Below is a list of events and some of the awesome things in store for tomorrow. The local celebrity that can be seen in Rialto regularly showing off what is cool to do and see right here in our little town is pretty popular. The exact time for the local celebrity arrival with his ever so popular live video stream that is seen by hundreds of thousands of Facebook users hasn’t been announced but as soon as we find out you will know so stay tuned/
Join Joel Greene as he helps to kick off the Rialto Relay for Life event. This year the Rialto event is looking to raise $30 Thousand to combat cancer. If you would like to help them hit that mark you can donate any amount by clicking here.
Relay For Life is the signature fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Relay is staffed and coordinated by volunteers in more than 5,200 communities and 27 countries. Volunteers give of their time and effort because they believe it’s time to take action against cancer.
Join us at these events to bring communities together to remember loved ones lost, honor survivors of all cancers, and raise money to help the American Cancer Society make a global impact on cancer.
Time: 9:00am
We’ll kick off the event by celebrating everyone who’s been affected by cancer. Whether someone’s been diagnosed for 10 days or been cancer-free for 10 years, they gather together for the crowd to cheer them on.
Survivors & Caregiver Lap
Time: 9:30am
Survivors define courage and inspire those facing a cancer diagnosis. Their strength is honored with each step they take around the first lap. If you know anyone who’s overcome cancer, invite them to join.
Caring for others is such a selfless act, which is why we honor caregivers with a lap. They often walk with the person they’ve supported.
Fight Back Ceremony
Time: 10:00am
Have you ever wanted to see a cement truck up close? Climb inside a cherry picker? Explorer a firetruck? Join us for a second annual Touch-A-Truck event.
Kids Corner sponsored by Target with games, crafts and activities for kids of all ages.
Be your own builder. Join us for a kids workshop sponsored by the Home Depot where kids can use tools to build their own creations.
Time: 4:00 pm
We will talk about what we can do beyond the event to fight back against this horrible disease.
Time: 9:00 pm
Each Luminaria bag represents a loved one lost to cancer, brings support to those affected by it, and honors survivors. This powerful moment gives people the opportunity to grieve but also offers hope and comfort.
Closing Ceremony
Time: 10:30 pm
We celebrate all that we’ve accomplished together and remember those we’ve lost. Together, we commit to take action and help end the pain and suffering of cancer.
Around noon today Rialto fire department responded to a brush fire in the North west corner of a Ayala and the 210 Freeway. A small brushfire had begun in the empty lot next to the Housing Development. In the video above you can see a Rialto fire ladder truck entering into the Gated field as well as a battalion truck.
Please welcome Rialto’s newest addition to our fleet, Medic Engine 205 (ME205)!! This has been decades in the making and she’s finally in service at Fire Station 201 until a temporary station is built in mid 2017. It will be staffed with a Captain, Engineer and Firefighter/Medic. This new engine will provide an enhanced service to the south end of Rialto. #rialto #rialtofd #rialtofire #engine205 #local3688 #rialtofirefighters #rialtofirefighters3688 #station205
Tyler Nguyen is keeping the true spirit of Christmas and his annual toy drive alive and well again this year as this awesome young Simpson Elementary student looks to help those in need this year with his own toy drive. With the assistance of his family and the Rialto Fire Department this young man is reaching out to those kids that may not receive anything this holiday season. It’s not only the kids he is helping but those parents that would love to buy toys for their kids but must choose food and bills as money is tight.
You can read the story we did on Tyler last year to learn how this all began for this awesome young man.
Here is what Rialto Fire had to say about Tyler on their Facebook Page:
“Meet Tyler. Tyler is a 5th grade student at Simpson Elementary in Rialto. After a successful toy drive of his own last year, Tyler and his family once again showed their generosity and spirit of giving. They hosted a Christmas Party/Toy Drive for Spark of Love. They have already filled two boxes and plan on collecting more before Christmas! They also treated Rialto Firefighters, family and friends to a wonderful homemade Christmas dinner. Thank you Tyler and family for your humble spirit and community service!”
If you’re thinking of deep-frying a turkey this year, the Rialto Fire Department wants to remind everyone to BE SAFE and follow these tips:
1. Stay Away from The House – Set up the turkey fryer more than 10 feet away from your home and keep children and pets away. Never leave it unattended.
2. Find Flat Ground – The oil must be even and steady at all times to ensure safety. Place the fryer on a flat, level surface and carefully gauge the amount of oil needed.
