City council and the Mayor have told us Rialto is never getting anything nicer than a Stater Brothers and there seems to be no plans for a decent regular market North of Baseline for the foreseeable future. The common reason that is given are Rialto’s Demographics not sure what they mean by that and I would hate to speculate but………. From what we have been told there are to many people here that don’t make a lot of money.
What we find hilarious is the fact that we never run into elected officials anywhere in Rialto but man you sure do bump into them outside the city. Not to mention the normal middle class family spends about $500 a month or more at stores outside of Rialto. To add insult to injury just one mile outside of Rialto in the same area as the new Renaissance development is a Sprouts shopping center. Sprouts is a healthy organic store that works to provide local produce whenever possible. Their produce is better than any other store in Rialto now and in most cases much cheaper.
So what do you do when your elected officials spend thousands of dollars traveling to far away locations and eating and hobnobbing with rich developers all on your dime? What do you do when they promise you we did everything we could?
The problem is they only work hard for items that will help them out financially look at the companies that get the most attention in Rialto. Burttec gets a 10 year no back out contract plus we will tax the citizens for the damage your trucks do to the city streets. What does the Mayor get in return? Campaign Contributions and Burttec holds private parties and campaign fundraisers for the mayor. Lewis is another big example of buying influence. Lewis owns every single elected leader because if you cross them not only will they not give you money but they will spend money to keep you out of office. The City Manager has facilitated opportunities for Lewis employees to corner residents that have questions about their contracts and bully them into being quiet.
Our leaders are not out for the people they are out for themselves!!!!!
One of the biggest issues when it come to increased taxes on fuel in California is the waste and miss management of those precious tax dollars. We knew that 40% of the current Gas, Registration and skyrocketing Diesel Fuel fees were not going to go to any type of road improvement but we thought the governor would start with some road projects right? Heck with a petition drive to repeal the tax well on its way to a 2019 ballot box near you that would have made sense right? Nope they seem Hell Bent on spending what money has already been collected on people who don’t even pay the tax!!!! Leading the leftist charge to force people who drive to pay for others transportation is the City of Rialto and Mayor Deborah Robertson.
The city that has made National News with a Failed Public/Private partnership with Veoilia, made National Headlines as Junior Councilman Trujillo tied to label the small city a sanctuary city and now as they approach bankruptcy over pension obligations and failed tax measures they are doubling down on bad ideas by spending $200k of SB1 funds on public trails rather than on crumbling roads in serious need of repair in a city that can’t afford to fix them.
Mayor Robertson seems to have her eyes elsewhere since she spends more time in San Diego, Sacramento and Washington D.C. than she does in the very city she ran for mayor in. As you can see in the story below Mayor Robertson seems to care little about the miles of damaged roads that run through her city. She also still ignores how her safe routes to school program is falling flat on its face. As she try’s to get kids to walk to school local schools she forgets that she is asking these families to walk past drug houses and areas full of gang members.
Mayor Robertson is currently on yet another full on battle against her local police officers which leaves her with few advocates within the department. Also Mayor Robertson has created massive divides among her office and the local school district administration. The cross walk she is pictured in (above) was a PR stunt and the cross walk was only fabricated to look that way for her photo ops. This once again proves she has no concern for the community only her future political advancement.
City of Rialto Using SB 1 Funds for its Active Transportation Plan
February 7, 2018
For many residents without cars in the City of Rialto, public transportation serves as the lifeline to employment and educational opportunities.
However, Rialto severely lacks the infrastructure that can help residents, particularly those who are low-income, get to the transit station and to jobs and school.
The city’s efforts to remedy its transportation infrastructure issues are now accelerating thanks to some much needed funding. The city just received $200,000 in SB1 funding to create an Active Transportation Plan, which comes directly on the heels of a grant to support Safe Routes to Schools.
Currently, there are only 1.5 miles of shared use paths, and just over 10 miles of bike paths. Most of the bike lanes are narrow and located on wide roadways with high speed limits. Because of this, many bicyclists choose to use sidewalks instead, upsetting many pedestrians.
Neighborhoods on the north side of town currently face the greatest challenges. This gap effectively prevents these residents from accessing Metrolink, which provides service to employment opportunities in other communities.
“Many individuals in Rialto face limited employment options based on the transportation choices available to them”, says Mayor Deborah Robertson. “Planning a holistic active transportation network will provide access to economic opportunities for residents without cars, and will increase public transit options by providing first-and last-mile connections on foot and by bicycle.”
