Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Rialto Perchlorate Case Parties Agree to Delay (SB Sun Jan. 29, 2008)

BS Ranch Perspective

I am of the belief that the Fontana Water Co.'s Chair is right, that no matter what the Solution of this case that the needs of the people regarding Water will not be met. The people the Inland Empire (namely Rialto) need to know that the people that have been Elected to make sure that there is ample SAFE Drinking Water to have should be available to the Citizens in which they became obligated to, though the election process.

The problem with the statements here is that the Chair from Fontana's Water Co. has been the most honest, with this report. I have seen that there is something that is bigger then what one man Owen could do, even when he said he could do it through the DVD he had mailed out to every Rialto Resident. But now the Truth is being told and with Owen being Let Go for poor Performance, via this water Case and the Police Department Case, that the City Council Originally wanted the city of Rialto to swallow!!

Now I wonder since Owen is gone, what is Rialto going to do with the case, but I can say one thing for sure, With the statement that the Fontana Water Co. Representative stated, they should look to close the case and go with the EPA to clean the water the best way they can.

BS Ranch


Rialto perchlorate case parties agree to delay
Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

A messy battle over efforts to clean up Rialto's drinking water continued Tuesday as suspected polluters and government agencies agreed to push past a court-imposed deadline.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge was scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday regarding whether state cleanup hearings held by the State Water Resources Control Board can go forward.

But state officials working for the Riverside-based Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board and three suspected polluters wanted 60 more days to continue negotiating a settlement to the contamination dispute instead of going through hearings before the state board.

"The parties want some additional time to continue the talks," said Kurt Berchtold, assistant executive officer of the regional board.

In case those two-month-old talks unravel, the parties are also trying to agree on a schedule to resolve the court dispute over whether the state hearings can even take place. In November, the parties also decided to push off a court hearing on the fairness of the state hearings so they could begin the settlement talks.

Rialto's water is contaminated with perchlorate, a chemical used to produce explosives, and trichloroethylene, an industrial cleaning product.

The courts got involved shortly before the state hearings were supposed to begin in August. Three suspected polluters - Black & Decker, Goodrich and Pyro Spectaculars - sued in Los Angeles County Superior

Court, claiming the state hearing process was so flawed that it could not go forward.

Judge Dzintra Janavs, who recently announced plans to retire, halted the state hearings in August until she could resolve whether the state hearings were fair and could go forward.

The state regulatory agencies have tried to force three suspected polluters to clean up much of the contamination for years.

On separate fronts, Rialto has filed a federal lawsuit against dozens of suspected polluters. The case is scheduled for trial in October. Most recently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has become involved in Rialto and may declare one of the source areas a Superfund site.

Rialto and many of the local water agencies are upset with the regional board's negotiations with the three suspected polluters.

"We need to move ahead one way or the other. If we were allowed to be in the secret meetings with the water board, I'd be much more comfortable extending the court hearings tomorrow," Rialto Councilman Ed Scott a member of the city's perchlorate subcommittee, said Monday.

Michael Whitehead, president of the San Gabriel Valley Water Co., which owns the Fontana Water Co., said he does not have confidence that a possible settlement will even lead to a solution that meets the public's needs and restores the water supply.

"All the major affected parties should be at the table," he said.

Monday, January 28, 2008

City Plans for Water Unclear (Daily Bulletin Jan. 27. 2008) Owen led aggressive legal effort, however he was LET GO, for poor performance!.

BS Ranch Perspective

I am thinking that now that Owen is gone, they should look to get another attorney and look to what has worked for the other Municipalities & Counties and if they had a Law Suit work then stay with a Suit, however if they went directly to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) that they should look to get out of the suits as soon as possible and then go to the EPA and get the Reverse Osmosis Filters that are needed to remove the Perchlorate from the water supply that is brought up from the ground water Supply. However to just take the existing road without looking to what worked the easiest and most inexpensive for the other Municipalities and Counties would be Stupid!!
BS Ranch
City plans for water unclear
Owen led aggressive legal effort
Jason Pesick, Staff Write

RIALTO - City Attorney Bob Owen was the quarterback of the city's high-profile battle to pursue the parties charged with contaminating the city's drinking water.

But last week, the City Council fired him. What's not clear is if they want to send his cleanup strategy out the door with him.

The water supply is contaminated with perchlorate, an ingredient in explosives, and the cleaning solvent trichloroethylene. Although an audit the council requested on the cost of the city's efforts has not yet been made public, the best estimate is that $20 million has been spent trying to hold dozens of suspected polluters responsible.

Only $3 million has been spent on treatment.

"I think we have to take a look at the strategy, what it's going to cost," Councilman Joe Baca Jr. said when asked if he wants to nix the specialized lawyers Owen brought in.

Baca, Mayor Grace Vargas and Councilman Ed Scott, a member of the council's perchlorate subcommittee, voted to give Owen 30 days' notice. Owen's contract states the city will have to pay $500,000 to end his contract early. Councilwoman Deborah Robertson and Councilwoman Winnie Hanson, the other member of the subcommittee, wanted to keep him.

"I'm hoping that this is not detrimental to our court case," Hanson said. A massive federal lawsuit to determine responsibility for the contamination is set to begin this year.

As costs have mounted and state regulators have failed to initiate

a widespread cleanup, the City Council reversed a long-held view and invited the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to town to declare part of the source of the contamination a Superfund site.

The council decided to pursue the suspected polluters in court long ago, Robertson said.

"We did it with the understanding that we would pursue litigation and seek to recover as much as we can," she said.

She said she has noticed gradual changes in strategy as of late. The city has tried to reach settlements with the suspected polluters and has sought state and federal money.

"These exit strategies don't appear to do anything to return anything to the ratepayers," she said.

The ratepayers are the customers of Rialto's water department, which serves about half the city. The customers have funded the bulk of the city's efforts through a surcharge on their water bills.

Baca said residents should not pay a surcharge that funds lawyers and experts.

"It should go to treatment," he said.

Scott said the city can't eliminate the surcharge while the litigation continues.

But he said any money from a settlement or court order should reimburse ratepayers before going to the city.

He said he hopes the litigation can end soon.

"In fact, the olive branch is out there to settle the lawsuit," he said.

He also said the lawyers working on the case remain in place.