3. Use a Thawed and Dry Turkey – Make sure your Thanksgiving turkey is completely thawed and dry. Extra water will cause the oil to bubble furiously and spill over. If oil spills from the fryer onto the burner, it can cause a fire.
4. Monitor the Temp – Use caution when touching the turkey fryer. The lid and handle can become very hot and could cause burns. Also be sure to keep track of the oil’s temperature as many fryers do not have their own thermostats.
5. Be Prepared – Have a fire extinguisher (multipurpose, dry-powder) ready at all times in the event that the oil ignites. http://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/thanksgiving-cooking-safety-cpsc-demonstrates-dramatic-cooking-fires
The Battle of the Badges Chili Cook Off is an event that brings out our local public safety officers to show off their best cooking skills and compete for the title of best in Chili.
Well over the last few years Rialto Police have taken top honors at the yearly cook off held at National Night Out each year. Well this year the tables began to turn as there was a three way tie for 1st place one from the Rialto Police Department and two from Rialto Fire Department. Then Rialto Police took the second and third place spots.
The Battle of the Badges benefits the American Cancer Society with votes costing $3 each. This is one of the biggest parts of National Night Out which is the event that the Chili Cook Off has been a part of for the last five years. The chili is hot but the competition is hotter with both public safety agencies bringing their “A” game to represent for their agency.
When Mayor Robertson announced the first place trophy to the winners talk of where the trophy would reside showed the serious humor and competition that remains within this event. Councilman Palmer said “I voted for a number and so did City Treasurer Ed Carrillo makes sense that chili was made by a fellow Marine”
1st place winners were Cory Jung (fire) David Toupel (fire) and Andy Karol (police)
A large group of city officials, elected officials, community members and family gathered at the Johnson center meeting room to honor Mike Story city of Rialto City Administrator for his recognition of Mr. Story’s dedication to the community of Rialto.
Story after story was told about the Rialto Man of Distinction award recipient and they all spoke to a man of high moral character and a work ethic that never made Mr. Story feel like he was too good to help out his fellow city employee. Mayor Deborah Robertson spoke about Mr. Story and his dedication to making sure that Frisbee Park host site for the Rialto Jazz Fest be kept looking nice. Something very odd happened at this event that you would not normally see. Elected official after elected official gave Mr. Story the credit for bringing Rialto into a functional balanced budget something not all cities can say in todays climate.
As each speaker came to the podium a slide show played in the background showing Mr. Story in his various roles around Rialto. Many of the speakers spoke of Mr. Story wearing many different hats in his employment with Rialto and looking at the pictures he has worn a lot of aprons too!!!!
Mike story speaking to Greta Hodges long time Rialto resident and chair of the Friends of Rialto K9 Association.
Mike Story speaking with City Councilman Shawn O’Connell both men were smiling and having a good conversation. Councilman Shawn O’Connell spoke about Mr. Story’s character and dedication to being ethically balanced. Councilman Shawn O’Connell also spoke to Mr. Story being a person that works to make sure that city government is transparent and fair.
Mr. Story with Councilman Shawn O’Connell and Fire Chief Matt Fratus prior to the event beginning. Rialto Fire Chief Matt Fratus said he is newer to rialto but having worked in other cities under a lot of other city administrators that Mr. Story’s character makes working for the community a lot easier.
So next time your out and about say hello to Mr. Story and tell him how thankful you are that he is working so hard to make Rialto a better place to be.
On January 29th the city held a community forum on a wide range of topics that matter to Rialto. The layout was different from other forums being people were given an opportunity to vote and speak on each topic. The evening wrapped up with Mayor Robertson asking if anyone from the crowd had any additional questions. The event was simple each person was given a clicker and was able to vote with multiple choice selections then make comments afterwards.
Looking back there were no questions on the failed water deal, on the distribution of Community Development Block Grants, on City Councils performance or on how the Measure “U” money will be spent. Why? Because the Mayor and her cohorts don’t want to hear what you feel on those issues. Well we want to know how you feel on one of those questions:
I was not able to attend due to my commitment to the Communities United Meeting that was the same night in Redlands but thanks to You Tube and Mr. Felton at Rialto Network we were able to see the results here:
Thanks to Mike Story you too can make your voice be heard in this online survey and answer the same questions that the people who attended to meeting did her:
Notice how none of the regular city people even gave them all excellant. Ask people this same question now that they see travel spending out of control, taxes being wasted and corruption poking its ugly head once again.
