Rialto you once again have way to many people to choose from when it comes to electing new leaders. We have spent years in Rialto and we know a lion share of the people running for this years open seats. This guide is not a paid opportunity and isn’t tied to one party over the other. These seats are all ones where we need people wo don’t toe a party line but are willing to do whatever it takes to represent the people.
Some School Board Candidates were left off the image above and a couple faces got cut off this was not done on purpose we promise.
So without further to do here we go:
Rialto Mayor
For Rialto Mayor we were excited to see this race develop. You have Ed Palmer a strong former City Councilman and Small Business owner coming back to apply what he learned about this race 4 years ago. While you have Lupe Camacho looking to come in to steal the show. We feel that Ed Palmer will be the best choice for Rialto moving forward. If your worried about what will happen to Rialto’s development movement you can be rest assured that Ed Palmer did a lion share of this work already and can keep us moving forward.
For Mayor vote Ed Palmer
Rialto City Council
Nobody sitting on the council right now has my support. Councilman Trujillo made National news by trying to hold a secret meeting at City Hall about making Rialto a Sanctuary City. He has shown since that he has little to no voice and can’t stand up for Rialto when they need him. Councilman Carrizales is no better he is so tied to the Mayor that he couldn’t see or choose to not look as the Mayor gifted funds and city buildings to select people and non profits. At best he is a good looking face to stand in front of businesses he had no hand in attracting to Rialto. He also can’t vote on many business items in Rialto as he has to recuse himself time and time again.
Our picks to replace these two poor choices are Andrew Karol and Stacey Augustine.
Andrew Karol I know well and have had the pleasure of working with him for more than 10 years. My haters will be happy to know that Andy has not been shy to tell me when he thinks I am wrong or going to far. He always did it with care and tact. About 6 years ago when racial tensions were at a tipping point and a group of black lives activists were planning a demonstration in Rialto Andy led a group of officers to meet with the protestors and start conversations about how minorities and police interact with each other. Andrew Karol would make a fine Councilman that will represent everyone.
Stacey Augustine I have not known for long and there was a time I did not trust him. It wasn’t anything that Stacey did it was more about the people he surrounded himself with, I was unsure of his agenda. Stacey was the Chair of the Budget Advisory Committee that I also served on. Stacey was a fair Chair and we had a lot on meaningful conversations. As a corporate leader he also decided to bring something to Rialto that is needed and took a gamble brining it to the heart of the city. Stacey is bringing a restaurant/pool hall to downtown Rialto. Many downtown business owners have shared with me that they feel abandoned or forgotten in the Downtown Area so Stacey will bring someone with skin in the game that I believe cares.
Rialto Unified School Board
With Joe Ayala stepping away it clears space for at least one new face to sit on the school board and everyone has their candidate lined up to take a seat and do their bidding. Three seats are up this year With Nancy O’Kelly and Joseph Martinez are running for re election. I am only backing two candidates this go around and you don’t have to vote for three.
Joseph Martinez has always been kind, thoughtful and not hard to get a hold of. He has always taken my call or found time to talk about a problem even when he knew I wasn’t happy with anyone at the moment. He also knows when to stay out of the way and let staff handle things he isn’t the guy that needs to have the mic or be front and center for the photo. Martinez known for his love of STEM will be found in the background support students and staff at his favorite events. Joe is an all around good guy and the type of person you need leading your schools.
Mirna Ruiz is what every student needs on a school board. Mirna is a Special Ed Mom and a Special Ed Advocate. All to many times districts fail to do what is in the best interest of SPED students. Most of the time it is out of shear ignorance to how SPED programs work, the rest is willful defiance of a legal document. To put 2020 and this election into perspective over 400 SPED parents have sued school districts this year for lack of serivces provided. That is over 400 students that their IEP’s are so messed up that the parents had no other recourse then to sue the school. Don’t you think having someone on the board that knows a thing or two about SPED would be a good thing?
So all that you have left to do is vote, its easy this year you don’t even have to leave your house if you don’t want to. If you don’t vote you can’t complain!
About 20 trailers set up at Glen Helen Regional Park will play a key role in slowing the novel coronavirus spread among the local homeless population and community.
The trailers, purchased by the state, arrived Thursday, April 9, at the park near the Cajon Pass in San Bernardino County. They will house homeless individuals and families who have tested positive for COVID-19 or are suspected to have the illness.
