MARIJUANA DISPENSARY BAN EXTENDED BY CITY COUNCIL/PAGE 4 t Claremont ourier Friday, February 22, 2019 u $1.50 C claremont-courier.com COURIER photo/Peter Weinberger The storm that blew through Thursday morning brought the snow level down to 3500 feet in the San Gabriel moun- Powder puff tains. Although the snow was not low enough to hit Potato Mountain, bottom of photo. Public works officials have had a busy winter managing the flow of million of gallons water flowing from higher elevations. Check our story PAGE 3 and photos on page 3. Questions raised after historic sign removal / PAGE 5 t CHS boys varsity tennis prep for another winning season / PAGE 8 t Make a fire, grab your coffee and... LETTERS/PAGE 2 CALENDAR/PAGE 12 visit claremont-courier.com. OBITS/PAGE 11 CLASSIFIEDS/PAGE 22 t Claremont COURIER/Friday, February 22, 2019 2 READERS’ COMMENTS ADVENTURES IN HAIKU Neighbors matter we need to preserve a district for south Five districts will cut Claremont, but not at the expense of the 114 Olive Street [Editor’s note: The following letter was ad- off our nose to spite our face. dressed to Mayor Corey Calaycay and Coun- rest of the city given the design of 124a. Claremont, CA 91711 Divide and conquer? (909) 621-4761 cilmembers Jed Leano and Ed Reece, with a Like neighborhood watch, neighbors Office hours Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m. copy forwarded for publication. —KD] matter. As you embark to dismantle our —Dennis Lloyd to 5 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. cultural identity of the election process, it Dear Mayor Calaycay, Councilmembers Haiku submissions should reflect upon life Leano and Reece: is time to respect the cohesion in our Publisher and Owner neighborhoods and coalesce the insight or events in Claremont. Please email entries I wanted to officially share my sincere to [email protected]. Peter Weinberger brought to bear at the workshops and pub- [email protected] disappointment in your selection of map 124a, drawn by the consultant to preserve lic comment. Editor your council seats in lieu of the sacred- The community input cannot be dis- Kathryn Dunn missed as an inconvenient truth. This [email protected] ness of our neighborhoods. You asked for community engagement, should not be a self-preservation mission. GOVERNING It stands to reason that you may be facing Newsroom and you received this to include maps OURSELVES drawn by many of us. The regional maps a fellow councilmember on the ballot to City Reporter retain your seat, given the close proxim- Agendas for city meetings are Matthew Bramlett are a soft landing to dividing the city, as it [email protected] keeps our communities of interest to- ity of your homes north of Foothill. This available at www.ci.claremont.ca.us gether in a more reasonable fashion. will not be ceded to you as a meritorious Sports Reporter endeavor of a 3-2 vote. Tuesday, February 26 Steven Felschundneff Rather than embrace our neighborhood City council closed session, 5:15 p.m. identities, you have decided to split our Lastly, I wanted to wholeheartedly [email protected] thank Mayor Pro Tem Larry Schroeder City council, 6:30 p.m. city as any consultant would...down In- Council Chamber, 225 W. Second St. Photo Editor/Staff Photographer dian Hill from Arrow Highway north to for his comments at the dais and advo- Steven Felschundneff Claraboya. cacy for regional maps. I do agree map [email protected] Clearly, this is a challenging time for 110 was the best compromise to preserve Arts & Entertainment our city, destroying an at-large voting his- the communities of interest, share the Mick Rhodes tory in 90 short days. The outreach I have Colleges, and provide south Claremont READERS’ COMMENTS [email protected] received from my neighbors has been their own district from the railroad tracks Send readers’ comments via email to [email protected] from utter disbelief to fatigue in citizenry. to the south with the city’s east/west [email protected] or by Obituaries As with many, you do not have my boundaries. mail or hand-delivery to 114 Olive St, Mick Rhodes buy-in on this process, your selection and I also admire Councimember Jennifer Claremont, CA 91711. The deadline [email protected] your blatant disregard for our participa- Stark’s passion for supporting a citizen- for submission is Tuesday at 5 p.m. Video Producer tion. drawn map. Letters are the opinion of the writer, Matt Weinberger The regional maps you had to select If we don’t have time to do it right, then not a reflection of the COURIER. Let- from were 110 (drawn by a resident) and we must come together and get it done ters should not exceed 300 words. Viewpoints should not exceed 700 Production 115 (drawn by myself and Bill Buehler) better. Thank you all for your