Rialto Mulls Levying a Tax on Large Warehouse Sites (SB Sun Dec. 25, 2007) Rialto is looking to tax everyone to death, then charge them a death tax to leave...

BS Ranch Perspective

 

Looks like Rialto is following the footsteps, or at least looking to follow in the footsteps of a neighboring city of Redlands with the charge of extra taxes reference to the large Square Footage of Where houses that are all the rage in the cities in the Inland Empire, the only trouble is that they hopefully won't take the time to over charge the Where houses that just might cause them to change them to move them away to another city that doesn't charge such an EXTRA TAX!! Rialto might be playing with fire, I say a small tax yes, but not a whole tax like Redlands is embarking upon!!

 

Buck

 

Rialto mulls levying a tax on large warehouse sites

Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

Article Launched: 12/25/2007 09:00:00 PM PST

RIALTO - City officials say they're open to the idea of levying a tax on the large warehouses filling up the last chunks of the city's empty land.

A tax could generate hundreds of thousands of dollars or more a year to help offset some of the costs all the big rigs inflict, like traffic and damaged roads.

"I think it could be a viable option," said Councilman Joe Baca Jr.

The idea is something city staff has talked about, said Economic Development Director Robb Steel.

In November, 71 percent of Redlands voters approved a new warehouse license tax of 3.5 cents per square foot, which will bring in about $250,000 a year. The rate will increase every year to keep up with inflation until it hits 5 cents per square foot.

Rialto has about 10 million square feet of distribution center warehouses and could add another 10 million in the next five to 10 years.

City Administrator Henry Garcia said he would have to see some numbers before coming to a conclusion about a distribution tax.

"We'd have to assess the economics of that," he said last week.

But he said he thought a distribution tax wouldn't bring in much money.

A tax at the Redlands rate could bring in a few hundred thousand dollars a year. Rialto's 8 percent tax on utilities brings in more than $12 million a year, so replacing very much of the utility tax with a distribution tax would not be easy.

Besides, the utility tax brings in a lot

of money from distributors because of their high electricity bills, Steel said.

Voters might like the idea of a distribution tax because of the pollution and damage to streets wrought by the trucks, he said.

Rialto already has a fee in place that's similar to the new Redlands tax.

In 2005, Rialto modified its business license fee policy for warehouses to allow businesses to have their annual fee calculated at a rate of 5 cents a square foot, said Greg Lantz, economic development manager.

Instead of making businesses disclose their gross receipts to calculate the fee, distributors can just pay the flat fee.

But not all the distributors pay their business license that way.

So far, no one at City Hall has done a thorough analysis of the implications of a distribution tax.

The city is still reliant on the utility tax, which provides more money to the general fund than any other source.

"Well, I think you know from the city's perspective, we've got to become more fiscally sound," Lantz said.

jason.pesick@sbsun.com

(909) 386-3861

More Flee State Then Move IN (LA Times December 23, 2007) Population is up due to Illigal Immigration and Births, but people otherwise are leaving in droves!!!

BS Ranch Perspective

Once the State and Unemployment starts to grow, then they start to flee the state in the hopes that other States could have better oppertunity for work and Opportunity to better one self in getting a home and land, where as California had Failed them in the past!! Take a look at the following Story as my proof of what I am talking about!!

BS Ranch

More flee state than move in

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Population is up thanks to births and foreign immigrants, but rest of U.S. isn't California dreamin' like it was.

By Sharon Bernstein and Paloma Esquivel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
December 20, 2007

California's population continued to grow modestly in the last fiscal year despite a significant exodus of residents to other states, according to a state report released Wednesday.

The annual study by the Department of Finance showed that 89,000 more people moved out of California than moved here from elsewhere in the United States. California's population did grow in fiscal 2007 -- but the growth rested on births and the arrival of more than 200,000 immigrants from other countries.

Graphic

 

Interactive Feature

California population growth

(Flash)

Your Vote

Should Los Angeles embrace the new push for taller, more dense residential development?

Yes. We need the housing.

No. It means more traffic and crowding.

Only in certain urban areas.

If you've lost your job here and maybe your house, maybe you're thinking that there are better prospects out there in other states.

— Howard Roth, chief economist for the California Department of Finance

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The shift dovetails with the state's weakening economy and is most likely related, said Howard Roth, chief economist for the Department of Finance.

Those who left, Roth said, were fleeing an economy in which just 5,800 jobs per month were created -- down from more than 20,000 per month the previous year. Jobs were lost in housing, finance, construction and other sectors, and key indicators like the number of automobiles sold were also down, he said.

People who are leaving the state, he said, are probably doing so because they believe they'll do better elsewhere.

"If you're someone in finance and you haven't already been laid off . . . or if you've lost your job here and maybe your house, maybe you're thinking that there are better prospects out there in other states," he said.

The trend toward reduced "domestic migration" -- which began in 2005 and has increased dramatically since -- is a sharp turnaround from nearly a decade of sustained population growth.

While the state lost many residents during the economic downturn of the 1990s, people had been steadily moving to California from other states since 1999.

But once the housing bubble burst, the trend reversed.

The story was repeated in Southern California, where every county except Riverside and San Diego saw a decrease in "domestic migration."

In Los Angeles County alone, nearly 115,000 fewer residents came from other states and California counties than moved to other states and counties. The county ended up with a total increase in population thanks to 91,000 births and an influx of 70,000 residents from foreign countries. (The county now has roughly 10,294,000 residents).

Since 2000, about 500,000 more people have left Los Angeles County than have moved here from other parts of the U.S. and California, the figures show.

Orange County also had a modest increase of about 23,000 people overall, though there was a deficit of about 22,000 residents among those who moved to or from other parts of the U.S. (Orange County's population is 3,098,000). The picture in Ventura County was similar: an increase of 7,700 people overall to a total population of 827,000, but a deficit of 3,100 among people who moved domestically.

Many of those who left Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties moved to the Inland Empire, according to economist Roth. Riverside County, for example, showed a net increase in the number of people moving in from other parts of the state or country, as well as an increase of 61,000 people overall. Still, the county's overall growth rate of 3.3% was slower than the year before, when the population climbed by 4.26%.

The slowdown in Inland Empire growth will probably get worse next year as regional housing sales continue to slow, said John Husing, an economist who studies Inland Empire counties.

The number of houses sold in Riverside and San Bernardino counties in the first quarter of 2007 was about half the number sold in the first quarter of 2006, he said.

"The slowdown in the housing market attacks the fundamental strength of the Inland economy," Husing said. "I personally think we're heading into a recession here."

The report placed the state's population as of July 1 at 37,771,000 people. It added about 438,000 residents in the previous year.

Linda Gage, the state demographer who put together this year's report, said officials started with census figures, and then used such information as school registration, new birth certificates, driver's license applications and tax records to determine how many people have moved to the state and where they came from.

Gage said state's population has been boosted by births. There were 327,000 more births than deaths in California -- and that has helped mask those leaving the state.

The exodus is in some ways similar to the early 1990s, when a national recession, tumbling housing market and massive cutbacks in Southern California's defense industry at the end of the Cold War prompted 1.2 million people to move to other states.

But Roth said the trend should be less severe this time because the state's economic problems -- and image problems -- are not as great.

"It won't be the lasting problem we had in the 1990s," Roth said. "It will go away."

sharon.bernstein@latimes.com

paloma.esquivel@latimes.com

Trucks Keep Rolling (Daily Bulletin December 22, 2007) Job-Starved Rialto attracting distribution centers....

BS Ranch Perspective

Looks like the growth of the city isn't what the City Council of Rialto Wants, Ed Scott Threatening to NOT VOTE for the new Building of a Business in the City of which he claims to love. The original Plans of which he claims to have had some input on regarding the Renaissance, Most of that is now planning to be turned into Distribution Centers, Just think if they had kept the Airport, and Expanded the Runway, but closed Laural Ave., but keeping Alder expanded and running through from the I-210 S/to the I-10 Freeway On/Off Ramps.  to allow Trucks to go to the stores to deliver goods, but if the Rialto Airport was expanded to allow Jets they could bring in the goods via Jet aircraft and C-130 Airplanes, major shipping could be in and out directly from Rialto. I don't know if Rialto tried to have this done originally, but if they did without wanting to get their hands on the property taxes and close the businesses that are currently at the airport. They also made promises to the Sheriff of the County that they could not keep. When I say they I am talking of Certain Members of the Rialto City Council, excluding the Mayor, Grace had nothing to do with Selling Rialto Police Department to the County!! At least there wasn't any evidence to prove that she was involved.

