Wednesday, July 30, 2008

The Day After

Before (courtesy of unknown L.A. Times photographer)


After (courtesty of our own Richard E.)


Parts of Pomona took a beating physically in the earthquake yesterday. Combine that with the public relations beating we take everyday and well, Ouch! It's nice to know that we do have plenty of people and organizations devoted to propping up Pomona. To name a few:



The Downtown Pomona Owners Association . Find out all about them in this info-film, which shares their accomplishments and future goals.

Daily Bulletin columnist David Allen devoted most of his Wednesday column to things to do in Pomona. And Ed, over at M-M-M-My POmona has been doing a great job of inventoring weekly events in Pomona, and pointing out that Pomona is not nearly as violent a place as our surrounding cities.


And lastly, three cheers go out to Victory Outreach, who does their part to help a certain segment of society. Their building on Garey across from the public library appears to have suffered a crack or two on the tower portion.



All of the photographs today, save the first one, were taken by Richard E. Nunez, copyright 2008.

15 comments:

Ms. Lois said...

G of P,

Please tell Mr. Big that the library has been fixed. We're not broken anymore! We will be opening as usual at 12:00pm and we will have our reader's theater rehearsal at 2:30pm and our puppet show at 3:30pm.

We checked out the Goddess to make sure she was okay. She has moved forward a bit and her door to her cabinet was open.

City Hall is open as well.

me said...

I'll take the Goddess statue moving forward as a great sign. May the City do the same!

G of P

Anonymous said...

Hi G of P,

I am not positive, but I think that I had noticed that crack on the church's tower prior to the shaker.

Oh, and thanks for a great blog on the city of Pomona!

Anonymous said...

So I got word last night that the city is mandating for the Kitron Building to come down ASAP, no word from the owner of what he will do with the land. I guess another hole and metal fence like the one on 2nd Street.

me said...

Not good news. If it has to be, I hope the sign can go up somewhere. Problem is that I don't trust a City that has rushed to tear down other structures. John, do you know about this?

G of P

Anonymous said...

GofP,

What is the exact address of this building? Do you know who owns it?

John Clifford said...

Pomona Heritage has been making phone calls to determine the exact status of the building. Here's what we found out.

The building has been "red tagged" meaning that it is unfit for occupancy. The red tag requires that the owner of the property get a structural engineer to make a determination as to the best way to ensure the public safety with the building. That could mean either retrofitting, or demolition, but demolition is NOT required.

If demolition is requested by the owner, then it would go through the normal COA (Certificate of Appropriateness) process which would require review by the Pomona Historic Preservation Commission.

Pomona Heritage is extremely concerned as this is a building which is a major contributor to the National Register Edison District, which includes both sides of the 500 block of West Second Street. We need to ensure that one of our few National Register landmarks is preserved, if at all possible.

Anonymous said...

Is this the building that tv reporters were camping out at, hoping to catch footage of it falling down? It looks like a stiff breeze may finish the job...

Anonymous said...

What other buildings has the City rushed to tear down GofP?

John Clifford said...

Anon 4:42 pm.

According to the Daily Bulletin, the building is owned by Perry Tollet of the Glass House.

Anonymous said...

Okay, things are starting to get ugly, it seems like the city is ready to bring down this building regardless of what the owner proposes.

As of yesterday the owner of the building proposed a plan to reinforce the building and keep it in place, the city however did not agree with the timeline layed out and made the owner aware that if he didnt pay for the demolition they would take it down for him (so much for historic society) and bill him for it.
Because the owner is not a "licensed demo" expert he doesnt have the choice of bringing it down himself.
So this is what I've gathered so far.

A day after the earthquake they gave him notice to take immediate action.

He follows this presenting a step by step plan on how he will procceed in the next 3 months.

The city rejects and makes him aware that he needs to bring it down, their is no real option to keep it.

The owner puts together a plan on how he will bring it down, he consults with his his engineer/architect (the same guy that helped him build the bar next to the Glasshouse), they submit another step by step plan.

The city REJECTS that plan, stating that the time frame layed out isn't fast enough (meanwhile there is still a board up in place for a window at city hall that is yet to be replaced)

And thats pretty much it, the city doesnt want to hear it, they just want it down, simple as that.

Ill keep you posted. I hate to sound inpartial above but truth is from keeping up with the owner, this is what I've gather from it. It would suck to drive away one of the few things that work Downtown(The Glasshouse) because of the way the city operates.

But anyway.

John Clifford said...

Pomona Heritage has once again made the appropriate calls to get the "offical" word on what's happening with that property.

The word we get is that Perry Tollet did, indeed, present a plan for shoring up the building. What we were told is that for the city to be able to sign off on that plan, that they needed a structural engineer to sign off so that the plan will bring the building to a safe condition. Again, according to the officials at the city, it is this engineers signoff that is needed. They didn't say anything about schedule or threats to tear it down.

We'll check on this further, but we've let the city know that we are very concerned with this issue and will be watching it carefully. They have a clear understanding that we will not condone any actions by the city which are counter to preserving historic structures unless there is imminent danger to the public.

Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and the city can work out details with Perry Tollet.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info John. Anon (8:22AM) your such a bad reporter, you must work for the Daily Bulletin.

Anonymous said...

"youre such a bad reporter you must work for the daily bulletin..."

classic.

I spoke with Perry about this and part of what Anno. says is true, but its not as bad as it was painted above.

I don't think the city would allow for another hole with a fence around it to be erected downtown...
but than again, who knows.

Patrizzi Intergarlictica said...

I heard you sigh, Goddess. I worried. Any and all pictures you post of the sweetness in Pomona that still exists are greatly appreciated.


Hope all is well.

Blog on.