| City's renaissance born from a breakfast 'pipe dream' |
| By Jason Pesick, Staff Writer Inland Valley Daily Bulletin |
| Article Launched:07/30/2007 11:43:33 PM PDT |
| RIALTO - One of the most important meetings in city history actually took place outside the city - at the Coco's in Diamond Bar in fall 2004. About a half dozen people met for a power breakfast that morning. The topic of conversation: getting Rep. Gary Miller's help to close Rialto's airport so it could be replaced with the indiscreetly named Renaissance Rialto, a master-planned community. Set up by the project's developer, the Lewis Group of Companies, breakfast-goers included Miller, David Lewis, some advisers and Robb Steel, Rialto's economic development director. "It was such a pipe dream," Steel said of closing the airport, which, with Miller's help, Congress approved in 2005. The breakfast was a success. After chowing down on the weekday special of scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and coffee, Steel, now 50, picked up the check, calling it a "small price" to pay. It's been a week since the opening of the 210 Freeway ex- tension between Rialto and San Bernardino. The completion of the freeway makes the coming months and years critical for Rialto, and Steel is the man in the center of it all. "I feel really, really blessed to have him," said City Administrator Henry Garcia. Garcia said he "begged" Steel to come to Rialto after the two worked in the same capacities in Colton. An old baseball player with a dry wit and dark hair sprinkled with gray, Steel looks like a guy a developer can do business with. And he talks like someone you want managing projects. He has a tendency to answer questions by referencing complex economic models, footnotes in financial studies and in a bureaucrat-speak it takes a master's degree in public administration to have a chance at decoding. Steel couldn't be at the city at a better time, said former Councilman Joe Sampson. "From an economic development and redevelopment point of view, Robb has been one of the best things that has happened for the city," he said. Earlier this year, Steel saved the city millions of dollars by negotiating an increase in the minimum amount of money the city would make off selling the airport to develop it. When it became clear the city might get only $6 million because of a disagreement with other parties in the deal, Steel helped negotiate increasing the minimum the city would make to $26 million. "I respect Robb Steel more than any redevelopment director we've ever had," said resident Greta Hodges, who doesn't shy away from criticizing city officials and decisions she doesn't like. She said she's a fan of Steel because he's honest - he answers even tough questions truthfully, she said - and because he's realistic about what should be built in Rialto. Steel, who lives in San Clemente, said he's willing to make the drive because working as a redevelopment director in the Inland Empire is exciting. He likes the intellectual challenge of dealing with a region that is growing faster than its infrastructure can be built. A project like Renaissance Rialto, with a price tag between $1 billion and $2 billion, is almost unheard of in a city the size of Rialto, he said. "I'd like this to be the last city that I work for." Steel's office is packed with binders about the projects moving forward in Rialto. He also has a Maxwell Smart bobblehead - "I'm bumbling like he was," he said - and an autographed photo of Barbara Feldon, who played Agent 99 in "Get Smart." Steel thought the autograph was real, but learned it was a joke perpetrated by some of the staff in the office. There's an air of levity in the Redevelopment Agency office downtown, which is down from City Hall a few blocks. Steel's No. 2, Economic Development Manager Greg Lantz, said Steel makes the staff work long hours. "He's a taskmaster," Lantz said of the boss, "but at least he's good to work for." Contact writer Jason Pesick at (909) 386-3861 or via e-mail at jason.pesick@sbsun.com. |
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
City's Renaissance Born From a Breakfast ' Pipe Dream' (Daily Bulletin July 30, 2007) The Dirty Dealings in the Back of the Kitchen at the "Co Coa's i
New Names On The Way (SB SUN July 30, 2007 ) Rialto Changes at Least Two Street Names
New names on the way
RIALTO - Two streets in Rialto should get renamed soon.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Rialto Takes Perchlorate Stand (San Bernardino Sun July 28, 2007).
I figure that the Law Suite route that they took forced the hand that they have to pay some of the cost, so in order to get away from that now they must go after the Government to get the money needed in order to get the water filters that are needed to clean that perchlorate out of the water and away from the Water Drinking Public!!
I guess, they will be having to shake the hands of the Government to get this done now, since Owen's Idea of a Law Suit has Failed!!
BS Ranch
| Rialto takes perchlorate stand |
| Article Launched:07/28/2007 09:59:16 PM PDT |
| According to the most recent Study by the Center for Disease Control, perchlorate in drinking water, even at low doses, is a threat to the thyroid function of many of U.S. women, and to brain and nervous system development in children. By 2002, it had become apparent that a 6-mile-long plume of perchlorate, a key ingredient of rocket fuel, and trichloroethylene (TCE), a hazardous solvent phased out of industrial use by the 1980s, contaminates the otherwise pure groundwater aquifer that supplies drinking water for the city of Rialto and the Rialto Utility Authority. The source is a World War II ordinance depot later used for manufacturing by large defense contractors and fireworks manufacturers. The contamination comes from land now used by San Bernardino County for its Mid-Valley Sanitary Landfill, to the west, and a 160-acre site to the east occupied by Goodrich Corporation, Emhart (Black & Decker), Pyro Spectaculars and other manufacturers. In response, the Rialto City Council adopted a policy of shutting down contaminated wells to avoid serving perchlorate in any amount to its citizens. Initially, perchlorate concentrations were detected in the dozens to several hundred parts per billion (ppb). Additional investigation and testing found perchlorate as high as 5,000-10,000 ppb, the highest level in the nation in a domestic water supply. The state of California action level is 6 ppb. Protecting citizens' health is paramount, but the potential effects on business, development and the city's finances are also dire. Installing wellhead treatment costs millions, and operational costs add millions more. With the new 210 Freeway, parts of the city are poised for increased development and employment. But if the city cannot assure a 20-year supply of water, state law prohibits local development. Projected costs for the cleanup run as high as $200 million to $300 million. Initially, Rialto turned to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board - Santa Ana Region (RWQCB) for assistance. EPA undertook some studies and issued investigation orders to some of the dischargers. At the time, the Bush administration, under pressure from major defense contractors that had used perchlorate nationally and the Pentagon, resisted adoption of a federal cleanup standard or rigid enforcement by the EPA. EPA took no further action, and deferred to the state of California. The first prosecution effort by the RWQCB ended in a dismissal for lack of evidence. In 2003, Rialto turned to San Bernardino County and asked it to take steps to control the perchlorate from its Mid-Valley Landfill. Through then-supervisor Jerry Eaves, the county declined to offer Rialto any help and denied the extent of the contamination later confirmed by more testing. Faced with ineffective action from EPA and the regional board, a rejection of liability from the county, and some expiring statutes of limitation, Rialto brought suit in federal court in 2004 to make the large corporate polluters and insurance companies - rather than its own citizens - pay for the cleanup. Through investigation of activities as far back as the 1940s, and under federal discovery authority, a mass of evidence was collected and delivered to the RWQCB and EPA. Using some of this evidence, Rialto was successful in November 2005 in obtaining a