BS Ranch

Trucks keep rolling

Job-starved Rialto attracting distribution centers

Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

Article Launched: 12/22/2007 06:35:01 PM PST

RIALTO - This was once a sleepy, orange-growing town.

Now, a few decades after it transformed into a bedroom community, Rialto is becoming a small distribution hub. This means a lot more trucks are rolling through town.

In the last five years, about 10 million square feet of warehouse and distribution space was built in Rialto. The city could see that same amount of space be built again in the next five to 10 years, estimated Economic Development Director Robb Steel.

"I think what you're seeing is that distribution and logistics is still having a heavy economic impact," said City Administrator Henry Garcia.

The new distribution centers bring jobs, something the city desperately needs. But they also bring trucks that clog and tear up the streets and pollute the air.

There are a few reasons why Rialto is seeing distribution centers sprout up.

One is that, like most areas in the Inland Empire, there is a lot of affordable land.

Rialto also wants to boost its economy with more jobs. Part of the pull, though, has to do with fluctuations in the real-estate market.

"At least at the moment, it's still healthy," Steel said of the industrial market.

A few years ago, cities were increasing the amount of housing in their development plans. Now, they're shifting housing to industrial.

In the south end of town, Panattoni Development is finishing work on a 1.4 million-square-foot distribution center.

Also on the south end, Oakmont Industrial purchased almost 200 acres that was supposed to become a housing project and turned it into 4 million square feet of industrial space. Target, which has a new 3.2 million-square-foot distribution center on the north end, is looking to expand by up to 400,000 square feet.

Instead of developing almost 4,000 homes along the 210 Freeway as part of the 1,500-acre Renaissance Rialto, 2,000 of those homes will become industrial development.

City Councilman Ed Scott, a member of the city's economic development committee, warns he won't vote to approve Renaissance if all the industrial space planned becomes low-paying distribution centers.

"I think with the size of the property up there, we can be sort of selective of what can come in up there," he said.

Before the housing market fell off, Garcia said he wanted Panattoni to be the last big-box project on the south end. He said there had to be a limit to the number of trucks in the area. That hope certainly won't be fulfilled. The Oakmont project will be many times larger than Panattoni's.

"I think my general concern is still that we're looking for that balance between industry and quality of life in terms of truck traffic," he said.

Garcia said trucks can be restricted to certain routes so they won't affect the interior of the city too significantly.

"You know, our market data has always said this community needs jobs," he said.

Rialto has a ratio of 0.8 jobs to each home, Steel said. He wants to boost that figure to 1.25 jobs per home - something that will be a lot easier with the new industrial plans and the change in Renaissance.

In San Bernardino and Riverside counties, salaries in the distribution sector average about $40,000 annually, said Redlands- based economist John Husing.

In November, voters in Redlands approved a distribution-center tax of 3.5 cents per square foot. That will rake in $245,000 a year.

Garcia said he may analyze the economics of a distribution tax in Rialto, but he said he suspects it wouldn't generate much money.

Steel said the city's utility tax brings in a lot of money from distribution centers because of their high utility bills.

The trend of building more giant distribution centers might be coming to an end.

The city is already running out of land and will feel tight for space within five years.

As developers slow their building of huge centers, they might look to smaller ones and even some small manufacturing centers, Husing said. If the western portion of San Bernardino, which is running out of industrial space, is a guide, office space will be the next trend, he said.

Staff writer Matt Wrye contributed to this report.

Gov. Considers Major Cuts in Services (LA Times Dec. 22, 2007) The Terminator will declare a fiscal emergency. Schools could loose, & Prison Inmates could be Released Early

BS Ranch Perspective

Why is it that the only cuts that can seem to be made in a budget in any City or State is to Schools & Early Release of Prisoner's From Prison!! No other Cuts can be made or found. Nothing can be done about the Fat Cats that are in the Govorner's Office all those So called Advisors that cannot seem to give the advice other then what every other person in their shoes have given!! Nobody has ever found a better solution to any State or City Arguement, so lets put Fear into the School Going Students that their potential programs will be cut at their school and also be aware that the parents are just as fearful for their student that have their "Fun" Cut from their School At the Cry of a Fiscally Responsable Budget!! 

Then there is the other side of the coin the people that don't have Students in School, they are the elderly the people that cannot fend for themselves, The Victims whom have been taken advantage of, with the Threat that because the Govorner is not able to cut or even able to make cuts in any other program or area that he might have created he will Release Criminals Early onto the Streets of the Cities of the State in which he serves in order to make the Budget work for his needs!! If you ask me the Govornor is not doing well with these types of decisions. 

The Fact that he would consider Closing down a Retirement Program that has been in existence for over the limit for people to have paid into the program and it become self sufficient, then he wants to attack this program of the CHP, and over 90% of the Law Enforcement in the State of California to attempt to privatize this program after it has proven to be a success for so long. The fund has over 1.5 Billion Dollars in the fund at the time that Then Gov. Wilson Robbed it, in violation of a State M.O.U. Bi-Law, to save California from a then Budget problem. That money was not returned, but it was earned back on the backs of the California Public Workers!! The "Terminator" wanted to go in and get this money and steal it again, when it met opposition to his plan he then wanted to close the account against the Public Employee's Paying into the Public Employee Retirement System! 

I really wish The "Terminator" would find a better way to fix the state then to Release Prisoners from Prison, These are Felons, from a State Penetenuary, and to cut School Plans would make it terrible for Students in School to have fun to help them remember their time in school. Etc Etc...

BS Ranch

Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times

SPENDING GAP: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, left, with Speaker Fabian Nuñez earlier this week, has described the budget, which faces a projected $14.5-billion gap, as "very bleak," an official said. Some say the cuts are so deep that they might pave the way for tax increases.

Gov. considers major cuts in services

Schwarzenegger will declare a fiscal emergency. Schools could lose $1.4 billion and thousands of inmate could be freed early.

By Michael Rothfeld, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 
December 22, 2007

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected next month to seek immediate major cuts in state services, including a plan to take back $1.4 billion budgeted for schools this year and a proposal to slash the prison population by releasing tens of thousands of inmates.

The two strategies are among broad spending reductions Schwarzenegger will outline to address a projected $14.5-billion state budget gap. On Friday, the governor announced that he would declare a fiscal emergency Jan. 10, when he unveils his next budget.

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State officials with knowledge of the governor's plans said cuts may be so deep that they could pave the way politically for tax increases, which Schwarzenegger has previously disavowed.

"Gov. Schwarzenegger does not believe tax increases are the way to solve this problem," spokesman Adam Mendelsohn said Friday. "If you are unwilling to raise taxes, then you have to look at very significant cuts."

Most of the austerity measures for this fiscal year would require legislative approval. The governor previously told agency heads to draft plans for 10% reductions across the board in state spending for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Prison officials came up with the proposal to decrease the inmate population by up to 30,000 in response to the directive.

When warned by various departments' leaders how far the 10% cuts would reach, Schwarzenegger's chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, instructed them to move ahead.

Sen. Denise Ducheny (D-San Diego), chairwoman of the Senate Budget Committee, said a 10% across-the-board cut might not be possible in some agencies and could jeopardize federal matching funds in others.

"It's not as easy as it sounds," she said.

In education, healthcare, social services and other sectors, advocates are anxious about what Schwarzenegger has already told them will be painful.

"As the governor has met with various groups, he has said the budget is very bleak," said Chris McKenzie, executive director of the League of California Cities. "We're hoping very strongly and believing that local tax funds should be immune from use to balance the state budget."

When the governor reveals the details of the cuts, the state's interest groups are "going to be squealing beyond belief," said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because budget discussions are confidential.