"Currently, we're steadfast on the existing strategy," said Scott. "There's been no change by the council on the lawsuit. That's not to say there won't be at some point."

jason.pesick@sbsun.com

(909) 386-3861

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Rialto Votes to End Attorney Contract (SB Sun Jan 24, 2008)

BS Ranch Perspective

It's About Time!! The Rialto City Council is finally starting to listen to something other then the Common Stretched lies, or the stretched Facts in the cases that he has worked for the City. Every time that he has given a slide show presentation at a Council Meeting he has spoken so flat and mundane that it was putting everybody to sleep in the Council Chambers!! This was of coarse the presentation on what he was going to do in the court Case that he had worked up to save the City and Get the Sheriff's Department under Contract for Law Enforcement. It was a good thing that I was in Chronic pain or I would have been asleep through the meeting and not have heard any of what he had said. The Lawyer that was hired by the Opposition, RPBA (Rialto Police Benefit Association) & the Citizens of Rialto, whom hired him to protect the City Police Department, happened to be at the meeting and also heard what Owen's was saying, because he interrupted the little lessen that Owen's was putting on by Defending his Law Firm Against what Owen's was saying about him, & his partner.

See, in this City Council Meeting, Owen's Portrayed these two lawyers as not knowing Civil Labor Law, at which time the RPBA Lawyer would speak up and say, "We have beat you the last four times that we have been in court, how do you answer to that?"

At that time the Mayor would bang that gavel and yell out order order I will not have these outbursts in the City Hall!! Please Contain yourself or I will have to ask you to leave!

Owens was in front of a Judge two or three more times after that, Each time Loosing to the Lawyers from Riverside that were not Lawyers with any City, they were just Lawyers and worked out of their office. There was one person that was considered to be part of the Cities Administration it was this guy, I believe that he was crooked, from the get go, Now I don't mean crooked as a criminal, but I mean crooked as in not doing his job unless it was a benefit to his pocket book. He was one of the highest paid if not the highest paid Attorneys representing a City, and that was probably because he represented the city for fifteen years. Each year gaining 2% or more when he was a younger Lawyer.

Owens should have been let go by the city when he blew the contract with the Sheriff Department. When he attempted to fight the RPBA and the Citizens of Rialto, and then he cheated by hiding the Signatures that were legally collected by the citizens of the State of California, all legally collected by a Contracted Signature Gathering Agent. The So called "Miss Understanding" of the law that was later blamed on the City Clerk, by them was wrong to do. Because Owen's Knew Being a Lawyer, "one That understood, Voter Registration and Voter Law's" as he professed in a City Council Meeting!!

Yet when it was time to look to making a law that would END The Conflict between the citizens of Rialto, The RPBA, and the Rialto City Council. It took Two months and Pleading from Citizens to take the Signatures to the Registrars of Voters for a second opinion about the Signatures, and see if they were gathered Legal like. Finally out of getting tired of hearing about it the Mayor said that they would take them to the Registrar of Voters to get a second Opinion. It all took less then an hour and the city council upon the first five minutes into the meeting had to Reverse their previous stance on the issue, and Vote to keep the Rialto Police Department AS IS! Also to Vote the Police Issue into LAW Instantaneous without taking it before the citizens on a Special Vote. There was just to many Signatures asking for the Law to just say that they would put a special election they voted it directly into law. Once the Signatures were lawful They had almost three times the amount of Signatures they needed for a special election. So it was all lost right when the signatures were deemed to be collected legal.

Owens tried to hide them in a Drawer & say that they were collected Illegally!! That is the crooked thing I am talking of. I don't know if it was him or somebody on the Council that tried to trash the signatures.

Down through the years there was many things that he did to assist the council on stuff that occurred all was above and beyond the call of duty it was this that made him dirty too, instead of steering the person away from him he would make it his business to assist them, but keep it secret, and hold that information on his lap. Crooked.

I am just happy that this time it was is poor workmanship that got him taken out, but he has charged the city in untold amount of bills for the amount of time that he has spent working on the Perchlorate contamination in the water. If the city owes $28 Million, then you have to know that there is a great deal of that $28 Million that goes into his pocket, but it is to the service to the community.

I am sad that the Rialto City Council took the time to listen to Owens when it came to the Perchlorate Contamination!! I believe that they should have went to the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA would have gone to the people that were responsible for the contamination and fined or discussed with them how much that they would pay. I am sure that a governmental Agency would get a better response from a business then a court room full of Lawyers, against a City with their Two Lawyers.

Then the Big Businesses all have to just stall stall stall, in court that is what they do. Stall stall stall. because they know that the Testing of water wells must go on all the time and that cost money, The closing of wells cost money. Each time that they go to court and hold their cases and then they get a method to prolong the case they get their stay, that costs money. I believe that Owens Knows this and wanted the more dosage of delays, because that meant more money in his pocket to run the case and well that is just the way that he wanted it. I can guess that his part of that last Quoted Amount that was passed in the papers as was spent by Rialto (The $28 Million) That Owen's Gets at least $5 Million of that for his home fix up's. I can say that he will not be hurting any time soon.

I am so happy that Rialto City Council made a good move and Gave Owen's his Walking Paper's!!

BS Ranch



Rialto votes to end attorney contract
By Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

RIALTO - The City Council has decided to terminate the contract of city attorney Bob Owen.

City Administrator Henry Garcia announced the decision following a 3-2 vote by the council in closed session.

Mayor Grace Vargas and council members Joe Baca Jr. and Ed Scott voted to fire Owen. Council members Winnie Hanson and Deborah Robertson voted against.

Owen was not present during the open session of the Tuesday council meeting.

Following weeks of rumblings that Owen's job could be in jeopardy, a review of his performance appeared on the closed-session agenda for Tuesday's City Council meeting.

Vargas said Monday that the city was spending too much money on legal fees.

"And I think now is the time for the change," she said.

Owen has taken public stances on two significant issues facing the city in recent years - drinking-water contamination and the council's failed attempt to replace the Rialto Police Department with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

At public meetings, Owen has vocally defended the strategy by the city to get perchlorate cleaned out of drinking water - even as the price tag for the city's efforts has approached $20 million.

In 2005, the City Council voted to eliminate the Police Department, but the officers union won a court battle.

The union claimed the city violated state law by not following procedures to eliminate the department. The court ruled on the

union's behalf.

Owen was the city attorney at the time the council took up the matter.

Owen and his San Bernardino-based firm have a contract with the city that expires in 2010.