Without clear solutions, the situation for residents will likely worsen. As Rialto continues to grow, most new housing is anticipated to occur in the northern neighborhoods. By creating an Active Transportation Plan, the city hopes to address deficiencies and identify additional bicycle and walking improvements in all areas of the city.
The city has experienced great success implementing its new Safe Routes to School Program. Along with efforts to host a walking school bus event at six schools, the city just recently enhanced the crosswalk in front of Myers Elementary to support a healthy and safe way for students to get to school.
So let me ask you a question? If you had a choice between a near impossible sale of a tax or a pretty good chance at keeping the current imperfect tax rolling which would you chose? Currently our Utility Users Tax is a 8% tax on your utilities and we give out exemptions to low income people and seniors. Unless we stop city council they will be asking us to vote on a permanent tax and to begin to start charging seniors.
City council seems to think you don’t like having checks and balances in their spending and you trust them that they will do what is right with your money.
What the problem is in Rialto right now is we have been using a Utility Tax to bump up our general fund and provide services. The promise was always that we would wean ourselves off the tax but NOBODY did anything to ever try and meet that goal. Our elected leaders sat back after each renewal and went on about their business and spending your money. Now all of a sudden we need to make this tax permanent?
What they are really doing is setting up the Utility Tax to fail!!!!!!
Tomorrow at the Rialto City Council Meeting at 6pm at city hall our elected leaders are supposed to finally vote on what to do with this whole situation. Now is the time the community needs to come down and tell our Mayor and Council what we think of their plans for us.
Shall the measure extending the existing 8% Utility User Tax
on telephone, cellular, electricity, gas, sewer, water, and cable
television, with no sunset clause, and amending the exemption for individuals 65 years or older to be applicable only to said
individuals earning less than $100,000 annually per household,
while preserving exemptions for members of very low income
households, as defined by California Health and Safety Code
Section 50105, to raise approximately $14.2 million annually,
to continue basic and essential services for residents, be
adopted?
A few weeks ago the City Council was tasked with a job. They were asked to look at Rialto’s financial future and take a series of actions to begin to lead us from the eventual cliff. What they did was very different.
The city of Rialto has had a Utility Tax since 2003 according to staff reports. Many cities have utility taxes but Rialto’s is unique since it contains a sunset. Every 5 years our Utility Tax comes to and end forcing the people to vote to reinstate the tax normally for another 5 years. As you will see from Interm City Manager Rob Steel’s presentation.
Rob Steel laid out a very comprehensive breakdown of the history and future of Rialto’s need for this tax. Next was the BAC (Budget Advisory Committee) with their recommendation to City Council. The BAC with much debate and study came to the conclusion that keeping things the way they are is the best bet for Rialto and is the least risky of the options. Rialto City Council barked that the BAC was not formed to mull over the UUT (Utility Users Tax) but to look for alternatives to new monies in Rialto. The problem is without the UUT there is no more of a Rialto. The UUT represents 18% percent of our general fund budget. Our general fund is already barley functioning and under $130 Million in unfunded burdens over the next 10 years and we can’t afford to loose 18% of our budget. Also City Council ASKED the BAC for their thoughts on the UUT and where things should go. Really City Council was simply looking for a rubber stamp to attack seniors and play Russian Roulette with Rialto’s Future.
After this the Mayors true plans and intentions were brought to light. She did all she could to poison the Budget Advisory Committee and bend them to her will. She found out that not everyone believed the same thing but that the recommendation was built off of a majority vote of the residents on the committee not any of the employees representing the various bargaining units. What Mayor Robertson is about to show you is she has little concern for Rialto’s ability to have sustainable growth in a safe city.
Given the chance these people would find any legal way to tip the scales in their favor to win an election for themselves but when it comes to obtaining a ballot measure that will pass and give Rialto the chance at a sustainable future they ignore every poll and conventional wisdom and make the most illiterate decision.
Now Ed Scott wants you to believe that the big bad unions are inside the Budget Advisory Committee meetings strong arming the residents on the Committee. Nothing could be farther from the truth the Union representatives have been helpful and respectful they are not even voting on the various recommendations the Committee is send out to Council (recommendations they choose to ignore). Ed Scott asks the residents to take the Committee by the horns well were doing just that but were taking City Council down to the Corruption starts with the failed leadership of the city. Does anyone believe the way you manage a horrible upcoming situation by spending your savings and saving less? Councilman Ed Scott does!
