Candidates show their differences as election draws closer

The city council election is heating up. And there was no shortage of hot Claremont topics cooking at the League of Woman Voters candidate’s forum on Monday night.

Over 100 people came to the Alexander Hughes Community Center to hear candidates Larry Schroeder, Corey Calaycay and Bridget Healy answer questions from the audience.

The event was the third forum for the candidates after events hosted by Active Claremont and the Kiwanis Club two weeks ago.

Many of the questions centered on the economy, economic development and how Claremont will fare through drastically declining revenue. 

Mr. Schroeder believes the city should bring in more businesses that provide needs for the community and support the needs of current business owners. 

Mr. Calaycay talked about bringing in more national chain businesses as a solution. They can anchor shopping centers and sustain the smaller businesses around them, he said. He was also critical of smaller businesses for not wanting stay open after 5 p.m. 

Ms. Healy said marketing efforts should run through the Chamber of Commerce, was supportive of a Business Improvement District in the Village and recommended having a “business friendly city hall.” 

Another question referred to the divide between north and south Claremont and how the candidates would address the perception that the city is not doing enough for the south. 

“When we do capital budgets projects, I will want to see that there is a balance throughout the community,” Mr. Schroeder said. 

Mr. Calaycay said the current council has been taking care of issues in south Claremont, including the pedestrian tunnel on American Avenue, landscaping, median improvement on San Jose Avenue and street resurfacing.

Only Ms. Healy mentioned that getting a supermarket in the area is a top priority, either at Pepper Tree Square or at the old Albertsons site south of the 10 Freeway. 

The final question of the evening sparked some heated comments. Pulling a question from the audience, moderator Barbara Musselman asked the candidates about the CalPERS shortfall for city employees and how the problem should be addressed.

With careers in government behind them, all 3 candidates have personal stakes in the CalPERS system.

Ms. Healy did not think Claremont should make any changes to the system at a local level.

“If we are to address the PERS issue, I believe it needs to be done on a state wide basis,” Ms. Healy said. “I don’t think this is something that Claremont can solve on its own. What concerns me is that if there is no statewide solution, I worry about the impact on recruitment and retention of employees. I worry that employees would leave one city to go to another, for example if Claremont reduced its PERS options …”

Mr. Schroeder said the city should hire an independent actuarial “with experience on this in other cities so we could get fresh perspectives and see what options are available to us.”

“The reality of the situation is the PERS Board is a real political animal,” he said. “And although I think it would be great if we could get legislation through and have somebody sponsor that, it would be a real uphill battle.”

Mr. Calaycay said Claremont could lower the benefit percentages through a 2-tiered system from 2.5 percent at 55 to 2 percent at 55, since the city already offers some benefits more generous than other cities.

“Some of [the problems] need to be worked out through the PERS program and some of it we created ourselves,” he said.

The next candidate's forum will be hosted by the Claremont Chamber of Commerce. It is scheduled for Tuesday, February 10th at the monthly breakfast meeting at the Double Tree Hotel.