“When our medical experts give us their very best educated medical advice, that advice applies to everyone equally,” Supervisor Josie Gonzales said referring to the guidance from public health. “We must not discriminate because the virus does not discriminate.”
The trailers are part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $150 million emergency funding package to shelter homeless people during the coronavirus pandemic. Fifteen trailers were set up this week at Riverside Municipal Airport for the same purpose.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s Homeless Outreach and Proactive Enforcement, or H.O.P.E. team, has placed 26 people — some with families — in a hotel on Hospitality Lane in San Bernardino, county spokesman David Wert said.
The move has drawn the ire of San Bernardino city officials who say they were not consulted during the planning process.
Councilman Henry Nickel called the relocation of out-of-town homeless people to a city already overburdened by the population “negligent” and “irresponsible.” Even before the coronavirus pandemic swept the region, San Bernardino was stretched thin on resources for the city’s most vulnerable, he said.
In a phone interview, Nickel said city leaders still are unclear how the county plans to transition the homeless individuals out of the hotels; provide security at the facility; ensure the population doesn’t “migrate into our community”; and what impact the temporary move will have on residents’ long-term health and safety.
“It’s unacceptable,” Nickel said. “What the county has done is just unconscionable. The fact they never notified the city before engaging in this decision, to me, shows bad faith.
“We cannot trust the county in terms of their homeless operations if this is the behavior they’re going to engage in.”
The Rialto City Council scheduled an emergency meeting to address the Corona Virus outbreak. The enacted an emergency declaration that gave the City Manager supreme powers over events, staffing and public safety. City Manager Rod Foster took this meeting to remind us that even though he works here he is not effected by the decisions made in the city of Rialto as he lives in a wealthy area of Orange County.
Some say that the action is premature given that the school district is on spring break and that there are no confirmed cases in Rialto or San Bernardino County. Others say that we must be early to keep the citizens safe. Councilman Ed Scott (who will comment some inappropriate comments on this post) spoke about being one of the people that is a high risk for having an extreme reaction to this virus given his advanced age and long list of medial conditions. Ed Scott spoke to racial profiling as his wife who is Asian decent were verbally attacked and berated at San Manuel Casino because this Corona Virus originated from China. It was sad to hear that still we are so ignorant because these type of things must stop.
Councilman Ed Scott and Councilman Joe Baca Jr. spoke about the threat to seniors and how we would handle our senior center operations. Councilman Joe Baca Jr. asked that city facilities be deep cleaned and that the senior center would take priority. Councilman Ed Scott said that the City of Fontana told him that they were restricting their senior center to only seniors. That is interesting because that building is a public building and is a community center as well. Many of the people who use that facility rely on the computers and other facilities to function in a tech world.
Clearly this outbreak has made us forget the poor and disadvantaged. Mayor Robertson also pointed out that 80% of the management staff are coming from a county that has had a large number of Corona Virus cases in Orange County. Maybe we should have thought about that when choosing people who live nowhere near Rialto. The reason this is an issue is when it comes to asking people to telecommute what happens if your Director of Emergency Services gets stuck over an hour an way?
The council called for Social Distancing in light of the virus outbreak and were unaware on how we could do this without hurting our new and “vibrant” economy. Rialto Flooring posted a video this morning the day after this meeting of a very empty downtown which they said was extremely rare. The mayor suggested that people utilize the delivery services or ordering out.
Many of your local, state and federal leaders are leading the charge to throw the Rialto region into the arms of socialist leaders. Leading the charge is 47th Assembly District Woman Eloise Reyes. Eloise and her team of mini socialists are flooding the district pleading with young people to push the socialism king Bernie Sanders into the presidential race. Bernie Sanders is trying to sell his dream of fairness and equality with Free Education and Medicare for all to the masses.
The Washington Examiner posted and article about the woes of Medicare for all in Canada. The Canadian system is what Bernie Sanders has in mind for the United States Medicare for all. In the Canadian system people can not pay to have private insurance that would provide them quicker access to specialists and procedures. This is what Bernie Sanders plan has in mind for Americans as well.
In the Washington Examiner article “as a result, everyone must wait their turn for care paid for by the public system. Last year, Canadians faced a median wait of nearly 21 weeks to receive specialist treatment after getting referred by a general practitioner. Certain procedures come with longer waits. End-to-end, patients waited a median of 39 weeks for orthopedic surgery in 2019.”
