Sunday, November 25, 2007

Rialto Could Extend Its Plan for Troubled Area (SB Sun: November 19, 2007) City might invest Millions in Neighborhood!!

BS Ranch Perspective

Well it is my thought that the City of Rialto, and the City Council should think really hard about this small area of the city, it was an area that was originally Town Home Apartment Complex, but that Apartment Complex FAILED, Miserably! There was so much Gang activity that there was a Kidnap & Very Violent Rape that took place to finally wake up the average law abiding citizen, and the City Council into getting something done. The Police Department was constantly in there and at one time were given one of the Apartments to use as a place to write Reports, however it was so little, so late, by then the gang had such a handle on the neighborhood that when the Police Officers were in the Apartment that was supplied to the Rialto Police Benefit Association, it was all just to clear that they were in to little to late, because when the Officer would leave the area the calls for service would start to come in.

This Apartment was the Swift Idea of Chief Michael Meyer's and as I have stated it was a failure, even before it was rented to the City for use. Chief Meyers had a few of these locations Rented to the Police Department, once he found that they were Renting to the Police Agency or City of Rialto for One Dollar a month, for a total of $12.00 a Year!! The Apartment that they Rented to the Police Department was used as a place for the Officer to get some sleep if there was a call back or a double back shift, however Nobody would stay there for their own safety!! They might have been killed by the AM. Just about a year before I was completely mangled by my accident, which ended my career with Rialto, The Land Owner's Committee for the Apartment Complex here in question Asked and was granted to Sell their Apartments as Condos, However they were not a great big or Very good Sellers. The ones that did sell were turned around and an attempt was made to sell them again right away, but nobody wanted them, they were in a Gangland Garden of growth for the Main Staple of Drugs and Massive Death and heartache!!

Now that most of the people have been taken from the area, and moved out, they want to sink multi millions of dollars...YOUR MONEY into this place to make it "Safe"!!  If all that money is "Sunk" into that neighborhood, what about YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD? If that neighborhood rates Millions of Dollars to rebuild it and make it better then it was before, then I have to say what about the neighborhood that you are living in, if you are living in Rialto? Why, is that neighborhood so much better then your neighborhood? Just because you have taken the pride in the place in which you live and made it a safe place, the city will over look it as a place that doesn't need any sidewalk repair or sidewalk for that matter, they will not fix your lawn for free or stairs etc etc...  But, that is what the city of Rialto is taking under way here!! I really don't care if it was a gang hot spot, there are other ways to clean up an area of a criminal element, other then condemning the buildings, if they did condemned the buildings they would have closed them down that way, and forced the managers to listen to them!! I just cannot see how they would benefit, by them just purchasing the land and making it the property that belongs to the city!! That is border line business, that the city shouldn't be involved in!!

BS Ranch


Rialto could extend its plan for troubled area
City might invest millions in neighborhood
Jason Pesick, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 11/19/2007 07:53:31 PM PST

RIALTO - The City Council will decide today whether to expand an aggressive effort to root out crime in the city's most troubled neighborhood.

Plans presented to council members call for the city's redevelopment agency to invest tens of millions of dollars to expand the Willow-Winchester neighborhood revitalization project.

The expansion would include buying 42 housing units around Vista Avenue and Cascade Drive and 94 more units that make up the Sierra Pointe Apartments.

The property would then be rehabilitated with the National Community Renaissance, a nonprofit affordable housing developer in Rancho Cucamonga, taking over and managing it.

"We will essentially transform what was one of the worst neighborhoods in Rialto," said Rialto Housing Manager John Dutrey.

Residents have already started moving in to the 152 newly renovated units that are part of the first phase of the effort to improve the area around Willow Avenue and Winchester Drive. City leaders originally wanted to improve the entire area in one phase, but that task became too expensive.

This first phase cost $38 million, including an investment of $15 million from Rialto.

The area around the adjacent area of Vista and Cascade could cost $14 million, $8 million of which will come from Rialto. The Sierra Pointe Apartments could cost about $28 million, $10.5 million of which would come from Rialto.

The latest project phases are the site of crime, drug-dealing, poor property management practices and blight, Dutrey said.

From 2004 through July 2007, there were almost 500 calls for police service in the areas going before the council tonight.

In July, a man was shot and killed in a garage in the area.

Another reason for expanding the project is to keep Willow-Winchester from slipping back into trouble, Dutrey said.

Eisenhower High School and the new development projects near the 210 Freeway are located nearby.

The redevelopment agency will begin making offers to buy the properties next week. It'd prefer not using eminent domain to takeover the buildings, Dutrey said. He said he is committed to buying the property around Vista and Cascade and will make an offer on the apartments as well.

The first phase around Willow and Winchester has proceeded smoothly, he said. "It's already had a dramatic impact on the area."

Construction on the next phases could begin in the summer of 2009.

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