The official described Schwarzenegger's approach as: "Don't talk about taxes. Talk about services. Make the public say, 'I want the prison system funded. I want education funded.' . . . He won't talk taxes until there is a consensus that these services are what the state wants."

The governor's challenge in taming the state's perennial budget woes is integral to his legacy. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, was elected in 2003 promising to end years of deficit spending and put a stop to budget gimmickry but finds himself now largely where he started after taking the reins from ousted Democrat Gray Davis.

The governor's fight on education, which represents 40% of the budget, is likely to be fierce because school districts are still nursing the wounds of 2004, when the governor deferred pledges to restore education funding that they agreed to surrender.

Scott Plotkin, executive director of the California School Boards Assn., said his group will not agree to any cuts until the Legislature begins a discussion of increasing revenues through taxes.

"This is too big a problem to be solved solely through cuts," Plotkin said. "We've been down this road before, and we got burned."

The governor's plan to cut $1.4 billion from this year's money for schools is based on new estimates of what is guaranteed under Proposition 98, a constitutional provision that determines the minimum of state revenues that must go to education. The formula is based partly on state revenues, which have plummeted since education funding was allocated last summer.

By cutting education funding this year, the state would also reduce the baseline for guaranteed funding in the next year's budget, so the savings would multiply. But cutting from schools is sure to generate controversy.

Kevin Gordon, a lobbyist for hundreds of school districts, said $1.4 billion is "almost insurmountable as a number for districts to really give up."

Cuts would inevitably fall heavily on the Los Angeles Unified School District, which, with about 700,000 students, receives about 13% of the state's education dollars. The school board was already weighing at least $100 million in cuts anticipated for next year. It also faces a restive teachers union, which is demanding raises.

School board President Monica Garcia said the proposed cuts would undermine the district's efforts to develop and pay for reforms. L.A. Unified is one of 99 California districts that, under federal law, face state sanctions because of continued poor performance on standardized tests.

"The cuts to education always mean we'll be paying higher prices in the future for the absence of education," Garcia said. "I'm hoping that the state stands behind the accountabilities it has put in place."

Schwarzenegger met Thursday with members of the powerful California Teachers Assn. and with California Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell.

"I believe a commitment was made to the schools in terms of the funding level that was signed in August, and we should respect that," O'Connell said.

But H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the California Department of Finance, said the budget crisis does not allow the state to give schools more than the minimum required. He noted that the governor's proposals could change before Schwarzenegger makes details public: "It is three days before Christmas, and we're still working on this."

The governor does not plan to suspend Proposition 98 this year; doing so would permit spending to fall below the guaranteed level and require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. It is unclear whether he would seek a suspension for the next fiscal year, but state Sen. Dick Ackerman (R-Irvine), the Senate Republican leader, said he would support the idea.

The proposal to release prisoners early -- which Schwarzenegger's aides said he had not yet committed to -- would reverse a promise the governor made five months ago not to let inmates go free because of overcrowding.

It would involve releasing nonviolent prisoners with less than 20 months of their sentences remaining. The state would put those inmates on parole but would not check on them, dramatically reducing the practice of sending former convicts back to prison on technical parole violations, said Joan Petersilia, a criminologist at UC Irvine who advises Schwarzenegger on prison issues.

That practice results in tens of thousands of parolees cycling through the prisons every year. Officials envision an overall reduction of up to 30,000 inmates, according to people familiar with the discussions.

"This really is a back-end reduction of the sentence," Petersilia said

In July, Schwarzenegger said he would resist any moves by federal judges who are examining state prisons to cap the population or release inmates before they completed their sentences. "I am here to tell you that the early release of inmates is totally unacceptable," the governor said then.

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer (R-Orange) denounced releasing prisoners early to save money as short-sighted. Spitzer accused the Schwarzenegger administration of using the budget shortfall as an excuse to kick people out of prisons and off parole, and to help reverse an embarrassing recidivism in which two-thirds of all California parolees wind up back in prison within three years.

Early release "might be a short-term fix on the budget, but in the long term it's going to cost the state billions of dollars," Spitzer said. "You don't fix recidivism by kicking people out the door. . . . That's the time you use intensive intervention to influence their behavior."

michael.rothfeld@latimes.com

Times staff writers Howard Blume, Patrick McGreevy and Nancy Vogel contributed to this report.

MORTGAGE MELTDOWN (San Francisco Chronicle December 9, 2007) Interest Rate 'Freeze'- The real story is fraud....Bankers pay lip service to families while scurrying to avert suits, Prision!

BS Ranch Perspective

The Author of this peice, Sean Olender,  did a great thing here by telling the truth of what Banks were doing in a language that lamemen like me could understand, & I could understand why they were doing it. He made it perfectly clear!! The Interest Rate will not stay where it is at, and the Housing Market will continue to drop, as it has since this story was published at the begining of the month, the drop of the market has caused the Chair to come in and Lower The Interest Rate 1/2 a percentage point! It was a thing that was done because of the problems that was being done with the Housing Market! The problem is that Nobody Knows when the thing will end!!

Where will the Housing market flop down to, will it go back down to the place that it was in 1994, or 1995?   The answers are not known, not by me or any  of these bankers, or even the Author of this article. But I just know that I want to make my Wife happy, and get a Dream home in Highland California. It is a location where our Church is located and if we relocate I want more property with a place available for a horse or two, and a whole bunch of room available for my dogs to excersize and run & have a great time with fun in the sun!! But the only way that we can swing that is if the market continues to drop and the values of the properties goes down, the people that has their whole lives tied up in Highland and want to sell and move to a premo location and need as much money as they can get to make their dream happen, but their Investment is dropping off every day...day by day. I am waiting in the wind to take advantage of that!!

Ask me if I feel rotten about the taking advantage of their potential losses!! he he....

BS Ranch...

MORTGAGE MELTDOWN
Interest rate 'freeze' - the real story is fraud

Bankers pay lip service to families while scurrying to avert suits, prison

Sean Olender

Sunday, December 9, 2007

New proposals to ease our great mortgage meltdown keep rolling in. First the Treasury Department urged the creation of a new fund that would buy risky mortgage bonds as a tactic to hide what those bonds were really worth. (Not much.) Then the idea was to use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy the risky loans, even if it was clear that U.S. taxpayers would eventually be stuck with the bill. But that plan went south after Fannie suffered a new accounting scandal, and Freddie's existing loan losses shot up more than expected.

Now, just unveiled Thursday, comes the "freeze," the brainchild of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. It sounds good: For five years, mortgage lenders will freeze interest rates on a limited number of "teaser" subprime loans. Other homeowners facing foreclosure will be offered assistance from the Federal Housing Administration.

But unfortunately, the "freeze" is just another fraud - and like the other bailout proposals, it has nothing to do with U.S. house prices, with "working families," keeping people in their homes or any of that nonsense.

The sole goal of the freeze is to prevent owners of mortgage-backed securities, many of them foreigners, from suing U.S. banks and forcing them to buy back worthless mortgage securities at face value - right now almost 10 times their market worth.

The ticking time bomb in the U.S. banking system is not resetting subprime mortgage rates. The real problem is the contractual ability of investors in mortgage bonds to require banks to buy back the loans at face value if there was fraud in the origination process.

And, to be sure, fraud is everywhere. It's in the loan application documents, and it's in the appraisals. There are e-mails and memos floating around showing that many people in banks, investment banks and appraisal companies - all the way up to senior management - knew about it.

I can hear the hum of shredders working overtime, and maybe that is the new "hot" industry to invest in. There are lots of people who would like to muzzle subpoena-happy New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to buy time and make this all go away. Cuomo is just inches from getting what he needs to start putting a lot of people in prison. I bet some people are trying right now to make him an offer "he can't refuse."

Despite Thursday's ballyhooed new deal with mortgage lenders, does anyone really think that it can ultimately stop fraud lawsuits by mortgage bond investors, many of them spread out across the globe?