Clean-up and Abatement Order from the RWQCB that requires the county to clean up the perchlorate emanating from the landfill. By late 2006, the RWQCB began a further prosecution of Goodrich, Emhart/Black & Decker and Pyro Spectaculars, supported in substantial part by the evidence from the federal litigation. Rialto's strategy is straightforward: use the federal litigation to supply evidence to EPA and the regional board with the objective of obtaining orders for cleanup of the basin. California law requires such a lawsuit to invoke the decades of insurance coverage of many of the dischargers, some of whom otherwise lack funding. Rialto's objective has always been to play a supporting role to federal and state agencies to obtain the orders for prompt cleanup. That strategy has worked as to the county and its landfill. The current State Water Board prosecution, which goes to hearing in Rialto Aug. 21-30, will hopefully result in a cleanup order on the eastern part of the plume as well. Rialto will participate and assist the RWQCB in presenting important evidence. If that hearing, which has been delayed four times by the large, well-funded law firms representing the dischargers, is not successful, Rialto has as a backup its federal lawsuit, which should go to trial in late 2008. Either way, Rialto is committed to making the large corporate polluters and insurance companies pay for the cleanup. The same federal litigation has been filed by the city of Colton, West Valley Water District and the private supplier Fontana Water Company. Right now, Rialto and Colton are doing the work in the litigation. The same water purveyors, and the county - both singly and jointly - have applied for federal and state cleanup money for years with only limited success. Rialto is following a dual approach of assisting the administrative agencies and using the federal litigation as a backup. We request this newspaper and all affected citizens to support the current State Water Board prosecution in Rialto Aug. 21-30. The state Legislature should be encouraged to supply funding for prosecution of the dischargers and to assist with the cleanup. EPA should likewise be more actively involved, and take further action on the evidence that has been supplied to it. The health and welfare of Rialto's citizens, and its women and children in particular, deserve nothing less. - Winnie Hanson, Rialto's mayor pro tem, and Ed Scott, council member, comprise the Rialto Perchlorate Subcommittee. |
Home Sales Dip By 25% (Inland Valley Daily Bulletin July 25, 2007) Median Price Increase 3.2%
| Home sales dip by 25% |
| Median price increases 3.2% |
| By Matt Wrye, Staff Writer Inland Valley Daily Bulletin |
| Article Launched:07/25/2007 11:45:58 PM PDT |
| Home sales dropped almost 25 percent statewide in June compared with the same time last year, while the median price of an existing home increased 3.2 percent, according to a California Association of Realtors report. Sales of high-end homes and their prices increased for the month of June across certain parts of California, but not in the Inland Empire. What's happening in San Bernardino and Riverside counties is more like a tug of war. Sellers won't budge from prices they think their homes are worth and buyers sit tight in hopes prices will drop, according to economists and real-estate professionals. "They don't get the market," Redlands-based regional economist John Husing said about buyers. "They don't understand it. They think prices are too high." Homes in coastal counties, selling for $600,000 to well over $1 million, are in slightly higher demand and account for this paradox. However, only half as many homes are selling in the San Bernardino/Riverside area compared with June 2006, and their prices have decreased 3.4 percent. The median price of a home in San Bernardino and Riverside counties at the end of June was $390,230, CAR reported. Robert Kleinhenz, deputy chief economist at CAR, said Inland Empire home sellers are comfortable with waiting for prices to rise - just as much as buyers are waiting for prices to drop. "People are looking at history and saying, `If I just wait this out a little longer, I might get a better deal,"' he said. Of course, the psychological effects of foreclosures are also weighing on the minds of potential home buyers. DataQuick, which monitors real-estate activity nationwide, reported Wednesday that statewide foreclosures soared to a record high of more than 17,400, and one out of every five happen in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. With numbers like these, it's hard for buyers to justify paying for a house that could end up in foreclosure in the near future, according to Pete Gliniak, a Covina-based real-estate professional who specializes in bankruptcies and short sales all over the Inland Empire. "Now the mind-set is, `We'll wait until the prices come down or wait until they come to foreclosure,' which in their minds is a heavily discounted price," he said about buyers. Homes sales and prices are also dropping because of an overstock in housing inventory. "The builders have been working this down for the past 18 months or so," Kleinhenz said. "Builders are offering larger and larger discounts for people to (buy) and move." Kleinhenz's comments echo CAR's statewide findings. It would take about 10 months for the supply of homes to be depleted with current sales rates, the report states, compared with about six months last year at this time. Gliniak calls it "oversaturation" and thinks too many people bought expensive homes in the two-county area that they couldn't afford and "had no business buying them," he said. "People got caught up in the frenzy of 2005 and it spilled into 2006," he said of new home builders and buyers. One thing that is definitely happening is that home sales are slow. Earlier this month, DataQuick Information Services of La Jolla reported that home sales in the Southland in June were the lowest for the month since 1993. According to DataQuick, 20,166 homes were sold in the six Southern California counties, well below the average June of 29,041 and barely above the 19,947 homes sold in June 1993. "We're probably pretty close to the `floor' level of buying and selling, meaning that most of the activity is basic and not discretionary," DataQuick President Marshall Prentice said in a release. "Today's buyers and sellers really need to move for one reason or another, not because they want a guest room or bigger yard. The exception seems to be high-end markets, most of which are doing pretty well." Nonetheless, the foreclosure market brings fresh opportunities for some real-estate experts. Such is the case for Steve Thomas, co-owner of Rancho Cucamonga- based CIG Property Management and Investment. He hopes to capitalize on the housing market's downturn by buying foreclosed properties in places like Fontana, Rialto and Highland. "I'm able to find properties easily at $50,000 below market, and sometimes $100,000," he said. "California is going to go through a growth spurt. Within the next cycle, those with lots of properties are going to do well." However, the housing market's selling side wasn't so good to him just a few months ago. After having a 20-year-old north Fontana home on the market for four months - and lowering the price by $20,000 - he put it up for auction. His effort still wasn't successful, so he pulled the house off the market. "What's attracting buyers right now is two things: one is price; and two, the amenities and location," Thomas said. "With as many new homes available, why would someone want to go buy an older home?" Husing, who focuses on the two-county region, and others have said numerous times that the housing market won't sort itself out until at least the first part of 2008. There are too many homes on the market, and the mortgage market - particularly for first-time buyers - has become brutally tight. Business editor Michael Rappaport contributed to this story. Writer Matt Wrye can be reached at (909) 386-3890 or by e-mail at matthew.wrye@sbsun.com |
After Drop, Gang Violence Flares Up in Pasadena, (LA Times July 28, 2007) Double Killing Rattles City That has Seen 18 Slayings In As Many Months....
After drop, gang violence flares up in Pasadena
click to enlargeThe shootings have occurred in a relatively small section of Pasadena and involve what officials believe is a gang clash.
