POMONA - More than 100 people gathered Monday night to talk about a shooting at Ted Greene Park that touched many across the city.

"We're here to talk about murders, we're here to talk about crime," said Joe Romero, former chief of the Pomona Police Department and a life-long resident of the city.

The Jan. 29 incident started with an altercation and ended with the death of two teens, left another wounded and the arrest of six others - one 17, four of them 16 and one 14, who is accused of being the gunman. Two of the arrested are siblings.

The forum, "The Voices of the Community," at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church was meant to provide a place to talk about the incident and offer a way to begin healing after the traumatic incident, organizers said.

Romero said he realized the forum was not meant to point fingers but everyone should think carefully and look at themselves.

"Look in the mirror and point at yourself. What are you doing" to address violence, he said.

Romero said he is involved with organizations such as the Boys & Girls Club of Pomona Valley and others but that's not enough.

Everyone must do more and get others involved to reach young people before they engage in negative activities.

"After the fact means another young person has died," he said.

He urged those gathered to work for the benefit of youth because "lots of young lives are at stake," Romero said.

Sonya Steward, a senior at Village Academy High School, was among those in attendance.

"We all know what happened at Ted Greene Park," she said. "To know all these young men were my age and younger hurts me."

These are difficult financial times and governmental agencies are facing cuts to their budgets.

"But that's no excuse to let people die," she said. "Why don't we go back to the old days and find a way to make things happen?"

William Welch with the violence prevention and intervention group "Stop the Violence Increase the Peace Foundation" said Pomona residents must make a decision to work together and end violence.

"Nothing is going to get done if the people of Pomona don't come together as a unit," Welch said.

"Do you want to live or die? Do you want your kids to live or die? . . . It's up to each and every one of you to take a stance. It's your community."

People around the city are already trying to create an environment free of violence but others must back them and lend a hand.

Rancho Cucamonga resident Nina Erving grew up in Pomona and left the forum feeling she can play a part in creating a better environment in Pomona.

"Basically, there's always something for us to do," she said. "I grew up here...and you want to help people grow up."

Her job is now to find a way of helping whoever needs her assistance, she said.

Ed Sharp, a member of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church who lives in Chino, said to deal with Pomona's problems "it's going to take all of us."

The forum was organized by the Cultural Equity and Race Relations group, or ClEARR, which includes representatives of various Pomona entities including the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan Community Board, the Pomona Unified School District, the city of Pomona and the Pomona Valley Human Relations Council.

Those involved in organizing the forum said it accomplished the goal of letting people express their feelings related to the shooting so they can take the next step which is working on solutions to youth violence.

"That's the beginning in the process of healing," said Candace Barry, a member of the Pomona Valley Human Relations Council.

In the days following the forum the group will be working on several things, said Fernando Meza, a member of the group and the interim administrative director of pupil and community services at Pomona Unified.

One area of work will involve connecting those who attended the forum with other groups and organizations already working on areas of interest to them such as mentoring or tutoring, Meza said.

In addition a listing will be created of different activities focusing on preventing youth from engaging in negative behavior and intervention services. People can volunteer with those groups or be used by residents experiencing troubles with a young person, he said.

Another step ClEARR will be working on is a community training session designed to prepare participants to go into the community where an act of violence or racial tension has taken place.

People who undergo the training will be ready to work in neighborhoods and start a dialogue among residents.

Such a discussion "breaks down the barriers (and) start making changes," he said.

Eliminating violence can be done with community-wide involvement.

"Everyone has a piece of the puzzle," Barry said.

For 121 Pomona Unified School District employees, June will bring with it the end of the 2010-11 school year as well as the start of retirement.

School board members last week approved the retirement of more than 100 teachers along with a number of counselors, school administrators and district-level administrators.

Among those retiring will be Pam Lopez, district assistant superintendent of business services and chief financial officer, along with Emmett Terrell, deputy superintendent of administrative operations.

Superintendent Richard Martinez said Friday he would hold off on filling the vacancy left by Terrell's departure.

"Our hope is we can share that responsibility," Martinez said.

Terrell's responsibilities include providing assistance to school administrators in various areas such as personnel along with parent and community relations.

Leaving the position unfilled will save the district about $200,000 in salary and benefits, Martinez said.

Lopez's position is one that will have to be filled, Martinez said.

In the current financial climate, "we definitely need someone to be the auditor and ensuring we're in the black," he said.

Martinez said the district is still exploring offering an early retirement program to district classified employees.

Early retirement programs for classified personnel don't result in as much savings because classified employees generally have

to be replaced, he said.

The district is still in the process of calculating the savings that will be achieved through the certificated personnel early retirement program, Martinez said.

Also, the district will have to replace some retiring teachers currently teaching in critical areas such as math, science and special education, he said.

In September, district officials announced they would offer the early retirement incentive program to 265 eligible certificated employees.

Through the program, eligible personnel will receive what the district calls a retirement supplement that averages about $65,000 if they retire at the end of the current academic year.

In September, district personnel calculated Pomona Unified could save about $22 million over a five-year period and $4.5 million in the first year if 80 employees took the offer.