Ed Scott brings up the Monrovia Example, this has not been brought up but I asked Iterm City Administrator Robb Steel about it here is what he told us:
“Monrovia adopted a multi-prong strategy to pay down its unfunded liabilities for pensions. The key component of it was to issue pension obligation bonds for their unfunded liability ($111 million). I have attached the staff report that describes their program, which includes modest employee concessions and other revenue enhancements. I have also attached the rating agency report on the proposed bond issuance to provide a sense of Monrovia’s overall financial condition. The basic strategy with POB’s is to borrow funds at say 4% and invest with PERS (or a separately established trust) that earns say 7%. If the raised monies are used to pay down the unfunded liability with PERS (for example), the City’s annual payments to PERS will be re-amortized and reduced (similar to using one time money to pay down your mortgage, then refinancing the balance). The freed up cashflow can then be used to sustain services, or pay down the debt even faster. The potential savings are significant (on $100 million as example, a 3% spread represents $3 million per year in interest savings in year 1).
This can be a good strategy, but it is not without risks. The City establishes general fund secured debt that must be paid as a priority above all other expenditures, which limits financial flexibility and may force cuts in essential services during a financial disruption. The bond investors may condition the financing on compliance with certain financial standards (minimum reserves, balanced budgets, etc.) that may seem reasonable but which may limit choices. It can be a good move; it just warrants some discussion of the risks. Our neighbor to the east defaulted on its payments for POB’s and spiraled into bankruptcy largely to shed that obligation.
Jumping in to the hot topic of the day, in order to issue POB’s the City must demonstrate balanced general fund budgets and stable financial futures. The S & P Report attached describes Monrovia’s current financial posture as quite stable and strong, with but a few reservations. We would not receive a similar finding, in large part because our revenue stream is interruptible. It would be very difficult (I think impossible) to borrow monies at reasonable rates when 20% of your revenue stream may be cut off every 5 years. A permanent revenue stream (of some sort, does not necessarily have to be a utility tax) would be necessary to address this issue and allow the general fund to issue debt with a strong repayment forecast. Alternatively, the City would need to compress expenditures by 20% to balance its budget and that we know would require dramatic service reductions. At present, the City General Fund would not in my opinion receive an investment grade credit rating unless we collateralized the debt with something very secure (substantial cash reserve).”
Anyone interested in following in San Bernardino’s footsteps?
Joe Baca Jr. is not a risky guy when it comes to politics. He is a moderate like his father and isn’t known for taking on causes unless he knows for a fact he can shield himself from the consequences. For example when the city was in the process of selling of our water for 30 years he was the lone no vote. This did nothing for the people and Joe Baca Jr was well protected since he knew that the rest of the council was in lock step to sell away Rialto’s Water future. So in this matter why would he risk going after seniors and putting Rialto into a very tough spot financially? He doesn’t have to agree with his fellow council members on anything other than the fact that there is a need for a financial emergency. There seems to be more to this that what we see on the surface and there are a lot of behind the scenes conversations taking place to get everyone on the same page on such a horrible idea.
Not only is Rafael way out of his league here but he missed a golden opportunity to show he is the man of the Hispanic people. He has no idea what he is doing and his ignorance isn’t something that you can say comes from a good place because he is trying to make a difference. To add insult to injury he missed a golden opportunity to plea for better bilingual outreach. He left that up to Mayor Robertson and the Vice Chair of the BAC.
Councilman Carrizales is sitting in a seat where a man once sat who stood up for Rialto better than any other elected official and he had no use of his legs. Everyone is waiting for Councilman Carrizales to work to represent the people on the dias, nothing personal he is a great man and a devoted husband and father but Rialto needs leaders that lead in tough times like these not read off a pre-written script. When people act so far outside their character it leads one to believe what is really going on here.
Joe Baca Jr. went into what they can do in the future if the need for the Utility Tax ever changes but these are just words that will never happen to distract people from what is really going on.
Finally Dennis Barton reminds the Budget Advisory Committee that the council only cares about a recommendation that is unanimous meaning if certain members have different ideas of feeling those are to be shut up and closed down. Then the Mayor pitches a fit because she wants to make sure she is around to control this process and make sure her will is done. Also see Rafael Trujillo’s ignorance of how elections are run because he doesn’t even know that ballot information is in English and Spanish.
Is Mayor Robertson your Mayor the the warehouses Mayor?
On January 9th The Mayor and City Council missed the third opportunity to do their job and allow Rialto to have a shot at a better financial future. As you will see in the video below not only was the Mayor not here in Rialto doing her job, but Mayor Pro Tem Scott choose to lie about where the Mayor was.