Pasadena won much praise for reducing gang violence over the last 14 years, a concerted effort that started after the high-profile killing of three teenage boys leaving a Halloween night party in 1993.
The crackdown resulted in a major drop in crime — particularly among young people and gangs. The city, which in the 1980s recorded more than 30 homicides a year, by 2002 recorded just three, according to FBI records. But then, homicides started rising.
Over the past 18 months, there were 18 homicides in Pasadena.
The violence has sparked a series of community forums, a new crackdown by Pasadena police and some political soul-searching.
Pasadena has been in the midst of a building boom, adding pricey condos and apartments to its thriving downtown retail district along Colorado Boulevard. But some community activists believe the city needs to focus more attention on its poorer areas to the north, which have large black and Latino populations.
"What we need now as a community, just like any other community, is political will," said Dianne Segura, executive director of the local YWCA, which launched an initiative in late May called Mothers on the Move to fight the rising violence. "We are only 23 [square] miles. If we can't solve what's happening in our neighborhoods, then shame on us."
The city's image has long been burnished by the annual Rose Parade, which paints the town as awash in princesses and flowers. In the regal neighborhoods near the Rose Parade headquarters and Rose Bowl, it's difficult to find a house for less than $1 million, with mansions going for $3 million or more. A gentrification boom has sent housing in other neighborhoods — notably those with restored California bungalows — to similar levels.
But the image of prosperity belies the struggles of neighborhoods just north of downtown Pasadena. That area has for generations been an enclave for African Americans and more recently has become an entry point for immigrants from Latin America. (Latinos now make up about 33% of the population, a growth that has generated some tensions with African Americans, who make up about 15% of the city.)
The median annual household income hovers around $51,000, according to U.S. Census figures. Still, nearly 10% of families in the city, and 14% of families with children under 18, have incomes below the poverty line — numbers that put it on par with state averages.
The gang crime problems, said City Councilman Chris Holden, are a reminder that despite Pasadena's upscale reputation, other parts of the city need help.
"We have the affluent, but we also have a segment that is really challenged, and brings with it all of the challenges of an urban community," Holden said. "The reality is that there's a subculture out there that is using drugs and influence in that way to make money, and they are going to be warring with each other. Pasadena is not immune to that."
Pasadena police officials said they are responding aggressively to the problems.
In the last year, police recorded 68 incidents in which Latinos were attacked late at night by groups of young African American men as part of a gang initiation. Authorities have since tripled enforcement levels in northwest Pasadena.
The crackdown has reduced such assaults, but gang-related killings continue.
The two men killed shortly before 2 a.m. Friday in the 1500 block of Navarro Avenue in northwest Pasadena were identified as Joseph Vargas, 31, and Sergio Mendes, 34, both of Pasadena. Both men died at Huntington Memorial Hospital from numerous gunshot wounds after being transported by paramedics. Police believe the shootings were gang-related.
By Friday afternoon, police arrested three suspects in Covina in connection with the double slaying: Jonathon Warren, 22; Diana Reyes, 20; and a male juvenile whose name and age were not released.
Earlier in the day, just a few blocks from where Vargas and Mendes were shot, detectives served search warrants in a multi-city sweep related to the slaying in December of Tommie James Evans.
Evans was shot as he sat on his porch in the 100 block of West Washington Boulevard in what police described as gang retaliation for an earlier shooting.
Pasadena police spokeswoman Janet Pope Givens said the rise in shootings may be attributed to a surge in the number of young males ages 18 to 30 or to older gang leaders who have been returning to the area after serving time in prison.
Pasadena has long struggled with issues of gangs and violence. In the 1980s and '90s, the subject came up weekly at council sessions as gangs — mostly Bloods and Crips and their various cliques — warred over turf.
The violence came to a head with the Halloween slayings of 1993. Three members of a particularly violent gang eventually were sentenced to death for the fatal shootings of three innocent teenage boys carrying bags of candy on their way home from a party.
Authorities said the boys were killed in a case of gang revenge gone wrong.
The killings spawned dramatic changes in the way Pasadena combats gang crimes.
When Chief Bernard Melekian took over the Pasadena Police Department in 1996, he quickly went on the offense, declaring, "No more dead children." Melekian began a gang enforcement task force and several programs to help young people, including a juvenile-offender peer group court.
In addition, anguished residents staged memorials and lobbied for tougher gun laws.
They formed several community groups and funded summer jobs and violence prevention efforts.
But the gangs remained, say authorities, and now include five African American gangs in Pasadena, each one part of the Crips or Bloods; and six Latino gangs. Neighboring Altadena is home to at least two more gangs.
Pasadena police sources said that many of the shootings, while not specifically related, have at least in part been engineered by gang members, and that some are over drug territory.
"We are targeting known gang members, gang locations and late parties," Melekian said. "This is a reminder this stuff doesn't go away. This is a societal problem."
Melekian said that while some of the violence is between Latino and African American gangs, he believes the racial tensions are easing and are less a factor than battles over drug turf. Many of the recent shootings involve suspects and victims of the same ethnic group, he added.
Although authorities blame gangs, community leaders say that the root causes of the violence are much more complicated.
"Officials don't want to offend the black community who holler, 'Do something' on one hand but then yell, 'Not my kid,' " said Joe Hopkins, a local attorney and the publisher of the Pasadena/San Gabriel Valley Journal, the area's African American newspaper.
Hopkins, along with Segura of the YWCA and others, pointed to changing demographics in the city, which is now almost 60% nonwhite.
"We are feeling that it is not all gang related — that it's inequity related," Segura said.
Melekian said that Pasadena proved after the 1993 Halloween killings that it could work together to reduce crime, and that moment has again arrived. "Several years ago, this community proved that it could do that," he said. "This senseless killing needs to stop."
richard.winton@latimes.com
cara.dimassa@latimes.com
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(INFOBOX BELOW)
Recent shootings
Here are details of some of the attacks in the Pasadena area this year.
Feb. 2
Deon Mitchell, 21, was shot in Pasadena and died at 10:03 p.m. Mitchell was a Navy reservist with no ties to gangs, police said. He was in a parking lot, about to get into his car with several friends, when a man walked up with a hood over his face and started shooting. The suspect then got into a dark four-door compact car and fled. Mitchell's 17-year-old brother Dana Clark was shot five times in the chest during the incident, but lived. Both are considered by police to be random victims.
Feb. 7
Shawn Baptiste, 18, was shot several times in a car at Lincoln Avenue and Orange Grove in Pasadena about 7:53 p.m. and died the next morning, in what investigators called a gang-related killing.