The contract requires the city to pay $500,000 to end it early.

When it was signed, the contract called for Owen's firm to be paid $729,402 a year, in addition to 2 percent annual increases.

jason.pesick@sbsun.com

(909) 386-3861

Friday, January 25, 2008

Rialto OK's Use of Eminent Domain (San Bernardino Sun Jan. 23, 2008)

BS Ranch Perspective

It looks like Rialto's City Council is Resorting to land Stealing to make some more of the Apartments that will house Gangs and Crime shootings in the next five to ten years! So, they are pre-planning the area that they want to house the gangs in the city, by building these places, in the first place, now they are Stealing the Property that People have worked hard to get, at a time when they will not get what they paid for the property, That is Land Theft if you ask me!! Eminent Domain is something that is called Legal Land Snatching!!

BS Ranch


Rialto OKs use of eminent domain
Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

RIALTO - The city plans to use eminent domain if needed to expand an affordable housing project.

The unanimous vote Tuesday night by the City Council, acting as the Rialto Housing Authority board, will allow a 10-building, $14million expansion of the Willow-Winchester Revitalization project north of Base Line and west of Riverside Avenue.

"I think it's a good project," said Councilman Joe Baca Jr., who pointed out the neighborhood - home to a great deal of criminal activity - is close to Eisenhower High School.

There was no opposition to the vote, which will allow Rialto to purchase the buildings if it can't reach other agreements with the owners.

The city then plans to turn the neighborhood over to the Rancho Cucamonga-based National Community Renaissance, a nonprofit developer. The developer will renovate the homes and manage the community under strict rules.

The area's current residents will be able to stay in the project if their incomes don't exceed a certain limit, or they will be relocated. Residents will only be evicted if they commit a crime or violate the community's rules.

"So no one will be going homeless," said Rialto Housing Manager John Dutrey.

Rialto to Evaluate Its City Attorney (San Bernardino Sun Jan. 21, 2008) Owen Should Be Fired or Let Go, either way 15 years is just to long for his ma

BS Ranch Perspective

The City of Rialto is taking a path that I have been asking for since the Water Contamination Issue has started!! However I believe that this is just a Smoke and Mirror, The City Council is doing this to say that they have evaluated the issue and there was not a better suited Lawyer to take over the Water Issue or any of the other Awaiting Legal Issues that the City of Rialto Faces right at the moment.

Either that or Owen Himself is looking to Retire and he feels that he needs an out from his contract and has privately looked to Ed Scott his friend and asked for him to look into closing his contract to make a great Retirement Bonus of $500.000 ($1/2 Million & No/100). Wow, when I was killed by that Mazda MPV Mini Van I didn't Get a Half Million in Cash to separate from the City. I didn't got 1/4 of what I was making to retire. Everyone said it was half of what you made Tax free. but let me tell you when you get your medical taken out and it is going up every year. your COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) is taken right away. Gone, never get a raise.

Now Owen, has had his job for 15 years and he has never done his job above par, he knows basic City Laws, about the Brown Act. and that is about it. Other then that, when it came to the Dealings with the City vs. The RPBA (Rialto Police Benefit Association) with additional assistance from the Citizens of Rialto. When It came to support from the City, the RPBA and the Citizens only needed a very low amount, but they gathered approximately 4900 signatures, and I believe that there was only 1200 signatures needed to save the police department and reverse the City Council of Rialto's Vote. But their Decision to close the Police Department and Contract with the San Bernardino County Sheriff Department for Law Enforcement, was in serious question if they were doing the right thing that the City of which they represented Supported them anymore.

The Citizens & the Rialto Police Benefit Association (RPBA) Took the City of Rialto to Court to place a Stay order against the City Council and the City of Rialto since they didn't meet with the RPBA to have what is known as a Meet and Confer, on a decision regarding a change in the original Employment Contract that they were working under that was not expired for another eight months. Owens Obviously was not aware of these laws or Rules, but the Lawyer that he kept putting down in the City Council Meetings as not knowing what they were doing, constantly and pointing out how they didn't know what they were doing, yet when Owen was confronted in Court by the Judge and the Attorney that Earlier he was basically calling dumb, was made a fool of. The Judge all but called Owen Stupid for not knowing the basic laws of an employment Contract. As time went on Owen was in court and faced the Lawyers that was hired by the Citizens and RPBA, Four to six times and each time, Owens Lost his case. Each Argument was shut down and the Judge basically told Owen to better prepare himself before showing to court next time.
Now even though OWEN LOST EVERY TIME he faced the LAWYERS FROM RIVERSIDE, He would call the Riverside Lawyers Names and he would act as if he won in Court, but it was pointed out by the RPBA LAWYER or CITIZENS that OWENS LOST BY SOMEONE SHOUTING THAT THE LAWYER SHOWED HIM, even with that Owen would continue as if he was showing that he won the court battle even when he lost.

Now the Perchlorate Contamination Issue comes up and this is awful. Owen should have said to the city Let's Contact the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and see what they say about what we should do with the Plum of Perchlorate below contaminating underground water supply. Owen right away saw money for his pockets and saw green filling his pockets and his house, garage, bedroom, bank.... So he figured once Owen heard that Good Year Tire, and Black and Decker was two of the main Companies that might be part of the companies responsible for the Perchlorate Contamination, he again saw the Dollar Signs, & Recommended that they take these companies to Court.

Ed Scott, Winnie Hanson, and Debra Robertson, along with the Mayor should know that money doesn't come that easy, but on the Same Token the Lawyers of the County, and the other Involved Cities Were all using the EPA to clean up their main problems with the Perchlorate. Rialto Drug West Valley Water District into their Law Suit until the West Valley Water District Ran out of money and had to drop out, Once West Valley Water District dropped out they were able to Asked for help from the EPA and they were helped with the Filtration system that they needed, through Grants and assistance.

But it was a fight that Owen's could not let go, and he continued to struggle to fight and asked the city to continue to fight Good Year, and Black and Decker, and suddenly the court date was pushed back and they had all this money into testing and they are testing constantly to keep the case active and make sure that the water that they have is Terrible to drink. This all cost a great deal of money with no money coming in other then that of the regular Taxes and The Utility Tax that was voted in so nicely by the Citizens of Rialto.