Tyra Weis, president of the Associated Pomona Teachers, said the number of retirees should translate into a significant savings to the district.

That in turn should result in fewer certificated employees facing layoffs as the district continues looking for ways to reduce costs, she said.

Associated Pomona Teachers expects the district to begin taking steps in the preliminary lay off noticing process this month.

How many people will actually receive a notice is hard to say, Weis said.

Last year, the school district distributed 643 preliminary layoff notices.

"I hope we will not see a repeat of last year. They were ill prepared," Weis said.

Weis added this year should be much different with a much lower number of notices going out in part due to the early retirements.

School board member Roberta Perlman said Monday a great deal of work is taking place now to determine how to reduce the district's budget by $36 million.

However, she's confident fewer notices will be distributed this year.

The number "will definitely be less than 643," she said.

The retirements will play a role in holding down the number of notices, Perlman said.

At this point it is still not clear how many layoff notices will have to go out, she said, adding details will be available within two to three weeks.

Board member Adrienne Konigar-Macklin said at this point "it's contingent on so many factors."

Those include retirements, contract negotiations and others, she said.

POMONA - It wasn't necessary to be hit by a bullet to be affected by the recent shooting incident at Ted Greene Park.

That reaction may have come from knowing the teens involved, because they live in the neighborhood or just because they were shocked by what happened.

To help deal with the incident a group made up of Pomona residents and local organizations will hold a forum at 6 p.m. Monday (Feb. 8) at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, 2343 N. San Antonio Ave. in Pomona.

The purpose of the forum is "to help people voice their concerns. This is the opportunity to share those frustrations," said Fernando Meza, a member of the group which calls itself Cultural Equity and Race Relations, or ClEARR.

The shooting incident involved a group of teens who engaged in a confrontation at the park Jan. 29 and result in the death of two and another wounded. Five have been arrested and one is being sought by Pomona police.

Of those arrested, the oldest is 17, three are 16 and the alleged shooter is 14.

Residents are concerned about the shooting but may not know how to begin to address it or other problems, Meza said.

The forum is meant to provide a way to begin the process of healing after the incident, said Meza, who is also interim administrative director of pupil and community services at Pomona Unified School District.

Resources are available through the school district and groups across the city that can offer services to help address youth violence in the city, he said.

The forum is not meant to provide a place for finger-pointing, said Bernardo Rosa, co-chairman of the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan Community Board.

It is a place to speak out and find others who are also interested in creating a better place for young people and their families, he said.

"What we can't do alone we can do together," Rosa said.

Those who are part of ClEARR include representatives of the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan, the Pomona Unified School District, the city, the Boys & Girls Club of Pomona Valley and the Pomona Valley Human Relations Council.

Although different entities are involved in the effort this is an effort that ultimately is being driven by members of the community, Meza said.

"It's not a PUSD thing. It's not a city thing. It's not a church thing," he said. "It's a community thing."

All the members are saying what others in the community have said separately before that "enough is enough, we want to make changes in our community and in the lives of our children," Meza said.

Candace Barry, a community board member of the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan and the Pomona Valley Human Relations Council, said by helping people overcome shock and pain of this recent shooting, residents can come together and begin working on the solutions that prevent such violent acts.

ClEARR has a mission to address violence and racial tension, she said.

This was an act of violence, Barry said.

The motivation exists in the community to be consistent and tackle both problems.

Pomona Unified School District representatives asked the City Council this week to delay a vote on an environmental document associated with the proposed construction of a trash transfer station on East First Street.

District representatives asked the City Council to hold off on taking action in order to give Pomona Unified time to review the document and prepare a response.

Council members agreed to postpone the matter until April. The council was expected to rule upon a final supplemental environmental impact report for the proposed transfer station to be constructed on 4.5 acres of city-owned property at 1730 E. First St.

In addition, the council postponed a vote on a proposed resolution certifying the environmental document and voting on conditional use permit modifications for the project.

In 2007 city leaders authorized a conditional use permit for the construction of a waste transfer station on the property. However, the Coalition for Environmental Justice in Pomona sought court action, according to a city staff report.

A Superior Court judge required the city to complete a supplemental environmental study that concentrated on alternatives to the project, air pollution, freeway traffic impacts and groundwater, the staff report said.

Several people spoke during the meeting including residents who are concerned about having the waste facility nearby. Others who spoke included teachers and parents of students who are enrolled in programs at the Village at Indian Hill which is north or the proposed project site.

Pomona Unified Superintendent Richard Martinez said the proposed project is in the neighborhood of the Village at Indian Hill which is home to several district schools with about 1,500 students.

More than 50 people including residents, non-profit representatives, educators, clergy and others turned out for Thursday's Partnership Building Summit at Pomona First Baptist Church.

The event, organized by members of the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan Community Board, offered an opportunity to review some of its work and gather ideas for the year ahead.

The summit also offered an opportunity to attract new participants interested in working to create an environment in Pomona where young people can flourish and reach their potential.

