Parking problems?

Dear Editor:

The recent city council approval of the Harvard Avenue parking permit program made me think of the parking situation that happens in the Claremont Village.

As a student of the Claremont Colleges, one of the best ways to spend a weekend night is in the Village. While it is possible to walk to the Village from campus, the parking apparatuses currently employed are truly a godsend for when we drive.

The parking structure next to the Packing House without question gets filled to the brim on the weekends, but luckily the flow of people to and from always opens up a spot.

Some of my fondest memories made during my time in Claremont are from the Village. Whether it be getting a slice of pizza, sipping a cup of coffee, or enjoying a brisk night’s walk with some live music, it was all made possible because of the free parking that the Village provides.

I understand the concern residents have of fighting for a space to park their cars. However, I hope that the policy of parking in the Village stays the same.

Free parking is a luxury that we take for granted and only when it’s gone do we notice.

Patrick Chen

Claremont

District-based elections

Dear Editor:

I was glad to read that past Mayor Peter Yao supports the move to district-based elections as a way to spread democracy. Certainly that is the point.

It’s nice to think that all the people who live and pay taxes in Claremont are one big happy family. I think the failure of the vote for the police station shows that’s not true.

When Jim Keith wrote that the “new people” would have to pay for the station, he angered more people than he realized. New people, in the thinking of the Claremont “old guard,” appears to be anyone who moved here after 1979 and was not covered by Prop 13. 

Karen Rosenthal exhibits that same kind of mind set when she tells us district elections will lead to conflicts within the city.

There are conflicts now, which never get heard because council members pretty much come from the same parts of town and the same groups of people. Surely Ms. Rosenthal, of all people, ought to remember that there are plenty of unaddressed conflicts.

She was mayor during what I remember as one of the worst times of citizen protests in this city, when a young African-American motorist was killed by the police. Perhaps if district-based elections were the law then the council would have understood and dealt with those protests much more effectively.

Let’s not be afraid of more democracy. Inclusion of all the citizens is the right way to run the city.

Dawn Sharp

Claremont