Now they are up and over $30+Million Owen's is now being Evaluated and there is no hope of even coming close to winning this case. I know that Bob Sees, a case like that in the movie that made that woman a millionaire and she was just an Attorney's assistant, working on the case, as an investigator. Owen thought that he had a case like that, but little did he know that the Perchlorate was not put there as something to hurt people, it was not known that it was going to hurt people. It was the World War I After all The Great War, the Big one as they called it one day. Back when Miro Air Field was an Air Base for the U.S. Air Force, and they had an Air Field in most cities of the US. that was how spread out the Air bases were back then. Perchlorate was just dumped on to the ground into a pit when it was destroyed. all the way back passed the WWI and into WWII when there was more dumped there and that was that but when it was a hazardous waist it was stopped.

Now there was no laws broken at the time, But Owen is trying to make it sound like Good Year and Black & Decker did something wrong, when nothing wrong was done.
With the poor handling of the POLICE DEPARTMENT CASE & NOW THE PERCHLORATE CASE OWEN MUST GO FOR POOR HANDLING OF THESE CASES. There should be some lawyer hired to fight to not pay for the $500.000 separation cashiers check because of the poor handling of these cases and now the clean up the lawyers coming in must do to get everything right again.
Owen is a terrible lawyer, and should be retired or let go at least!! just by his track record he has now. I cannot believe that the City Council kept him after LOST against the RIALTO POLICE BENEFIT ASSOCIATION, when the POLICE DEPT. was being FIRED by the CITY COUNCIL! The City Council Looked to OWEN to CLEAN UP the RPBA Mess and get the SHERIFF DEPARTMENT INSTALLED as the LAW ENFORCEMENT!! But when taken to court, Not once, twice, but up to six times, and each time OWEN, LOST THE CASES!! OWEN SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED!!

BS Ranch

Rialto to evaluate its city attorney
Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

RIALTO - The City Council will evaluate behind closed doors the performance of its city attorney, who is handling legal efforts to clean up contamination of the city's drinking water.

It is not clear if the council will take any action involving Bob Owen, who also had a hand in the city's court battle to eliminate its Police Department.

Mayor Grace Vargas said Monday that the city has spent too much on legal costs.

"And I think now is the time for the change," she said.

Rialto has a contract through 2010 with Owen and his small law firm to serve as city attorney.

The contract paid the firm $729,402 when it was signed in 2003. That amount increases by 2 percent a year.

The cost of breaking the contract now is $500,000.

Owen did not return calls seeking comment Monday.

"Obviously, the mayor is a little bit ahead of me, but I think there's going to be some - probably some frank discussions," said Councilman Ed Scott. "All options are open."

Owen, who has been city attorney for more than 15 years, has overseen the city's legal efforts to get contamination of the local drinking water cleaned up. The city has spent about $20 million on that effort. Only about $3 million of that money has been spent on treatment for the primary contaminant, perchlorate. The council has authorized an audit of all the perchlorate expenses, but it has not yet been released.

In 2005, the City Council voted to replace

the Police Department with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department - a decision it later reversed after a tough legal battle in which the city had to hire a Bay Area law firm. The city lost the court fight against its police officers union on a legal technicality because city officials did not meet with the union before voting to eliminate the department.

"I think there's just a number of issues that I intend to address with litigation, legal fees and those kinds of things," Scott said.

On Friday, Councilwoman Winnie Hanson said she would not support an effort to remove Owen.

"I'm very satisfied with our city attorney," she said.

"There's always times when people are going to second guess everything."

She characterized what she thought the discussions would be about: "We're looking at not so much performance but values and do we or do we not need a bigger or better or different-type representation."

She also said there are "developments" within Owen's professional life that she said are "exciting" but did not elaborate.

Vargas said it was Owen's responsibility to keep the city from spending so much on perchlorate.

"And I guess most of us are in agreement on that."


To get the latest

What: The City Council meets in closed session before its council meetings. When the meeting starts, it reports any actions that took place in closed session.

When: 6 p.m. tonight

Where: City Hall, 150 S. Palm Ave.

Work to Close Rialto Bridge (San Bernardino Sun Jan. 20, 2008) Road Widening Will Jam Traffic!!

BS Ranch Perspective

Later this year, anyone that drives, or tries to drive, across the I-10 Riverside Bridge after they start the expansion Construction, Should have their head Examined!!

Seriously, the crazy days are coming that the bridge across the Interstate 10 Freeway, @ Riverside Ave, one of the Busiest Freeway Bridges that Crosses the I-10. I mean since Riverside Ave is a Short cut to the I-60 from there and Now it is a Shortcut from there to the I-210, so then it will be terribly congested and just an awful way to go when the construction starts. If it is like the Rest of the bridges then it will take at least 11 to 15 months for the Concrete to dry and it will just be terrible, and just awfully congested and miserable.

But having said that, the Congestion around Sierra Ave had gone down and was a whole lot better when the bridge was finished!! Now, I hope that the Engineers that put the whole plan together for the expansion have a better Idea for Riverside then they did for the Traffic that is W/B on the I-10 intending to turn Right N/B on Riverside. You know the ones that have the idea to make an Immediate Right on Riverside and then an Immediate Left on Valley so that they can go down to Willow, Lilac, or Cactus, or even all the way into Bloomington and make a N/B turn onto Maple since it would be better if they used Cedar Ave. Yet they have the time to sit in the middle of traffic and wait until all of Riverside Ave to clear so that they can make it over to the Center of N/B Riverside and turn Left on Valley Ave.

People have got to learn how to get to their house other then the one way that they learned when they purchased their home!!

BS Ranch

Work to close Rialto bridge
Road widening will jam traffic
Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

RIALTO - More vehicles are about to squeeze onto already packed north-south roads crossing the 10 Freeway.

Later this year, workers will close Riverside Avenue over the 10 to widen the road and the on- and off-ramps. Drivers will still be able to get on the freeway from Riverside Avenue from each direction.

Once the road reopens, it might not stay open long. In the next five years, officials expect to widen the Riverside Avenue bridge over the Union Pacific rail lines just south of the freeway bridge.

"It's really a bad situation," said Councilman Ed Scott, who said the city couldn't get the money to widen both bridges at once.

Although the freeway bridge will be widened from four to six lanes, it will merge back into four lanes to cross the railroad tracks until that bridge is widened as well, said Rialto's public-works director, Ahmad Ansari.

Ansari came to the city after plans for Riverside Avenue had been set.

"To say that it is not going to be a bottleneck, I would be lying to you," he said.

