Thursday, October 26, 2006

SBPD, Police Union Look to the Future!!!!

SBPD, Police Union Look to the Future!
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BS Ranch Perspective:

cannot help but notice one thing, that the San Bernardino Police Department has also moved to get away from their 3% at 55 and change it to 3% @ 50 retirement, just like every other Police Department in the Inland Empire except Two other departments, Upland, and Rialto!! Rialto was almost Disband and Contracted with the Sheriff Department all over the Retirement of the Officers, however The Sheriff Department does not offer any Medical benefits to their Deputies when they retire now at 50 anyway. They don't get any Medical at all for the retired Deputies. So you might be getting the 3% At 50 but no Medical Benefits, and that can cost you up to $700 a month or more!

Now that SBPD wants to have the 3% @ 50 Retirement, and if they get it then the City of Rialto, and the City of Upland will have to pony up and pay for the Benefit of having a lower crime rate with their own police department! Because when Ed Scott was trying desperately to get the Crime Rate in Rialto to bloom Higher an higher by cutting back on all the maintenance to the Police Cars, and the Officers Pay, not to mention that they were cutting back on the Officers Benefits by not paying for new people to replace the ones that left. so when they were down over 20 officers the Police Officers that were working at Rialto Police department still lowered the crime some 15% with less officers. Now that they have to keep the Police Department they need to figure out a way that they can pay them and give them the benefits that they deserve such as the 3% at 50 retirement package. SBPD is going to get it, and eventually so is Upland and then the city of Rialto will have no choice. because Rialto becomes a training facility as it always has been.

The people that Rialto seems to not want around seem to leave and go to other agencies and excel, to the point that some of them are Sergeants, and Captains at other departments. I don't have an Idea why they wanted to get rid of them. Maybe because they were good and they knew it.



BSRanch

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SBPD, police union look to the future

By Gina Tenorio

Staff Writer

SAN BERNARDINO - They had common goals. Or so they would all eventually learn.

City officials, San Bernardino police administrators and the Police Officers Association agreed last summer that whatever benefits package they hammered out during yearlong contract negotiations would be the ones they would be presenting to any future job candidates.

The negotiations wrapped up in late August.

"I think we reached a package that everyone could live with," said City Manager Fred Wilson, who worked closely with the Police Department and association.

Starting next year, officers will see a gradual increase in the annual uniform allowance, said the association's president, Sgt. Rich Lawhead.

"We will receive $975 overall annually," Lawhead said. "It will go up gradually until (late 2008). Before that, we got $600 annually."

This will help officers who are paying upwards of $140 for a good pair of wool uniform pants, he said.

The new contract also aims to entice experienced officers to join the San Bernardino Police Department by offering a sign-on bonus, said police Lt. Ted Henson, who heads the Police Department Personnel and Training Unit.

Any officer with two years of continuous service with a California municipal law-enforcement agency would be eligible for a $5,000 sign-on bonus. Entry-level recruits would be eligible for $2,500, Henson said.

The association also secured a little bit more for an officer's medical benefits after retirement. A sworn officer who works continuously for 30 years or more is eligible for $450 a month to pay for medical needs. A 20-year veteran may get the minimum of $200.

But the most significant change was the new retirement plan known as the 3 percent at 50, in which officers could retire at age 50 and receive 3 percent of their pay multiplied by the number of years worked.

Previously, it was 3 percent at 55, Lawhead said.

All of these added features and expenses, to be implemented in phases and completely in place by 2009, will add $2.8 million to the annual cost of running the Police Department.

The cost is worth it to a city looking to increase the size of its police force to fully staff Mayor Pat Morris' Operation Phoenix and the Police Department's crime-fighting initiatives.

Without these options, San Bernardino police are not as capable of competing against a throng of police departments scrambling to fill their staffs.

"Many agencies are having a difficult time filling their vacancies," Henson said. "They are employing a number of tools and programs to attract interest."

Many police departments, such as the one in Rialto, which struggled to hammer out a contract following turmoil last year - city officials considered scrapping the Police Department and contracting with the Sheriff's Department - have begun offering new officers a $5,000 signing bonus. Sworn personnel who brought in new officers were offered $1,000, Rialto police officials said in September.

Most police departments are after experienced officers with two or more years of training, Henson said. Tried and tested officers take less time to train. And it is easier to judge their on-the-job integrity, Henson added.

"A lot of the transgressions made by officers points to the urgency (of) selecting these qualified officers," Henson said. "You can hire character and you can teach skill."

Henson did not disclose how many officers the Police Department currently employs. It was authorized to have 330 as of Oct. 1. That's the highest number of authorized personnel in at least six years.

But hiring is not easy, especially as attrition continues to take its course. Since Oct. 1, the Police Department has lost a total of 16 officers.

Meanwhile, it has hired 17 novice officers and brought in in two more experienced officers from other departments since the start of 2006.

Henson, Lawhead and Wilson are looking ahead, however, and feel strongly the new contract, though much more costly than before, will make an impact.

