25 Nov 2012
by rialto-now
in Bad Commerce, Budget, Ca, City of Rialto, Crime, Currupt, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Ed Scott, Flores Park, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Mike Story, Nieghborhood Watch, Protest, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Police Department, SCAT, SWAT, Taxes, Twitter @IEBeatriz., Uncategorized, youth
This week I David Phillips learned another hard but valuable lesson.
I had a long conversation with Mrs. Deborah Robertson about her intentions with our police department. She did state that her only intention was pension reform but she never said at the cost of 22% of the cities budget. Yes she is holding her Vote on the Special Election Hostage over the Police officers paying their full 9% pension costs. Her statement to me was my goals while in office havent changed since my campaign.
She has this power for many reasons:
- The biggest reason she has this power is the council took the entire month of October off for the election. Knowing full well the decision on the special election must be made before December 1st to make the deadline for the special election in March (Utility Users Tax sunsets in June 2013). This gives Deborah the leverage necessary to squeeze the Police for what she wants now.
- The tax Measure “V” that just died over the cities inability to be straight and honest with the community.
- Talk of the PERS tax being re-instated.
- That the last 2 chiefs have rebuilt the police into something we can be proud of and staffed the department with people that will bend to a TYRANT forcing her will upon the electorate to see the awesome programs and resources not be lost at the cost of severe arm twisting. FYI the police have taken concessions for the last 4 years with no end in sight.
So whats the solution?
First its supporting the Utility Users Tax at 8%. All council members stated they dont support raising it beyond that point at the workshop last Tuesday.
Second email, call and text Deborah Robertson and tell her what you think of her hard line stance and what it does for her ability to show she wants to work with the council and the community rather than fight us and try to rule with an IRON FIST.
Deborah Robertson
Email: robertsonformayor2012@gmail.com, robertsond@rialtoca.gov,
Phone: Office- (909) 820-2525 Fax- (909) 873-2921 Cell- (909) 644-8520
Third be at the council meeting on Tuesday November 27th and voice your concerns over the possibility that she will vote no on allowing the community to vote on the future of our city and our police.
Fell free to jin us on the Rialto Now Facebook Page or the Rialto Residents for Rialto PD group at the following link:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/309058217201/
Below is a message put out last night
****Urgent Action Required***
Deborah Robertson is holding the communities ability to decide on the need of the Utility Users Tax hostage. She has made a strong ultimatum to the cities most important barging unit. Pay you full 9% pensions or I vote no one the Utility Users Tax Special Election. We must show our support for these men and women to have enough time to discuss this impact on their families. The vote on the Special Election must be unanimous one no vote and it doesn’t happen. Plus because council went dark in October this is it. If the vote doesn’t happen in November the special election wont happen prior to the tax unset in June.
We need a mass showing of resident support for these vital men and women. Make signs and show up.
20 Nov 2012
by rialto-now
in Budget, Ca, City of Rialto, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Ed Scott, Family, Grace Vargas, Joe Baca Jr, Poor, Public Safety, Rialto Fire, Rialto Police Department, SCAT, SWAT, Water, wwwstoprialtowaterratehikes.com
Wow this issue has brought the normal people out of the wood work. Here is some of the statements being made in reference to the issue and our prior post:
*The city and council have been good stewards of your money and city.
Lets not forget the massive step they made to bring our water and waste water systems up to date. They made a massive sell off our our systems because of the years of neglect. Plus now they eant to borrow another $5 million dollars to make rates increase by 115% in 4 years.
*Without the UUT at the current rate the city looses $11 million in yearly revenues forcing the city into bankrupcy. With this we loose police and fire services to the county.
Yes loosing the UUT would be tragic and I don’t want to loose public safety to our mess of a county. I support the UUT at the current rate.
*We have been told that the UUT issue is highly polarized and that this blog should stick to the facts and hold our personal opinion.
Wow I thought Rialto was in America not communist China! We present the facts with commentary that isn’t soley mine but a loud collective set of voices saying the same thing.
People that take issue with what is said here can comment on the post, comment on the Facebook page, twitter page or call me on my cell. I have no problem diologing with the Community on issues effecting us all its the reason I write this blog.
The point is tomorrow night at council Chambers downtown @6pm and insert yourself into the discussion on this polarizing issue.