Offering the keynote address was Michael Steinman, Pomona Unified School District's teacher of the year.

Steinman is the teacher at Village Academy High School whose Advanced Placement English students created the "Is Anybody Listening?" video that President Barack Obama referred to in a March 2009 speech on education.

Steinman said that in his classes he works with his students to find the right words to get their thoughts or messages across.

Selecting the right word makes a difference such as when choosing between the words hearing and listening.

When people hear something they pay less attention to the sound or the message but when they are listening it "infers taking heed," Steinman said.

"It's my belief that we tend to modify our senses...to hear more than we listen," he said.

But when someone is listening "one can have a careful response after critical analysis," Steinman said.

When young people look around they see the malfeasance of leaders, they see greed around them and people who aren't listening.

That prompts young people - who are good at sensing dishonesty - to retreat, to become cynical and question why they should listen to such people and other adults, Steinman said.

Adults can do a better job of setting a positive example for young people, Steinman said.

Adults can become better and more patient listeners and listen to what young people have to say.

Listening is an important part of helping children develop into people who are compassionate, who reason and are "dedicated toward a worthwhile goal," Steinman said. "They need to be allowed to flourish."

Those interested in serving on the city's Charter Review Commission but haven't submitted an application will have another chance to do so.

The application submission deadline has been extended to 5 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 11). Completed applications must be turned in to the City Clerk's Office.

The body will have 15 volunteer members with each council member appointing two people to the panel and the mayor appointing three.

The last time such a body was empaneled was in 1996. At the time the panel determined the charter should be reviewed every 10 years beginning in 2010.

Commission members will review the document and if they determine changes should be made they will submit a report with their proposed changes to the City Clerk.

Any proposed changes must be submitted to the City Clerk within 12 months of the inception of the commission, according to the charter

The City Clerk will place the proposed changes on the next scheduled election ballot.

Applications and information on the commission are available by going to the city's web site, www.ci.pomona.ca.us and going to featured links and then clicking on "charter review commission."

Applications are also available at the City Clerk's Office on the second floor of City Hall, 505 S. Garey Ave.

Residents, business owners and members of Neighborhood Watch groups of the city's northeast quadrant are invited to attend a meeting with members of the Pomona Police Department.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at St. Madeleine Catholic Church, 931 E. Kingsley Ave. and will be lead by Lt. Michael Ellis.

Local issues and concerns will be discussed at the meeting. In addition, part of the meeting will be used to discuss burglaries, the crime prevention topic for the evening.

Questions and concerns can be submitted ahead of time so police personnel can research the topics and bring answers to the meeting.

Questions and concerns can be e-mailed to AreaCommander_Northeast@ci.pomona.ca.us or by calling (909) 802-7494.

For additional details contact the Pomona Police Department's crime prevention unit at (909) 620-2318.

The city's northeast quadrant is made up of the area east of Garey Avenue and north of Holt Avenue.

The American Museum of Ceramic Art will have an opening reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Feb. 13 for the current exhibit "Let's Table This: A Survey of Tabletop Vessels from AMOCA's Permanent Collection."

A pre-reception discussion and walk through will take place at 5 p.m. with Jo Lauria and Billie Sessions, co-curators of the exhibit.

The exhibit will continue on display until April 24.

Tickets are available to the 2010 Mayor's State of the City scheduled for 4 p.m. March 24.

The event, which is sponsored by the Pomona Chamber of Commerce, will take place at the recently opened Health Education Center of Western University of Health Sciences, 309 E. Second St.

Tickets are $20 each and include a reception with light food and beverages.

For information or ticket purchases visit the Pomona Chamber of Commerce, 101 W. Mission Blvd., Suite 223, Pomona or call the chamber at 909-622-8484.

Cal Poly Pomona in conjunction with the Inland Empire United Way will offer free tax preparation assistance to low income families and senior citizens beginning Feb. 13 at three locations around the city.

A team of 60 Cal Poly Pomona accounting students and volunteers have gone through special training using professional tax software provided by the Internal Revenue Service, according to a statement from Cal Poly. They have also prepared using IRS training manuals in addition to being tested on the topic, the statement said.

Cal Poly students have prepared for this project through a course "Service Learning in Taxation," the statement said.

The free service is available to senior citizens and to people who in 2009 had a gross yearly income of $50,000 or less.

Students have a knowledge of tax credits and who qualifie for them especially among low income families. It's possible that someone who may not have to file a tax return may be eligible for some tax credits, the statement said.

A majority of the students participating in the program speak more than one language and are prepared to assist clients in Spanish, Arabic and Chinese, the statement said.

The free service will be available every Saturday from 9 a.m to 5 p.m from Feb. 13 to April 10 at the following locations:

- The Boys & Girls Club of Pomona Valley, 1420 S. Garey Ave.

- The Pomona office of the Inland Empire Credit Union, 435 W. Mission Blvd., Suite 100

- YMCA of Pomona Valley, 350 N. Garey Ave.

Appointments aren't required.

The service is provided through Cal Poly Pomona's College of Business Administration, its accounting department along with the Inland Empire United Way.