The catastrophic consequences of bond investors forcing originators to buy back loans at face value are beyond the current media discussion. The loans at issue dwarf the capital available at the largest U.S. banks combined, and investor lawsuits would raise stunning liability sufficient to cause even the largest U.S. banks to fail, resulting in massive taxpayer-funded bailouts of Fannie and Freddie, and even FDIC.

The problem isn't just subprime loans. It is the entire mortgage market. As home prices fall, defaults will rise sharply - period. And so will the patience of mortgage bondholders. Different classes of mortgage bonds from various risk pools are owned by different central banks, funds, pensions and investors all over the world. Even your pension or 401(k) might have some of these bonds in it.

Perhaps some U.S. government department can make veiled threats to foreign countries to suggest they will suffer unpleasant consequences if their largest holders (central banks and investment funds) don't go along with the plan, but how could it be possible to strong-arm everyone?

What would be prudent and logical is for the banks that sold this toxic waste to buy it back and for a lot of people to go to prison. If they knew about the fraud, they should have to buy the bonds back. The time to look into this is before the shredders have worked their magic - not five years from now.

Those selling the "freeze" have suggested that mortgage-backed securities investors will benefit because they lose more with rising foreclosures. But with fast-depreciating collateral, the last thing investors in mortgage bonds ought to do is put off foreclosures. Rate freezes are at best a tool for delaying the inevitable foreclosures when even the most optimistic forecasters expect home prices to fall. In October, Goldman Sachs issued a report forecasting an incredible 35 to 40 percent drop in California home prices in the coming few years. To minimize losses, a mortgage bondholder would obviously be better off foreclosing on a home before prices plunge.

The goal of the freeze may be to delay bond investors from suing by putting off the big foreclosure wave for several years. But it may also be to stop bond investors from suing. If the investors agreed to loan modifications with the "real" wage and asset information from refinancing borrowers, mortgage originators and bundlers would have an excuse once the foreclosure occurred. They could say, "Fraud? What fraud?! You knew the borrower's real income and asset information later when he refinanced!"

The key is to refinance borrowers whose current loans involved fraud in the origination process. And I assure you it was a minority of borrowers whose loans didn't involve fraud.

The government is trying to accomplish wide-scale refinancing by tricking bond investors, or by tricking U.S. taxpayers. Guess who will foot the bill now that the FHA is entering the fray?

Ultimately, the people in these secret Paulson meetings were probably less worried about saving the mortgage market than with saving themselves. Some might be looking at prison time.

As chief of Goldman Sachs, Paulson was involved, to degrees as yet unrevealed, in the mortgage securitization process during the halcyon days of mortgage fraud from 2004 to 2006.

Paulson became the U.S. Treasury secretary on July 10, 2006, after the extent of the debacle was coming into focus for those in the know. Goldman Sachs achieved recent accolades in the markets for having bet heavily against the housing market, while Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Bear Sterns, Merrill Lynch and others got hammered for failing to time the end of the credit bubble.

Goldman Sachs is the only major investment bank in the United States that has emerged as yet unscathed from this debacle. The success of its strategy must have resulted from fairly substantial bets against housing, mortgage banking and related industries, which also means that Goldman Sachs saw this coming at the same time they were bundling and selling these loans.

If a mortgage bond investor sues Goldman Sachs to force the institution to buy back loans, could Paulson be forced to testify as to whether Goldman Sachs knew or had reason to know about fraud in the origination process of the loans it was bundling?

It is truly amazing that right now everyone in the country is deferring to Paulson and the heads of Countrywide, JPMorgan, Bank of America and others as the best group to work out a solution to this problem. No one is talking about the fact that these people created the problem and profited to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars from it.

I suspect that such a group first sat down and tried to figure out how to protect their financial interests and avoid criminal liability. And then when they agreed on the plan, they decided to sell it as "helping working families stay in their homes." That's why these meetings were secret, and reporters and the public weren't invited.

The next time that Paulson is before the Senate Finance Committee, instead of asking, "How much money do you think we should give your banking buddies?" I'd like to see New York Sen. Chuck Schumer ask him what he knew about this staggering fraud at the time he was chief of Goldman Sachs.

The Goldman report in October suggests that rampant investor demand is to blame for origination fraud - even though these investors were misled by high credit ratings from bond rating agencies being paid billions by the U.S. investment banks, like Goldman, that were selling the bundled mortgages.

This logic is like saying shoppers seeking bargain-priced soup encourage the grocery store owner to steal it. I mean, we're talking about criminal fraud here. We are on the cusp of a mammoth financial crisis, and the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury are trying to limit the liability of their banking friends under the guise of trying to help borrowers. At stake is nothing short of the continued existence of the U.S. banking system.

Sean Olender is a San Mateo attorney. Contact us at insight@sfchronicle.com.

Rodney King is Shot While Riding His Bike (L.A. Times November 30, 2007)

Rodney King is Shot While Riding his Bike! (LA Times)

BS Ranch Perspective

Well, it is only a matter of time before Mr. King's 'pass go card' (collect $200) will expire and some other crook on the street will finally get that gun to penetrate his criminal exterior, and he will be in the San Bernardino County Morgue and not reporting what all the other Criminals are doing to him, to his new and only "Friends", The Rialto Police Department! It seems he is either beating his girl friend being arrested by the Rialto Police Department, only later to be dismissed by the District Attorney's office, to be prayed upon by his own criminal Element, and the first thing that he does is goes to the Police and tells them all about it!!

BS Ranch

Nick Ut / Associated Press

Rodney King in a 1999 photo. King was shot with a pellet gun in San Bernadino.

Rodney King is shot while riding his bike

Nick Ut / Associated Press

Rodney King in a 1999 photo. King was shot with a pellet gun in San Bernadino.

He tells Rialto police that he was sprayed with shotgun pellets by would-be cycle thieves, and wounded in the face, arm and back.

By Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 30, 2007

After his 1991 videotaped beating by four white Los Angeles police officers whose acquittal touched off the 1992 riots, Rodney G. King became an overnight celebrity who symbolized for many the perception of unfair treatment of young black men by police.

But, since then, the spotlight has shifted to King's long series of run-ins with police and domestic disputes.

Television cameras swarmed his house once again Thursday after an incident Wednesday night in which he told authorities that he was riding his bicycle after 11 p.m. in a dicey area near the border of San Bernardino and Rialto and was sprayed with pellets from a shotgun.

He reportedly pedaled his bike for roughly a mile to his Jackson Street home in Rialto before calling police and heading to the hospital in an ambulance.

Rialto police, who were the first to respond, said King was intoxicated when they arrived and that it was difficult to decipher what had happened.

"We sent a couple of officers out to his address here in Rialto, but he didn't really tell us a whole lot other than he'd been shot," said Rialto Police Sgt. Don Lewis. "It looked like birdshot, looked like a long-distance shot."

On Thursday morning, San Bernardino Police Lt. Scott Paterson said police were still trying to determine what "was factual."

In interviews with investigators who visited him Thursday afternoon at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, King reported that a man and a woman approached him and demanded his bicycle.

When he rode away, King told investigators, someone sprayed his shoulder with pellets from a shotgun. King had pellet wounds on his face, arm and back, Paterson said.

Police still seemed puzzled by the incident late Thursday.

Paterson said King offered few details about the suspects. "We are hoping somebody witnessed the incident."

The 1992 L.A. riots erupted after a jury acquitted the LAPD officers in the videotaped beating. King was launched into the media stratosphere with his famous "Can we all get along?" plea to stop the riots.

For a moment, he seemed headed toward a public role as a voice against police brutality -- speaking to students in Southern California and at rallies intended to draw attention to police abuse. He ruminated to Los Angeles Times Magazine in the late 1990s about aspirations to start a summer surfing youth foundation in which children of different races could spend time together and "make this world a better place to live."

But King continually struggled with legal and substance-abuse troubles:

* In May 1991, he was arrested on suspicion of trying to run over a vice officer who allegedly found him with a transvestite prostitute in Hollywood, but no charges were filed.

* In 1993, King entered an alcohol rehabilitation program and was placed on probation after crashing his vehicle into a block wall in downtown Los Angeles with a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit.