17 Nov 2012
by rialto-now
in Bad Commerce, Budget, Ca, City of Rialto, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Ed Scott, Family, Flores Park, Grace Vargas, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Layoffs, Mike Story, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Police Department, Uncategorized, youth
Tags: economy, government, politics
Hello Rialto Now readers there is a workshop we need to attend our very TAX DOLLARS depend on it.
merchantcircle.com
Five Years ago the city put a Utility Users Tax on the Ballot it was sold as a way to pay for Police and Fire supplies, services and Equipment we thought exclusively. Now looking back it was thrown into the general fund and used a revenue source to keep the city afloat. I am very proud of you Rialto residents for showing the city council that lies and using the fact that we like our fire and police services as tax hostages with measure “V”. Sadly though because we told them with our vote on measure “V” to be honest with us and stop lying they are floating the idea of raising the Utility Users Tax.
Now the Utility Users Tax expires in June 2013. City Council is holding this workshop to get your opinions as well as hopefully show what services will need to be cut and personnel we will lose if its not extended. Another reason to hold the workshop is to float increasing the rate to as much as 15% up from 8%. At 8% they bring in just over $11 million they were banking on measure “V” bringing in about $5 million the amount we are short year to year.
What happens from here:
- Workshop to get the cities temp on an increase or leaving it the same, showing the cuts that will be made if the tax isn’t extended and talk of impending bankruptcy if it fails.
- The results will be tabulated together and city staff will make a recommendation to the council on a direction to proceed at the November 27th council meeting. Be advised this council meeting is just as important as the workshop, why? Because the decision to reinstate the tax and put the issue on a special election ballot in March must be made in November. If the decision isn’t made in November and unanimous the tax will end and the city will be scrambling to find ways to pay its obligations.
I hate taxes more than life itself, we never seem to get real representation in our government and the unions have the elected officials ears so we are unheard. We also pay the highest taxes across the board here in California and these taxes crush the hard working middle class as well as chase away the wealthy job creators to other more business friendly states.
With that being said I will vote for the extension of the Utility Users Tax but only at 8% and only if the city doesn’t lie to get the tax passed just tell us what you need!!!!!!!!
Finally please contact Mr. Joe Baca Jr. and let him know it’s important that he does his job as a Rialto City Council Member and attend Tuesday’s workshop. He ran for this office now he must take time out of his schedule to work through this issue together.
Below is the information on the workshop:
Utility Users Tax Workshop
The City of Rialto is conducting a Public Workshop to receive updated information regarding the Utility Users Tax. The Workshop will take place at 6:00 pm on November 20th at the Civic Center 150 So. Palm Ave.
http://www.ci.rialto.ca.us/gov_5913.php
14 Nov 2012
by rialto-now
in Andy Carrizales, Bad Commerce, Budget, Burglury, Ca, City of Rialto, Crime, Currupt, Ed palmer, Ed Scott, Family, Grace Vargas, In & Out, Inland Empire, Mike Story, Rialto, Rialto Police Department, Small Business, Target, Twitter @IEBeatriz., Uncategorized, youth
Last night we covered the massive tax grab that is before Rialto voters this next year (2013).
Well let’s ease your fears not everything I saw last night before leaving at 8pm was bad. They are moving along with some great projects that will bring commerce to the city of Rialto.
We saw the intern class of 2012 and it looked like a good group of educated young men and women looking to make their mark on city government. The program’s goal is to increase young people desire to enter working for a city.
City Staff Introduced the Intern Class of 2012
First off they are helping Target move forward smoothly on the construction of its massive cold storage facility they are building on Alder and Easton up by the 210 freeway. This cold storage facility will handle all distribution of all cold storage items for the entire west coast. Target has a great grocery program and great deals and this facility will be busy and create tons of new jobs in the Rialto area.
Second is the best news of all In & Out project is underway.
It seems the city finally understands that we want this fast food restaurant like YESTERDAY. The cities contractors are working on providing the In & Out Contractors a working useable pad. This means that the parking and egress will be complete then In & Out says it can complete the building in 180 days (150 days of construction 30 day grace period). Below is a picture of the stats provided by Robb Steel.
Picture shows money and time frames
Finally the moratorium on Cash For Gold businesses was extended for a year to allow city staff and police personnel develop working guide lines for these types of businesses. At the last coffee with the chief we were informed by Chief Farrar that an investigation was done and found that the existing Cash For Gold businesses were buying Gold that was stolen and not asking for ID then just sending it off to be melted and sold. For this reason the Moratorium was originally put in place to keep thefts from rising even higher and more of these places pop up. Let me begin by saying our Chief of police and his officers don’t just accuse you of doing something they get proof and then catch you doing the crime or wrongful act. So while this TAB item was being discussed Ed Palmer and Ed Scott said they visited 2 of these businesses and saw them doing everything right and wanted to make sure they were brought in on the formulation of the new guide lines so to be given a fair shot at complying with these new rules. These two almost went as far to say that this seemed like a witch hunt on reputable businesses that have done nothing wrong. That’s funny Chief Farrar pointed out all three as the ones buying stolen gold without taking the proper ID techniques.
