October | 2016 | rialtonow

10 Freeway Comes to a Standstill

26 Oct 2016 Leave a comment

KFI Traffic first reported a accident on the 10 westbound at Rancho Ave where wood was dropped on the 10 freeway causing a backup that streached to the 215 freeway.

Now the San Bernardino Sun is reporting more details below:

A big-rig carrying a forklift struck a bridge under construction on the westbound 10 Freeway, forcing officials to initiate a SigAlert Wednesday morning.

“At approximately 9 a.m., a tractor-trailer carrying a forklift struck a beam of the Pepper Avenue overpass above the 10 Freeway,” California Highway Patrol Officer Brian Alvarez said. “No injuries were reported, and crews estimate a reopening of the freeway to be around 1 p.m.”

All westbound lanes are closed. Traffic is being diverted off the freeway and back on again.

Alvarez said a few cars were damaged from the falling debris but didn’t go into detail.

Investigators are on scene trying to determine if the load height was over the limit.

As SANBAG looks to add toll lanes to the 10 freeway more accidents like these are coming due to the fact that lanes will be shrunk to fit in the toll lanes on a already tight freeway.

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Rialto Council Member takes a page out of the Hilary Clinton playbook

20 Oct 2016 1 Comment

As has been very well covered is Presidential Candidate Hilary Clinton calling her opponents supporters deplorable. Well in a recent interview Councilman Ed Scott was quoted in the San Bernardino Sun article calling the people who run to seek political office Crazy.

“Generally, during an election year, when we have council races, we go dark in October,” Councilman Ed Scott said. “So that we don’t have all the crazy election antics at city council meetings.” – Rialto Councilman Ed Scott

This is a failed statement because we have been told that the council goes dark to allow incumbents the ability to equally campaign just as their challengers. We can tell you that the crazy antics (public holding our leaders feet to the fire) go on year round and this is one of the few opportunities that Mr. Scott can shut down the community.

Ed Scott is no stranger to yelling at the community and city staff behind closed doors and in the public. Ed Scott used to accuse the press of misquoting him but once we began covering this city we found that Mr. Scott opens himself up to being quoted for the words that pour over his lips. Once we began making public the videos of City Council leaders acting in ways that are not appropriate the leaders who were in the wrong have grown concerned.

Below is a recent video of Ed Scott blindly threatening the community at large that he is coming after someone. This is a concern because he has used actual litigation against citizens who worked to oppose his past attempts to outsource Rialto’s Police Department.

What all this proves is that as we are voting that we vote for leaders who will lead the people not threaten and shut them down.

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Movement is made on Werner Elementary safety issues.

10 Oct 2016 Leave a comment

On Wednesday October 5th we brought you the story of the Werner Elementary safety issues.
That same evening the parents and community came out to speak to the Rialto Traffic Commission on the issues with speeding & safety in front of their school. Listed on the Commission agenda was the anticipated attendance of current Rialto Mayor Deborah Robertson the parents and community were hoping to get to speak to her publicly. Well once again the Mayor was a No Show and only represented an empty seat.

Jasmine Avila carried the group with a prepared statement that pointed out the mayors history with transportation and her campaign promise to make Rialto a safe place to live work and play. The group now calls on Mayor Robertson to turn words into actions and help make the front of their school a safe place for our kids.

The group has heard from the mayor already stating that any solution would not work because of where Rialto Unified School District decided to place this school even though the city was not in favor of the location. Two parents from the group also addressed the Commissioners one explaining how the parents are choosing to solve the problem of traffic.

The parents and the community they have rallied to their side are sticking to the issue that something needs to be done. After the meeting Mr. David Phillips a community member and local advocate running for city council was able to introduce the group to City Administrator Mike Story who told the group that they are going to meet down at the school in the coming week with all parties to see what can be done to make the street safer for students. Mike Story said that the meeting will consist of Public Works Director Robert Eiezenbiez, Rialto Police Sgt, RUSD top leadership and others to see first hand what is going on and how they can come to a solution.

