Mayor's Roundtable: North Vs. South?

Glendora Mayor Doug Tessitor fields your community questions and answers them in a weekly column. In Glendora Patch’s Mayor’s Roundtable, you are invited in an ongoing dialogue about issues and concerns you have regarding your city. Share your ideas and voice your opinion.

Have a question you'd like Mayor Tessitor to answer? E-mail hazel.lodevicotoo@patch.com

Question:

It has become very obvious from our recent election campaign that there is a divide between north and south Glendora. Why do you think that's so? In what ways can the city bridge that gap so that all of Glendora can feel represented?

Answer:

Let’s assume, just for the moment, that there is a divide between North and South. Is it a result of bias or some other factor or combination of factors?  I would maintain that if there is a divide it would be caused by several geographic factors, rather than bias.  Let me name a few possibilities.

The South Hills and the freeway provide a physical barrier that tends to discourage people in the south from venturing north and vice versa.  Natural and easily accessible shopping areas would be found South toward Covina, East to San Dimas and West to Azusa and West Covina.  Generally speaking access to North Glendora would require significant detours to the relatively few streets with direct access to Route 66 or the Village.  Those same barriers limit access to recreational amenities.  People tend to gravitate along the paths of least resistance.

Our local schools are served primarily by two districts, Glendora USD in the North and Charter Oak USD in the South.  Student activities and parental involvement necessarily focus around the location of the school facilities.  The social patterns that are created by this institutional structure militate against a healthy interaction between Northern Glendora and Southern Glendora students and parents.  Relationships are hindered and separation results.

The creation a number of years ago of the 91741 zip code for Glendora north of Route 66 and the retention of 91740 for Glendora south of Route 66, created two Glendoras.  This “official” postal designation of North and South turned perception into fact in some minds.  Well intentioned Glendorans, thinking in terms of one Glendora are faced with the postal reality of north and south zip code designations – there must be a difference, the US Government says so!

You ask what the city can do, if there is a division, to enable “all of Glendora” to feel represented.  The implication of your questions is that some Glendorans, presumably those that live in the South, feel that they are not represented.  Let’s look at some facts.

Glendora’s most modern recreation facility, the spectacular Louis Pompei Sport Park, was built in the last six years in South Glendora.  The Tim Crowther Teen Center was built in the last decade in South Glendora.

Gladstone has been repaved from Citrus Avenue to Lone Hill – the most extensive repaving project in Glendora in the last decade.  New traffic signals have been installed as well.  Gladstone Park has received a new “Conservation Garden”.  Hiking trails in the South Hills have been refurbished, widened and improved.  Glendora Avenue south of Dawson Ave is due to be repaved in the next few months.

I submit that any fair reading of the facts would demonstrate that Glendorans, no matter where they live in the city, are represented fairly.