City of Trees needs to live up to its name
Dear editor:
Our City Council’s 2026 priorities include the following: “Ensure that the City’s Sustainable City Plan, Urban Forest Management Plan, General Plan, Municipal Code, Tree Policies and Guidelines Manual; internal policies/procedures; and staff/contractor qualifications and instructions are all consistent with best urban forest practices and with one another, and are effective in preserving and expanding our City’s Urban Forest, both public and private.”  Responsibility is assigned to our community services department, which physically plants, trims and removes trees.
The 2026-28 City Council Work Plan Objectives were on the council’s agenda this week. This was an opportunity to make needed improvements to the process for accomplishing the above Priority. I urge my fellow Claremont residents to express their support for improvements to our process by emailing  cityclerk@claremontca.gov or by calling (909) 399-5461 or (909) 399-5463.
First, our planning staff in the community development department, not only our community services staff who physically implement plans, should be involved in work on the plans mentioned above.
Second, plans and their implementation should be reviewed by a commission which includes certified urban foresters and other relevant natural resource professionals. They possess expertise and credibility, as the architects on our architectural and preservation commission possess. Now we have only a three person tree committee. To my knowledge it’s currently our only committee which is merely a sub-committee of a commission. It does not include qualified professionals.
Council should consider appointing an ad hoc citizens’ committee to recommend the details. This has worked well in past years on other topics.
Our tree canopy will be even more important to us as our planet heats up. We need to protect and improve it. Other natural resources can also be addressed as we pay more effective attention to our natural environment.
Bob Gerecke
Claremont

Eighth grader’s letter inspires hope
Dear editor:
What a delight to read eighth grader Peregrine Hodge’s beautifully crafted and articulate letter to the editor [“Comfort zones are overrated”] in the March 6 Courier.
Reading of her experience as a volunteer at Ivy Park assisted living home gave me hope for the future of the youth in our country. Her parents, teachers and community should be proud of the example she has set. Would that more kids these days would follow in her footsteps.
Nancy Jones
Claremont

Trump is gaming the system
Dear editor:
Trump falsely declared an economic emergency, wrongfully invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose illegal tariffs. Likewise Trump and his enablers are in the process of making it hard for American citizens to vote by claiming to stop non-citizens from voting fraudulently.
This too is false!
Opanyi Nasiali
Claremont

It’s time to clean house
Dear editor:
We were promised that he wouldn’t get us into any more “forever wars.” Yet here we are. Our bad for believing this serial liar. President Bush was wrong when, stumbling through his words he uttered, “Fool me once … uh … uh … can’t get fooled again.”  Apparently not so.
The bombs and missiles fall and the Middle East is ablaze. With the Strait of Hormuz closed to tanker traffic, the price of oil has shot up to over $100 a barrel. Gas prices in the U.S. are headed up to $6, maybe $10 per gallon. Talk about affordability.
When asked about that girls’ school destroyed with over 165 students between 7 and 12 years old, Trump had no answer. The enmity from this wanton killing will fester for generations. Though there’s clear and incontrovertible evidence that the school was hit by a Tomahawk missile, all Trump could mutter was, well maybe the Iranians had one.  Pathetic. Nuremburg awaits him.
Meanwhile Trump’s great BFF supplies Iran with targeting information to kill more Americans.
Is all this to distract us from the FBI files of a 13-year-old girl allegedly raped by Trump at an Epstein party? And no FBI investigation? Why do those self-righteous, GOP partisans of “family values” continue to protect this pedophile?
It has been said that over 1,000 persons were involved in this international child sex trafficking operation. And only two were ever brought up on charges? And one of them is dead under suspicious circumstances and the other languishes in a country club prison awaiting her presidential pardon.
A lot to cover up.
Time to clean house. Every single MAGA toady needs to be swept from office this coming November. We want our democracy back.
John C. Forney
Claremont