"There's no shortcut to get where you want to go," Henson said.

Contact writer Gina Tenorio at (909) 386-3854 or via e-mail at gina.tenorio@sbsun.com.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Water Quality Panel May Select Perchlorate Cleanup Czar (SB Sun 101306)

Water Quality Panel may select Perchlorate Cleanup Czar
Jason Pesick San Bernardino Sun Staff Writer Article Launched 10/13/2006

The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board today will consider allowing a retired state water official to determine whether to force three corporations to clean up perchlorate contamination in Rialto.

The action would represent another step in the process to clean up the water contamination that was first discovered in 1997.

"I think they have to take some strong action," said state Sen. Nell Soto, D-Ontario, chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Perchlorate Contamination.

Perchlorate is a chemical used in the production of products such as fireworks and rocket fuel and can interfere with the functioning of the thyroid gland.

The resolution up for consideration would delegate the water board's authority to an independent hearing officer to issue what are known as cleanup and abatement orders that force polluters to clean up contamination they caused.

The three corporations that would face cleanup orders are Black & Decker Corp., Goodrich Corp. and the fireworks company Pyro Spectacular. In 2003, the board issued a similar order against San Bernardino County for perchlorate flowing from its property on Rialto's north side.

The hearing officer would be Walt Pettit,

who was the executive director of the state Water Resources Control Board until 2000.

The move to delegate authority to Pettit was the result of allegations made by Emhart Industries, owned by Black & Decker, that the regional board is biased, according to Kurt Berchtold, the board's assistant executive officer.

He said Emhart claimed that because the board's staff, which investigates allegations against the corporations, has been communicating with board members for years on the issue of perchlorate contamination, the board members themselves are compromised.

"They're just using bogus tactics to hinder the process," Paul Van Dyke, Soto's chief of staff, said about Emhart.

Soto said the board has been too passive in its efforts to clean up the contamination. She said she is not thrilled the board is delegating its authority to Pettit, but also said, "I think anything they do is better than what's going on now."


BS Ranch Perspective:

It sounds like they are going after the businesses that are not doing business in Rialto, BF Goodrich/Good Year is not doing any more business in Rialto any more, neither is Black and Decker that know of, but then I am in the little picture of the whole thing. Sure they send out this DVD of them complaining about the Contaminant being in the soil and they have talked a little about how to get it out of the soil, however not that much, as if the Filter is a Non Patented Filterization that they are not allowed to talk about just yet, because they are just getting them on line, and the Patent is pending!

I am just a concerned Citizen that wants clean clear water when I turn on the faucet, to drink some water. I don't trust 8 million parts per gallon either, I am wanting it to be 1 billion or 8 trillion parts per quart!! that is what I consider to be safe!! Not the EPA's version of what they consider to be a safe drinking water. I think that Redlands has the right Idea when it comes to Drinking water. Re-Drill Wells and find wells that don't have Perchclorate and then pipe it to reservoirs in the city for storage!! Great Idea!!

BS Ranch

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Firefighter Pay at Issue in Upland....Better benefits elswhere cites why city has trouble with turnover


Firefighter pay at issue in
Upland

Better benefits elsewhere cited as
why city has trouble with turnover









Turnover is increasing at the Upland Fire Department, and as
firefighters start negotiations this month with the city's Human Resources
Department, they're looking to improve their wages and benefits.

"The problem is, there is so much turnover," said John Fowler,
president of the Upland Firefighters Association. "We have lost about 35 guys
since 1992. Four or five of them went to Ontario (Fire Department) because wages
and benefits are better."


About 10 years ago, under a different City Council, Upland
firefighters and police officers were on the same wage and benefit levels, Mayor
John Pomierski said. But the city started to experience major financial problems
and in order to balance the budget, took money from an account designated for
firefighters.


"The city was so strapped for money," Pomierski said. "We have
been trying to build back up ever since, trying to get the fire department back
up in line with the police officers."


Despite the upgrade process, some firefighters said they have
seen the department's morale slip as its finances have lagged behind other
cities. And they've started looking for new places to work.


Victor Lopez, 31, was with Upland for 11 months before he
started looking elsewhere.


"(Upland)

was a good way to get into the
fire department," Lopez said.

But he soon realized that other cities could offer more money
and a better retirement plan.


He said he preferred Ontario, which was known for its high
salaries, good retirement plan and manpower.


"They have two medics on each unit and four men on their
trucks," Lopez said. "Ontario has eight fire stations, compared to Upland's
four."


Lopez has been with Ontario for about three years.


"My family was a huge factor in transferring. My kids and wife
have all of their benefits paid for," he said.


Later this month, the association will submit a proposal to the
city for higher total compensation.


The process, which takes several months, will most likely not be
considered by the City Council until early next year.


According to last year's budget, firefighters in Upland were
paid a starting monthly wage of $4,408, while Ontario firefighters received
$4,442 monthly.


