of the city north of the 10 freeway; Mayor--currently Elliott Rothman, representing the entire city). Over half of the voting members of the council will be up for election. Sounds like a good time to let our voices be heard regarding what we expect for the next four years.

In addition, there will be at least 2 city items on the ballot with the initiative to restructure how council members are elected in the future, going away from voting limited to districts and expanded to elections for district council members being held on a city-wide basis; and the proposed charter amendments from the Charter Review Commission which completed its work last May. I'm sure there will be a number of posts on both of these issues of vital importance to the city's future.

So with visions of Trash Transfer stations in our past and civic elections in our future, let's hope that we have a good and productive year in Pomona.

Happy New Year!

A Busy Week in Pomona

A reminder that Saturday is the Pomona Christmas Parade. The parade will begin at 2nd and Gibbs Streets in downtown Pomona and travel west on 2nd Street to Park Ave., where it will turn south to 8th Street.

This year's grand marshal is boxer "Sugar" Shane Mosley. This year's community heroes are the military veterans from all wars and eras. We will have veterans from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom as well as those who served in the all to brief periods between those wars. In addition there will be special color guards and military vehicles.

If you get a viewing spot near the community judging area at Thomas Plaza, there will also be a special presentation of colors and a 21 gun salute to the veterans, as well as play by play announcing as the units pass by. There are about 120 different units in the entire parade (including marching bands, equestrians, floats, dignitaries, and local civic organizations), with an estimated 2,000 individual participants.

The parade steps off at 10:00 am sharp and is expected to last about 2 hours. Bring a chair and come early to get a good seat.

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Thursday will see a holiday party by the Pomona Valley Democratic Club at Sakira Ichi restaurant in the Mission Promenade center. Join other Democrats in enjoying some food, beverages, and what will surely be some lively conversation. Click on image at left to enlarge.

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CONGRATULATIONS are in order for the passage of the Pomona Public Arts Policy at last Monday's council meeting. This important new ordinance will ensure that all future development will either have a public art element to it, or that the developer will contribute to an arts in public places fund for future arts projects in our public spaces (parks, highway medians, etc.).

The Pomona Cultural Arts Commission is to be lauded for their hard work over the past three+ years to shepherd this legislation through and to create a viable public arts policy for the enhancement of the entire city.

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I'd like to with everyone who reads this blog the Happiest of Holidays. I'm sure that we'll have a lot more lively debate in 2012 as we face municipal elections in November and (as noted by CalWatch) possible redistricting for Pomona's council districts by June. As well as other things that will come up in the interim.