Nevertheless, congestion on Riverside Avenue should be eased after the initial $37 million bridge project because the on- and off- ramps, which generate much of the traffic, will be wider, Ansari said.

He said he hopes work can start on the second bridge within five years. It's not clear whether that work will require a full closure of Riverside Avenue.

Larry Mitchell, general manager of Hometown Buffet

just north of the 10, wasn't happy when he heard another bridge needs work on Riverside.

But he said his business will survive if the work is spread out enough.

"I think our patrons, our guests, will find a way if they want to come to Hometown Buffet," he said.

Greg Lantz, Rialto's economic development manager, said the bridge over the railroad could be widened as part of a project to widen Riverside Avenue to three lanes in each direction. A planned north-south route between Riverside and San Bernardino counties could dump out around Riverside Avenue, making the longer widening necessary.

The good news is that Riverside Avenue on- and off-ramps will get traffic signals as part of this year's project, Ansari said.

Councilwoman Winnie Hanson said that as a rule, work to improve the city's infrastructure won't be easy.

"I think our infrastructure is just way, way, way beyond quick solutions," she said.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Community Meetings To Start (San Bernardino Sun Jan. 14, 2008)

BS Ranch Perspective

This is new and Rialto has not had this before, it is something that the New Chief Mark Kling has probably brought with him from Los Angeles and Baldwin Park Police Department where he worked Before in order to gain a feel for what the people in the different area's needs are and what the crimes are, not to mention the complaints that one neighbor has against another, and what basic complaints that one has or what they might be doing right in that area. All of which they would hear at these meetings. I know that the Sheriff's Department Hears these things at our Neighborhood MAC (Municipal Advisory Council) Meetings that we have each month.

These meetings have to be similar to the M.A.C. Meetings of the County, and maybe the Chief took the Idea from the County and he only carries these meetings out each quarter where the County has them each month before each Supervisor's meeting so that the report from the meeting can be fresh in the mind of the Supervisor when the Supervisor's meet Each Month.

The Chief at Rialto has the right idea, but will they use the information that they get from their Citizens to make Rialto a Better place for the citizens to live and work?? That is the question that has to wait to be answered.

BS Ranch

Community meetings to start
By Canan Tasci, Staff Writer

RIALTO - Want to know what's happening with the new utility-tax bill?

Neighbors' parties keeping you up late at night?

Want to start a Neighborhood Watch Program?

If any of these topics spark an interest or if there are other questions about Rialto you want answered, then Area Command meetings are where you should be.

Beginning tonight, the first- quarter Area Command meetings will provide residents an opportunity to share and gather information with the Police Department's area commanders and other city personnel.

Residents are encouraged to attend and participate.

"We want to be able to interact with the community and its citizens more so than we have in the past," said Lt. Joe Cirilo, commander of Area 1.

Issues to be discussed include area-specific crime statistics, new city policies and information on public works, traffic and construction.

"Even if someone from the community attends the meeting and doesn't have a problem they want to talk about, this will give them a chance to know what the future holds in Rialto," said Lt. Reinhard Burkholder, commander of Area 2.

He said that since the community meetings began in July 2006, citizens have been very receptive. The meetings average 30 to 40 people.

"(When) more citizens attending the meetings, we get a better feel of what problems are in the area, and we're able to give them answers and provide a possible solution," Burkholder said.


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"It's a win-win for everyone."

canan.tasci@dailybulletin.com

(909) 987-6397, Ext. 425


IF YOU GO

Area 1 meeting:

7 to 8:30 tonight at Preston Elementary, 1750 N. Willow Ave. Information: (909) 820-2594

Area 2 meeting:

7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Curtis Elementary, 451 S. Lilac Ave.

Information: (909) 820-2669

Area 3 meeting:

7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Boyd Elementary, 310 E. Merrill Ave. Information: (909) 820-2647

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Housing Crash Delays Rialto Project (San Bernardino Sun Jan 19, 2008) Who Knows when they will consider to Re-up the case and start the devlopement ag

BS Ranch Perspective

I know that the City of Rialto wants to get all the money that they can for the property that they have created through the seeming use of loop holes, to close the Rialto Airport. A Closure that was Brokered over a Breakfast Meeting in a Cocoa's Restaurant in Whittier, with a House Representative that just happens to have a Development Company, that got the job to develop the acreage as soon as the City Council, and City Planning decides that the time is Ripe to get the best price for the property that is there in Rialto.

It is the belief of this writer that the City has made their bed!! They should be able to lie in the bed, No matter what the market. So they should get on with the payment of $25 to $28 million to the City of San Bernardino for the moving of the Current Businesses that are at Miro Air Field or Rialto Airport.

Rialto City Council & Rialto City Planning has made their bed, lets see if they are going to lay in it at least a little, I doubt that the airport will close for at least the next five years.

BS Ranch


Housing crash delays Rialto project
Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

RIALTO - Though plans for the city's premier development are moving forward, they have fallen about a year behind schedule.

While the city still has to finish negotiations with Caltrans as well as the Federal Aviation Administration, the main reason for Renaissance Rialto's delay is the housing-market slowdown.

Last year, the project's developers - a team consisting of the Lewis Group and Ross Perot Jr.'s Texas-based Hillwood - redrew the project to cut half the housing.

"Even though we looked like we were on a fast track, I think the mud's gotten deeper," said Councilwoman Winnie Hanson, who thinks the alterations could make for a better project.

Renaissance Rialto, on 1,500 acres next to the 210 Freeway, will be developed into houses, retail and industrial space.

The heart of the retail center - which will be anchored by a SuperTarget - can't be built until the city closes Rialto Municipal Airport.

Officials originally planned to close the airport last year, but it looks like it won't happen until next year, said Rich Scanlan, airport director.

Four or five of about 200 tenants have left Rialto Municipal Airport, he said.

Rialto will eventually relocate many of the airport's tenants to San Bernardino International Airport.

By the fall, the Rialto City Council could approve plans for the Renaissance Rialto project and an environmental impact report, said Greg Lantz, the city's economic development

manager.

City staff will spend the next month reviewing and refining a draft plan for the project, he said.

The city and developers can then begin relocating tenants. Once they are relocated, construction can begin.

Stores could start opening in 2010, but not in time to meet the original goal of the 2009 winter holidays.