The $34 difference may not sound like much, but Ontario recently
went to negotiations with its own City Council. The department confirmed that
over the next four years, firefighters will experience multiple increases
totaling 10 percent.


"When it comes to negotiations, the fire department compares
themselves to other cities in the area as leverage," Pomierski said. "They
compare themselves to other departments close to the same size to see what they
get paid and what their allowance is."


Fowler, who is also a fire captain, said Upland and
Rialto are the only two cities that have not upgraded to better retirement plans
and higher wages.


"Our medical is still so far down. We are behind in medical,
dental, vacation and retirement," said Fowler. "Across the board, we're low in
all areas."


Fowler said he is not trying to blame the City Council, which
has been supportive of increasing wages since 2000.


"(Upland) has done a good job restoring the budget and bringing
money into the city. The mayor has been very good at getting our wages up,"
he said.


But salary is not the highest concern for the Upland department,
said Fowler, who at 49 would be eligible to retire in a year in most other
cities.


"I can't afford to retire. I'll have to work for another five
years," he said.


The top priority for negotiations this year is to receive a
better benefits and retirement package, he said.


"We don't want to be the highest paid, we just want to get to
the average of total compensation so our guys won't leave," Fowler said. "Kids
come here to gain experience as a firefighter. We train them with our dollars,
and then they move on to something better. Some of them like it here, fall in
love with the city, but they have to look out for themselves and their
families."



Upland Fire Department:


Starting wage for a firefighter is $4,408 per month.


The retirement formula is 2 percent at 50. This means that when
a firefighter retires at the age of 50, every year of service will be multiplied
by 2 percent, equaling a pension percent of salary.


Insurance and benefits for a firefighter are given in a lump sum
of $766 per month.



Ontario Fire Department:


Starting wage for a firefighter is $4,442 per month.


The retirement formula is 3 percent at 50.


Insurance and benefits for a firefighter are given monthly in
three different categories:


- Single: $405


- Two-party: $801


- Family: $1,037




Lori Consalvo can be reached by e-mail at
lori.consalvo@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-9391.






BS Ranch Perspective:


It looks like Upland Fire has something in common with
Rialto Fire, & Police! Rialto Police/Fire and Upland Fire are the
only agencies in the Inland Empire that do not offer something better then
that of 2% at 50. 99% of the Departments Officer a Retirement
plan of 3% at 50 years of age. Lets look at some of the other Agencies
that offer less. San Bernardino Police Department Offers 3% @ 55 and that
is better then 2% at 50 any day!!


The trouble is that Rialto City Council thinks
that the Retirement that one gets doesn't count towards what one did
for their employer, well I worked hard for the city of Rialto, and I
am here to say that they are wrong! The people that work hard
for the city of Rialto deserve to retire at a time in their life
when they are at an age that they should not be placing their life on the line
to save public safety. The people that reach fifty in the line of law
enforcement deserve to retire, it is much to dangerous of a
career these days to keep going on and on,


So I say to you, Please Remember that Rialto should Retire
at a Respectable age like their Counter parts in other sixties, are finding
themselves. Why even the County of San Bernardino has the retirement of 3%
at 50! Just two city's in the Inland Empire now don't offers the
newly Changed Retirement Plan and that all should change. Please Ed Scott
Find the money. You Seem to be finding the money to fight the County on the
Perchlorate, when we should be working with the County and not fighting with
them. You are Wasting City Dollars that could be used to pay for a more
responsible Retirement plan for the Employee's of Rialto a 3% @ 50 Retirement
Plan for all employees!! that is and would be the best yet!!


BSRanch



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Saturday, October 14, 2006

Rialto Plan Aims to Fix City's Infrastructure (Daily Bulletin 100906)

Rialto Plan Aims to Fix City's Infrastracture
By Jason Pesick, Daily Bulletin Staff Writer Article Launched: 10/09/2006 12:00

RIALTO - The long-awaited widening of the Riverside Avenue bridge above the 10 Freeway is one of 131 projects the city hopes to complete in the next five years.

The $31 million project was included in the 2007-11 Capital Improvement Program the City Council approved Tuesday night. The annual document lays out $106 million in major purchases and construction projects.

The plan, which city officials stress is dynamic and subject to change, focuses on upgrading the city's infrastructure, improving facilities, public safety and the city's appearance. Most of the funding, $57 million, will be used for transportation and flood-control projects, while about one-quarter is aimed at redevelopment proposals.

"The focus over the last couple of years has been transportation," said Mike Story, Rialto's development services director.

Cheryl Donahue, a spokeswoman for San Bernardino Associated Governments, said the Riverside Avenue bridge project is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2008 and will likely take 20 months to complete. She said the city first started doing work on the project in 1997, but a lack of funding and environmental requirements have delayed the project.

"This is one of the interchanges where traffic actually

backs up onto the freeway," Donahue said.

At Tuesday's City Council meeting, Mayor Grace Vargas said the project has increased from about $11 million since 1997.