* In July 1995, he was arrested by Alhambra police, who alleged that he hit his wife with his car, knocking her to the ground. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail after being convicted of hit-and-run.

* In 1999, he was sentenced to 90 days in San Bernardino County jail and put on probation for four years after a domestic dispute involving one of his daughters and her mother. He was required to attend a batterer's treatment program and a child-abuse program, according to court records.

* In 2001, King was ordered to attend a yearlong drug treatment program after he was arrested for indecent exposure and being under the influence of PCP at Ganesha Park in Pomona.

* In April 2003, Rialto police watched him weave through traffic in his Ford Expedition at more than 100 mph before plowing through a fence and into a San Bernardino house. He pleaded guilty to being under the influence of PCP and was sentenced to a six-month drug rehabilitation program followed by a 120-day jail sentence.

* That October, Rialto police arrested King on suspicion of punching his girlfriend in the stomach.

Susan Mickey, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County district attorney, said the office declined to prosecute the domestic violence case in 2003 and a subsequent September 2005 domestic violence case because of a lack of evidence.

In the September 2005 incident, King was arrested on suspicion of threatening to kill one of his daughters and her mother after the two women argued with his then-girlfriend, the Associated Press reported at the time.

In the last six to eight months, Rialto police have been to King's home numerous times, but for quieter calls.

"It was normal neighborhood stuff . . . drinking and loud parties, stuff like that," said Lewis, the Rialto police sergeant.

maeve.reston@latimes.com

Voters Relieve City's Worry (November 11, 2007) Rialto Relies on Utility Tax to Stay Afloat!!

BS Ranch Perspective:

The only problem is that the Restaurant Deal that was made is falling apart and will not hold! The money for the tax will be all of the money taken in to extend Pepper Ave, and many of the other contracts that will have to be filled with the Labor Union's in the City, I am speaking about the Rialto Police Benefit Assoc. They didn't take the best deal for them the last time, in hopes that this time the city Administrator, and City Council might take a nicer look at them and the hard job that was Created for them by the Vary people that are Responsible for making their job so difficult, by their actions when they wanted the Contract with the Sheriff's Department, However when that Failed the Council and the City Administration they still have not paid the people that have stayed by giving them a Well deserved Contract that will make them happy that they earned their time working through the difficult fight, instead they have fought as if they gave all the TAX money to other City Departments. ??

BS Ranch

Voters relieve city's worry

Rialto relies on utility tax to stay afloat

Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

Article Launched: 11/11/2007 09:21:41 PM PST

RIALTO - Phew!

That was the reaction at City Hall to last week's election, when voters renewed the utility users tax for five more years.

Soon, development projects will come online along the extended 210 Freeway and throughout the city to improve its economy and its finances.

But those who think new projects like the 1,500-acre Renaissance Rialto development will mean the end of the tax are probably thinking wrong.

The new money the projects produce will not even come close to making up for the tax.

The 8-percent add-on to utility bills in the city provides almost a quarter of the money in the city's general fund - more than $12 million a year.

Even when Renaissance is done - the project has yet to be approved - it's only expected to make the city $3 million a year if the tax isn't in place.

"I think five years is enough time for us to put an economic strategic plan out," Councilman Joe Baca Jr. said. He said that since the tax passed, he has received a number of e-mails from residents who say they support the tax but want it spent well, and ultimately reduced.

One resident who voted for the tax said she thinks the 210 development should make the city self-sufficient without the tax.

"I'm surprised they need it again," said Angie Consolo.

The city needs to look at where it can cut costs, starting with its legal costs and the number of outside law firms it hires, she said.

Baca said he thinks the city needs to be more resourceful about accomplishing things at a lower cost and needs to prioritize projects to keep costs down.

But the city's costs will increase in a number of areas over the next five to 10 years. For example, Rialto's public safety employees have lower retirement benefits than their peers at nearby agencies, and those benefits may be increased.

Members of the council also want to improve the level of city services, especially public safety, over the next few years. And grants might run out on state-funded after-school programs, which would mean the city would have to spend millions of dollars to run them itself.

Another upcoming cost is improvements members of the council want to make to facilities, like the police department, city hall, the library and recreation facilities.

In the spring, City Administrator Henry Garcia said a planned Wal-Mart Supercenter would generate about $500,000 in sales tax revenue per year. That means the city would need at least 24 years to make up the money the tax currently provides.

In California, it's difficult for modest bedroom communities like Rialto to have a robust budget, said Economic Development Director Robb Steel.

In wealthier residential areas with higher property values and property tax revenues, there are fewer children and less need for city services and public safety, he said.

Regina Balderrama, who has lived in Rialto since 1978, said she doesn't see the tax going anywhere anytime soon.

"I think when the next five years are up they're going to put it back on the ballot," she said.

The good news for the city's budget is that now that the tax is in place, developers will find it easier to build and sell homes in Rialto, Steel said. The city won't have to charge a very high community facilities district - or annual fee - to residents in new housing developments.

The council also might be ready to increase development impact fees to fund capital improvements in the city, he said.

A number of residents say they want a citizens' oversight commission to make sure the money from the tax is spent properly.

Baca said he would support that kind of commission.

"We're an open-book city," he said.

Salute to an Officer Who Fell in Battle for a Safe Society (Daily Bulletin 10/30/07)

Salute to an officer who fell in battle for a safe society

By Paul Chabot

On Friday, I had the honor of celebrating the life of a fellow officer who was killed in the line of duty.

Officer Sergio Carrera, of the Rialto Police Department, was gunned down during a drug raid by an alleged suspect with a criminal past.

Nothing cuts closer to your heart than to lose one of your own. Officer Carrera was a dedicated and professional officer who helped to better the world around him.

Shortly after joining the police force, he became a member of the California Narcotics Officers Association. One of his passions was taking drug dealers off the streets to help protect our communities.

Officer Carrera leaves behind a wife and two small children. During the funeral his small son, maybe just 2 years of age, reached out to his father's flag-draped coffin, while his little sister was held in the arms of his mother.

The overwhelming feelings for this family and what they have been going through are beyond description. The sacrifice this officer made for each one of us was made even more evident after witnessing such sorrow.

As we drove from the church to the cemetery in a long procession of police cars with emergency lights on, I witnessed the continued strength and brotherhood of all the men and women who serve our communities.

The California Highway Patrol shut down the freeways from Chino Hills to Colton. At every overpass and every on-ramp stood police officers, and at times civilians, standing at

attention, saluting the long procession line. The freeway overpasses were at a standstill as city and county firefighters stood atop their rigs - they, too, standing at attention and saluting.

The procession line was so long it took nearly 30 minutes until all had arrived at the cemetery. Standing side by side, fellow brothers and sisters who wear the uniform solidified the dedication that cops have for one another, especially when one has fallen.

I spoke with officers from around the state and nation who traveled here to celebrate the life of an officer, but also to console the officer's family and the family of police officers who worked with him.

This was not my first funeral for a fellow officer, and sadly won't be my last. From each one I gain continued strength to stand side by side with my brothers and sisters who are continuously in the streets fighting against a criminal element in our society that has become more ruthless, more evil and more dangerous.

As violent crime rises in many cities around our nation, let's never forget those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect us.

Police officers are like the firefighters pushing back against the flames that can bring harm to all of us if not stopped.

Sadly, 2007 has been a very violent year for police officers with a near record being killed. In a few short months, Officer Carrera's name will be forever etched into the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Wall in Washington D.C., as well as our state's memorial in Sacramento.

Our community must continue to place our full support behind the men and women in uniform. They are the sole defenders of a very thin blue line that separates society from anarchy.

Having stood next to America's finest at the funeral, I'm confident that line will hold so long as we continue to have the full support of our communities alongside us.

As I walked through the cemetery back to my car, a deputy sheriff from Contra Costa approached me. We spoke briefly, exchanged a hug and his parting words were, "It was nice to meet you brother. I hope we never meet again like this."

If only that could be true.

Paul Chabot is a reserve deputy for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

He lives in Rancho Cucamonga.