We need people who are in local politics for the people and the community. So many are in it for lush perks, power and the ability to travel on the Taxpayers dime. There is no reason for the Mayor to be in Washington D.C. when there is work to be done here. Also if she had a conflict she could have scheduled a special meeting to go over the new draft documents and move this issue forward. Also why is Ed Scott lying for the Mayor???
Rialto is in a very critical point in our cities existence and many may be looking to the incoming development as a saving windfall. We are here to tell you that this isn’t the case Rialto is in a tough spot and its going to take everyone doing their jobs to get us through it.
The reason we say everyone doing their jobs is right now some staff and the community are the only ones stepping up to the plate and if the rest of the players don’t figure that out, own their bad and get on board with getting things back on track it is going to spell disaster.
Here are the players as we see it and what they need to do to get things moving the right way:
The Community – This group of people have been doing a lion share of the heavy lifting. Most people believe they have no recourse and they must accept bad leadership and money mismanagement. This is not the case even though we may be on a certain leaders team it never hurts to remind those leaders we support we can no longer give them blanket support for a laundry list of bad calls. You can see how the city council is fracturing as they all split off to their specific groups and ask for help with dealing with the others. When it comes to the Utility Users Tax the community can’t support TAX AND SPEND Liberals in such high majorities when voting and then look at a tax that actually provides us services we all say we want to keep as a bad thing.
The City Council – I have never been a fan of forming a consensus I believe it leads to to many back room deals and excludes the community at large as a few key power groups ideology reigns supreme. Yet on this issue I see it as juvenile to allow the whole city to suffer just to make a political point. I say this because the issue of declaring a financial emergency still hangs in the balance and is holding up Rialto’s ability to see where we are going over the next 10 years. City Council is playing political chicken with our future, information that has come from staff says that City Council is having an issue declaring a state of emergency because we still have a healthy surplus. A surplus that will only afford Rialto a 6 month time frame of stability if the worse was ever to happen. It seems like City Council wants us to be broke and defaulting on loans before we do anything to right our unstable future. I don’t know anyone that would look at their personal or business finances and see a real financial avalanche heading their way and not do anything within reason to stop what seems to be inevitable. One of City Councils epic failures was the 3% at 50 PERS offering. According to sources to help with employee retention Councilman Ed Scott brought this in. Now this program is no longer offered to new employees but employees already in this program have it no matter what.
The Mayor – Mayor Robertson has done a very good job of pushing the blame for failures onto other people or pretending that things are better than they really are. Mayor Robertson is the biggest holdout when it comes to declaring a state of financial emergency in this city and this isn’t the 1st time she has pulled this stunt. Four years ago she pulled the same stunt as she threw a tantrum and asked public safety to make massive concessions like no longer being able to cash out comp, sick, holiday or vacation time, $300 cut in uniform allowance and no raise. Now she is taking things a step further as now Mayor Robertson wants to once again ask Public Safety to forgo a raise, loose all special assignment pay and take everyone back one full step in pay. Remember this is the same Mayor that wanted to give herself a massive raise for a very part time job.
Staff – Staff plays a big role in what is going on here since they seem incapable of giving the Council, Mayor and Community a true and honest look at the consequences of staff recommended actions. Many times staff have fallen on the sword for the Mayor and City Council to shield them from the consequences of their actions. Yes staff works hard and puts in long hours but when they keep the truth from the community or shield the electeds from the consequences of their actions they sully all the hard work they have put in.
City Attorney – Some day we will have a city attorney that doesn’t rip us off (Jimmy Gutierrez) and we will have one that has the testicle fortitude to stand in the gap and advocate for the community rather than cover up for the Council and Mayor. In one case the city has spent $720,000 already in defending the city in a legal case that could have been fixed had someone stopped everyone’s egos. Also the City Attorney needs to remind the Mayor that giving away buildings to friends and political allies is a slippery slope to gifting of public funds. We are not saying this is the case but a property on Riverside Ave in Downtown seems to have changed ownership without any other public consideration and it has a lot of people scratching their heads.
Since 1996 California has been slowly pushing harmful drugs into local communities. Not even the extremely liberal Obama administration would do anything to legalize Marijuana Federally, all the liberals did was stop enforcing Federal Drug and Immigration Laws.