Everyone remembers the train wreck Obama Care created with overcrowded hospitals and waiting rooms, a California website that took years to get off the ground and a lie of if you like your doctor and your plan you can keep them. After watching that hot mess of a health care fiasco Millennials claim to be craving more inept government control led by our failing leaders.
Thursday September 9th 2019 a group of parents rights advocates the Alliance to Protect Children planned to remove their children from school today to protest the Latest Sexual Education Bill AB 329. The group Informed Parents of California take issue with the rights of parents being removed from this decision on what and how to teach their kids about sex, sexual orientation and how to deal with unplanned pregnancies. Sit outs are planned all over the state to send a clear message that parents are mad and not going away!
In the video below you will see what has been uncovered in the Riverside County Education System. This information was dug up by Don Dix and Tim Thompson. What they found was a disturbing sex ed curriculum that taught kids about anal sex, fisting, dental dams and homosexual role playing.
In today’s age of internet sexual perversion it seems odd that California Democrats would double down on such a divisive curriculum that taught some of the most outrageous forms of sexual perversion that some people in the video above had to look up some of the things that they were being taught in school. Rialto’s own Assembly Woman Eloise Reyes Gomez and Assembly Man James Ramos both voted for this bill and condone what is in it by virtue of their vote. We reached out for comment but their staff simply sent us to voicemail.
Probably the most disturbing part of the video above is the under cover video of Moreno Valley School District officials teaming up with the ACLU and Planned Parenthood to coach staff on how to remove more parental rights by hiding the fact that a student left school to have an abortion. During the Q&A portion of this meeting many staff seem to have questions about how the school will hide the fact that in this digital world the parents and see their child’s attendance. The ACLU staff go as far as to create a legal lie involving school administrative staff on how to “legally” keep parents in the dark about what is going on with their child.
So it looks like parents have to think before they vote for leaders in the state assembly, senate and governor, do you think:
It is the schools job to teach kindergarten school kids about sexual identity?
How far should the schools be allowed to go in teaching sexual education?
Do you think it is right for the schools to remove you as a parent from any choices concerning your kids?
Another concerning factor here is that lack of opposition to this bill and the standards set to be implemented in our local schools. In the video above you will see that Moreno Valley pretended to have no plan yet their consultants were hitting the ground running showing they had received support from the schools and were already holding implementation workshops. Not one single School Board member from any local school has gone on record against this bill or any plans to implement these into the education system. Some parents are saying that their silence means they are complicit and need to be removed.
On Friday April 12th Rialto had the honor and pleasure to host State Superintendent Tony Thurmond as he formally received and recognized the Green Ribbon School winners from Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County and San Bernardino County. The event took place at Morris Elementary School, with site visits to Milor High School, which showcase the amazing efforts taking place at both schools that promote environmental literacy: environmental impact, wellness, and sustainability.
Additionally, Rialto USD has also been nominated to compete in the U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS) recognition program, which honors schools and districts that conserve resources while promoting health and environmental literacy. State Superintendent Tony Thurmond came in and spent extra time before he sat down shaking hands and acknowledging the students in attendance at the event. Mr. Thurmond even asked his former colleague Eloise Reyes to join him at the podium for a moment as he thanked her for her dedication and service.
After the formal event that recognized Twenty-Four different schools and school districts Mr. Thurmond took a tour of Morris Elementary and Milor High Schools. At Morris Elementary he looked out at a butterfly garden and enjoyed the school’s outdoor classroom and garden area that he wanted to stop and enjoy a meal right then and there. Mr. Thurmond spoke to every child he came across and never took himself too seriously making jokes laughing and enjoying the schools garden.
At Milor High School Mr. Thurmond said he didn’t want to keep the students waiting with photos and walked right over to the students. Mr. Thurmond asked Desiree Ramos, George Falcon and Arianna Ordonez their names and what they wanted to do after high school. Then Mr. Thurmond asked something that threw the students at first “What can we do to support you?” He told them don’t answer now but think about it and handed them his card. Next the students showcased the serenity room a place where students can care for their mental needs. The room offered different areas for groups and individual counseling plus Thrive Thursdays where the students could do yoga. The room was so amazing that School Board President Edgar Montes asked if the School Board could use the room.
Because we are gluttons for punishment in California and especially in Rialto our fearless leaders are dropping yet another gas tax on people who buy gas in California. Rialto residents get additionally taxed because Rialto residents have to pay for damage that Burttec has caused to our streets.