Rialto Police, Slain Officer's Family bid Farewell to a Hero (Press Enterprise Oct 27, 2007)

BS Ranch Perspective

I don't have many words here, my heart is heavy, Carrera was a real nice guy.  I only got to know him slightly as my time at Rialto had passed slightly, I almost died at Rialto, in 1997, and I survived my on duty crash, I sometimes wonder if I was the lucky one that had survived that crash that day. It has not been such a picnic. I wanted to go to the graveside, but I was not able to, because of two people at Chino Hills that forced me to leave the motorcade. by the time that I got back to the Inland Empire It was to late to join them at the Grave side. I would have loved to have gone.

BS Ranch

Rialto police, slain officer's family bid farewell to a hero

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08:44 AM PDT on Saturday, October 27, 2007

By ADAM C. HARTMANN and MARY BENDER
The Press-Enterprise

Video: Scenes from the funeral

Slideshow: Sergio Carrera Jr. funeral

CHINO HILLS - Just four years and 10 days after Officer Sergio Carrera Jr. first pinned on his Rialto police badge, a bullet felled the SWAT team member.

On Friday, an estimated 2,500 family, friends and fellow police officers paid an emotional tribute to Carrera, killed Oct. 18 while serving a narcotics search warrant.

Officer Lamont Quarker painted a vivid picture of Carrera, his patrol and SWAT partner, during a funeral Mass at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Chino Hills.

Story continues below

Stan Lim / The Press-Enterprise

Sergio Carrera III kisses the casket of his father, Rialto police Officer Sergio Carrera Jr., with the help of his aunt Shirley Magaña at Montecito Memorial Park.

Carrera, a Beaumont resident, was a prankster who needled Quarker with police nicknames from the moment they met -- pretending to be a much senior officer, even though both were fresh out of separate police academies.

"Congratulations, boot. I might be your FTO (field training officer)," Carrera said to the guy who would become his best police friend. He was to be best man at Quarker's wedding next month.

"I didn't know that Sergio had only graduated two days before me, so I said: 'Thank you, sir,' " Quarker recalled.

The ruse continued their first day on the job in Rialto, Oct. 8, 2003. "What's up, rookie?" Carrera said. Quarker caught on when he was sworn in -- and there was Carrera, doing the same.

But he also had a serious side devoted to police work. Quarker told the gathering about a patrol response to a house he had visited many times, with an incorrigible teenager and parents at their wits' end. Carrera spent 45 minutes counseling the boy.

A year later, Quarker saw the 17-year-old working at a Fontana bank. The boy told him Carrera's words that night turned him around.

Fatal Encounter

Carrera was shot at a Rialto apartment shared by Kris Antonio Wiggins; his girlfriend, Nashalla Bell; and the couple's three children. Carrera died shortly thereafter at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.

The San Bernardino County district attorney's office charged Wiggins, 32, with one count of murder with special allegations. Also known by the alias Jaranard Thomas, Wiggins is wanted in Mississippi on a $100,000 warrant charging him with selling rock cocaine, San Bernardino County sheriff's officials have said.

The only reference to Wiggins came from Rialto Police Chief Mark Kling, who said Carrera had been murdered.

Attendees, many wearing police dress uniforms, lined every available row of the church, the largest in the Diocese of San Bernardino, and the church's overflow rooms. The hush in the sanctuary belied the huge turnout, with the squeak of leather holsters and the trickle of the church's baptismal font audible in quiet moments.

Those attending the ceremony included state Attorney General Jerry Brown; Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto; his son Rialto City Councilman Joe Baca Jr.; and Fontana City Councilman Frank Scialdone, who served as Rialto's interim police chief in 2005 and 2006.

Story continues below

Father, Quipster

Kling said his eulogy would be the hardest speech he's given in his 27-year police career. "Today I have the honor of talking about a hero," Kling said, describing Carrera as a "modern-day warrior."

He told the officer's family -- including widow Louise and their toddlers Sergio III and Izabella -- that he had "no words" to describe the pain of Carrera's death.

"I have officially retired Officer Sergio Carrera's badge. It will never be used or issued again," Kling said, promising to give it to Louise and to honor Carrera and Rialto police Sgt. Gary Wolfley, slain in 1986, on a future police station memorial.

Quarker said the No. 1 goal that he and "Serg" had was to join the SWAT team. "It was all we talked about," Quarker said. "When we got into that SWAT school, we were so proud."

Quarker choked up as he recalled their training in Santa Barbara. The duo had "a beautiful friendship that lasted four years," Quarker said, breaking down when he revealed he had been with Carrera the day he died.

At the foot of the altar, the casket, flanked by two honor guard officers, sat next to a portrait of a beaming Carrera behind the wheel of his Rialto police cruiser, one elbow cocked jauntily out the window.

The picture also appeared on the funeral program, and the ironic smile on Carrera's face seemed to capture the man his colleagues described as one part doting father, one part quipster.

Kling said Carrera could "turn a conversation on you without you even knowing."

"Sergio was a gifted man who left you asking, 'Did I just get cracked?' " Kling said.

Miles-Long Motorcade

Story continues below

As the funeral drew to a close in the early afternoon, the priest wafted incense toward Carrera's casket, which was wheeled from the church as a soloist sang "Amazing Grace."

Mourners then formed a miles-long motorcade of patrol cars, red and blue rooftop lights swirling, that snaked along city streets and three freeways between the Chino Hills church and the Colton cemetery.

A pair of Chino Valley Fire District crews, alongside their yellow rigs, saluted as the procession rolled past their Peyton Drive fire station and again as it turned from Riverside Drive onto Reservoir Street.

In Chino, a cluster of women and children standing on the side of Riverside Drive, and several people on the Pipeline Avenue bridge over Highway 60, waved to and watched the passing motorcade. Drivers, stuck on Interstate 15 and numerous onramps blocked by California Highway Patrol officers, got out of their cars to watch the procession or snap photos.

Fontana police and CHP officers, who patrolled Rialto on Friday so the city' entire force could attend Carrera's funeral, stood at attention on the Riverside Avenue bridge along Interstate 10.

A crew from the Colton Fire Department stood atop their ladder truck in tribute as the motorcade passed under the Mount Vernon Avenue bridge.

American flags placed by cemetery staff in honor of Carrera lined the long entrance to Montecito Memorial Park, where smoke from Southern California's weeklong brush fires obscured the panoramic view at Carrera's hilltop grave site.

Missing Man

Monsignor Thomas Wallace presented crucifixes to the officer's widow and his mother, Aurora. Blue ribbons, tied into small bows, adorned the lapels of Carrera's relatives.

The traditional elements of police funerals reduced Carrera's law enforcement colleagues and loved ones to tears and quiet sobs: a bagpiper's rendition of "Amazing Grace," a firearm salute, the mournful strains of taps by a bugler on a nearby hillside, and the flyover of five helicopters, one of them peeling off to the side in the missing man formation.

A white-gloved Rialto police honor guard, which included Quarker, folded the American flag that covered his casket. Kling and Rep. Baca presented flags to Louise and Aurora Carrera, as the officer's father held his toddler grandson.

As a sign of respect and solidarity, several officers removed black bands fastened to their shoulder epaulets and placed them atop Carrera's dark wooden casket. An aunt lifted up young Izabella to tap on her father's casket.

The 45-minute gathering culminated with the officer's widow, parents, sisters and nieces dropping flowers onto the burial chamber after cemetery workers lowered it to grass level. A relative draped Sergio III across the casket, while his mother urged the boy to kiss it and say goodbye to Daddy.

Reach Adam C. Hartmann at 909-806-3055 or ahartmann@PE.com

Reach Mary Bender at 909-806-3056 or mbender@PE.com

Rialto Utility Tax Extented (SB Sun Nov. 12, 2007)

Rialto utility tax extended

A measure to extend Rialto's utility tax for a five-year period appeared headed for approval early Wednesday.

