Claremont bullish on bike tour return in 2012
Claremont bullish on bike tour return in 2012
Wes Woods II, Staff Writer
Created: 07/05/2011 06:06:05 PM PDT
CLAREMONT - City officials are putting the brakes on the Amgen Tour of California returning here in 2012 but would be willing to consider the bike tour's return in 2013.
The caution is due to the extensive planning needed to host the event, and the city's funding already being tied down in its two-year operating budget.
The council late last month released financial information related to the impact on Claremont of the tour's mountainous seventh stage starting in the city on May 21.
"We're for sure not going to go after it next year," Mayor Sam Pedroza said.
"We already had a meeting set up this time last year to get it when we got it."
The city and Chamber of Commerce will probably have to contribute about $15,000 to make up for a shortfall in revenues.
Any savings will be divided and returned to the city's general fund and the chamber, officials said.
City Manager Jeff Parker said the city was in a poor position to raise a lot of money from the tour.
"We just don't have a big enough corporate pool to go fundraising," Parker said. "We have some major constraints."
For example, Toyota is one of the first businesses that city officials go to to sponsor big events. The motor company decided not to get involved because the tour was sponsored by a competitor, Nissan, Parker said.
Another issue was a lack of hotel rooms available from which for the city could make revenues.
"The number of hotel rooms we had to provide for them the night before the race, just as a host city, nearly tapped out most of our hotel rooms," said Colin Tudor, assistant to the city manager. "So there's not a whole lot of extra lodging we might be able to pick up."
Some businesses have said the tour's stop in the Inland Valley should be considered a failure because it didn't bring in the anticipated number of people.
Council members acknowledged the event's hit-and-miss impact with businesses at a June council meeting.
"When Bert & Rockys (Cream Company at 242 Yale Ave.) came back and said we didn't do so good ... they really made an effort, that kind of shocked me," Councilman Larry Schroeder.
The council on June 28 discussed forming an exploratory committee to find early sponsorship commitments if the event would return.
Council members also stated that a proposal to host the tour would only be submitted under certain conditions.
The conditions included:
If $150,000 to $200,000 could be raised in sponsors for the event by July 2012.
If the city manager determines there are sufficient staff resources available to dedicate three to five city staff members for 10 to 20 hours per week to the effort from January to May 2013. The race responsibilities will impact the day-to-day workloads of city departments and could cause other projects to be delayed.
Councilman Opanyi Nasiali said he had mixed feelings about Claremont again hosting the event.
"Don't get me wrong, I was excited about having the event," Nasiali said. "At one point, I thought we could do it again until after reading Colin's staff report and what was involved and I'm shy now ... I'm leaning toward if it involves staff time I don't think we should be going that way. But that doesn't mean we can't try another time or another year."
Representatives from AEG, which owns and operates the tour, expressed interest in returning to Claremont, but not necessarily in 2012.
The seventh stage of the tour ran from Claremont to Mt. Baldy with a stop in Azusa and Glendora.
Cyclists started at the Claremont Depot at First Street and Harvard Avenue, made two loops through the Claremont Village, headed up College Avenue and onto Foothill Boulevard. The race continued on Mills Avenue to Mt. Baldy Road. Cyclists took a detour along Glendora Mountain Road before heading back up Mt. Baldy Road.
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