California is poised to charge the highest taxes and fees on gas in the COUNTRY once the 5.6 cent tax increase goes into effect on July 1st. What is scary is that State leaders say they will still be BILLIONS of $$$$ short of what is needed to fix California roads. They are still trying to fix what is already there still they have no plans on how to increase lanes yet they keep increasing the population. These taxes are part of the SB1 bill that state Demoncrats approved in 2017 and California Voters failed to pass a proposition that would have killed SB1 and the pending tax increases.
Even with the increased taxes the state claims they will be $78 Billion short of what is needed to bring California Roads and Bridges into GOOD repair. Why are all these taxes not enough? Here are some glaring reasons:
More than 60% of the money from SB1 wont ever go to fund a single road repair project, this money is going to mass transit, failed high speed rail and bike lanes.
Caltrans is a drain on society, they work slow and have thousands of engineers that sit around. They agency is full of fraud, bribery, favoritism, bid rigging, and spending work time to derail a citizen proposition.
California leaders have been robbing the road fund for years only to now say we don’t have enough.
Funding health care, drivers licenses, food stamps, public education and so much more for illegal aliens.
They even go so far as to give themselves yet another raise!
Don’t forget the massive looming deficit coming for the State in the Retirement System PERS!
So it looks like California and Rialto are in for more and more increases in taxes until they start speaking louder from the ballot box!
On May 28th we learned something about our least favorite fee in the city that should have your blood boiling. For the last 4 to 5 year you have been paying and ever increasing tax on your monthly trash bill. This TAX was added to deal with Rialto’s streets that are deteriorating much faster than Rialto officials can keep up at least that is what we were told.
On May 28th we found out that streets that are in poor repair will not be fixed with the Trash Fund money, only newer streets will get any work done from the Trash Tax. There is a promise that they will seek out a way to do something for those residents but they say that as we head for Bankruptcy!
Activists told the city council and the residents that the city would find ways of putting this money back into their own pockets and moving street maintenance money around to other pet projects. The last honest Councilman caught his colleagues playing games with this money shortly after it was approved.
Councilman O’Connell was interviewed by Sun reporter Leslie Parrilla and said:
“We gave the impression that we were going to use that money to help improve the roads,” O’Connell said.
The increased rates for the city’s solid waste collection, recycling and disposal service rates were passed to help maintain Rialto’s deteriorating roads. But after the fees started being collected, the roughly $1.2 million normally budgeted annually for road improvements dropped to $600,000 this year, instead of increasing with money from the new fee.
“It seemed to me the citizens got it right when they said, ‘be careful, they’re going to take advantage of it,’ ” by moving money around, O’Connell said.
The plan was to decrease the Trash Tax and fix the roads with Measure U. Well a year later Councilman O’Connell passed away unexpectedly and since then here are all the things Measure U is targeted to cover:
Millions in behind street maintenance.
Reduce the now PERMANENT Utility Users Tax by 25%.
Cover our $150 Million Dollars of Unfunded Liabilities.
Provide for more cops.
Provide more money for Recreation Programs.
The only problem with these promises is that even with best case scenario is that the tax would bring in $15 Million a year. As of today there is less than $10 Million in an escrow account while the tank farms sue us. It looks so grim that the Mayor and Ed Scott are publicly talking about settling for way less than expected just to get something.
While that goes on Burrtec spends thousands of dollars on campaigns for elected officials that act as rubber stamps for their programs and agendas. While Burrtec is holding a fundraising party for the Mayor they got:
Rialto residents to pay for the damage thier trucks do to the road.
A 10 year contract that never expires because it renews for another 10 years each year and we have to give them 10 years notice if we want out of the contract.
They got $1.3 Million back in their pockets that was supposed to go to create a community garden for the North End of the city.
We now are forced to pay burrtec through our property tax bills so we can’t see the many times they raise our rates.
So the only question is, are you mad yet? Don’t forget gas goes up 5.6 cents a gallon on Monday July 1st for more on that story click here!
Something has not smelled right about this entire process of hiring the next city administrator replacing outgoing city administrator Mike Story. Not once did the city council even present a list of other people they were looking at and still refuse to produce the short list of candidates that were also in consideration. The main reason many say that is because nobody else wanted to even be considered for the job! Many highly qualified candidates spoke to us off the record saying they were offered a chance at consideration but turned it down over Rialto’s looming budget issues.