Another issue is Pot Heads desire to smoke Marijuana doesn’t just effect them. Even before the 1st of the year Marijuana users have openly smoled this harmful drug without any fear of punishment. Shopping centers and neighborhoods have stuck of Marijuana’s awful smell. Shopping on Christmas Eve at the Food 4 Less in Rialto on Foothill we witnessed a male smoking Marijuana and driving, when we called dispatch we were told its not a crime and were hung up on. A few days later we were near the Del Taco on South Riverside Ave and a mother with a small child exhalled her Marijuana smoke into our window. The question is where does Marijuana users rights begin and others end? Is their right to get high more important than others right to not be exposed to such a harmful substance?
“If anyone gets hit by an Camary L.P. 3BIM196 let me know we can sue Rialto Police since dispatch told me it’s not illegal to drive a car and smoke weed and hung up on me”
Rialto is not immune to the problems that come with Marijuana use in California. Here is a brief list of some of the things Marijuana Legalization has brought to Rialto and the surrounding communities:
Back in August 2015 at an Area Command Meeting for Area’s 1&2 in the city of Rialto Officer Nick Partcher part of Rialto Police SCAT team the team responsible for gang, alcohol & drug enforcement said that Marijuana use is now just as big a problem with local youth as Alcohol use. That year youth Marijuana use exceeded both Alcohol and Tobacco use combined. (Rialto Now)
Back in May 2011 a home selling Marijuana turned shootout left two people dead in Rialto. The incident unfolded on the 900 block of North Beechwood Avenue at about 8:45 p.m. Wednesday. (ABC7)
Downey Police Officer Shot Three Times During Undercover Operation in San Bernardino. (KTLA)
Only On 2: Investigation Reveals Medical Marijuana Is Getting Into School Kids’ Hands. (CBS2)
SAN BERNARDINO >> SWAT officers served a high risk search warrant Friday at a medical marijuana dispensary where they found cocaine and a gun, police said. (SB Sun)
A 23-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with a February robbery attemptand shootout that left a security guard dead at a marijuana dispensary on the boarder of Rialto & San Bernardino, authorities announced Monday. (KTLA)
The pedestrian killed after being hit by a pickup has been identified as a 90-year-old Moreno Valley resident, the Riverside County Sheriff/Coroner’s office reported Sunday, Dec. 31 whose driver may have been under the influence of drugs. (PE)
Fontana Mayor Celebrates Drug Filled Rave As Three People Die, (Rialto Now)
December 2015 Amazon temp agency could not fill all of the jobs they had do to people not being able to pass a simple drug test. Over 60 percent of those who failed did so because they could not put their bong away. Even being given multiple chances to return and try again they could not pass the test.
In a message from the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to local prevention providers. This data and reports further confirm what prevention providers have been warning ever since the lie of Medical Marijuana began to take shape youth use is on the way up. One area where prevention providers have been looking to get to is kids in Elementary and they have been getting resistance due to the thought that these kids are to young to be involved in drug use. This study show a major increase in drug use among youth 12 and older meaning kids in 6th grade are being introduced to drugs.
Another thing that the data shows is a driving force behind an increase in youth use is the widespread use in adults. This matches what the Rialto Community Coalition found in February during their Strategic Planning Session was that one of the biggest reasons youth use drugs especially Marijuana is because of the lax attitude from adults. The investigative reports from David Goldstein on medical marijuana dispensary’s acting as a hub to get Marijuana to youth should be an eye opening period for parents. Now people can have plants on their property and can have an ounce on their person without getting into trouble.
One of the areas where prescription drug use has taken over our communities and youth is the raiding of Senior Citizens medicine cabinets. What scares regular non drug using people is the fact that seniors are re-living the 60’s and linning up to buy Pot. If they couldn’t be trusted to keep prescription drugs away from others what makes us think they will protect their Weed from young people? The Press Enterprise wrote a glowing article about people lining up to fry their brains and here is a list of the elderly:
Craig Reinarman, a 69-year-old.
Jeff Deakin, 66.
72-year-old Cathedral City resident who was among 13 people lined up at West Coast Cannabis Club in Riverside County before 6 a.m. The man, who declined to give his name, bought raw flower and five pre-rolls for $1 each in his first purchase at a marijuana store. He said he planned to smoke while watching bowl games during the day.
Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo.
A 55-year-old Oakland man who would identify himself only as Big Jon, said he retired Dec. 31 and was finally free from the requirements of a commercial Class A driving license. “It’s been 32 years,” Big Jon said, adding that he’d been hearing about edibles and other products he’d like to try.
Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin.
Carol Wyatt of West Oakland and Carlos Hooks.