May 7-8
In a 24-hour period, shootings left Tony Walker, 37, and Jamal Varcasia, 21, dead and Christian Peralta, 19, paralyzed. Walker was sitting in a car with another man at 120 E. Washington Blvd. when drive-by assailants attacked. He was shot in the head and torso and died at 1:56 p.m. May 7. Varcasia was struck at close range by 9-millimeter bullets in Pasadena and died at 10:20 a.m. May 8. Three men and a woman have since been arrested and charged with the slayings of Walker and Varcasia. A 15-year-old boy faces an attempted murder charge in the attack on Peralta.
June 4
Leron Brown, 31, was fatally shot while sitting in his car outside an Altadena liquor store, just before 3 p.m. Around 10:30 p.m. the same day, a 25-year-old man was shot in the arm in the 1300 block of Marengo Avenue in Pasadena.
June 5
An unidentified man was shot in the 100 block of Mountain View Street in Altadena, possibly in retaliation for the June 4 killing of Leron Brown.
July 27
Joseph Vargas, 31, and Sergio Mendes, 34, were killed in a shooting in the 1500 block of Navarro Avenue in Pasadena. Detectives later arrested three people in Covina: Jonathon Warren, 22, Diana Reyes, 20, and a male juvenile whose name and age were not released. Investigators said the shootings appear to be gang-related.
Sources: Pasadena Police Department; Times reports
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Hopes High For Development on Pepper Avenue. (SB Sun July 25, 2007)
It is more likely that the Extension of Pepper Ave. Will not likely happen with the time that has passed since they have talked and planned to do it the first time in 1958! It is just awful that they will not be able to have an on/off ramp there at Pepper since there are so many people that live on the W/side of San Bernardino, and the E/side of Rialto that can use this on/off ramp to get home.
The Irony is that they built a Bridge across the driveway that is 900 E. Highland Ave. Rialto Ave. which is the house that is left there that they are talking about in the news article following my writing. They kept running into so many problems that are easily averted like that of the Kangaroo Rat, that is a Rat that lives in the Mojave Desert also & since they live there as well, you would think that they could have a road that is paved or a 1/2 mile to the next cross street which would be that of Highland Ave and the ON/Off Ramps of the new 210 Freeway which would be the great way for the home owners that live in the W/most limits of San Bernardino and E/most city Limits of Rialto to get home quicker, from work.
I cannot wait for the full progress of the Freeway to be completed, that means the Pepper Ave ON/OFF Ramps!!
BS Ranch
| Hopes high for development on Pepper Avenue |
| Jason Pesick, Staff Writer San Bernardino County Sun |
| Article Launched:07/25/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT |
| RIALTO - There are big hopes for Pepper Avenue now that the 210 Freeway is open. A team of developers is putting together two plans for mixed-use development on both sides of the 210. They would be part of the city's effort to give Rialto a boost by building along the 210 corridor. But there's a big problem: Pepper doesn't hit the 210, and it could be years before it does. That's because Rialto has run into setback after setback trying to extend the street less than a half mile north to the 210. The problems range from increasing costs, to the loss of federal money for the project, to endangered little critters like the San Bernardino kangaroo rat. On top of those problems, the city doesn't own all the land it would need to extend the road, including property where an 82-year-old former mayor has lived for 50 years. "It's not going to be a cheap proposition," said Darren Kettle, director of freeway construction for San Bernardino Associated Governments, the county transportation planning agency. Now, developers have offered to extend the road themselves, as long as the city pays part of the cost. Pepper was supposed to connect to the 210 when the freeway opened, but progress halted as the cost of extending the road kept rising. The latest estimate put the cost at more than $4million - probably closer to $5million. If Rialto can't get it built by November 2009, it will have to pay Sanbag up to $3million for a bridge the agency built so the 210 could accommodate Pepper. Pepper would have to run through a wash that is a tributary to Lytle Creek, but the engineering to deal with that landscape is simple compared with the environmental costs, Kettle said. Whoever builds the Pepper extension - whether it's the city or developers - would have to buy land for endangered species in the area at a rough cost of about $1million, Kettle said. The species could include the San Bernardino kangaroo rat, the woolly-star, a plant, and the gnatcatcher, a small bird. Rialto was originally supposed to pay for the Pepper extension with $826,000 from the federal government. Another $240,000 would have come from Colton, San Bernardino, the county and Rialto. As costs went up and the project became more complicated, the federal money was withdrawn in 2003. Under the new proposal from developers, they would extend Pepper, but Rialto would contribute $2.5million or more. The total cost could be $4million plus the cost of the habitat for the endangered species, said Bruce Cash, president and CEO of United Strategies Inc., the firm that put together the development team. "There's a huge environmental aspect to it," he said. Cash said he is confident the road will be built before the November 2009 deadline and that the design will be done in the next few months. If the developers don't end up extending Pepper, the city will, said Robb Steel, Rialto's economic development director. "Pepper Avenue is going through - no doubt," said Rialto's development services director, Mike Story. Assuming all goes well and Pepper does make it to the 210 on time, Sanbag will pay for the ramps to the freeway and will extend Pepper from the 210 to Highland Avenue. At a community meeting in June about an early version of the proposal for Pepper south of the 210, most of the approximately 120 people who showed up complained about the plan and the traffic and crime increases that could accompany extending Pepper for development. "What is it going to accomplish for the city?" former Mayor Bob Hughbanks, 82, said on Monday when asked about extending Pepper. Talk of extending the road is not new, said Hughbanks, who was mayor in the 1960s. He remembers people talking about the idea as early as 1958. "The cost of it was just prohibitive," he said outside his home, where Pepper hits the property he bought in 1958 when there were only orange groves nearby. "I was up here before anybody built anything," he said. It's no mystery why it would cost so much. Almost immediately after Pepper ends, there's a steep dropoff into an uneven wash. There's a fire in the wash almost every year, and sometimes it floods, making it difficult to build on, Hughbanks said. It's also full of the little kangaroo rats, which he said his kids used to catch and make pets out of, even putting one on a hamster wheel. When Hughbanks bought the property, it was farm lot with a boundary that ends somewhere in the middle of Pepper and goes into the wash. He's not sure what the exact boundaries are, but he said no one has contacted him or his neighbors to buy property for the extension. He would be willing to sell though, he said. Chances are good Pepper will be extended soon, Kettle said. "If we were skeptical, we probably wouldn't have proceeded with the bridge." Contact writer Jason Pesick at (909) 386-3861 or via e-mail at jason.pesick@sbsun.com. |
Motorists Compete For Space on New California Freeway (Fox News.com July 25, 2007)
When you open a Freeway in Southern California, any Freeway in the Los Angeles Area, Its gonna get clogged...and clogged fast!!
BS Ranch
Motorists Compete for Space on New California Freeway
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
RIALTO, Calif. —
The last stretch of brand-new freeway California is likely to see for many years opened Tuesday with motorists vying for position and the inevitable traffic jam.Commuters clogged onramps to be among the first to burn rubber on State Route 210, a 7 1/4-mile ribbon completing a freeway that over decades pushed 80 miles east from Los Angeles through foothill towns along the San Gabriel Mountains. It now ties into cities and interstates in the growing region known as the Inland Empire.