Here nobody gave the quality of life here in Rialto an excellent this is beyond sad because when I was a kid Rialto was a great place to be and live.
Yes shopping and eating are the greatest priorities to Quality of Life here in Rialto. So what does Rialto do they shove all the eateries into one small spot creating a traffic nightmare and further frustrate Rialto residents you see our City Council isn’t happy if you’re not upset.
This result worries me because with more warehouses comes more truck traffic and trucks don’t follow the rules of the road and they do major damage to our streets that will create another fee (TAX) and punish us because they refuse to allocate the proper funds to fix our roads.
You can’t read it but sit down restaurants once again led in the voting and I guess that is fine. You can only have so many restaurants before you need other business options to feed those businesses. I don’t know about you but I will shop at Target before I ever step foot in a Walmart or even a Super Walmart. With rude shaggy staff, dirty shelves and story after story of the crime a walmart brings due to their lazy policies on Loss Prevention. Oh and don’t forget even though San Bernardino leads the IE in deadly crime and gang activity they are getting a Golden Coral Restaurant later this year. Yes a restaurant that would do well in Rialto goes to San Bernardino.
Until the city figures out how to create a sales tax base for warehouses in Rialto I agree with None of The Above. The city wants to tax the residents to death because they see us as easy marks.
Rialto is easier to work with than most other cities and recent business owners to open up shop in Rialto attest to this fact. I’m sure after the recent elected officials settle in they will change that overnight.
Yes we think you should enforce property maintenance this is a silly questions. I love how someone doesn’t want to do their job they pass it off on the community to see if they need to enforce the rules or laws.
I would like to know what the city thinks Active Adult Community Housing is? Here is what google says it is:
Active adult communities are real estate developments that offer independent, relatively maintenance-free living to residents aged 55 and over. In “age restricted” active adult communities, 80% of homeowners must be 55 and over, while “age-targeted” communities simply market to the 55+ crowd. Many of the residents continue to work part or full time, which is why the term “active adult retirement communities” is less accurate. The residents are not opposed to children (or grandchildren!) either. Rather, the 55+ component simply assumes that people at the same stage of life probably share a few leisure-time interests and pursuits.
Not surprising that the largely elderly group voting would vote this way.
Wow you mean Rialto streets need to be worked on? Well of course they do but it seems like with the balance of power shifting to the side of corruption, money shifting and lavish traveling at the cities expense. Its so bad Councilman O’Connell had to eat his words when citizens told the council that the Trash Tax would not be an addition to current money spent on roads but a way to shift road money into pet projects to pay off favors to special interests.
Once again Street Maintenance wins out but good luck getting this council to do good things that will improve our lives here in Rialto.
If the 22 people want more free community events they need to bring their friends with with them our market nights had very low turnout numbers and our city refuses to work with anyone else to help make the Market Nights more appealing. Some of the community events are awesome and some are lame the lame ones tend to be the ones where outside help is not excepted at all.
Here is Joe Baca Jr. go to place he is Mr. Parks and he was MIA. The rails to trails is underway and costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars more than originally planned.
I would agree ask me about dispatch and thats a whole different story.
NO I don’t feel safe in Rialto. We are holding onto a low crime rate by holding back a flood with a bed sheet. We need to bolster our staffing within the police department, get our bars under control and finally get serious about the issues of San Bernardino crime rolling into our city.
Yes our police department is in a much better place with Chief Tony Farrar at the helm. He is an approachable person, a good leader and a great cop. One of the things I like most about Chief Farrar is that he doesn’t seem like he is on a fast track to a cushy political career like others that have recently left Rialto Police Department he is busy making our police department the best it can be with the resources he is given. Even as a big PD Supporter there are times I don’t see eye to eye with the police but the command staff isn’t against sitting down and hashing it out and talking about issues. In the end sometimes we have to agree to disagree but the respect remains because they took the time to hear you out.
I would agree with the 22 people that voted on this question. My question is why do we compare ourselves to other cities when it comes to safety or a justification to raise illegal taxes on the people of Rialto? Yet when you ask them to do a simple thing like figure out how to create a sales tax base opportunity from the numerous warehouses that are being forced on the community they throw thier hands up and claim they are trying their best? Well I’m sorry your best isn’t good enough anymore. If San Bernardino can get their warehouses to pay a separate tax to the city why can’t Rialto?