With 31 of 38 precincts reporting, Measure A had the support of 63.6 percent of voters.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

BS Ranch Perspective

With 31 of the 38 Precincts reporting, and the Measure U showing Support by 63.6% meaning that the Utility Tax has been passed for another Five years, I really HOPE That the Rialto City Council Will do Right this time, and not Waist the Utility Tax Money on things that are not Related to the Business of the of the City. I feel that they used a great deal of that money to fight the Police Department when they wanted the Sheriff's Department to take over the Law Enforcement!! Now with the Water Department looking at this huge money that is going out for this Perchlorate Suit, when they should have gone to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) in the first place then they wouldn't have this law suit that is lining the pockets of Owens.

Owens is the one that wanted this whole Suit to begin with, and the City Council followed him pen and pencil in hand, now they are looking at a $28Million deficit, and most of that Money has gone into Owens' Pocket!!

Now The Promises that they made to the Police Department, and Fire Department a long time ago, should have been filled, which was that if the first Utility Tax was passed they would sign off on the 3% @ 50 Years of Age Retirement Program like the more then 97% of all Law Enforcement Agencies have gone to. The reason that Rialto cannot attract Experienced Law Enforcement Officers to Rialto is because they don't have the 3% @ 50 years of Age Retirement. If they had the 3% @ 50 it would bring a great deal more people of interest to the Department and they would be able to fill the open spots with Experience and not with people that are fresh boots out of the academy!! Without the 3%@50 the Boots that are coming from the academy are sure to leave after a short training time at Rialto, and then they will move on to another Department!!

BS Ranch

Rialto's Utility Tax is UP for RENEWAL (Press Enterprise Nov. 7, 2007) The Utility Tax Established in 2003, It's Considered to be a VITAL Part of Rial

BS Ranch Perspective

During the first passing of the So Called J&K Utility Tax Bill had passed, the City Council, City Administrator, at the total Advice of their Council. Owens (City of Rialto's Council). Let's see the city council took the money from the J&K Utility Tax Money, then they purchased a new T-201 Ladder Truck, E-201 Fire Engine, E-202 Fire Engine, E-203 Fire Engine, MA-201 Ambulance, MA-201A Ambulance, MA-202 Ambulance, BC-201 Battalion Chief's Command Unit, T-201 UT-201 1 Ton Truck w/utility bed, & Utility Trailer w/SCUBA Compressor for Scott Air Pack Bottle Fill, T-203&T204 1 ton trucks for Fire Station Three & Four, The City Council also purchased maintenance Equipment for the Code Enforcement, and the Water Department!

The City Council also gave the Rialto Fire Department, Maintenance Department, Water Department (Everyone but the Police Department) a new contract including a raise) The Police Department was still being held out for a Contract with the County of San Bernardino Sheriff's Department for Law Enforcement Duties. In the mean time The Lawyer's Representing the Citizen's of Rialto, and the RPBA (Rialto Police Benefit Association) had opened a law suit against the City Council and their decision to go to the County of San Bernardino Sheriff's Department for Law Enforcement Duties. The Judge in the case had placed and injunction against the case freezing the City Council from Any Contract with the Sheriff's Department Pending, an outcome of a signature gathering by the people of the city of Rialto and the possible change in laws that might effect the same.

Well, in the mean time the Rialto City Council wanted to force as many people to leave Rialto as they possibly could so they laid off all the new hired people that were still on Probation, almost 12 or 13 people total, was laid off. Not just that they were moving all these people all over the place and it was terrible. Placing a more then 27 person shortage to the Police Department ALONE!!

So all the J&K Utility Tax money that was taken in was spent on mostly all the Rialto Fire Department, and then Maintenance Department. There had to be an equal amount that was spent on chasing the people in the Police Department away, In just Literature, Commercials that ran on the local channel, and late night channels on the lower priced channels regarding Closing the aw enforcement and opening up the Police Department as the Sheriff Department, also they had to pay for Advertisement with local Radio, Not to mention the literature that was passed out with the fire Department, and the two to three times that they did a mailer program that cost the city some $40,000 only covers the cost to mail the envelopes not the cost of printing paper envelops etc etc... that might be another $5000 or so!! they did this mailing program three times so that was at least $120, 000.00 to mail the envelopes alone, that doesn't count for the cost of printing the flier, each flier was different for each mailer. Each of the mailers were Multi colored and were equally expensive in cost, so they had to cost at least $5000-$9000 a batch for a total of $15,000-$27,000 thousand when mailed the cost was a grand total of $135, 000.00 to $147,000.00 These figures are astronomical when you figure that they are using money that should be used to run the city instead they are using these funds to tear down the city!!

The Voters should think long and hard before they vote for this again!! Unless the city council has a change of heart such as a NEW CITY COUNCIL, ALONG WITH A NEW CITY ADMINISTRATION AND CITY LAWYER TO GO ALONG WITH ALL THIS NEWNESS!!!

BS RANCH

Rialto's utility tax up for renewal

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09:37 AM PST on Wednesday, November 7, 2007

By MARY BENDER
The Press-Enterprise

A city utility tax established four years ago, and now regarded as a vital part of Rialto's public safety budget, had a healthy lead early today in the special election to decide whether to extend the tax until 2013.

At 1 a.m. Wednesday, five hours after the polls closed, ballots from 31 of Rialto's 38 precincts had been tabulated, said Kathy Jackson, executive secretary for the San Bernardino County Registrar's office. Measure D was ahead by a wide margin -- almost two-thirds of the votes at that point favored extending the tax.

Turnout for Tuesday's special election was low, with the utility tax the only matter before Rialto voters.

The 8 percent levy is added to Rialto customers' cable television, water, sewer, telephone, cellular, electricity and natural gas bills.

If voters don't approve a five-year extension, the tax would expire at the end of June. Measure D needs a simple majority to pass, said City Clerk Barbara McGee.

Each year, Rialto collects about $12 million from the utility tax, accounting for 24 percent of the city's General Fund budget. That money helps pay for services including police, fire, parks, public works and code enforcement.

The issue first went before voters in June 2003. The outcome was so close -- 1,649 yes votes to 1,644 no votes -- that the San Bernardino County registrar's office conducted a recount.

On Tuesday, Rialto's 31, 580 registered voters could cast ballots at polling places including seven churches, three public schools, two city fire stations, a country club, the senior center and an American Legion hall.

Since the Utility Users Tax was adopted, the Rialto Fire Department has used money to purchase a fire truck with a 105-foot aerial ladder that can reach the top of a 10-story building and can pump a long spray of water from its attached water cannon.

The department also was able to add nine firefighters/paramedics and reopen Station 204, which had been closed because of Rialto's budget struggles.

People 65 and older are exempt from paying the utility tax, as are families that meet state and federal criteria as very low income. Residents seeking that waiver must complete a form at Rialto City Hall. Currently, 2,015 senior citizens and 67 low-income households receive the tax exemption.

The city was to post election results on its Web site, www.ci.rialto.ca.us, and on KRTO Channel 3, its government access cable channel, throughout the night.

One group monitoring the returns was firefighters at Station 201, the firehouse next to City Hall, and Rialto's busiest.

"We've been watching the local cable channel, but there aren't any results yet," Rialto Fire Capt. Bob Romo said 90 minutes after the polls closed.

Reach Mary Bender at 909-806-3056 or mbender@PE.com

Results

Suspect Denies Killing Rialto Officer (Press Enterprise Oct. 21, 2007) Apartment Manager Held in Connection with death of Officer S. Carrara

BS Ranch Perspective

Any times that there is a SWAT ENTRY there is what is known as an ENTRY TEAM. The entry team makes the announcement that they are the Police, with a loud yell, and the instruction is for everyone to get down on the floor or get shot. The "Apartment Manager" is lucky that the Entry team started to Wrestle with him instead of shoot him to have him lay down on the ground.

But if this is the same kid that was around when I was Patrolling the fine streets of Rialto, his specialty back then was this Passive Aggressive Approach to the Police when it came to following Directions. Now if this was the same person he used to live in some Apartments in the 200 Block of N. Glenwood Ave. before they were purchased by the City and Redeveloped, Well if you would check out a couch to see if there was any weapons in it and ask him to sit down for HIS safety and the safety of the Officers that were in the House. This Suspect would just start to argue as to why he had to sit down. Why do I have to sit down and not the other party, if she as gathering things up to leave we would be keeping the peace, well rather then him sit down and wait for her to leave he would start to address would could and could not be taken, what was his and what was hers. etc etc...