As opening time approached, Jim Gary eased his aqua green 1997 Mustang into position while reporters swarmed and news helicopters thrummed overhead. He jockeyed for position with two women in a gray SUV who weren't shy about honking — and wound up second in line.
Suddenly, the cones were gone and Gary floored it. Music blaring, top down, he gunned past the SUV — which had stopped for a photo opportunity — and sped onto the freeway at 70 mph.
As his car glided under the first overpass, Gary honked the horn, gave a passenger a high-five and promptly started calling friends and relatives on his cell phone.
"Dude, watch the news tonight! Turn on the TV now! I'm the first on the freeway," he shouted, as a huge motorcycle passed him on the left.
Gary, a truck driver for a freight company, said he arrived at the ramp early and waited an hour to get in line.
"It paid off," he said, as he relived his moment of motoring glory. "It was a battle to see who was first. She was aggressive, but as soon as I saw the opening, I said, 'You go ahead and wave at the cameras. I'm going around you!"'
His back seat passenger, 20-year-old Tiana Colbert, shared his excitement.
"It was worth waking up for. Usually, I don't wake up for much," she said.
Officials say the freeway, first conceived in 1948, will likely be one of the last brand-new freeways to open for decades in California because of funding shortfalls and a lack of places to lay new pavement.
"We can go onto freeways and we can widen and modify and add lanes, but those freeways already exist," said Shelli Lombardo, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Transportation. "This is a brand-new freeway and you're not going to see another one of those for a substantial number of years in California."
Some people showed up two hours ahead of the opening to check out the virgin pavement.
A radio station promoted the opening all morning and played a skit featuring a grumpy and jealous Interstate 10, which lies to the south and runs parallel to the 210. It is expected to lose some traffic to the new route.
"It's outstanding," said Judy Roberts, 64, who showed up to watch the freeway open. "Cars are a way of life in California — you live in your car and this will make a lot of difference to a lot of people."
Ken Humphrey, 44, was first to arrive at the overpass that the first cars on the freeway would later drive under. He commutes more than an hour each way from Rialto to his job in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles, and he said the new freeway would shave at least 15 minutes off his daily drive — each way.
"Now I'm just three blocks from this onramp. This is excellent. We've been waiting for this for a long time," he said.
When a previous 20-mile stretch of the 210 opened five years ago, so many drivers lined up on surface streets and onramps that the police had trouble with crowd control. The new segment, between the cities of Rialto and San Bernardino, cost $233 million to complete, bringing the freeway's total cost to about $1.2 billion over the years.
The vision for the freeway began nearly six decades ago, when officials began buying up land for a right-of-way. It moved in fits and starts, and was almost waylaid entirely over concerns it would contribute to too much sprawl, said Lombardo.
The freeway begins at Interstate 5 in northernmost Los Angeles. For most of its length it is designated Interstate 210 and is known as the Foothill Freeway, the 210 Freeway or just "the 210." The new segment is designated a "state route."
A freeway proposed for the high desert on the north side of the mountains would run between Victor Valley and Antelope Valley, but it is still in very early planning stages. It will be decades before it is completed, if the project even gets that far, said Cheryl Donahue, a spokeswoman for San Bernardino Associated Governments, which was a partner on the 210 Freeway project.
"If funds can be cobbled together, it may come in the future," she said. "Unfortunately, these big highway projects take many, many years to plan."
Burned Bodies Found Near Site of Inyo Pot Plantation Raid...(Associated Press July 24, 2007)
Burned bodies found near site of Inyo pot plantation raid
Last Update: Jul 24, 2007 5:55 PM
Inyo County Sheriff Bill Lutze says the bodies appeared to have been burned in a wildfire that consumed 35-thousand acres in the Inyo National Forest this month. But Lutze says the bodies' location near the marijuana growing area, amid other undisclosed evidence, led authorities to believe they were involved in the drug operation.
Lutze says authorities were led to the bodies by four people claiming to be family members who had gone looking for the missing men.
The area where the bodies were found was part of a huge growing operation that agents raided during a three-month investigation.
©2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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BS Ranch Perspective
I wonder if the bodies were part of the wildfire or were they the cause of the wildfire, is there another body in the desert that is found like that of Miss Fox's and they just say that it was a unfortunate mishap due to the heat of summer, and they close the case because there was so much decomposition to Ms. Fox's Body, yet Just hours before she was missing she was seen by some people that were driving in the Big Pine Canyon area, and there was some people that said that they gave her a ride, I don't know what is going on with that one, but then we have this case where there are two people that are killed by a marijuana crop.
This has to be handled as a murder since there are to many things that have happened in Independence in the last year, with the loss of life. Now, Fox, lost her life last Summer, in August, almost a year ago,and I wonder if she had stumbled upon a small Marijuana Crop that might have been just getting started back then, that might have been enough to have got her into trouble Especially if the crop was someone that was working under management through a larger area, such as a network, or maybe a gang.
BS Ranch
Californian's Burn Rubber on New Freeway
Tuesday July 24, 2007 11:31 PM
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press Writer
RIALTO, Calif. (AP) - The last stretch of brand-new freeway that California is likely to see for years opened Tuesday with motorists vying for position and the inevitable traffic jam.
Commuters clogged onramps to be among the first to burn rubber on State Route 210, a 7\-mile ribbon completing a freeway that over decades pushed 80 miles east from Los Angeles through foothill towns along the San Gabriel Mountains. It now ties into cities and interstates in the growing region known as the Inland Empire.
As opening time approached, Jim Gray eased his aqua green 1997 Mustang into position while reporters swarmed and news helicopters thrummed overhead. He jockeyed for position with two women in a gray SUV who weren't shy about honking, and he wound up second in line.
Suddenly, the cones were gone, and Gray floored it. Music blaring, top down, he gunned past the SUV - which had stopped for a photo opportunity - and sped onto the freeway at 70 mph.
As his car glided under the first overpass, Gray honked the horn, gave a passenger a high-five and promptly started calling friends and relatives on his cell phone.
``Dude, watch the news tonight! Turn on the TV now! I'm the first on the freeway,'' he shouted, as a huge motorcycle passed him on the left.
Gray, a truck driver for a freight company, said he arrived at the ramp early and waited an hour to get in line.
``It paid off,'' he said, as he relived his moment of motoring glory. ``It was a battle to see who was first. She was aggressive, but as soon as I saw the opening, I said, 'You go ahead and wave at the cameras. I'm going around you!'''
His back seat passenger, 20-year-old Tiana Colbert, shared his excitement.
``It was worth waking up for. Usually, I don't wake up for much,'' she said.
Officials say the freeway, conceived in 1948, will likely be one of the last brand-new freeways to open for decades in California because of funding shortfalls and a lack of places to lay new pavement.