I believe our fire services are great. We use our own ambulances in most cases, fire fighters are kind men and women and Chief Mat Fratus is constantly working to make Rialto Fire an innovative part of Rialto.
I do believe one thing we need is a FREE class that teaches Basic CPR & First Aide because many people have no idea what to do when a friend or family member falls ill or is the victim of an emergency.
The Fireworks Enforcement in Rialto is horrible. The people we have working the Fireworks hotline could not hear or understand the callers, hung up on the callers and did not give the community confidence that our concerns were getting through. Then you have Rialto PD Dispatchers that kept pushing you off onto the deaf fireworks hotline operators it was a major fail. We owe it to our community and veterans to work much harder to:
Eliminate the use of illegal fireworks in the city by hitting our gang areas early and then looking at places where over the years there has been a constant flow of calls for service on a house or specific street. My street is a WAR ZONE every year with illegal fires, illegal fireworks and excessive drinking and drug use. Needless to say its not a family environment on my street the first week in July.
Create a major community event like Redlands does where the entire day is dedicated to family and community with a parade and fun zone ending with a massive fireworks show. We have massive stadiums at our High Schools and we can put together a quality event that people want to attend.
The Mayor made a statement that she is fine with taking the input of 22 people most of them city employees over looking for ways to get more input from more people. I can tell you why the numbers were so low:
No sense of urgency among the elected officials to get their camps excited about spreading the word about this forum. When the council wants something from you like funds for their campaign or your vote you can’t get them out of your face.
The Mayor and her council members don’t want to hear what you have to say unless its agreeing with them. If you disagree with them in any fashion they bark at you, make fun of you or try and shut you up.
It sucks but if you want people to show up you need to entice them with food and have their children involved in the event. They could have the recreation staff have a series of group activities for kids so parents could go and if we have some of our awesome young leaders involved in the process we could begin to expose them to the process and hear what they think Rialto needs.
To end it all you have Mr. Scott slamming Fontana saying that “they (Fontana) doesn’t care” he says this at 2:02 towards the end of the meeting well maybe they are not working with us because of comments like that Mr. Scott.
We need to get involved and show the Council that Rialto cares because if we don’t we will be on the fast track to being just like San Bernardino.
In an effort to help promote healthy lifestyles in Rialto for area teens, the Rialto Community Coalition will be holding a Substance Abuse Prevention Event at the Skate Park on Willow Avenue next to the Johnson Center on November 24, 2014 from 1PM – 4PM.
“Meeting teens where they are is vital to successful prevention methods,” said David Phillips a Rialto Community Coalition member. Many times we see Skateboarders as bad kids or trouble makers but once you get to know them and learn more about skateboarding you can see all the talent and potential that lies within”. As the Neighborhood Watch Captain of the Flores Park Group and being involved in many different other community groups, I understand that it is vital to reach out to our youth, especially starting with the skateboarders. There was a stretch where the skate parks were having issues with drugs and gangs. The key to safety was getting adults in the community to invest in a safe atmosphere for teens to skateboard. It takes more that money it takes personal time”.
The Rialto Community Coalition hopes to add to the success of their other public forum at Eisenhower High School called “Don’t Go There” where they used exhibits, media, and a powerful presentation from Ray Lozano to highlight the dangers of using drugs and alcohol. At the upcoming #SoberSkater event, participants will be asked to sign a pledge that states that they choose to be a Sober Skater. Also, the planning committee chose the name #SoberSkater to help attract teenagers on social media using hashtags since this is the way teens interact and seek out information on social media sites.
Michael Townsend, a Prevention Specialist with Central Valley Prevention Program, had this to say about the #SoberSkater event:
“The best way to prevent underage drinking and drug use is to identify the target population, develop ways to reach them, and increase enforcement during high risk times. By hosting the #SoberSkater event, the Rialto Community Coalition is doing exactly that. They have identified Thanksgiving break as a high risk time for underage drinking and drug use and they have identified skaters as their target population. In addition, they are working closely with the Rialto Police Department regarding their enforcement efforts. The Rialto Community Coalition members realize that having youth, who have made a commitment to sobriety, speaking directly to other youth, is a very effective method of getting their message out. So the coalition has engaged youth in this campaign to reduce social hosting.”
The event will include a semi-pro skateboard team called NAI (New Age Intelligence), gourmet food trucks, live music, vendors, and resource providers. There will also be a best trick contest. For more information, visit their Facebook event page at the link below.