"All of our projects are seeing just gigantic increases in costs," Donahue said. She said the widening of 215 Freeway in San Bernardino increased in cost from $250 million to $640 million. She attributed the increases to building material shortages, which are in large part the result of the tremendous amount of construction taking place in China. She also said contractors have tended to be more selective in which projects they take.

The entire $106 million figure for the program represents money already allocated to projects currently under way, funding from a number of different sources, including grants and money that will be spent during the next five years.

Aside from the road-widening project above 10 Freeway, $18.3 million is dedicated to the Willow Winchester Neighborhood Revitalization Project, which will refurbish a condominium complex in an effort to decrease blight in the area.

The city will continue to revitalize its downtown street-scape by spending nearly $1.5 million in the next three years. It will also spend $8 million to spruce up Foothill Boulevard and the surrounding buildings.

The city will also spend $2.5 million to extend Pepper Avenue to the 210 Freeway.

Another major project is the $7.4 million plan to prepare a site for for a new $100 million regional biosolids processing facility.

Many of the projects are improvements to city buildings, such as the Senior Center. For example, the plan calls for replacing roofs and air-conditioning units in city buildings.

The city also plans to purchase a number of public safety vehicles. These purchases include $180,000 for a new ambulance, $825,000 for two fire engines and more than $5 million for 29 police vehicles through 2011.

The soccer fields at Jerry Eaves Park will be illuminated thanks to a $900,000 grant from the county. Rialto Park will also receive a $2.5 million upgrade.


BS Ranch Perspective:

The plans outlined in this article are very strong and imaginative! They are very good Ideas, but some they have already been told to pound sand by the environmentalist groups that they will take them to a very pricey court battle, I am talking of coarse about the Pepper Ave Extension and Onramps to the Interstate 210 freeway! They need to be done, because the City needs more of a reach to the Freeway then just Riverside, Ayala, & Alder Avenues! Pepper would be great and it would also give that eastern reach to the on ramp. Plus they can extend complete the extension also to the Frontage Road (Highland Ave) if they would Extend Pepper fully to the next step, that would also relieve that traffic off of the Frontage road, from Easton Ave. Off of Riverside.

I do realize that the Fire Engines that they got when the Utility tax was voted in was five years ago, and that one or two are ready to be rotated out and new ones rotated in, but there is still the problem of the equipment for the Police Department! The radio's that they have are good and it is better now that the Police Officers have their radio's Issued to them. I do feel that they should get all the money's worth with the radios and get the Direct Connect telephone service with them, because without that you are wasting money and the police Officers time.

Most of the Ideas are good ones, I feel that they are missing a few things however again it's the support of the Police Department.

BS Ranch

Area's Rehabilitation Begins (Press Enterprise 100906) Rialto: A $37Million Effort to upgrade a blighted neighborhood gets under way

Area's rehabilitation begins

RIALTO: A $37 million effort to upgrade a blighted neighborhood gets under way.

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, October 9, 2006

By MASSIEL LADRÓN DE GUEVARA
The Press-Enterprise

A bulldozer punched through the wall of an apartment in Rialto's Willow-Winchester area Monday to mark the beginning of the neighborhood's rehabilitation.

It was a moment four years in the making, said John Dutrey, Rialto's housing specialist.

The area had been a problem for several years because of crime, blight, homicides and gangs, but in 18 months it will be a beautiful community where families will be safe and can enjoy a community center, Dutrey said.

Rialto and nonprofit Southern California Housing Development Corp. invested $37 million to purchase the 160 apartment units in the area to rehabilitate them, place onsite management and build a community center.

The center will offer such after-school activities as arts and crafts and computer classes, and English as a second language classes will be offered at no cost to adults, Dutrey said.

A coin-operated laundry and basketball courts also will be available to residents of the apartment units, said Julie Mungai, senior project manager for the nonprofit group.

The goal is to help low-income families live in a safe neighborhood, Mungai said. Rent will range between $350 and $850 for the two- and three-bedroom units.

Bridget Boyd, who has lived in the Willow-Winchester area on and off since 1976, said the project is the answer to her prayers for the community.

"We will be able to be proud to live here again," she said.

Several residents expressed a desire to volunteer at the community center when it opens to ensure children have somewhere fun and safe to spend time.

Margiteen Rawls, who lives across the street from the Willow-Winchester project area, said she would love to volunteer at the center.

"So many little kids are getting killed out on the streets that it'd be wonderful for them to have a place to be safe from the outside craziness," Rawls said.

Mayor Grace Vargas said although it will be an expensive project, the investment is well worth it.

"Residents are going to be able to be safe, children will be able to play outside and it will eliminate calls to police officers so they can be somewhere else patrolling the city," she said.