City officials would like to start developing the area to the west around Alder Avenue and the 210 Freeway even sooner. The area is far enough away from Rialto Municipal Airport that construction can begin before it is closed, Lantz said.

Though Congress passed legislation in 2005 allowing Rialto to close the airport, the FAA still hasn't given the OK to shut things down.

Before the airport can be closed, the FAA has to agree to a closure plan that it is reviewing, said Ian Gregor, an FAA spokesman.

He said the plan has to agree with Rialto and the San Bernardino International Airport Authority regarding airport land values.

An escrow account also needs to be established so revenue from the sale of the airport property can be transferred to the Small Business Insurance Agency for improvements.

In the next three to four months, Lantz said, Rialto also hopes to settle some land-rights issues with Caltrans.

Most notably, Rialto needs to get control of Easton Street from the state, so the city can move Easton a few hundred feet to the south to make room for the Target-anchored center.

If the city can this year get a sewer line built around Alder, Lantz said, development on that end of the project can quickly begin.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Rialto Selects Projects For Redevelopment Bond Funding (Press Enterprise Jan. 15, 2008)

BS Ranch Perspective

The Rialto Redevelopment Agency (Rialto City Council) has taken on a good Idea to extend Pepper Ave to Highland I-210, it will give access to Highland (I-210 Business route) and on ramps/off ramps to the I-210 freeway that is one thing that is needed since there is currently Three accesses to Rialto from the I-210 Freeway (Alder Ave, Ayala Ave, & Riverside Ave.) All the signs on the freeway indicate that there is four off ramps to Rialto, but since Pepper was not competed there is just the three. That completion will also allow the people that live in the Eastern side of the city better easier Access to the I-210 rather then fight the traffic that the currently have to fight from Riverside Ave. to the Two Lane Road Easton Ave. and then to Sycamore Ave and beyond is very difficult and causes a great deal of Traffic problems in the morning and afternoon just from the traffic that is trying to get on the I-210 in the morning and back to their homes in the afternoon. Now It is still quicker for them to gain access on the I-210 then it was to drive all the way down Pepper Ave to I-10 and then to work from there, then it does for them to just gain access to the I -210 and get on their way, however the traffic is pretty bad and that does take them some time.

So there is a great need for the Pepper Ave extension, and I believe that the extension will be invited once the construction starts.

BS Ranch

Rialto selects projects for redevelopment bond funding



Download story podcast

10:00 PM PST on Tuesday, January 15, 2008
By MARY BENDER
The Press-Enterprise

RIALTO - The city Redevelopment Agency will issue $88 million in bonds to pay for several projects, including an extension of Pepper Avenue to connect to Highway 210 and an expansion of Frisbie Park, the board decided Tuesday night.

The Rialto City Council, which doubles as the Redevelopment Agency board, whittled down a long list of proposed public improvements to several that the city could complete within three years.

The council had earlier agreed to set aside $20 million in bond funds for assorted economic development projects and $28 million for several neighborhood-revitalization projects.

At issue Tuesday was how the remaining $40 million would be allotted. The biggest chunk of the bond funds, $14.8 million, will go to the proposed Pepper Avenue link to the 210.

The Highway 210 segment through Rialto and San Bernardino opened last summer with three access points in Rialto, but the planned Pepper connection has met delays.

Pepper Avenue would have to be extended roughly one-half mile north to reach the freeway. Between its dead-end, which is in a residential neighborhood a few blocks north of Base Line, and the freeway are acres of vacant land that might be a habitat for two endangered species, the San Bernardino kangaroo rat and the Santa Ana River woolly star, a plant. Both are native to Lytle Creek, next to the freeway.

Rialto needs approval from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in order to build the Pepper extension and 210 connection.

Redevelopment Director Robb Steel said Rialto recently received a credit rating of A-minus, good news for the Redevelopment Agency as it prepares to issue the tax allocation bonds, which are paid back by a property-tax increment that comes to the agency.

Such bonds are unlike general obligation bonds, which must be approved by local voters.

Mayor Grace Vargas missed the afternoon bond workshop but attended the City Council meeting on Tuesday night.

Councilman Joe Baca Jr. told Steel that he wanted $7 million of the bond funds used to develop sports fields and other amenities at Frisbie Park, and his colleagues agreed.

The council also allotted $5 million for rebuilding Fire Station 202, $4 million for expanding parking at the Metrolink Station and $4.7 million to go toward a project to widen the Riverside Avenue bridge over Interstate 10.

The Riverside Avenue bridge will be torn down later this year and rebuilt as a nine-lane road. The artery is Rialto's only connection to Interstate 10.

Fire Station 202 opened in 1963 on the northeast corner of Riverside Avenue and Easton Street, and it is now too small to accommodate some modern fire equipment. It will be rebuilt on vacant city-owned land across the street, and the current site will be sold.

The fire station is now next to the Riverside Avenue connection to Highway 210.

The Metrolink Station, which is at 261 S. Palm Ave., currently has 222 parking spaces. Initially, 154 spaces could be added, and the city eventually could build a 900-space parking structure.

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

Monday, January 14, 2008

Fwd: FW: Miller Wary of Dealings with his Doners (SGV Tribune 020807)


Just a little memory lane:
Miller wary of dealings with his donors
By Fred Ortega and Gary Scott Staff Writers

Looking back on the land deals now under review by federal authorities, Rep. Gary Miller maintains he did nothing wrong, but admits he would do one thing differently.

The Diamond Bar resident said he never should have turned to campaign contributor Lewis Operating Corp. when looking for an investment to shelter the proceeds from a 2002 land sale in Monrovia.

"Was it unethical or inappropriate? No," Miller said. "Am I going to buy things from former campaign donors? No. It is not worth being questioned."

A successful real estate developer before being elected to Congress in 1998, Miller expressed outrage at allegations that he abused his power as a congressman or misused tax laws.

Miller, R-Brea, said he is the object of a media campaign to smear him for doing what he has every right to do: make a buck.

In the run-up to the Monrovia land deal, now being looked at by the FBI, Miller said he acted as an anxious businessman trying to protect his investment and his right to develop his property - not as a powerful politician seeking to use his position for monetary gain, as he says he has been portrayed.

"I've been bashed in the press as though I've done something wrong," said

Miller, 58. "I can go out and make money like any American, as long as it is above board, ethically and honorably."