Then the most irritating portion of the two hours I saw (besides the massive tax grab) was when someone asked if these new rules would apply to door to door Gold Buyers? Then Mayor Vargas said yes I had someone come to my door and ask if I had gold I wanted to sell, after those two homes on my street were broken into. She wasn’t sure if the two incidents were connected but had concerns. Then one of the council members said oh Grace is referring to people passing out flyers for Gold buying businesses and that people didn’t buy gold as an independent buy without a shop. It showed the ignorance of the people leading our city. As a security guard for a shopping mall we were kicking independent gold buyers out of the mall all the time. They would both hover around the Cash for gold stores and kiosks and tell people that the price they were being offered was to low and try and steal the sale, or hit up people eating in the food court. People like these do exist; they are aggressive and can be very underhanded. They carry a small jeweler’s magnifying glass and sometimes a small chemical test kit. If someone like this approaches your home inform the police and then send them down to council chambers to educate the city council and staff.
14 Nov 2012
by rialto-now
in American Water, Budget, Ca, Chief Mat Fratus, City of Rialto, Currupt, Deborah Robertson, Ed palmer, Ed Scott, Flores Park, German owned company, Grace Vargas, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, June Hayes, Lazy, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Police Department, Water, wwwstoprialtowaterratehikes.com
Tags: business, joe baca jr, politics
Seems like we should have had those meetings in October after all.
Because no City Council Meetings were held in October due to the Election we had a stacked calendar tonight.
They had the Utility Users Tax on the end of the agenda and choose to address that TAB item first. What that TAB item was for was city staff laying out the ground work for the workshop that will be held November 20th. What seemed the hardest was getting the council on board to attend the workshop, the biggest problem maker was Joe Baca Jr. I’m not sure if he was still licking his wounds from November 6th or if he really only cares about parks and that’s it but he had a scheduling conflict with that day and refused to adjust his schedule.
What the UUT (Utility Users Tax) is the 8% tax on all the utilities you use in the city of Rialto and amounts to a little more than 11 million dollars for the general fund. The way it was sold 5 years ago was a tax to help pay for Police and Fire operations looking back it was probably sold the same way Measure “V” was if you don’t vote for this the police and fire will suffer. I was young and not living in the city back then so I was listening to what my parents, in laws & friends were telling me about the UUT.
What’s scary now is they began floating the idea of raising the percentage to as high as 12% as a way to punish voters for not falling for their lies with Measure “V”. I don’t like this tax but if they are straight with the community and don’t raise the percentage because it means such a big piece of the general fund.
What also was annoying was the fact that things are changing with the sale of Rialto’s water and waste water systems to Viola and West Valley Water. The deal was for 30 million dollars, tonight it was brought up that there is an additional 5 Million the city can borrow, that we have to pay back. There was talk of your 100 percent increase in rates over 4 years would be more if they borrowed that money.
City Staff brought up bringing back the Per’s Tax. I’m not familiar with this tax but Council was scared to death of another lawsuit from our friends the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Apparently Howard Jarvis stopped Rialto from doing this long ago. If they bring it back and Jon Coupal wants to sue on a residents behalf I will be first in line.
Everyone kept saying we don’t want to raise taxes then talked about a new way to tax the community. Also Transparency is the buzz word right now all of the Council People want to provide it even though they have been hiding things from us for years. Even June Hayes RUA Committee member was blown away by the new talk of 5 million in available borrowed money.
Ed Scott tried to equate the 5 million to a homeowner who buys a house then finds out they qualify for more money and takes it. A homeowner can only take more money if the value of the house meets the desired loan amount. Also its not free money it does raise the interest and principle monthly payment.
So 5 million is what percent of 130 million its 3.84 percent almost a filth of the entire loan and when your talking millions that’s not chump change.
So lets re-cap:
*Water and Waste Water rates will go up for the next four years.
*Rialto wants you to possibly pay 12% on your UUT (up from 8%).
*Rialto pays 8-10 cents more per gallon than cities like San Bernardino that have higher sales tax than Rialto.