Reach Massiel Ladrón De Guevara at 909-806-3054 or mdeguevara@PE.com



BS Ranch Perspective:

History is going to repeat itself with these apartments or Condo's what ever they are being past as these days! They are right North of the Eisenhower High School, which is a breeding ground for the Drugs to start and get going, that area was once swept through in 1994 and we spent a whole week preparing for the one night of raids. That was back when welfare was supporting many of the apartments that were there and they were cleaned out when the raids were done. No Rent then there was no apartment. The Police Department went in with SWAT, County Welfare, Probation, Parole Officers, and there was drug warrants served, the area was called drug free went we finished, but the whole thing took a month to complete. Now the city wants to invest and take the property over as imminent domain, and rejuvenate the property and then allow a private firm, Non Profit Organization Operates the Management, and Oversees the Renting of each place.

I am a skeptic, I feel that the gangs will work their way in slowly and the management will get shot any time that they move against the gang that is in control of the neighborhood. IT is going to still be a fight.

BS Ranch

Rialto Begins Rental Project (SB Sun 101006) Rialto begins to bulldoze walls to start project for rentals.

Rialto begins Rental Project
Jason Pesick, SB Sun Staff Writer

RIALTO - A bulldozer knocked down the wall of a blighted condo Monday, symbolizing the start of the Willow-Winchester Neighborhood Revitalization Project to remake a troubled neighborhood.

The groundbreaking marked the beginning of an 18-month construction process that will rebuild housing on nine acres in the high-crime area near the intersection of Willow Avenue and Winchester Drive.

"I stayed, and I prayed, and this is the result of my prayer," said resident Bridget Boyd, who grew up in the neighborhood.

The $31 million project - $13.3 million of which will come from the city - aims to transform 160 individually owned condominium units into an affordable rental-housing community. The community will be developed and managed by the Southern California Housing Development Corp., a nonprofit developer. The rest of the money will come from a number of lenders, the county and the state.

For years, nearly all of the units had different owners, and only 13 of them actually lived in the condos. Most of the rest were absentee landlords who did not maintain the property well, SoCal Housing and Rialto officials said.

The disorganized ownership-and- management scheme helped foster one of the

city's most dangerous areas, averaging two to three homicides and 700 calls for police service a year, said Housing Director John Dutrey.

For the past five years, the neighborhood has been the top crime district in the city, said police Lt. Randy DeAnda. He compared the neighborhood to the Glenwood Apartments, a once high-crime housing complex that SoCal Housing also recently renovated and turned into affordable apartments now known as Renaissance Village.

Boyd said she moved into a condo in 1976 with her mother and stayed for 20 years before moving out. She said it was a beautiful place when she was growing up.

More recently, however, Boyd said she moved back into the same unit she grew up in and described the area as like a "war zone."

Upon her return, she said her reaction was to say, "Jesus, what happened? Who did it?"

She said she wanted to leave right away but stayed until now. She plans to move back in once the renovation is complete.

The Rialto Housing Authority used eminent domain to acquire many of the units at a cost of about $80,000 per unit, Rialto Economic Development Director Robb Steel said. The city had to go to court to acquire two of the units, he said. Many of the residents have either been permanently relocated or will be able to move into the completed units, according to the city and SoCal Housing.

Even though the city ended up contributing more than twice the amount it originally intended to contribute to the project, the mayor and City Council members praised the project.

"We are here to celebrate the victory against crime and blight," Mayor Grace Vargas said. She added that the area used to give her the chills.

Monday's groundbreaking ceremony under a white tent brought an air of sophistication into this gritty neighborhood. Tuxedo-clad workers served hors d'oeuvres to a crowd that included only a half dozen community residents among city employees, officials and SoCal Housing representatives.

Once completed, the complex will have 152 two- and three-bedroom units with rents ranging from $350 to $850 a month, said Julie Mungai, a senior project manager at SoCal Housing.

She said a 6,300-square-foot community center will serve the entire city by offering services such as after-school programs. She said there will also be a children's playground and basketball court.


BS Ranch Perspective:

History does Repeat itself, they will reduce Calls for Service for a time, how ever History will repeat itself, the area that was used for, and multiplied crime, was the prefect location. The High School was just South of the Complex with a large wall that was easily climbed and gotten over, Much easer for the crime factor than the Officer chasing the criminal. They know that area better then we do, When you live in an area, you have the tenancy to get to know all the cracks in the walls and the ways to sneak around!

The city will learn that the money that they are wasting there would have been better spent on a Retirement plan that was 3% at 50 years of Age vs. 2% at 50 years of age. There is a huge difference in that one percent!!

BSRanch

Sunday, October 08, 2006

DUI Suspect Rearrested After Crash (SB Sun 100706)

RIALTO
DUI suspect rearrested after crash

A man arrested on suspicion of drunken driving was re-arrested hours later after he crashed into a car and threatened to hurt the driver if he called police, officers said.

Shay Ralph Johnson, 23, of San

Bernardino was booked on suspicion of felony drunken driving, felony hit-and-run, terrorist threats and violating parole, said Rialto police Sgt. Vince Licata.