But political figures are held to different standards, said Dan Schnur, a Republican consultant. In the court of public opinion, he said, there isn't always a presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

"When a private citizen does something that some may find suspicious, there is a legal process that takes place before people come to a decision," Schnur said. "When you are a public figure, they come to that judgment before the process, not after."

Recounting the 2002 land sale, Miller said he sat on 165 acres of pristine hillside property for 12 long years, waiting as Monrovia officials and citizens tried to figure out whether to let him develop the land or buy it for a wilderness preserve. All the while, he said he watched his investment stagnate.

And after 12 long years, Miller said he had had enough. At a City Council meeting in February 2000, the congressman pushed back.

"I am sitting next to my attorney, with 300 to 400 people in the room, and he tells me: `Offer to sell them your property. They'll never buy it,"' Miller recalled.

Miller was "damn tired of the process" and was prepared to file suit against the city for inverse condemnation, saying long delays and government regulations had so diminished the value of his property that he was legally entitled to compensation.

To his dismay, Miller said Monrovia's mayor at the time, Lara Larramendi, "a registered Democrat," asked him the unthinkable: donate the land to the city.

"If you don't want me to develop in your city, then buy my property," Miller said. Two years later, in May 2002, the congressman and the city came to an agreement. The city, using a state grant and local funds, bought Miller's land for

$11.8 million, earning him about a $10 million profit.

Last August, the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service accusing Miller of violating tax laws in the sale, as well as in land deals in Fontana and Rancho Cucamonga.

Federal investigators began poking around Monrovia, asking questions about the 2002 sale. In recent weeks, FBI agents asked Monrovia officials to turn over a video recording of that Feb. 29, 2000, council meeting. The FBI has declined to comment.

In October, Miller decided to ask the House ethics committee to review his dealings in hopes of ending a spate of news reports looking at whether he used his position to take advantage of a special tax provision to shelter profits from the deals.

Miller said he purposefully stayed away from business dealings when he first entered politics, but that concerns about providing for his children and grandchildren led him to dive back into investments again.

"I didn't do any business deals for 12 years, and every year I was worth less money," he said.

Miller is ranked as the 12th-wealthiest member of the House by the Center for Responsive Politics, with a net worth of

$12 million to $51.7 million.

Miller does not believe he receives special treatment; on the contrary, he says his political position has made negotiations more difficult.

"It has always been to my detriment to be a congressman" in putting deals together, Miller said, because of the higher level of scrutiny.

After the 2002 sale to Monrovia, Miller exercised IRS Code Section 1033 to shelter the proceeds from capital gains taxes. The code requires that the money be reinvested in property within two years. Miller needed to find property fast.

He had to look no further than Fontana, where Lewis Operating Corp., a former business partner and campaign contributor, was readying to sell land to the city there.

"I was looking for deals to buy," Miller said, adding that Lewis "said we have units we are going to sell to the city" of Fontana.

Lewis sold the properties to Miller in 2004. Miller turned around and sold the properties to Fontana in 2005 and 2006 for a small profit.

The deal has raised questions about access and influence, since Lewis Operating Corp. had given Miller a combined $18,100 in campaign contributions between 2003 and 2006.

Miller maintains the transactions were above board, but said he learned a lesson from the media fallout.

"Do I have any other projects with Lewis? No," Miller said. "I'm not interested in any joint ventures."

The confluence of business and politics is often problematic, said Bruce Cain, director of the University of California Washington Center.

"The general problem is when you come from a business background and enter politics, and your business begins to suffer because you are not paying as much attention to it anymore," said Cain. "They are not making the six-figure salaries they were making before, and that leads them to do things that are on the edge of the law."

With the focus on ethics in Congress nowadays, that attitude quickly becomes problematic, Cain said.

"They think that they are one-eighth of an inch inside the line, but why be one-eighth of an inch when you can be a mile farther away?"

Miller also insisted that his status as a congressman did not cause any conflicts in the matter of the closing of the Rialto airport.

Miller acknowledges that he met with an official from the city of Rialto and members of Lewis Operating Corp. about how to close the Rialto Airport before promoting a transportation bill that eventually shut down the facility.

In 2004, Rialto officials had signed a contract with Lewis giving the developer the first shot at developing the airport land. City officials have said they hired Lewis in part because of its political connections, since previous efforts to close the airport through the Federal Aviation Administration had failed.

Miller insists that the fact he knew Lewis wanted to build on the airport land did not influence his work on the transportation bill.

"I knew others were talking with Rialto \, KB Homes was talking, others were talking," he said, adding his motivation was only to assist the city of Rialto, which had asked him to help in the airport's closure. He said area representatives Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, and Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, were also in favor of the city's efforts to shut down the airport.

In the end, it was language inserted in the bill by Lewis that led to the shuttering of the facility.

Despite all the problems his connections with developers have caused him, Miller insists he will leave Congress either on his own terms, or through the will of the voters.

"I plan on running again," he said. "I am not going to be impugned by the press."

gary.scott@sgvn.com

(626) 578-6300, Ext. 4458
--
BS Ranch Perspective:

Looks like Miller is taking the high road in all this I would if I were him too. What Even If I was guilty in a similar situation I would stay with the not so guilty road, hoping that they don't find anything, or any wrong doing. Maybe they will find wrong doing and they will vote to work on the spirit of the law and not the Letter of the law, but I imagine in the spot that this guy is in they would have to act on the letter of the law and not the Spirit of the law, being that he was elected by the people with the people's Trust, to do the right thing, Legally and above board, not act above the law, and do what you want to get what you want to fill your pockets!! Even if you have your own employee's to pay, it isn't that you don't have the money to take the loss that you would have had the land gone the full circle that it would have, if you didn't cook up the emergency sale!!

Never the less, Miller had to have someone that he worked with on the other side that he trusted to make the Emergency sale work or he would find himself in this type of situation acting all cool, calm and collected. Be sides it would almost be the proof of the prosecution that the paperwork that Miller will show them regarding the Emergency sale of the property, are faked or not. We can only wonder. if they are real the above scenario certainly fits, and there is an inside man!!

BS Ranch
-----------------------------------------------------
There has not been a follow up to this story, so I wonder what the outcome of the Investigation was, or maybe there was no Follow up story, becuase the Investigation was not finished, and they are still working through Miller's tax refunds and his tax reports to find where he might have placed the payments for the favors that he has done for the Cities of Fontana and Rialto!

