National Night Out coming Tuesday to Inland Empire

By Melissa Pinion-Whitt, Staff Writer

Posted: 08/07/13, 8:23 PM PDT |

When Cindy Hastings took over as manager of a San Dimas mobile home park 17 years ago, residents rarely spoke to each other and she witnessed drug deals on the property.
But after building a relationship with local sheriff's deputies and holding parties every year for an event called National Night Out, she says the mobile home park has changed dramatically.
"Over the years, (residents have) come together and they watch out for each other," said Hastings.
She is one of many Neighborhood Watch captains holding block parties Tuesday for National Night Out, a gathering of communities to take a stand against crime. Hastings' events at Lone Hills Manor Mobile Home Estates draw hundreds of people, including dignitaries and law enforcement, for an evening of food and entertainment.
Law enforcement agencies across Southern California plan to tour block parties, meet residents and discuss crime occurring in neighborhoods. Many cities are also holding kickoff events featuring everything from police dog demonstrations to gift giveaways.
The Rialto Police Department's gatherings are known to draw thousands of people. And the department added even more features for Tuesday's event at the Willow Avenue police station, including Los Angeles-area food trucks and rides in police car for children.
"We're hoping for a bigger turn out," said Rialto police Cpl. Cameron Nelson.
It will be a showcase of the city's public safety personnel, with appearances by SWAT officers, police and firefighters, as well as a helicopter landing.
It's an event that works, says Judy Roberts, a Rialto police volunteer and Neighborhood Watch coordinator for the city.
Rialto police's participation in National Night Out evolved from touring block parties about eight years ago to throwing a kickoff party that drew about 6,000 people last year. That's double the number of people who gathered for the downtown event in 2010, Roberts said.
"It's amazing the number of people who truly care about their city and really want to be a part of the solution as opposed to griping about the problem," she said.
Nelson said it's a chance for neighbors to get out of their homes and talk to each other.
"A lot of people don't even talk to their neighbors anymore. We're trying to break that cycle," he said.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

RIVERSIDE: Rialto to the North history column... by Hal Durian Correspondent Press Enterprise Jan. 14, 2012

One of the founders of Rialto, a Methodist Minister named A.F. Naftzer, lived in Riverside for a time, and it is likely, but not proven, that he modeled his principal north-south street after the Riverside avenues noted for their beauty.

Rialto was founded in 1911 and last November marked the city’s centennial. It is a bedroom community of 100,000 people. Many of its residents work in Riverside and have frequent contacts with it. The trip from downtown Rialto to downtown Riverside is a mere 10 miles which makes Rialto closer to downtown Riverside than Orangecrest, a section officially within the city of Riverside.

The latest UC Riverside Alumni Directory lists 222 graduates of UCR who live in Rialto. Similar connections between Riverside and Rialto exist in many areas, though Rialto is in San Bernardino County.

Rialto has been for much of its history a citrus community, though today there is only one orange grove left in the city. It is owned by John Anthony Adams who earned a PhD in soil science from Riverside’s UCR.

The Rialto Museum displays 48 different citrus packinghouse labels from the city’s past. My favorite is the one titled “Rialto Beauties.” Those are oranges described, not pretty girls.

Geographically, Rialto is favored by an abundant water supply. It is directly south of Lytle Creek, and Rialto was first provided water by an open ditch from the creek. Later a huge pipeline carried water to thirsty citizens and to the town’s orange groves.

Leaving Riverside on Main Street and heading north, one notes that Main Street becomes Riverside Avenue at the San Bernardino County line. The motorist crosses a wide, new bridge across railway yards and the 10 Freeway into Rialto, which calls itself “The Bridge City.”

There are two theories as to the origin of the city’s name. One holds that Rialto is a contraction of Rio Alto (High river) in Spanish. The second theory, favored by Richard McInnis of the Rialto Museum, is that the daughter of a wealthy early landowner toured Europe and visited Venice where she was fascinated with the Rialto Bridge, a bridge so old that Shakespeare mentioned it in his “Merchant of Venice.” Today a likeness of the Venice Rialto bridge is featured on the city seal of Rialto.

Rialto had no more than 3,000 residents in 1920. Like Riverside, Rialto grew rapidly with subdivisions replacing orange groves in the years after World War II.

Today Rialto’s biggest employer is either the local school district or the Toys ‘R Us warehouse, according to Richard McInnis. It remains essentially a bedroom community with its main street directed toward Riverside and named for Riverside.

You may contact Hal Durian at durian@uia.net.

Hal Durian

Riverside Recollections

Rialto-PD

Wednesday, August 07, 2013