``We can go onto freeways and we can widen and modify and add lanes, but those freeways already exist,'' said Shelli Lombardo, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Transportation. ``This is a brand-new freeway, and you're not going to see another one of those for a substantial number of years in California.''
Some people showed up two hours ahead of the opening to check out the virgin pavement.
A radio station promoted the opening all morning and played a skit featuring a grumpy and jealous Interstate 10, which lies to the south and runs parallel to the 210. It is expected to lose some traffic to the new route.
``It's outstanding,'' said Judy Roberts, 64, who showed up to watch the freeway open. ``Cars are a way of life in California - you live in your car, and this will make a lot of difference to a lot of people.''
Ken Humphrey, 44, was first to arrive at the overpass that the first cars on the freeway would later drive under. He commutes more than an hour each way from Rialto to his job in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles, and he said the new freeway would shave at least 15 minutes off his daily drive, each way.
``Now I'm just three blocks from this onramp. This is excellent. We've been waiting for this for a long time,'' he said.
When a previous 20-mile stretch of 210 opened five years ago, so many drivers lined up on surface streets and onramps that the police had trouble with crowd control. The new segment, between the cities of Rialto and San Bernardino, cost $233 million to complete, bringing the freeway's total cost to about $1.2 billion over the years.
The vision for the freeway began nearly six decades ago, when officials began buying up land for a right-of-way. It moved in fits and starts, and was almost waylaid entirely over concerns it would contribute to too much sprawl, said Lombardo.
The freeway begins at Interstate 5 in northernmost Los Angeles. For most of its length it is designated Interstate 210 and is known as the Foothill Freeway, the 210 Freeway or just ``the 210.''
Before Tuesday, the only other drivers allowed on the new roadway were doing stunts for a TV show and a Hollywood film, said Shelli Lombardo, a spokeswoman for the state transportation department.
A freeway proposed for the high desert between Victor Valley and Antelope Valley is still in very early planning stages. It will be decades before it is completed, if the project even gets that far, said Cheryl Donahue, a spokeswoman for San Bernardino Associated Governments, which was a partner on the 210 Freeway project.
``If funds can be cobbled together, it may come in the future,'' she said. ``Unfortunately, these big highway projects take many, many years to plan.''
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BS Ranch Perspective:
Now that the 210 Freeway extension has been open in the Inland Empire for over a month now, it seems that the people that commute have figured out the benefit of a new route home, and a new advantage of a new freeway to and from their work in the Greater Los Angeles area. The 210 Freeway in just a short month has been growing more and more crowded, and soon, Very Very SOON, will be as crowded as the I-10 freeway through the Inland Empire, especially as popular as the "Big Rig Diesel's" have been finding the I-210 to be, in getting up the I-15 to Las Vegas. Soon they will figure out that they will not have to crowd through the small funnel at the I-215/I-15 Interchange when they figure out that they just take the I-210 for a few more miles and take a turn up the I-215, and make the funnel a bit faster, yes a bit faster. I have given away a small Inland Empire Secret Away in the travels of the Freeway system here.
Good Travels and really be Save Watch those brake lights in front of you!!
BS Ranch
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Riding with San Bernardino's Operation Safe Streets! (Press Enterprise July 21, 2007).
Operation Safe Streets is a great Idea that seems to be a great movement that is working for San Bernardino, I am glad that the mayor Morris has taken such an Interest in the Crime in San Bernardino, and the long Life and exsistence with the Airport, and his attempt to try new things with the Police Department, and also trying to get businesses such as DHL Delivery, UPS, and FEDex, to come in and use the San Bernardino International Airport as a Hub for their Business and Package Delivery to the Inland Empire and the Moreno Valley..Etc Etc...
Morris has been by far the most progressive mayor that San Bernardino has had in a long time.
BS Ranch
Riding with San Bernardino's Operation Safe Streets
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 | Download story podcast | |
01:24 AM PDT on Saturday, July 21, 2007
Survey: Do you think the ATF's presence will cut down on gun crime?
SAN BERNARDINO - Typical city nights, with their steady stream of reports to take, don't often allow Ryan Wicks to slowly roll his patrol car behind one of the Eastside's most notorious apartment complexes in search of misdoing.
But this wasn't a normal night for the San Bernardino police officer.
As one of 10 chosen for the department's Operation Safe Streets launch, he has been freed from speeding from call to call whenever his radio crackles.
"If anyone's hanging out in a parked car right now, when it's 105 degrees," said Wicks, as he crept down the back alley in the graffiti-lined Guthrie projects, "they've got to be doing something."
Wicks will be there thanks to the operation in which San Bernardino officers work with the California Highway Patrol and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special agents to reduce crime in neighborhoods chosen by statistical mapping.
Those include the Guthries and Waterman Gardens on the eastside, a corridor of old motels on 5th and G streets downtown, and the Westside's California Gardens, Little Zion Manor and Delmann Heights.
"Being there just expands the knowledge of the local officers working with us, and expands the knowledge of our officers working with them," said the CHP's San Bernardino commander, Capt. James Szabo. "It really forms some great networks."
San Bernardino Police Chief Michael Billdt agreed. He also emphasized that Operation Safe Streets officers will have a freedom most on normal patrols don't.
"They're completely proactive," Billdt said. "They're free from taking report calls, and they're in the most at-risk areas."
Operation Safe Streets was launched in 1994, but was suspended for several years until 2006, when it was brought back as the city's homicide rate increased.
The program will run for at least the next 90 days, Billdt said, and will involve the participating federal agency's Violent Crime Impact Team that arrived earlier this month to reduce the proliferation of illegal firearms in town.
For example, if an Operation Safe Streets officer finds weapons, federal agents on the street can immediately respond and begin ballistic checks that could link them to crimes.
"We've just got to get out there and develop leads," Wicks said of working with federal agents. "The more we're out there, the more people we're going to talk to, the more information we're going to get, and the more that's going to lead to."
On this night, Wicks was focusing on the Guthries, where a homicide had occurred three days earlier.
It is something Wicks said he couldn't usually do on normal patrols. Frequently, he'll notice suspicious men on the street as he's racing by with sirens blazing.
"They know if they see two of us zoom by with our lights on, that we're not paying attention to them," Wicks said. "So the second we pass, someone's getting robbed."
On Wednesday, however, Wicks wouldn't be called to any emergencies. That allowed him to hone-in on an East Date Street apartment complex he had been to many, many times.
About a week earlier, Wicks was the first to respond to a homicide there, in which police say a man knocked on his brother's door and promptly shot him three times in the head in front of his family.
On Thursday, after the first night of Operation Safe Streets, police went to the same complex and arrested an 18-year-old gang member suspected of killing a man earlier this month by blindly firing into a crowd at a nearby party.
So the idling Honda, parked oddly far from the curb, caught Wicks' attention.
The shirtless driver, upon noticing Wicks' unmarked patrol car, seemed to make a sudden U-turn.