It’s not right …
Dear editor:
It’s not right, what happened January 6th. It’s not right that your child holds up a sign denouncing only big bad Trump when for 16 years the Democrats have governed this state and now your child’s future is in jeopardy. It’s not right California ranks seventh highest in the nation in sales tax, we have the highest gas prices and the highest gas tax. It’s not right that oil refineries leave the state. It’s not right that businesses leave the state. It’s not right that the education of your child ranks (depending on the subject) 44th or 29th in the nation. It’s not right for California to have the largest pupil-to-teacher ratio in the U.S. It’s not right for people to lose their home and the insurance companies do not pay (where is the insurance commissioner?). It’s not right that the amount of money spent on the homeless hasn’t solved the problem. It’s not right for state and national officials to hide and not be transparent. It’s not right that males are allowed in female’s bathrooms or sports.
It’s not right. It just is not right. It’s not.
For a moment think about what kind of job your child will have to have in order for him/her to afford an apartment or qualify for a home mortgage and still live in California, much less Claremont.
It is great to live in America. Praise God.
David Stedman
Claremont

Democrats are ruining California
Dear editor:
In the 1980s, California had over 40 oil refineries. One year ago, we were down to just nine. In the last six months, two more refineries have closed! Completely closed! Now we’re down to only seven.
But that’s not the end of the bad news. On February 25, PBF, a company that still operates two oil refineries in California, sent a letter to the California Air Resources Board warning that it is now seriously considering shutting down their refineries as well. Leaving us with only five refineries. Then, mere days later, Chevron — which operates another two refineries — sent their own letter, warning “proposed regulation will cripple the survivability of the state’s remaining refineries.” If all four of those refineries close, we’re looking at only three remaining.
And why is this happening? Because of Gov. Newsom’s extremist appointees to the California Air Resources Board and our far-left Democrat-controlled legislature. The hostility and oppressive micro-management and over-regulation coming from those two bodies make it impossible for oil refineries to exist, as a business, in California.
And what’s the answer from Democrats who run every aspect of our state government? So far, nothing. We’re going on 30 years of massive Democrat incompetence.
In fact, the level of Democrat incompetence in managing the state of California is stunning. It’s actually quite frightening. Imagine that our way of life and prosperity are in the hands of such clueless and incompetent people.
If Sacramento Democrats do not change course now, every Californian is starring at a fuel Armageddon.
But Democrat cluelessness and incompetence seem to assail us everywhere we turn. Remember last year’s Eaton and Palisades wildfires? And the multi-billion-dollar high-speed rail boondoggle to nowhere? And … ?
It’s time for us to select much more competent people to manage our state. That means, no more Democrats.
Douglas Lyon
Claremont

Plenty of money for U.S. ‘holy war’
Dear editor:
Our military has been infiltrated by Christian nationalists. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has reported receiving over 200 complaints from service members in all branches of the U.S. armed forces that their commanders are justifying the Iran war by using extremist Christian rhetoric of the “end times” and that it was all part of “God’s divine plan.” A noncommissioned officer said that their commander cited the “Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ.”
The Guardian reported “[The commander] said that ‘President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,’” the NCO told The Guardian.
White Christian nationalist, abuser of women, former weekend host on FOX, and so-called Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth has raised alarm bells as he has “transformed the Pentagon into the staging ground for an ideological and religious crusade,” according to The Guardian.
This is very troubling to me, as it should be to all Americans. I have many Christian friends who are intelligent, kind, and reasonable people who do not think this way. What I don’t understand is the perspective of someone who does believe that America should be a white Christian theocracy, someone who has suspended disbelief and is willing to accept this as a legitimate justification for waging war.
It is estimated the war is costing $890 million per day. At this rate, a month will cost $26 billion and $312 billion per year. The total cost to extend the ACA subsidies beyond 2025 is estimated to be $30 billion to $40 billion.
How is it “Christian” for the U.S. to spend this much to kill people in Iran when we can’t even afford to provide healthcare, childcare, food, and housing for our own citizens?
M.Boos
Claremont