Lex to the rescue

Dear Editor:

In my line of work, I regularly respond to collisions involving bicycles. They can be traumatic. On a recent solo bicycle collision (rider vs. pavement), the rider sustained significant facial injuries.

Upon my arrival, Mellissa Martinez (Lex in the City) was providing support and basic first aid to the downed rider. She was at the scene before first responders and did everything right. She is an every-day hero.

Officer Nick Martinez

Claremont Police Department

 [Editor’s note:?Mellissa Martinez and Nick Martinez are not related. —KD]

What’s with the water?

Dear Editor:

I would like to poll COURIER readers to learn if anyone else in Claremont is experiencing a bad taste in their water?

I contacted Golden State Water over a month ago, and they indicated that they have no other complaints but sent out a rep to take a sample.

The results indicated there was no problem, however, the results did not show a test for the taste I was getting and still am. Golden State suggested it was my house pipes, which have been completely updated. I spoke to immediate neighbors and they indicate they are also getting a strong taste.

I am purposely not describing the actual taste so no one is influenced. But, I am curious if any one else is having this issue.

Debbie Pass

Claremont

A packed house

Dear Editor:

The Claremont Symphony 2016 Concert for Youth on January 23 had our largest children’s concert audience ever, with well over 500 adults and children of all ages.

The hall was full with very few vacant seats, as Little Bridges was full with children and their families.

I know that both the listing in your calendar section and the Claremont Kid’s section news brief, along with the Harry Potter owl puzzle, contributed significantly to this year’s impressive increase in attendance.

As a nonprofit totally dependent upon individual contributions, we operate on a limited budget and really appreciate the community service aspect of your publication. Thank you very, very much.

Cecilia Cloughly

President

Claremont Symphony Orchestra

Time and place

Dear Editor:

I moved to Claremont in 1948 at the age of four-and-a-half years. My mother, Nadine, graduated from Scripps College and my dad, Paul, taught and became head of the Scripps art department.

I graduated from CMC, took classes at Pomona College and my sister got her degree from Pitzer. My mom, my sister and I all attended the Claremont Graduate School. The City of Trees is also the City of Colleges.

In the late 1940s, there were groves aplenty, the city closed down at 5:30 p.m. and there was no alcohol served inside the city limits. It was a great place to grow up, both safe and secluded. As the years passed, the acres of groves were replaced by homes, the colleges grew, both in size and number, and the small-town atmosphere began to change.

Those who were still in the know kept the Village aspect alive, but soon major building began to happen in the downtown area. First it was the tall structures along the tracks surrounding the train station. Next, the Village West was built and then we had a mall. The small town feel was still there, but it was waning fast. 

As new people moved into Claremont and the old timers died off, less was thought about keeping the small-town attitude alive. 

Claremont is a wonderful place to live and the aspects are bright for the future. However, I feel that building the new Pomona College Museum of Art at the southwest corner of Bonita and College Avenue would be one more way of taking the historical value away from the downtown area.

There are many other sites available that would keep the Colleges and the downtown area the same, but still upgraded. I believe there is a solution that would be better for the big picture and still keep the historical aspect alive and well.

College Avenue is a dividing line between the Colleges and the downtown area. Taking down historic buildings and building on the west side of the street would have a great impact on traffic, and parking and would overcrowd downtown Claremont.

I am in favor of Pomona College reconsidering its choice and building the new museum somewhere else on the eastern side of College Avenue. The museum is not a bad idea, I just feel that the placement choice is a wrong one.

Chris Darrow

Claremont

Town and gown

Dear Editor: 

John Pixley got it right! First, John listed many of the donors to the CLU Community Performance Stage coming together to show their support for this exciting project from not only the Claremont Village but the citizens of Claremont and the Claremont Colleges—truly town and gown.

As John put so beautifully, “It was also a thing of beauty to see that the Colleges have been integral in the building of the stage.” John also pointed out that town-gown “is a core value or at least a core ideal” in our Claremont.

In the almost 30 years since I moved to Claremont, town and gown has truly become not just that value but the core ideal that John speaks of.

On Saturday, January 9, Claremont celebrated not only the stage project coming to fruition but another step in the coming together of town and gown. Town and gown worked together not only on the Shelton Park project, “a piece of art,” but town is looking to support Pomona College’s proposed Museum of Art on the southwest corner of College and Bonita Avenues, kitty-corner from the new performance stage.

When I moved to Claremont, the Village was pretty sleepy with the pharmacy closing on Saturdays at 2 p.m. during the summer. In 2016, the Colleges are busy all year long with many projects being held at the campuses during the summer months; the Village is bustling all year long with concerts, the westerly plaza with incredible new shops and restaurants; the “old” Village is quaint and warm, with independent shop owners and restaurants. 

As we look to continuously improve and grow our little town, we also seek to grow the vibrant relationship between town and gown, each supporting the other.

With the approval of Pomona College’s new world-class museum at the southwest corner of College and Bonita Avenues, we could see the frosting on the cake for not only Claremont in general but the Village businesses specifically. Each new museum visitor could walk out the front entrance, head west on Bonita and visit Rio de Ojas then walk over to the library and past city hall to Saca’s for a great lunch, continuing to Yale to visit one of the clothes shops or the Diamond Center. Heading back up to Bonita and toward the museum, a visitor could stop at Shelton Park to finish the ice cream cone they bought at Bert and Rocky’s. 

We want to thank John Pixley for his clear visioning of the new stage in Shelton Park and what it means for both town and gown, and for putting that vision on paper for all to see and understand. He has added to and given us the perspective that is so necessary when one looks at the additions at the park.

The park and stage are not separate from the whole that is becoming the Village for the town of Claremont. With the addition of Pomona College’s Art Museum, we could become a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, and an example of what happens when people come together to make a thing happen. It takes a village and we have the village in town and gown that truly gives beauty and truth to that oft-quoted remark.

Diana Miller and Catherine T. Curtis

Claremont