Readers’ comments: April 10, 2026

Buyer’s remorse for new South Village plan
Dear editor:
In January 2023 our City Council approved a very ambitious Claremont Village South plan on 24 acres just south of the train tracks. The proposal’s intent was to create a new, mixed-use neighborhood with convenient access to transit by focusing on a mix of high-density rentals, for-sale condominiums, and commercial spaces.
What a difference a few years can make.
Now in April 2026 Newport Beach-based Village Partners, one of the original developers involved, has announced it is ditching its original plan in favor of one that will feature far less housing and no commercial development. Village Partners now proposes only “row house” style townhouses for sale, rather than rent. In last week’s Claremont Courier, City Planner Chris Veirs stated the new development will be “organized by a series of private alleys mostly fronted with garage doors.” What’s more, Village Partners says that this round, they won’t be seeking city approval. Citing new state laws, they hope to bypass both environmental and local government review.
This from a corporation that initially promised Claremont, in the early “glamorous” days of their proposal, that Village South would be about “place-making” rather than the monotonous placement of buildings commonly seen everywhere. In July 2020, Village Partners’ chief architect, internationally-known Stefanos Polyzoides (known locally for his historical rehabilitation of Scripps College), touted this approach when he spoke in Village Partners’ sponsored lecture series.
Additional note: For those interested in viewing an example of Village Partners’ development projects, they can check out Montclair’s new The Village at Montclair, on Arrow Highway.
Pamela Casey Nagler 
Claremont

City should extend rental assistance program
Dear editor:
I have lived in Claremont since 1990. I have always been a tenant. I make a living as a teacher and live in a complex of several small cottages. I am grateful to have been a beneficiary of the city’s rental assistance program for almost a year now, and am concerned this assistance will end in June. My full rent is over 50% of my income and this assistance has been critical. I urge the city to extend this rental assistance program.
Mike Boos
Claremont

Dear editor:
Claremont prides itself as a forward thinking inclusive and livable community that dedicates itself to quality services, sustainability and progress with equal representation for everyone. Yet still we seem to be behind on one of the most pressing issues facing not only California but Claremont itself, housing insecurity.
This June a very crucial rental assistance program will come to an end. We are now two months out and the city has yet to allocate and identify a permanent source of funding to extend the program past June. Furthermore, rather than be proactive and establish some sort of rental stabilization policy to alleviate this financial pressure on renters, the city seems to be satisfied with a significant number of residents being homeless in just a few months.
I would like to see the city stay true to its mission statement and core values so that Claremont can remain a community for all who are fortunate enough to live here!
Joseph Lowe
Claremont

Dear editor:
Hello, my name is Jose Ochoa and I’m part of Claremont Tenants United and I would like to express myself and how the rent stabilization in Claremont is not moving forward but the City Council have offered a rent assistance for low income workers like myself and this assistance will expire next June. City Council will talk about this topic on their next agenda and they are thinking about extending the assistance until December which is great but what will happen if there is no more funds? It puts residents like myself in an uncertain position. I just had my rent increase, it was around $300 and now I have to figure out how to make that at the end of the month. But it also means that next year will be another increase which will be higher than this year. The city needs to work with renters and landlords especially corporate to fix this issues.
Jose Ochoa
Claremont

Re: conspiracy theories
Dear editor:
Conspiracy theories must never be substitutes for democratic principles.
Opanyi Nasiali
Claremont

The Trump way: chaos, corruption and incompetence
Dear editor:
It looks like Trump is in trouble with his base. Loyalists like Laura Ingram, Joe Rogan and Marjorie Taylor Green seem to be done with their orange God and have started to voice complaints.
No big surprise to everyone who suffered through Trump’s chaos and corruption-filled first term. At least back then it was at a lower level because he was surrounded by adults with some experience and reason who provided guardrails.
It’s laughable to now hear MAGA saying “This isn’t what we voted for.” Seriously, this is exactly what you voted for, and not knowing that just shows their level of stupidity and gullibility.
Trump already had two impeachments, 34 felony convictions, and a well-earned reputation for constantly lying. His association with Epstein was well documented. Jack Smith’s investigations into Trump’s responsibility for the January 6 attempted coup and his theft of classified papers hidden in Mar-a-Lago were also well known.
So here we are with the same Trump but no guardrails. He has filled his cabinet and key government positions with loyalists that have no experience or morals. Our government is now run by a megalomaniac racist and his enablers, made up of the keystone cops, frat boys and those from the island of misfits toys. Doesn’t look like the cavalry is coming until November when it will bite Trump on his big orange ass!
Sydney Pollard
Claremont

‘No Kings’ protester’s ‘foul-mouthed blathering’
Dear editor:
I don’t know 19-year-old Pitzer student Aidan Evans, but once he sobers up from the “‘No Kings’ leaves the good kind of hangover” rally [Going There, April 3], I wonder if he’ll reflect back on how he expressed himself in Claremont’s local newspaper. How will he respond after graduation to a prospective employer in an interview when the interviewer asks him to explain his expletive filled rant? I also wonder how he will feel about 30-plus years from now when his kids do a Google search on their phones and read about good ol’ dad’s newspaper interview. And then further down the family tree to potential grandkids? In contrast, what do his parents think? I also don’t know about anyone else, but if I were in Aidan’s shoes, then I’d try to figure out a way to scrub the internet and print editions of the Courier to retract my foul-mouthed blathering.
Alex Pilz
Claremont