BSR
Jan. 14, 2008

Water Officials Tell Rialto That Perchlorate Levels Are Safe!! (SB Sun Jan, 11, 2008)

BS Ranch Perspective

I don't know about you, but just the idea that PERCHLORATE was, or might be, in the water that is coming out of the Tap, at my home, of which I have a filter on that would not even come close to catching any of the PERCHLORATE that was in the Tap water that I have at my home to drink. Especially knowing that PERCHLORATE contamination causes thyroid cancer and all kinds of other cancers that they don't even mention in any report, they just talk about the main thing that PERCHLORATE attacks and that is the thyroid gland.

I guess at the meeting the officials from the water department was trying to give us reassurance and say that the water at our homes is no longer contaminated with the PERCHLORATE because it has been removed from the water through osmosis filtration, however I know people in the City of Rialto that have lost family Members to the PERCHLORATE contamination and I don't think that they would believe anyone that the PERCHLORATE was removed 100%!!

BS Ranch




Water officials tell Rialto that perchlorate levels are safe
By Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

RIALTO - The water here is safe to drink. That was the message city officials pushed at a town-hall meeting at Frisbie Middle School.

The meeting this week focused on the chemical perchlorate, which is contaminating local drinking water.

Rialto and West Valley Water District officials - which together serve water to the vast majority of Rialto - told residents they don't have to worry about the water coming out of their tap.

"We run the systems until there's no detectable perchlorate," Bill Hunt, an engineering consultant for Rialto, said of the treatment systems at the Thursday meeting.

Perchlorate, a chemical used to produce explosives like rocket fuel and fireworks, is flowing through Rialto from an industrial site north of the 210 Freeway that dates back to World War II.

The panel at the meeting included City Council members Winnie Hanson and Ed Scott, who make up the perchlorate subcommittee, as well as medical, engineering and environmental consultants. For the first hour, the experts made presentations that at times confused people in attendance with talk of "resins" and "lag vessels."

Perchlorate can block the thyroid gland's access to iodine and cause an underactive thyroid, said Mary McDaniel, a doctor and lawyer with the firm McDaniel Lambert Inc. who reviewed a number of recent studies.

"So some of these studies make you worry a little bit more, some of them make you worry a little less. That's science,"

she said.

The thyroid is necessary for metabolism and brain development. It is not well understood how perchlorate affects sensitive populations like pregnant women and children.

McDaniel also pointed out that bottled-water companies do not have to test for perchlorate. If the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets a standard for perchlorate in drinking water, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration might set a perchlorate standard for bottled water, according to the FDA's Web site.

The second half of the meeting was set aside for residents to ask questions.

People with relatives who have birth defects and thyroid conditions wanted to know if perchlorate could have caused them.

Kit Satre, who lives in Yucaipa but worked in Rialto starting in 1985, said she has two children with such serious birth defects that they have had 50 surgeries between them.

But McDaniel said she was not aware of perchlorate causing birth defects, and West Valley Water District board President Earl Tillman said his customers have never been exposed to high levels of perchlorate.

Thursday's meeting had a very different tone than past meetings, which city officials have used to attack San Bernardino County for its role in some of the contamination, as well as to question the safety of West Valley's water.

Scott on Thursday heaped praise on other elected officials, including Rep. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino, and welcomed West Valley representatives.

"We're not serving any perchlorate," said Tillman, the president of West Valley's board.

If West Valley detects perchlorate in one of its wells, it takes the well offline or installs a treatment system, said General Manager Anthony "Butch" Araiza.

A West Valley well with a perchlorate level of 2 parts per billion is no longer online, he said.

Rialto officials say they do not serve water from wells if they detect perchlorate in the wells.

Fontana Water Co., the other big water agency in Rialto and a division of the San Gabriel Valley Water Co., does not serve water contaminated with perchlorate beyond the state's maximum level of 6 ppb, said Robert Young, assistant general manager.

Scott also told residents not to buy personal water treatment systems to clean out the perchlorate because the people selling them may be trying to scam residents.

He also encouraged people to write Marshall Larsen, the chairman, president and CEO of Goodrich, one of the companies Rialto says is responsible for the contamination. Scott said they should tell him to stop fighting Rialto.

jason.pesick@sbsun.com

(909) 386-3861

Rialto Working to Improve Parking at Jerry Eaves Park (Daily Bulletin Jan. 14, 2008)

BS Ranch Perspective

Now this is the kind of Rialto Renaissance that I like to see. This is the expansion that is great, wonderful problem solving at the small scale that they are not trying to earn all the cities money all at once in one area through one huge Real Estate Deal!! The Closure of a huge Rialto Historical Icon such as the Rialto Airport, It will be sad once the Miro Air Field is closed down by the Rialto City Council and The City Council has Voted to pay out the over $30 million to the Businesses and other cities (San Bernardino Airport) for taking the Businesses that were at Rialto's Miro Air Field, Some for more then 20 Years!

Those people that had those businesses here in Rialto struggled to keep their families fed, and now they are forced to move their businesses to another Airport and make there way. Maybe they will make some money maybe not. There is not that many Air planes that take off and land as there is at Rialto's Miro Air Port!

It is my belief that the Miro Air Field is something that should stay in Rialto, it is a piece of Rialto's History! It is What has made Rialto what it is since before WWII!! I know that things are moved around for the times and when money is to be made it is time to move on to make that money, but I believe that that the decisions that the City Council is making in regard to the Rialto Renaissance is a costly mistake that will take years to to ultimately pay for itself. Rialto's Utility Tax will have to become permanent in order to keep the Renaissance alive and the city half way well.

This is just my prediction there is no science or any other thing behind it. I just get the feeling because of the way that the Real Estate Market has taken a dump and well the whole market is at a stall, if the City can just stay in a hold pattern they will be alright, and get through this recession okay!!

BS Ranch



10:54 a.m.: Rialto working to improve parking at Jerry Eaves Park
By Jason Pesick, Staff Writer

The city and its redevelopment agency have been trying to improve the parking situation at Jerry Eaves Park. More than 100 youth soccer teams use the park, and there isn't nearly enough parking to meet that need.

The redvelopment agency recently bought four and a half acres of land to expand the parking lot. Earlier this month, the City Council awarded $29,000 dollars to have a parking lot expansion designed. That's in addition to $65,000 that was already awarded. Once the design work is done, bonds will pay for the construction.

- jason.pesick@sbsun.com