Rialto police initially arrested Johnson about 2 a.m. Friday in the 100 block of East Foothill Boulevard. His wife pulled up while he was being given sobriety tests.

Officers brought him to the station for more tests and to sober up, Licata said. Johnson and his car were released to his wife about 5:30 a.m.

The woman drove to where she had left her car to obtain an item and then planned to drive her husband home in his car. But he began arguing with her and demanded he drive.

When she insisted he couldn't drive, Johnson threatened to hurt her and then kicked her out of the vehicle, Licata said. The woman got into her own car and began following her husband.

"He smashes into a vehicle, launches that vehicle into a couple parked cars," Licata said. "He goes over to the driver and threatens him with violence if he calls the police."

The other driver received moderate injuries and complained of pain to his neck and back. He was taken to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton for treatment.

Johnson ran to a pay phone and called a friend to pick him up.

Police went to the man's home in San Bernardino and arrested him again. He was booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.

============================================================

BSRanch Perspective:

The Responsiblity for someone to take custody of a person that is intoxicated from a police station to take them home on their citation is and can be a tragity, and this can and will come back to bite the city of Rialto, espeically if there were people hurt! See the law clearly states that you take them into custody and hold them until they are sober enough to operate a motor vehicle safely, well in this case they decided that he was cooperative and nice that they would give him a brake and allow him to call his girl friend, to come pick him up and take him into her custody! She signs paper work stating that she is taking full responobilty for everything that he does, so if he were to get into another car and cause an accident that person is liable and can be held responcible for all the actions that this person has taken. If this is the case then this citation Release is now going to be tested in the State of California. There are many Departments that have this polocy, and they will rethink it when this case is done. I will say that and the citation release polocy will be a thing of the past once again!! because of one mans actions! to ruin it for everyone!!

BSRanch

Friday, October 06, 2006

Rialto Plans to Spend$106Million for Improvements (Daily Bulletin 100606)

Rialto plans to spend $106M for improvements
Jason Pesick, Staff Writer
RIALTO - The long- awaited widening of the Riverside Avenue bridge above Interstate 10 is one of 131 projects the city hopes to complete in the next five years.

The $31million project was included in the 2007-11 capital- improvement program the City Council approved Tuesday night. The document lays out $106million in major purchases and construction projects.

The plan, which city officials stress is dynamic and subject to change, focuses on upgrading the city's infrastructure, improving facilities, public safety and the city's appearance.

Most of the funding, $57million, will be used for transportation and flood-control projects, while about one-quarter is aimed at redevelopment proposals.

"The focus over the last couple of years has been transportation," said Mike Story, Rialto's development services director.

Cheryl Donahue, a spokeswoman for San Bernardino Associated Governments, the county's transportation authority, said the Riverside Avenue bridge project is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2008 and will likely take 20 months to complete.

She said the city first started doing work on the project in 1997, but a lack of funding and environmental requirements have delayed it.

"This is one of the interchanges where traffic actually backs up onto the freeway," Donahue said.

At Tuesday's council meeting, Mayor Grace Vargas said the project's cost has increased from about $11 million since 1997.

"All of our projects are seeing just gigantic increases in costs," Donahue said.

She said the widening of Interstate 215 in San Bernardino increased in cost from $250million to $640million.

She attributed the increases to building material shortages, which are in large part the result of the tremendous amount of construction taking place in China. She also said contractors have tended to be more selective about which projects they take.

The entire $106million figure for Rialto's program represents money already allocated to projects currently under way and funding from a number of sources, including grants and money that will be spent over the next five years.

Aside from the road widening project above I-10, $18.3million is dedicated to the Willow Winchester Neighborhood Revitalization Project, which will refurbish a condominium complex in an effort to decrease blight in the area.

The city will continue to revitalize its downtown streetscape by spending nearly $1.5million over the next three years. It will also spend $8million to spruce up Foothill Boulevard and surrounding buildings.

The city will also spend $2.5 million to extend Pepper Avenue to the Interstate 210 extension.

Another major project is the $7.4million plan to prepare a site for a new $100million regional biosolids-processing facility.

Many of the projects are improvements to city buildings, such as the Senior Center. For example, the plan calls for replacing roofs and air-conditioning units in city buildings.

The city also plans to purchase a number of public-safety vehicles. The purchases include $180,000 for a new ambulance, $825,000 for two fire engines and more than $5million for 29 police vehicles through 2011.

The soccer fields at Jerry Eaves Park will be illuminated thanks to a $900,000 grant from the county. Rialto City Park will also receive a $2.5million upgrade.


BS Ranch Perspective:

It seems that they are finally going to do what Fontana did about 10 years ago, and Rialto had slated to do 10 years ago but the Sierra Club, the one true friend to the Environment, stopped the expansion of the I-10/Riverside Crossing Bridge because of an Insect that is a natural Migrant to that area, but there is plenty of open areas down in the south end that have been built on without any stoppage from the Sierra Club, only when the City or Government wants to do anything is when they start to place a stoppage or argument, which I don't under stand.