He wasn't wearing his seatbelt, providing the probable cause for a stop.
"The possibilities are endless," Wicks later said of what was going through his mind at the time. "He could be the getaway driver for a shooting, with his homies inside just over there. He's definitely in position for a quick getaway."
It turns out the driver, 21-year-old Cory Doucet, was simply taking a minute to cool off after leaving work at a nearby pizzeria.
He was driving his mother's car, and explained to Wicks that he was working on taking care of his suspended license.
Doucet wasn't on parole, had no warrants, and had no weapons or drugs in his car. Wicks gave him a fix-it ticket for the license and failing to wear a seat belt.
"I could have easily have taken the car for 30 days, but he was getting off work, and not to be preferential, but there's a lot of people who don't even do that," Wicks said. "I'd hate to impound his car, have him miss work, lose his job, not be able to pay for it and resort to a life of crime to get it back."
The traffic stop was the most excitement Wicks had all shift. But he was sure to note, as the first night of Operation Safe Streets forged on, that the summer is young.
Reach Paul LaRocco at 909-806-3064 or plarocco@PE.com
LAPD Investigating 2 Officer-Involved Shootings..LA Times July 19, 2007
It seems to this writer that the attacks and assaults on Police Officers are up in Southern California. If you take the statistics for LAPD's Officer Involved Shootings and the amount of Officers that have been injured by gunfire from assaults from
Suspects, has drastically risen from last year, especially since you consider that we have just crossed the half way point to the year, and LAPD is already over the TOTAL Officers injured by Gunshot Assaults This Year considered for all of last year. Fourteen (14) Officers have been shot and Injured by Suspects so far this year. There are Five (5) months left to the year, when you consider that there was only Nine (9) Injuries Last year by Suspects Assaulting Officers by gunfire for all of last year!!
I wonder what is the cause for the increased gun shot Assaults, is it that the Officers have more power in their Search and Seizure and they have more ability to search and when they get close to the gun that might be concealed they pull it and use it fearing nothing since if they are caught with the gun it is considered to be a violation of probation or a third strike on the probation.
There really is no telling why the Modern Suspect is using their gun more other then they are trying to make a name for themselves in their gang and they actually are after a kill when they shoot the Officer.
So Far we are lucky and there is only 14 Injuries and not 14 Deaths, or even one death from the gunfire of these assaults. I suppose that there was an Officer that has lost their life by Gunfire, but was not mentioned in this report, and if that was the fact I am sorry, and I will pray for all that have been involved in the call for service and I pray that all the Police Officers were able to keep doing their job and not have to retire due to the medical aspect of their injury.
BS Ranch
LAPD investigating 2 officer-involved shootings
Los Angeles police are investigating two officer-involved shootings that occurred several hours apart on the Westside and the northeast areas of the city, authorities said today.
The first incident occurred about 9:50 p.m. Wednesday when two officers witnessed an exchange of gunfire between a man and a juvenile while on patrol at Venice Boulevard and Cattaraugus Avenue in the South Robertson area, authorities said.
Police later discovered an unidentified man in the neighborhood who had apparently been shot earlier. He was taken to a local hospital but his condition was not immediately available.
The second officer-related shooting occurred at San Fernando Road and Fletcher Drive shortly before 2 a.m. today.
Lt. Ruben De La Torre said that Northeast patrol officers had pulled into a Chevron gas station when they noticed a man walking with a shotgun. The officers "deployed on him, leading to an officer involved shooting," De La Torre said.
Preliminary reports were that the man, who was shot in the leg, had not robbed the gas station, and it was unclear if he had aborted his attempt or was simply walking around with the weapon. The suspect's name and condition were not disclosed.
The LAPD's Force Investigation Division is investigation the shootings. No officers were hurt in either incident.
Police said 14 of its officers have been shot at so far this year, compared with nine for all of last year.
andrew.blankstein@latimes.com
Friday, July 20, 2007
Route 210 Freeway Will Open to Drivers on July 24, See Video Highlights of Preview Event.... (Fontana Harald)
Route 210 Freeway will open to drivers on July 24; see video highlights of preview event
The time has finally arrived. The completed extension of the State Route 210 Freeway will open to drivers on Tuesday, July 24 at 10 a.m.
The new section of freeway will extend from Alder Avenue in Rialto (just east of Fontana) to the connection with State Route 30 in San Bernardino.
(A preview event was held in June in anticipation of the long-awaited opening of the freeway; for video highlights, visit www.youtube.com and search for "Play on the 210 Freeway.")
San Bernardino Associated Governments and the California Department of Transportation will open the final 7.25 miles of Route 210 to drivers through Rialto and San Bernardino.
Construction has been underway on Route 210 since mid-2003, following the opening of the first 20-mile section of freeway in November 2002 between La Verne and Fontana. Costs for this last section through Rialto and San Bernardino total approximately $233 million.
The freeway will include three travel lanes and a carpool lane in each direction and will feature on-ramps and off-ramps at Alder Avenue, Ayala Drive and Riverside Avenue in Rialto, as well as State Street in San Bernardino. Once the City of Rialto extends Pepper Avenue north to the freeway, on-ramps and off-ramps will be built at Pepper.
Work will continue under the current construction contract for several months after the freeway opens next week.
Flyover ramps to connect eastbound Route 210 to southbound Interstate 215 and northbound Interstate 215 to westbound Route 210 will be built in the future. Until the flyover ramps are built, drivers needing to make these freeway transitions are encouraged to follow the established detour between State Street and Interstate 215.
Eastbound 210 drivers wishing to connect to southbound I-215 should exit State Street, travel east on 20th Street, north on California Street, east on Highland Avenue and north on Mt. Vernon to reach Interstate 215. Trucks should exit State Street, travel east on 20th Street, north on California Street and proceed east on Highland Avenue to reach Interstate 215. Northbound Interstate 215 travelers wishing to connect to westbound Route 210 should use the above detour in reverse.
The 210 FWY OPEN JULY 24, 2007 10;00 hrs
I-210 Is Going To Be OPEN on Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Please Drive CAREFULLY on the new I-210 Freeway, and watch for me speeding along having a great time cruse back and forth, looking for all the Businesses that they promised would be opened when the FREEWAY WAS DONE!!
