Neighbors matter

[Editor’s note:?The following letter was addressed to Mayor Corey Calaycay and Councilmembers Jed Leano and Ed Reece, with a copy forwarded for publication. —KD]

Dear Mayor Calaycay, Councilmembers Leano and Reece:

I wanted to officially share my sincere disappointment in your selection of map 124a, drawn by the consultant to preserve your council seats in lieu of the sacredness of our neighborhoods.   

You asked for community engagement, and you received this to include maps drawn by many of us. The regional maps are a soft landing to dividing the city, as it keeps our communities of interest together in a more reasonable fashion.  Rather than embrace our neighborhood identities, you have decided to split our city as any consultant would…down Indian Hill from Arrow Highway north to Claraboya.

Clearly, this is a challenging time for our city, destroying an at-large voting history in 90 short days. The outreach I have received from my neighbors has been from utter disbelief to fatigue in citizenry.

As with many, you do not have my buy-in on this process, your selection and your blatant disregard for our participation.

The regional maps you had to select from were 110 (drawn by a resident) and 115 (drawn by myself and Bill Buehler) or 125 (drawn by the consultant). Your selection of a “ribbon” map appears to be incredibly disingenuous at best.  I do agree we need to preserve a district for south Claremont, but not at the expense of the rest of the city given the design of 124a.

Like neighborhood watch, neighbors matter. As you embark to dismantle our cultural identity of the election process, it is time to respect the cohesion in our neighborhoods and coalesce the insight brought to bear at the workshops and public comment.

The community input cannot be dismissed as an inconvenient truth. This should not be a self-preservation mission.  It stands to reason that you may be facing a fellow councilmember on the ballot to retain your seat, given the close proximity of your homes north of Foothill. This will not be ceded to you as a meritorious endeavor of a 3-2 vote.  

Lastly, I wanted to wholeheartedly thank Mayor Pro Tem Larry Schroeder for his comments at the dais and advocacy for regional maps. I do agree map 110 was the best compromise to preserve the communities of interest, share the Colleges, and provide south Claremont their own district from the railroad tracks to the south with the city’s east/west boundaries.

I also admire Councimember Jennifer Stark’s passion for supporting a citizen-drawn map.

If we don’t have time to do it right, then we must come together and get it done better. Thank you all for your service.

Betty Crocker

Claremont