In comes Rod Foster a man that was whisked into Rialto without any word or discussion. The city council handed out a Quarter of a Million Dollar employment contract without any discussion, it was almost too easy like there was something to hide? Here is how Rod Fosters pay and benefits will break down:
A salary of $240,000 per year
$85,000 in benefits
120 hours of vacation leave up front + 10 hours per month
120 hours of sick leave up front + 10 hours per month
140 hours of administrative leave per year + 10 hours per month
Plus a 8,500 cash advance if he moves within 25 miles of Rialto
To make matters worse is if Rod Foster works for just 5 years he will be vested for life in the benefits program with his wife and any dependent children. All of this to some extent was in our 1st article, now onto the new stuff.
It all began on June 3rd when the Rialto Record wrote an article on the hiring of Rod Foster. The Rialto Record added 2 cities that Rod Foster had worked for that were not publicly known until that day. Part of Rod Foster’s experience was as an assistant manager to 2 totally broken cities in the Inland Empire Hesperia and Upland. Then came a message from the former Mayor of Laguna Niguel Jerry Slusiewicz who spelled out claims that Rod Foster is under investigation for mismanaging money in Laguna Niguel.
The past that haunts Rod Foster are claims of money mismanagement in Laguna Niguel by approving contract increases to the eventual tune of $4.1 million dollars. We reached out the Orange County DA and they wouldn’t elude into current open investigations. What is ironically scary is that when these questionable money matters were going on a flury of high end officals close to Rod Fosters office up and left without any notice.
Prior to that Rod Foster was around the city of Upland when City Manager Robb Quincey was involved in hiding facts and playing games with public money. Popular figures like Gary Grosich and Eileen Gomez want you to look past these times in Rod Fosters life and look to when he worked in Colton. Gary Grosich will bite your head off if you ask questions about Rod Fosters past and Eileen Gomez claims Rod Foster is a man of the people yet he refuses to talk to anyone outside of city hall.
Another fact is Rod isn’t the man he was in Colton. In Colton he worked 60 hours a week and did the job of 4 people. Many close to Rod have said he is just looking to max out his pension and carry a high salary job to pay for his sons college education. The San Bernardino Sentinel spells this out in their article on Rod Foster.
Under the control of Ed Scott it seems that he could care less if the people are informed and he will rule this city with an iron fist. Ed Scott moved this item along like it was a simple proceedure and not the highest ranking position in the city government. Ed Scott has asked for more clarification on details of parking lot construction when he feels slighted by the Mayor or a Developer but moved this along like it was nothing. After the cotract was approved he asked Rod Foster to protect him from the taxpayers!
Once a week as schools wind down yet another busy school year we look to honor those who take on the task of teaching the next generation. Well to celebrate anything you must include free food right?
Here are some local deals you can grab onto if you work at a school and some you can partake in just for knowing the right keyword!
Chick-fil-A
Each Chick-fil-A is different so the offerings differ from location to location. For example the Rancho Cucamonga Chick-fil-A has doing special things for local schools and staff that reach out to them. The newest location to hit the IE in Rialto has an offer on Friday May 10 anyone with a school ID will receive one (1) free Chicken Sandwich from 10:30 am to 8:00 pm that day. They will also have pictures with the Chick-fil-A cow.
Chipotle
The burrito purveyor is celebrating educators again this year with its annual Teacher Appreciation Day buy-one-get-one free deal. Teachers of all levels — from preschool to university — with a valid school ID who buy a burrito, burrito bowl, order of tacos, or salad will get another one for free once school’s out for the day. May 7th from 3pm to close
Cicis Pizza
Teachers with a valid ID and this coupon get a free adult buffet. Thanks for putting up with us when we were crappy kids. On May 7th
Sonic
The fast-food chain is giving teachers and “everyone who appreciates them” a free Route 44 Drink or Slush when you order ahead through the Sonic app with the code “TEACHERS”. May 7-31
Buffalo Wild Wings
All teachers, faculty, and staff will get 20% off when they dine-in during Teacher Appreciation Week. May 6-10
Applebee’s
Every day in May, Applebee’s is offering $1 margaritas. Through May 31
Jersey Mike’s
Get free chips and a drink with any order. May 9-12
MOD Pizza
Show your teacher ID at MOD Pizza on Tuesday, and you’ll get a free pizza or salad with the purchase of a pizza or salad for Teacher Appreciation Day 2019.
Raising Canes Chicken Fingers
From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Teacher Appreciation Day, teachers and faculty with ID can get a free Raising Canes box combo. Only on Tuesday, May 7.
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