I guess what they do, is threaten the large company that is getting ready to build a huge complex that they will close down the construction with law suits and a request for an environmental study, which takes a long time. Then the business gives a very large donation to the Sierra Club and all litigation is dropped, and they go away!! But the government doesn't play that game because it is Tax payers money.

The Sierra Club, should figure out that people should be wanting to give to their cause willingly and not through Non-Profit hijacking of their money and their company.

I think that the Sierra Club should Be Forced to pay for the $11 million difference from yesterday to today's cost in the expansion since the 1 acre of land that will be used to build on will be made better more access to cars and less accidents and loss of human life.

BS Ranch

Convicted Murderer From Rialto Sentenced to Death (Daily Bulletin 100506)

Convicted murderer from Rialto sentenced to death
By Melissa Pinion-Whitt, Daily Bulletin Staff Writer
Louis Mitchell Jr., who grinned a month ago when jurors recommended he receive the death penalty, was not beaming during his sentencing Wednesday.

The convicted murderer stared forward, stone-faced and silent as a judge sentenced him to death, rather than life in prison.

"The weight of the evidence overwhelmingly supports the jury's verdict," San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Brian McCarville said.

The judge said Mitchell's victims were "particularly vulnerable" at the time they were shot and killed.

The 36-year-old Rialto man, who tested positive for PCP the day he was arrested, may have also been under the influence of drugs the day before when he went on a shooting rampage in Colton and San Bernardino.

But evidence of that was "tenuous at best," McCarville said.

McCarville sentenced Mitchell to death for the Aug. 8, 2005, murders of Mario Lopez, 59, and Patrick Mawikere, 20, at the California Auto Specialists auto dealership in Colton, where the two worked. He also imposed a death sentence for the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Susano Torres at a San Bernardino apartment complex.

Mitchell received life with the possibility of parole for the nonfatal shootings of Juan Bizzotto and Jerry Payan, who were wounded

at the car dealership, and Torres' 19-year-old brother, Armando Torres. He received a sentence of 25 years to life in prison for use of a firearm on each count.

Mitchell was arrested the day after the shootings on 19th Street in San Bernardino after threatening three people with a gun.

Payan, 37, said he and Bizzotto have undergone numerous surgeries and continue to receive therapy. Payan, who worked as a sales manager at the dealership, suffered a bullet wound to his arm and cuts to his legs from smashing through the glass of the business.

But the mental wounds will likely take longer to heal, Payan said.

Bizzotto is still traumatized because he watched all his colleagues get shot, he said.

"The best I can do is just talk to him all the time," Payan said. "We're going to stay close to each other. He lives down the street from me. We're going to pull through this somehow."

Mitchell's relatives and members of the victims' families were among about 15 people scattered throughout the courtroom Wednesday.

The judge's ruling generated no verbal reaction from the audience after McCarville warned relatives that the outbursts heard during the jury's verdict were unacceptable.

Outside the courtroom, family members embraced and wiped away tears. Lopez's mother declined comment, as did Mitchell's father.

Payan said the judge's decision gave the families a bit of closure.

"This is the end for him," he said. "It's not the end for us."

Contact writer Melissa Pinion-Whitt at (909) 386-3878 or via e-mail at melissa.pinion-whitt@sbsun.com.


BS Ranch Perspective:

I just wanted to write a thanks to those that were able to serve on the Jury. They heard the evidence and well if what they heard was enough to convict this man of Murder then the Evidence was there and they did a good job. My heart and prayers go to the family of the victim, it isn't much for them to get for the loss of a family member, but in today's day and age when you see and read about so many murders that are unsolved, even with all the technology that we have to convict or find the murderer to convict. It is sad and brings a tear to my eye. God bless those that see loss every day, especially in this case. God Bless,

BS Ranch

Rialto Ought to Seek Cooperation on Perchlorate (Daily Bulletin!!100406)

Rialto Ought to Seek Cooperation on Perchlorate

Rialto may have a case against San Bernardino County in expecting it to help resolve the issue of perchlorate contamination polluting city wells. But it is going about the process of seeking compensation for its efforts entirely the wrong way.

Rather than suing the county once again, as it did last week, Rialto needs to gain the county’s cooperation in going after the real culprits – the companies that actually leaked the pollutant into the groundwater. And we don’t see how filing another lawsuit will achieve that salutary effect.

Having failed to get satisfactory results from a lawsuit it filed in 2004 against the county and 41 other entities, Rialto now has veered off on a sidetrack to go after the county alone in a lawsuit filed in state court. The city claims the county is in violation of a 1998 agreement to hold the city harmless in the county’s expansion of the Mid-Valley Sanitary Landfill in the north end of town. What that means exactly is up to legal conjecture, what with the county insisting it is providing clean water to residents, and the city insisting the county owes it for perchlorate-related costs so far.