BS Ranch
Bloomington, Rialto Negotiating to buy Back...... BLOOMINGTON...Black Voice News July, 18 2007.......
| Bloomington Rialto Negotiating Land Buy Back | | |
| Wednesday, 18 July 2007 | |
| BLOOMINGTON By Chris Levister Plan Brings Together Unlikely Allies Bloomington's near 45-year quest to become a city may not be dead after all. The Bloomington Incorporation Commission (BIC), a group of residents pushing to turn a 6-1/2 square mile area into a city said they are negotiating with the city of Rialto to buy back a 165-acre site recently annexed to the city. The site owned by developer Young Homes is at the center of a tug-of-war over land the Bloomington group wants as part of its city. In February, the Rialto City Council granted Young Homes permission to build 726 homes, parks, tot-lots and equestrian trails on the site located north of El Rivino Road on both sides of Cactus Avenue. Cityhood proponents failed to stop the annexation after they could not meet a Feb. 28 Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) deadline to submit application materials and fees for a basic feasibility study, falling $80,000 short of the $109,000 they needed. BIC president Eric Davenport told members of the Bloomington Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) last week, the organization met twice with Rialto officials and is drafting a proposal to buy back the Young Homes site and contract with the city for services. "We plan to ask Rialto to release the Bloomington site from its sphere of influence. If they agree to that, we will cross our biggest political hurdle." Under the plan Bloomington would buy back the land and pay Rialto over a period of several years using property tax revenues from the Young Homes project. Residents would contract with Rialto for road work, policing, fire, code enforcement, lighting and sewer. Davenport called the plan a win-win with a silver lining. That silver lining is Young Homes chairman and CEO Reggie King seen by many cityhood proponents as a foe. King has offered to pay the remaining $80,000 in study fees if Bloomington activists come to an agreement with Rialto. "Some folks in Bloomington are upset over the annexation of land into Rialto. They won't like it," said King "I see my role as a facilitator. Judging from the deep divisions heard here tonight I don't think any of us have enough information to know whether a city would be really good or not in the final analysis." King says paying for a feasibility study will enhance his site development plans and bring clarity to an issue overshadowed by emotions, fear, mistrust, misleading and incomplete data. "For Rialto/Bloomington to elevate itself they have to attract investment capital and the investment community is not going to go where there is uncertainty. They need to know the real tax implications and how best to use the land," said King. "He could have easily kicked us to the curb instead Mr. King has emerged as a voice of reason," said Davenport. He said King quietly worked to bring the opposing sides to the negotiating table. "He believes some part of Bloomington needs to be preserved in its rural atmosphere. He wants what's best for his former hometown - Bloomington." Davenport says he came up with the buy back plan after residents and area business leaders called on BIC to continue its pursuit of cityhood during a packed town hall meeting held recently at Bloomington High School. "I asked residents 'do you want us to continue'. The place erupted into a sustained 'yes' the response was a resounding call to keep going," Davenport said. To win cityhood, state law requires that residents show community support and a tax base to fund government services. But Bloomington supporters struggled last year to gather 1,782 valid signatures on an incorporation petition. And a preliminary study by LAFCO in February 2006 concluded that the city would run a $1.4 million deficit from the moment of incorporation. Bloomington has tried and failed to incorporate seven times since 1963. Residents began the latest incorporation effort more than two years ago, frustrated over seeing rural and agricultural land disappear and their community squeezed by neighboring Rialto and Fontana. Davenport says Rialto could use revenue it receives from Bloomington to mitigate the estimated one million dollar upfront investment in public infrastructure required for the Young Homes project. "This opens the door for Rialto to get money from Bloomington while allowing the community to keep its land." He said some of those funds could go toward solving Rialto's costly water contamination problem. "Everybody involved would benefit from a clear direction, whether that means formulating a community plan or self determination. I'm willing to step to the line to help inform the discussion," said King He urged Bloomington to actively pursue the development of a trail system, which he believes would offer a layer of protection against future annexation attempts of the equestrian friendly hamlet dotted with large lots, horse ranches, chicken farms and nurseries. Many Bloomington homeowners say they worry about paying higher taxes and losing their community's equestrian heritage. Others resent the divisions caused by the pursuit of cityhood. Without a quorum MAC board members postponed what is largely an advisory vote on Bloomington's latest plan. As for the next chapter, Mayor Grace Vargas says Rialto is open to negotiations. With Reggie King nudging the process, Bloomington's dream of incorporation could go from clinically dead to confirmation that they are more than just pockets of desire. ______________________________________________________________________________ BS Ranch Perspective: Looks like the Council that was put together for Bloomington's City Interest wants to try to purchase the land back so that they can get their Talks of their own city underway again! I believe that they should have their own City, After all it is like that of the fight of the Big Three, when Tucker, came in with some wonderful Idea's for the Car industry. The Engine and the design that Tucker had was so far ahead of his time, that he had great Gas Mileage, and the Tucker just might have taken a pretty good fight to that of Ford and Chevy Motor Industry, they were so threatened that they used the court system to make Tucker go away, Bankrupt at that time and his car a flop, but he was able to finish the 50 Cars that he said he was going to finish, but the court said that it was all just to late, even though he truly was within the deadline of the Court date. The Bloomington City Interest has the big Wigs of Rialto and Fontana on Both sides of them trying to keep them down, not just that they both are unwilling to allow them to use any or part of their Sewage system for their City of Bloomington, because the use of Septic Tanks are a thing of the past, and since the county doesn't have a Sewer system to contract with Bloomington on, they are stuck almost, but this is a last ditch effort to save their fight ot have a city!!! I hope they win and become a city!! BS Ranch |
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
I-210 Extention will open this month (Daily Press 071807) I beleive that it will be open by July 20th or July 27th, we will see.
I-210 extension will open this month
The Foothill Freeway will provide a new east-west corridor through lower San Bernardino County and will divert some traffic from Interstate 10, where heavy congestion is common in the mornings and evenings, said Annette Franco, a spokeswoman for San Bernardino Associated Governments or SANBAG.
Truck traffic could also be partially diverted from I-10 onto I-210.
A section of I-210 that opened in Fontana and Rancho Cucamonga in 2001 did alleviate some congestion on I-10, said spokeswoman Cheryl Donahue.
Traffic simulation models completed for SANBAG have shown that traffic will decrease in some areas and increase in others, Franco said.
The most dramatic drop in traffic is projected for I-10 between Interstate 15 and Interstate 215, where it could drop about 5 to15 percent.
Traffic is projected to increase by 20 to 25 percent on I-210 east of I-215, which is currently Highway 30, and it could also increase by 20 percent on I-215 between I-10 and I-210, according to SANBAG.
The I-15 north of I-210 could also experience a slight increase in traffic.
SANBAG expects to announce a July opening date for the final stretch of Interstate 210 later this week, Donahue said.
Work on this last portion of the Foothill Freeway through Rialto and San Bernardino began in 2003 and the freeway was expected to open by late 2007, according to SANBAG.
Miscellaneous work such as fencing and storm drain projects will continue for about three to four months after the Foothill Freeway opens, Donahue said. The estimated cost of this last stretch of freeway is $232.8 million, Franco said.
The freeway through Rialto and San Bernardino will have three regular lanes and one carpool lane in each direction. On and off-ramps will be at Alder Avenue, Ayala Drive, Riverside Avenue and State Street, according to SANBAG.
On and off-ramps at Pepper Avenue will be completed later, after local road construction has been completed, Donahue said.
Hillary Borrud may be reached at 951-6234 or hborrud@vvdailypress.com.