It was all part of that Passive Aggressive Behavior that I was talking about, when the SWAT Officers made Entry into the APARTMENT they most likely ORDERED S-Thomas to the floor, on his stomach, with his hands out to his side. It is in this position where everybody is then Physically SEARCHED for WEAPONS, and HANDCUFFED for their SAFETY, and the SAFETY OF THE OFFICERS ON SCENE!! Once Everyone has been DETAINED in this Fashioned they are then IDENTIFIED by positive Identification, if there is a question of their Identity they are taken for fingerprinting to make sure that they are who they say that they are.

In this case I can see what happened right away. The Suspect (Thomas) was confronted by the SWAT Officers when they entered the door and told to get down on the floor on their stomach, but Suspect (Thomas) Refused, and Rather he get shot, to go down to the ground the SWAT Entrance Team showed a great deal of Restraint, and started to force Suspect (Thomas) onto the floor. However the more that the First SWAT Officer struggled to get SUSPECT (THOMAS) onto the floor, on his stomach, and be handcuffed, the more that he fought with the SWAT Officer (Carrera). It was this time that a Second Officer from the SWAT ENTRY Grabbed a hold of Suspect (Thomas), only after he had slung the AR-15 on his Back. However the more that the two SWAT Officers tried to get Suspect (Thomas) onto the floor the more he fought with his Passive Aggressive behavior, all so that Suspect Thomas didn't have to do what the SWAT Officers were telling him what to do.

It was at this time that one of the two SWAT Officers tripped up Suspect (Thomas) and got him partially down on the Floor, Suspect (Thomas) continued to fight and struggle, the SWAT Officers were rolling on the ground as much as Suspect (Thomas) was at this point, But Suspect (Thomas) Felt or saw an opportunity to get this whole fight to stop, and that IDEA WAS ABOUT TO BE TRIGGERED!! SUSPECT (THOMAS) LAID HIS FINGER IN THE TRIGGER GUARD OF THAT AR-15 and a BURST of TWO ROUNDS went out of the AR-15 ENDING THE FIGHT!! Not just in the Officers But in SUSPECT (THOMAS) BECAUSE HE KNEW WHAT HE HAD DONE!!

SUSPECT (THOMAS) WAS THEN EASILY HANDCUFFED AS SERGIO CARRERA JR. WAS BEING KEPT ALIVE!!!!

Passive Aggressive is something in the Academy that is taught that should be brought under control quickly, and it looks like it was being done so very quickly, but when there is EVIL IN ONE MANS HEART, THEN HE WILL SEEK OUT TO EXPLOIT JUST THAT, EVIL!! In this ALTERCATION that came about because of the PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE EVIL that The SUSPECT (THOMAS) Possessed, boiled to the top that day, and OFFICER SERGIO CARRERA JR. BECAME HIS VICTIM, WHETHER HE WANTED HIM TO BE HIS VICTIM OR NOT THAT IS WHAT HE BECAME. This is what happens when one is Passive Aggressive, It Makes VICTIMS OF PEOPLE or in this case a POLICE OFFICER WHO WAS SIMPLY DOING HIS JOB!!

I GUESS IN THIS WORLD MR. JARANARD THOMAS IT GOES TO SHOW YOU THAT IT IS EASY TO BE A POLICE OFFICER KILLER!! OR A KILLER IN GENERAL!! I personally hope that Chemicals BURN!! when when injected!!

BS Ranch

Suspect denies killing Rialto officer

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07:43 AM PDT on Sunday, October 21, 2007

By ADAM C. HARTMANN
The Press-Enterprise

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Video: Rialto officials react to the death of police officer Sergio Carrera Jr.

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RANCHO CUCAMONGA - An apartment manager held in connection with the killing of a Rialto SWAT officer during a drug raid last week said in a jailhouse interview Saturday he was too busy defending himself from police Tasers to have shot anyone.

Jaranard Thomas, 32, is being held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga following the death of Officer Sergio Carrera Jr., 29, of Beaumont. Carrera was shot about 7 a.m. Thursday at the Rialto apartment of Thomas' girlfriend, Nashalla Bell. Carrera, a four-year veteran of the Rialto police force, died later that morning at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.

Police would not comment on what Thomas said, saying only that the investigation indicated that he was responsible for Carerra's death. They also released new information that Thomas is wanted on a $100,000 warrant out of Mississippi.

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Thomas looked on Saturday like he hadn't slept in days. His hair was unkempt, his eyes red. He turned his head to reveal a nickel-sized area of stitches behind his left ear.

Thomas said the fact that he's alive is proof he didn't shoot Carrera. If he had shot a police officer, he would immediately have been killed himself, Thomas said.

"Don't you think they're gonna kill that person?" Thomas asked, eyes widening. "Don't you know I would have been dead? Not right here, dead. At the mortuary. Pancake and eggs, cooked."

He denied having guns or drugs in the apartment, and flatly declared he isn't a gang member, as police have indicated.

Rialto police Capt. Tony Farrar declined to comment on Thomas' statements, referring all questions to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, which is investigating the shooting.

Arden Wiltshire, a Sheriff's Department spokeswoman, said Thomas' real name is Chris Wiggins, and he is wanted on a $100,000 warrant out of Mississippi for the sale of rock cocaine. Identified through fingerprints, his nicknames include "B-Duke" and "Short Dog," Wiltshire said.

"Our investigators have determined he is responsible for Officer Carrera's death," Wiltshire said, declining to respond to Thomas' remarks.

Thomas' mother gave him the nickname "B-Duke" as a young boy, Bell said. He has never gone by the moniker "Short Dog," Bell said.

Bell said she was in the kitchen of the small West Cascade Drive apartment early Thursday morning, preparing food for her 5- and 14-year-old boys, and the couple's 3-year-old son. Thomas became an immediate father figure to the two older children although they weren't his, Bell said Friday. The 5-year-old called him "Daddy" right away.

As Bell hustled to get the children off to school, SWAT teams were on the apartment complex grounds. The search warrant they carried indicated that rock cocaine, drug paraphernalia and weapons might be inside Apartment A. Thomas said he was lying on the couch in a light sleep when he heard a loud noise at the front door. He said he wasn't sure whether Bell was in the house, but all three boys were home. It was Devante's 14th birthday.

"I felt the cool breeze coming away from the door," Thomas said. "All of a sudden I hear, like, gunshots or something, 'pow, pow, pow'," Thomas said.

He did what he said anyone would do -- he ran, into his oldest son Devante's bedroom at the end of the hall on the right.

"If I'd have known it was the police, I would have laid there," Thomas said. "I'm not no violent person."

In Devante's bedroom, Thomas began to get Tasered, he said.

'I Couldn't Hear Nobody'

During Saturday's interview he rose from his stool and pulled up his orange jumpsuit to show what he said were Taser scars on his belly. Thomas then flailed his arms repeatedly to demonstrate how he was trying to fend off the shocks.

"When I got to the room, I couldn't see," Thomas said. Smoke bombs had been set off at the complex, but Thomas said he didn't know whether one had been set off in his apartment.

Bell said in an interview Friday in the couple's home that their 5-year-old son was crying and shouting for officers not to shoot, but Thomas said he couldn't hear that, or much of anything.

"I'm the one doing the shouting," Thomas said. "I'm like, 'ahhh!' I couldn't hear nobody. I'm the one in the room, on the floor, huddling."

While getting Tasered, Thomas said he heard two gunshots, but denied grabbing anyone's gun. It was inaccurate to characterize the scene as a scuffle, since all he was doing was trying to defend himself, he said.

Wiltshire said she didn't know whether Thomas had been Tasered. The San Bernardino County district attorney's office has scheduled an 11 a.m. news conference Monday to talk about the investigation, she said.

Thomas said he was taken from the apartment within five to 10 minutes, and hasn't talked to his children or Bell since. He asked how they were doing, and started to cry.

Reach Adam C. Hartmann at 909-806-3055 or ahartmann@PE.com

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