service. or 125 (drawn by the consultant). Your se- Betty Crocker words. We cannot promise publication Ad Design/Real Estate pages Claremont of letters. Grace Felschundneff lection of a “ribbon” map appears to be incredibly disingenuous at best. I do agree Page Design Kathryn Dunn Website Peter Weinberger Advertising Advertising Director Mary Rose [email protected] Classified Editor Rachel Fagg [email protected] Business Administration Office Manager/Legal Notices Vickie Rosenberg [email protected] Billing/Accounting Manager Dee Proffitt Distribution/Publications Manager Tom Smith [email protected] Circulation/Subscriptions [email protected] The Claremont COURIER (United States Postal Service 115-180) is published once weekly by the Courier Graphics Corporation at 114 Olive Street, Claremont, California 91711-5003. The COURIER is a newspaper of general circulation as defined by the political code of the state of California, entered as pe- riodicals matter September 17, 1908 at the post office at Claremont, California under the act of March 3, 1879. Periodicals postage is paid at Claremont, Cali- fornia 91711. Single copy: $1.50. Annual subscrip- tion: $61. Send all remittances and correspondence about subscriptions, undelivered copies and changes of address to the COURIER, 114 Olive Street, Clare- mont, CA 91711. Telephone: 909-621-4761. Copy- right © 2019 Claremont COURIER one hundred and eleventh year, number 08 Claremont COURIER/Friday, February 22, 2019 4 Council extends ordinance to ban marijuana dispensaries cient lessons learned or best practices in order to she said. “I think this is disservicing so many people, he Claremont city council ap- bring a regulatory scheme to the council,” Mr. Tudor especially in this community.” proved an ordinance extending its said. Most of the council was on board with extending ban on commercial marijuana dis- While the new ordinances extend the status quo in the ban. Mayor Pro Tem Larry Schroeder said that T Claremont, the city council can bring parts of the or- due to the confusion at the state level, it wouldn’t be pensaries in the city, but may revisit the dinance back for further discussion down the road, the right time. If the city relaxes restrictions, he said, issue in the future. Mr. Tudor said. one aspect to figure out would be zoning—or, where The two ordinances—an emergency ordinance ef- The first ordinance, passed in October 2016, to put a legal dispensary in Claremont. fective immediately and a regular or- amended existing codes to ban commercial dispen- “I can’t picture in my own mind a dispensary in the dinance, extends the current ban on CITY saries opening within the city before Prop 64 eventu- Village,” he said. “It just isn’t in that character.” commercial dispensaries within city COUNCIL ally passed that November. At the time, Claremont Councilmember Jennifer Stark noted that, “It isn’t limits that was set to expire. The was concerned that illegal dispensaries could open up prudent to put ourselves in a position before we have original ban, passed in 2016, was in anticipation of within the city, and took a “wait and see” approach to the right structure.” Proposition 64, which legalized recreational use of see how the new regulations would work in cities Councilmember Jed Leano, however, refused to marijuana in California. without similar bans. vote yes on a ban ordinance unless the city looks into Assistant City Manager Colin Tudor told the coun- Mr. Tudor told the council that part of the reason four parts of legalizing recreational marijuana sales— cil that the extension was in response to the slower the ban needed to be extended was that regulations What is the need in Claremont, what are the revenue than anticipated rollout of regulations from the state. from the state were handed down only a few months opportunities, what are the concerns and how the city “At this point staff does not feel that there are suffi- ago—not enough time to propose any regulatory could mitigate those concerns. framework within the city. There are also concerns He noted that on WeedMaps.com, an online data- about a legitimate marijuana market not growing as base of dispensaries in a given area, there are roughly well as initially thought, due to a high tax rate. 30-40 delivery drivers bringing weed to Claremonters “We’re just not at that point to be able to say, here’s at any given time. Delivery services from dispensaries Free mulch avail- what works, here’s what makes sense,” Mr. Tudor outside of Claremont are currently legal. said. “To suggest that we won’t even listen to one of the able at Cahuilla Park During public comment, Sam and Nicole Lanni of revenue opportunities for that, to me that’s just not ac- Feeling Groovy Wellness urged the city council to ceptable,” Mr.