*Late fees were increased largely in part to Mr. Everyone Else Is Doing It Why Not Us.
So what should we do?
First off plan on being at the UUT Workshop on 11-20-12 at 6pm.
Second call, email and ask him in person if given the opportunity. Him I mean Joe Baca Jr. who for some reason refuses to attend the UUT workshop on 11-20-12 he claims to have plans. So do I Mr. Baca my parents will be in that week from out of state yet I will be there and I am not a paid member of the city of Rialto just a concerned resident.
Joe Baca Jr.
Email: Bacaj@rialtoca.gov
Phone: 909-820-2525
Second attend the Council Meeting on 11-27-12 because there they will make the final vote to officially sell off the water and waste water, vote on whether to put the UUT on the ballot in March and at what percent and its the last day for Ed Scott, Mayor Grace Vargas and Deborah Robertson’s last day as a council member so there may be some interesting exchanges at this meeting.
Tomarrow I will Re-cap the rest of what I stayed for.
13 Nov 2012
by rialto-now
in Andy Carrizales, ARMC, Budget, Burglury, Ca, City of Rialto, Coffee Nutz, Crime, Deborah Robertson, Dr. Michael Neeki, Flores Park, In & Out, Inland Empire, Mike Story, Nieghborhood Watch, Public Safety, Redlands PD, Rialto, Rialto Police Department, rialto unified school district, RUSD, San Bernardino County’s regional dispatch center, SCAT, Street Crime Attack Team, SWAT, Taxes, Twitter @IEBeatriz., Uncategorized, youth
Coffee with the Chief was held at Coffee Nuttz at 8am.
Chief Farrar talking with the attedees
Rialto pd staff in attendace Chief Farrar, Captain DeAnda and Lt. Karol and Volenteer Cordinator Judy Roberts.
Captain DeAnda and Lt. Karol and Volenteer Cordinator Judy Roberts
Chief Farrar began with showing off the new Ford Taurus police units.
New Canine Car Ford Taurus Utility
Chief Farrar announced officer Nelson as the new Community officer. He will attend the outreach programs the Police Department puts out as well as schools and will be the begining of the eventual return of community policing to Rialto.
Dr. Michael Neeki, who regularly works in the trauma center at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Rialto, pulls double duty as a tactical medic for the Inland Valley SWAT team. Click this link for the full story on CBS 2 news http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/11/12/rialto-er-doctor-trades-in-scalpels-for-guns-as-swat-volunteer/
Newest reserve officer was sworn in. Chief Farrars goal is to beef up the reseve unit to give Rialto PD the ability to add officers to the street at a low cost.
Grants submited for police officer supplies like bullet proof vests. Also Lt. Karol also spoke about a grant to get a vehical to help deal with big rig traffic in the city.
Someone asked if people can help with grant writting and Chief Farrar said all help would be great and appreciated.
Air Support Unit last 2 months logged 200 hours of flight time. Also Redlands PD has decided to join this joint effort. With thier addition to our regional Air Team Rialto now has the availability of thier fixed wing Air Support Unit a great resource.
Javier palitto helped design the new badge which will be displayed at Council Meeting tonight. Badge will display Rialti PD’s commitment to the Community. Come on out and see the badge or watch on TV tonight. Also Chief Farrar will be introducing the first new Rialto Police Officer graduating Topof Class.
Resident gave the police big kudos for thier work with Community and the School District.
Question was raised about new Mayors ability to work with police? All three command officers said they have always worked well with all Mayors and council members and look forward to working with Mayor Robertson.
Plan is by next year to reintegrate the Narc program.
The Crowd about 20 in attendance
Also the Chief updated us on the canine unit and Cash for Gold businesses:
The Rialto Police Canine Team competed on November 2nd and 3rd in the Riverside County Sheriff’s 17th Annual Canine Trials. The canine team did excellent competing against 40 other canine teams, from all over California, Texas, and Baja Mexico.
Officer J. Maltese and K-9 Smoky – First Place in Building search (3 years in a row) and
Third Place in Area Search
Officer C. Compton and K-9 Jango – Second Place in Area search and Fifth Place in Area Search for Narcotics
Officer A. Anderson and K-9 Gilly – Second Place in Protection and Fifth Place in Parcels Narcotics
Officer J. Breen and K-9 Kimo – First Place in Protection
The moritorium on new Cash for Gold businesses has been lifted and in iys place are stiff restrictions these businesses must follow much like those for Pawn Shops in an effort to keep people from selling stolen items there.
rialtonow 