But let’s remember, though the county bought the landfill, it

isn’t the one that did the dumping. And it’s beyond us why Rialto would want the county to take the fall, when the real bandits are getting away.

Whatever the case, it is city residents, whose water bills include a surcharge to fund the cleanup effort, who are paying the costs of the city’s inability to get the true polluters to pay the damages.

More to the point, perhaps, is the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board’s 2003 order to the county to investigate and clean up perchlorate contamination flowing from its property. That is what Rialto should be pressing with the county – not some new lawsuit, which remains a sideshow to the ongoing federal litigation.

The city’s initial lawsuit targets not only the county, but the U.S. Department of Defense and 40 corporations suspected of dumping the chemical used in the manufacture of fireworks and explosives into the groundwater decades ago. It is those companies that should be in Rialto’s, and the county’s, sights. It is those companies that should be paying the estimated $200 million to $300 million worth of cleanup and treatment costs, without leaving it to ratepayers to pony it up over the next 50 years.

We’d bet Rialto would have a lot better luck in pursuing that outcome, if it were to bring the county on board in seeking reimbursement from the companies at fault. Cooperation tends to work better than holding a stick over someone's head.

But neither is the county innocent. It needs to fulfill its obligations and stop playing an adversary role. Most important, it must step up to the plate to help Rialto recoup its losses. Let’s just say it’s for the sake of ratepayers more than it is Rialto’s.

Disagree? We’d like to hear from you. Write us at letters@dailybulletin.com.


BS Ranch Perspective:

This is the most insightful article that I have seen on this subject, and they seem to be more informed then the others that seem to just put the story out there! I have said that Ed Scott and Mr. Owens, Mr. Garcia all are in the wrong here. they need to sit at the table with the County Supervisors, and the County Lawyer's and Engineers along with the people that have the power in the county to figure out how to come to some kind of an understanding to which they are working together and not against each other on the Perchlorate situation. The Powers that Be in Rialto are making the Perchlorate situation Cost the City and County of Rialto & San Bernardino a whole lot more than it should! They better pull their suits and start paying their half, and shut up before the judge in the case makes the city responsible for the whole thing and walks away, leaving the city of Rialto, Owens, Garcia, Scott, Sampson, Hanson, Robertson and Vargas all pay the bill with the newly failed renewal of the Utility tax!! The city will be going backwards again, all at the cost of the people that I have been writing to get rid of, Owens, Gonzales, Scott, Sampson, and Robertson the city would be better off.

BSRanch

San Bernardino Puts Its Best Foot Forward (Press Enterprise 100306)

San Bernardino puts its best foot forward

10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, October 3, 2006

By DEVONA WELLS
The Press-Enterprise

Bring your business to San Bernardino, and you'll find a rapidly growing state university, the region's most successful dining and entertainment spot and "an extraordinarily beautiful environment."

The platitudes come courtesy of a 41-page pitch designed to help the Economic Development Agency sell the city to prospective companies.

Compiled by Inland economist John Husing, the report plays up various San Bernardino attributes, from its successful Hospitality Lane restaurants to an abundance of underground water to the region's Mediterranean climate.

The marketing report, part of the agency's effort to become more visible, will accompany officials to today's Palm Springs conference put on by the International Council of Shopping Centers. Maggie Pacheco, the agency's executive director, said the city's presence at the event will mark the first time San Bernardino has had a booth at the group's desert or Las Vegas conference -- both popular networking events -- since she got to the city in 1999.

Mayor Pat Morris has identified economic development as key to revitalizing the city, which has struggled to remake its downtown and to turn renters into homeowners. But home builders have recently proposed several projects, including houses expected to sell for more than $1 million, from the foothills to downtown.

And developer LNR Property Corp. has submitted plans to city officials to tear down the Carousel Mall and to replace it with townhomes.

The city's Hospitality Lane, along Interstate 10, boasts several national chains, including Best Buy, Sam's Club and Claim Jumper. Numbers used to tally sales at San Bernardino stores and restaurants were pulled from 2005 state Board of Equalization tax statistics compiled before some dining spots at Rancho Cucamonga's Victoria Gardens shopping center had been open a full year.

Husing couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.

The report, which Pacheco said cost about $15,000, touches on San Bernardino's central location amid the Inland area's booming industrial and office real-estate markets. It also lists business resources, such as city-grant and tax-rebate programs, and colleges in and near San Bernardino.

Reach Devona Wells at 909-806-3052 or dwells@PE.com


BS Ranch Perspective:

Looks like the San Bernardino Mayor is at it again, making San Bernardino, Once in the top 10 for murder in the Whole United States, and now he is turning the whole city around making it more appetizing for executives to look at for their companies to move here. the more companies that he gets here, especially larger ones the more that the FAA and Los Angeles City will be forced to help San Bernardino get their Airport working as an International stop! Which when that is done then the growth will be fast and furious, around there, Riverside and well Moreno Valley will be the new Inland Empire. LOL..

BS Ranch

PS: Good Job Mayor Morris!