During the Commission meeting the Chair Dennis Barton told the group that traffic signals must be warranted via rules that the city and state are bound to. We didn’t get to ask Mr. Barton if the short traffic signals on foothill and Baseline were held against those same standards?

In the midst of an election year the amount of ducking and hiding that is going on is way out of character leaving one to believe if the Mayor still wants to be Rialto’s Mayor? Then enters Councilman Ed Scott who wants you to forget that the area the schools are in were once zoned for commercial purposes would need to be re-zoned before RUSD could build a school there.

“I was extremely concerned when the school district decided to build schools there, because it’s on a major industrial-type street. I think the school district should have done some better planning than put a school there,” he said. “I agree, it’s something that needs to be looked at, and the school district needs to participate in it, since it’s something they decided to do. … Whenever you build a school, you have to think about the children that you’re educating and make sure they’re in a safe situation.” Councilman Ed Scott

The problem is IF the mayor and councilman Ed Scott were so against this school being built why did they approve the land re-zoning? Well it is because our leaders refuse to make the hard decisions that may not be popular but necessary. Because not allowing the school to be built would not have been popular and the Mayor and Ed Scott are only interested in the popular vote.

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Rialto Police Union Endorses 2016 Election Candidates

07 Oct 2016 1 Comment

The Rialto Police Benefit Association has recently released endorsements for the 2016 Presidential Election year.

From what we have heard is Rialto Police Benefit Association has endorsed Ed Palmer for the office of Rialto Mayor over current Mayor Deborah Robertson. Also in the race for City Council the Rialto Police Benefit Association has chosen to only endorse one candidate for the two open City Council seats. The winner of the sole endorsement is candidate Lynn Hirtz a two time councilwoman looking to once again win a seat on Rialto’s City Council along with eight other Rialto Residents.

The Resident to challenge long time City Clerk Barbara McGee also secured an endorsement for her run for City Clerk. Ana Gonzales released a statement on her facebook page today hailing the endorsement of this public safety agency:

“Great news everyone! We have more endorsements! First of all I want to thank our Rialto Police Benefit Association and our awesome RialtoProfessional Firefighters Local 3688 for endorsing our campaign! I am so honored and thankful to all of you! I am determined to bring our community residents, law enforcement, and firefighters together, to support each other and work in unity to create a safe Rialto for everyone. Thank you Police and Fire!!!”

Another candidate to secure the endorsement of the Rialto Police Benefit Association is Paul Chabot who is looking for a rematch of two years ago when he lost a very close race to the current Congressman Pete Aguilar representing the 31st Congressional District. Pete Aguilar has had a ruff time selling himself to voters who are looking for safety after he called for tougher gun control in an interview on Waterman Ave just hours after Inland Valley SWAT officers killed the San Bernardino Terrorists. In a state with the toughest gun control laws people were looking for something that Congressman Aguilar just couldn’t give his constituents. In a statement from the Chabot campaign the following was released:

“Today, Paul Chabot announced the endorsement of the Rialto Police Benefit Association. which represents 137 sworn and non sworn members.

President of the Rialto Police Officers Association, Richard Royce, released the following statement, ” Our membership recognizes your leadership and voted to support your campaign. The RPBA offers this endorsement with respect and appreciation for your continued support for the Rialto Police Benefit Association and its members.”

Chabot stated, “I am thankful to the men and women of the Rialto Police Department for their support of my candidacy. We need more cops in Congress who can speak to the challenges and dangers of the job. Violent crime is rampant throughout the Congressional 31st district and I pledge to make public safety a top priority of our Nation.”

Chabot is endorsed by numerous police organizations and leaders from around the region, state and country.”

Former Councilman Shawn O’Connell would be proud of these endorsements. He was a great fan of Paul Chabot and worked hard with all three candidates to make Rialto a better place to live.

