A costly awareness campaign

Dear Editor:

After Claremont residents overwhelmingly rejected Measure PS, supporters of the measure, including our city council, were claiming Measure PS a success! Really?

Where else but in politics can victory be claimed at the hands of a 3-1 drubbing? We live in a time where up is down, black is white, no is yes and defeat is victory. It’s a dangerous time, because when words have no meaning, there is no accountability.

It seems our elected officials would have us believe that the objective of Measure PS was to raise awareness of the need for a new police station, not to actually move forward on a new facility the taxpayers would support.

Make no mistake, Measure PS was a failure! The election alone cost Claremont taxpayers $138,000. That’s right, over $30 per vote cast. Holy cow!

If the objective was to raise awareness, it would have been much cheaper to place 50 full-page, color ads in the COURIER. The cost for a full year would have been less than half the cost of administering the November election for just a single failed measure.

Now, looking forward, a new committee has been formed to go back to the drawing board, probably hire more architects, planners and engineers, and propose a “Plan B.”

Let me remind the new committee, in three words, why Measure PS was doomed from the start: location, cost, financing. The residents of Claremont will support a modest, centrally-located facility, financed in a way that minimizes financing costs. A palace on the fringes of town, financed with expensive debt over 40 years will not get the support needed to move forward.

Let’s get it right next time. Claremont residents want responsible action, not more awareness.

Matt Magilke

Claremont

Who reads anymore?

Dear Editor:

Overheard at the Claremont Forum Bookshop’s $1 Book Sale:

Customer: “Do you know anything about the new bookstore opening in Claremont?”

Forum Bookshop employee: “No. What a weird idea to open a bookstore. Nobody reads books anymore.” (Takes the customer’s money for the books they have purchased and goes back to staring at their phone).

Gina Ortiz

Claremont

Give her a hand

Dear Editor:

I was amused to observe the photo on page 3 of the COURIER issue of December 25, 2015 in which a woman and four men, some of whom appear to be fairly sturdy types, are seen gazing off into space, evidently not moved to help the woman climbing the very steep steps below them, with a piano.

I would have expected that, although the piano is miniature in size, it was nonetheless large enough that one of these fine gentlemen might have come to the lady’s assistance. Oh, chivalry, where have you gone?

Don Fisher

Claremont