Memories of Yiannis

Dear Editor:

I read with sadness that Yiannis Greek Restaurant will close its doors at the end of July. But memories of it need not vanish.

I suggest that owner Greg Gianakos and his family publish a book describing how the restaurant came to be, it’s changes over the years, and a brief background of the people who made it a success. As their pièce de résistance, the book should contain recipes of some of the restaurant’s signature appetizers, meals, and desserts. And there should be a plethora of pictures.

Restaurants come and go. Restaurateurs come and go. But books are forever—almost.

Jay B. Winderman

Claremont

Last lights over Yiannis

Dear Editor:

First walked in

I was 24

That was then

Now no more

70 years old

ready to fold

and so I am told

Yianni’s is sold

Lots of water

over the damn dam

Very sad, I am,

Indeed, I am

To be read slowly, in appropriate dignity with Kentucky’s finest in a glass (no more than three cubes of ice therein). Here’s to the dream of John Gianakos! May perpetual light shine on him. One more toast to the lovely Stella…now, just sip it…

Michael Bever

Mt. Carmel, Illinois

Conscientious cultivation

Dear Editor:

As members of the board of trustees of the Claremont School of Theology and longtime Claremont residents, we invite Paul S. Wheeler and other concerned citizens to join us in conversation about how, given the current climate, we all are taking responsible steps to protect the environment.

CST is conscientiously conserving its use of water on the campus and, with the support of the city of Claremont, looking for ways to address our landscaping needs. Surely this is not about a “religious” divide. 

Diane T. Schuster

Marian V. Brown

Claremont

Dead jacarandas

Dear Editor:

An article in the June 15 COURIER provided information on some of the cuts being implemented to balance the city budget. One of the cuts is an open arborist position with the explanation that two current staff members are certified arborists so there won’t be much of an impact on the city’s urban forest.   

I contacted the Community Services Department in mid-June expressing concern that the Jacaranda trees in the center divider of south Indian Hill Boulevard appear to have died.

The response was that the condition had been noticed the week before, which is as reported in a July 20 COURIER article. With the Jacarandas on both sides of Indian Hill coming into full foliage and those in the center divider not, I wonder how the condition escaped the notice of the city’s landscape contractor and the two staff certified arborists until the trees died.

We have lost the beautiful canopy over the road that is the gateway to Claremont. This is a tragic and inexcusable situation.

Jack Sultze

Claremont

Tree troubles

Dear Editor:

Another catastrophe and waste of money by government! It was an absolutely stupid bureaucratic blunder for Sacramento to dictate wholesale turf removal because of the drought and to offer payment to accomplish such. 

It was a coincident, arrogant, thoughtless waste of hard-earned taxpayer dollars for the city to follow through. Where were the arborists, supposedly on the city payroll, who allowed this preposterous foolishness?

We were forewarned that water shortages and higher temperatures were going to be a fact of life. To mitigate tree damage the intelligent action would have been to stop watering turf several years ago, install drip emitters to begin serious deep watering around trees and when the grass was dead cover it with mulch. This was accomplished by a few thinking gardeners before their hard earned tax monies were wasted on the disaster unfolding.

Enid Eckert

Claremont

Town and gown

Dear Editor:

I agree with Don Fisher (COURIER, June 29) when he says it’s wrong to expect the Colleges to pay more for the police bond simply because they have the money. The issue is not that simple.

Having attended a university in a larger city makes clear the intrinsic relationship between the Claremont Colleges and the surrounding town. 

My experience of this came from a decade of attending seminars at USC one afternoon and evening each week, from 4 to 10 p.m. These seminars were held in a converted residence adjacent to the campus where I had to park curbside on the public street as near as I could to the house. Sometimes it was a block or so away to which I had to return after 10 p.m.

This was not a safe neighborhood, as evidenced by the fact that the young women in the USC sorority houses off campus nearby were provided regular security escorts to and from the edge of the campus two or three blocks away.

This was an impressive testimony to the fundamental difference between the function of the LA city police and our Claremont city police. It is environmental: the civic surroundings of the Claremont Colleges provide a functional legal, social and psychological universe of assurance, 24/7, 365 days a year.

This sturdy guarantee is palpable in the lives of all of the students, (and their parents living in distant places), faculty, staff and townspeople. This was true for us during the 61 years we lived in Claremont. It continues to be true for the residents of our rental houses just a few blocks from the Colleges.

The Claremont police, by their established presence, not just by the number of calls they take or tickets they write, provide a tremendous assurance of our corporate quality of life for both Town and Gown.

The Colleges as institutions benefit enormously in their fundraising successes, not only from their world-class academic power, but also from their safety of surroundings provided by our Claremont police.

This is not simple, but it should be obvious. The Claremont Colleges need to pay a reasonably significant amount for the next bond costs.

Ray and Barbara Fowler

Shreveport, Louisiana

The City of Trees and PHDs

Dear Editor:

Why trust a city with $25 million to build a new police station when they failed at spending over $200,000 rebuilding the Pooch Park?

The pooch park is dirt, grass, sprinklers, water fountains, benches and trash cans; basically landscaping. After years of no proper drainage and the fountains causing standing water and mud puddles we were thrilled the problem was at last going to be solved…not! It is worse than before.

In the middle of the small dog area, they installed two giant concrete storm drains. Why? To add insult to injury the ground between the giant storm drain to nowhere and the walking path has sunk down, creating a giant wet mud hole.

The three water fountains have been causing mud puddles for over 10 years that I’ve been using the park. The city maintenance crew could not fix the problem because of “ lack of drainage.”

After $200,000 and seven months of construction to install giant storm drains, the fountains are still leaking because of no drainage. A side note: The old fountains were reused. I guess whoever was in charge of spending $200,000 couldn’t find a few hundred dollars for new fountains.

Now I’m not a builder, engineer or landscape designer but could someone from the city explain to me why the contractor installed sprinklers around the entire pooch park on the decomposed granite walking path? I figured he probably charged the city around $50,000 for that fiasco.

On the day the park reopened I was present for the ribbon cutting along with the mayor, the maintenance department and various other city employees all with good intentions of patting themselves on the back for refurbishing the park. I personally walked them around the park pointing out all of these problems. They had no answers but they took pictures with cell phones and continued celebrating. As of today nothing’s been corrected and I’m quite sure no one has been fired from the city for incompetence for wasting tax payers’ money.

What’s all this got to do with raising $25 million for a new police station?

Come on we’re the city of trees and PHDs, you can figure it out.

David Leache

Claremont