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Parents Concerned Over Traffic at Werner Elementary

05 Oct 2016 Leave a comment

One of the most difficult issues to tackle in Rialto is traffic. Our schools fall victim to traffic issues more than other areas because of the flood of pedestrian traffic mixed with vehicle traffic. Community Advocates constantly harp on leaders slow response to community issues. Normally it takes tragedy to move leaders into action. Community leaders like David Phillips who is also running for city council have worked to move change before we suffer any tragedy. Below is a video of Rialto Unified School District Safety Chief praising Mr. Phillips for his work in regards to safety.

Werner Elementary has not been so lucky in the area of skirting tragedy in regards to traffic safety. Even though parents have been advocating for more safety measures the best that could be done was a public safety officer twice a week. Well that clearly wasn’t enough because on September 13th a parent was involved in a major traffic collision that totaled out her car. The accident was so severe that her vehicle was pushed into oncoming traffic nearly colliding with a big rig truck. The parents vehicle was a total loss and there were children inside the vehicle.

Werner Elementary has been impacted because they are located on a very busy street that has the following issues:

People use Rialto Ave as an alternative to Foothill.
The area is mainly used for industrial uses.
Heavy traffic from large amount of big rig truck traffic.

Reports are that the parents have been requesting a stoplight in front of their school but have been net with opposition. The claims are that the another stoplight would be too close to the stoplight at Larch and Rialto Ave. This made us think of last year when the Flores Park Community Group worked to reverse a decision to put in a stoplight between Linden and Cedar on Foothill Blvd. The community thought that the lights would be too close and create a traffic nightmare. The city moved forward anyway under the guise of SAFETY.

Now we have a safety issue and the city is saying that the situation can’t be helped. Parents have told us that Mayor Robertson have told them that the city didn’t want a school there but the school didn’t listen. The Mayor also said that there are already lights at Cedar and Larch and any other lights would be too close. We walked the distance between the light at Cedar to the middle light and the distance was 316 paces. What is ironic is that this is the same distance from Larch to the middle of the school 316 paces. What is ironic is that the Mayor would make such statements especially in an election year.

The parents have collected 540 signatures to show city hall that the community is serious about wanting a stoplight in front of the school. The parents were disappointed to find out that the city council meetings have been canceled for the month of October leaving them with no opportunity to reach out to there city leaders. They were happy to know that our commissioners are still working and plan to attend tonights Transportation meeting tonight along with Werner Principal Mrs. Roman. The meeting tonight is at 6pm at city hall 150 S Palm.

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Dollahan Elementary Creates School Wide Cardboard Arcade

04 Oct 2016 Leave a comment

by rialto-now in City of Rialto, david phillips, davidsMarketing, Inland Empire, Rialto, Rialto, RUSD, youth

Written by: David Phillips

The idea began with a young boy out in Los Angeles who created a Cardboard Arcade at his fathers Auto Part business. After watching the story Dollahan Elementary Principal Dan Husbands brought this idea to his staff. “At the first staff meeting this year before school started Mr. Husbands showed us the video on Caine’ Arcade. After we watched it we created our own Cardboard games which led to the whole school planning what you see before you today”.

One of the most interesting games of the day came from a 2nd grade student Xavier. With the help of his father they created a Skeeball game that used alot of recycled parts and had some very creative engineering on how to make the game work.

We got a chance to talk to the young mans father Brian who told us a little about who they came up with the idea and how they executed the final design. Xavier’s father is a College Professor and Basketball Coach it was great seeing a father being there to support his son.

The kids had a great time playing each others games and were truly inspired by the original Card Board Arcade constructed by Caine in Los Angeles. This event really showed how kids can learn through play even if they were not aware they were learning. This event also brought the community into the school to see first hand how intelligent these young arcade game creators were. What was missing were any district staff to see what the kids and school had put together.

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Local Candidates Hold Park Events

01 Oct 2016 Leave a comment

Lynn Hirtz has invited other local candidates looking for Rialto voters vote on November 8th to join her at parks all over the city of Rialto. By getting out and talking to the people the voters will get the best chance to see who is the right choice for Rialto. Below are a list of the events each even will go from 5 to 6:30 pm: