So where should we shop? Back in the day we used to shop in our own city. My mom would only go out-of-town to get something she couldn’t find in Rialto. Everyone at the Staters on Basline knew my mom on a first name basis and they talked quite a bit. Our eye doctor, dentist even eating out was mostly done here.
I’m sorry to say most people I know do very little shopping here in Rialto. Why is that? Because there isn’t anywhere to shop! You can’t go to our local fast food restaurants without the fear of being assaulted. The grocery stores either cater to one ethnicity or have so many bums, druggies and gang bangers hanging out in front of them the risk isn’t worth it. It wasnt until the Fresh and Easy came to Rialto that we actually shopped in Rialto for our food, we don’t buy everything here but at least $50 a month goes back into our local community.
So where do the development dollars go in this city? We have 3 indoor swapmeets, tons of smoke shops, liquor stores & discount grocery stores. We have a walmart and 2 Starbucks (used to be 4). We lost a second Fresh and Easy a Target and who knows what else, on top of the continuing promise of an In & Out in Rialto finally.
The main culprits are easy to point out first of all is crime and blight. Residents of Rialto constantly have to push their elected officials to make keeping Rialto outward apprence a top priority then the bright idea to put a building moratorium along the 210 freeway help us not secure a lot of retail the would have help Rialto tax base.
If it’s not endangered fly or local elected leaders running with their own agenda in mind, Rialto will remain behind the rest of those in the Inland Empire. You can’t create work for your community until you show them that Rialto wants quality business here in our city.
Where is the Rialto we grew up in? Why must we leave our children to suffer in this mess? Why can’t we have a Bakers that’s not in a high crime area? Our movie theatre is a mess? Foothill our section of route 66 has store fronts that not only have graffiti on the but it seems to just stay up forever. Where is the code officer telling them to cover it or have our contractor go out and clean it to keep our cities face looking as good as possible?
Can we ever get back to this Rialto (pictured above) where our car show was something to be seen, where our downtown was worth visiting and where our city was a safe place to raise a family?
If not I’m afraid Jackson Street will be the economic leader for Rialto because the fight is long and the warriors are weary.
rialtonow 