Rome VanBergen, 57.
Santa Ana Councilman Jose Solorio.
Toby and Shara Edwards came from Florida to get high. Residents of Pensacola, Florida – “2,000 miles and 40 years away from California,” Toby Edwards joked – they bought $85 worth of cannabis-infused candies, topical lotions and pre-rolled cigarettes. “It’s completely illegal (in Florida),” he said. “The penalties are so severe you can lose your job. They can seize your property. It just isn’t worth it. This is so different.”
Santa Cruz resident Tree Island, 69.
Miguel Vargas of San Jose.
Rigoberto Espinoza, 28.
State Sen. Nancy Skinner, who represents much of the East Bay, including Oakland and Berkeley, spent much of her morning between Berkeley Patients Group and Harborside in Oakland. “To me this is huge,” she said. “I want responsible use, but I also want use that is legal for everybody and equitable.” Recreational legalization, she hopes, will “finally put an end” to the criminalization of marijuana, which, she said, disproportionately affected black and brown Californians. Wow how are Liberals not the racist ones?
Another issue is the prevalence of youth using vaping products that people still try to push off as safe for youth use. As you see in the text below from the Press Enterprise article now our youth have a modern way to kill their brain cells.
By mid-morning, vapor pens and edible products were among the most popular items at the shop, with a number of Baby Boomers who smoked marijuana years ago interested in trying cannabis in new forms.
To add to an already troubling problem is the fear that Mayor Robertson is setting Rialto up to have Marijuana dumped on our poor city. As it sits now Marijuana shops are illegal in the city limits. Where we see trouble is the Mayors out right refusal to vote to put the Utility Tax on an April Ballot. Also the mayors appointee to the Budget Advisory Committee said at one meeting lets find the crappy part of Rialto and turn that into our Marijuana Zone!!!!
Only question is who gets to choose where the crappy part of town is?
The bottom line is that Rialto is in a serious mess. We have the following hurdles:
No Police Cheif
Officers leaving the city in massive numbers
only 4 officers on patrol at any given tim
No City Administrator
$160 Million in unfunded liabilities
Utility Tax Ending in June
Out of control leaders with only their own best interest in mind
The Question remains when will we say enough is enough!!!!!!
For 15 years the city council has been using the Utility Users Tax (UUT) to supplement our cities ability to operate. It didn’t begin this way the 1st time the UUT was put into place as a way to enhance services and provide a bridge to increased tax revenues that would replace the UUT giving the city the ability to allow it to sunset and go away. Well since then some very big things took place making that a hard pill to swallow, here is what has made that impossible:
The recession happened – The ever so wise politicians decided that everyone deserved to be able to purchase a home even if they could not afford it. So they created things like State your own income, 4 year interest only loans and allowed people to sell torn up houses for 10 times what they were really worth. Was it any surprise the whole thing fell down around itself and left cities in a very poor place?
RDA Money Taken Away – Gov. Brown in all his wisdom decided to take away Redevelopment money away from California cities. This money helped them grow their city and promote why people should spend their tax dollars there verses other cities. This money also made it possible to afford to give developers sweet deals to bring development to local cities.
The City’s PERS contract enhancement in 2010 – As a way to entice employees to sign a new employment contract without a raise as a way to say you will have a sweeter retirement later on.
Poor investment performance at CALPERS – This has led to the increased PERS cost in the City of Rialto.
Retail has come but – The retail stores and shopping are finally coming but not in the numbers that we were told. The new Lewis Shopping Center will bring no more than the new Super Walmart in the south end. Also Mayor Robertson’s warehouses are bringing more problems and not more money. Still many of the warehouses pay tax to cities like Ontario with agreements that cripple small towns like ours.
So last council meeting our city council and mayor were supposed to look at the cities financial future with the community present. According to Mike Story and Robb Steel at the last Budget Finance Committee meeting that city council had the following issues with the Budget Finance Committee’s recommendation:
The Budget Advisory Committee didn’t formally recommend what the committee thought city council should do with the cities surplus. Should it remain at 50%?
City Council wants to know if the committee would bless spending the cities reserves?
City Council doesn’t feel right declaring a state of physical emergency when we have a budget reserve.
City Council wants to increase the amount on businesses to as much as 12% and lower it on residents to 6%.
City Council no longer believes that Seniors alone should be exempt from paying the tax only low income seniors.
The reason we titled this story “Those Who Do Not Learn From History Are Doomed To Repeat It” the popular saying by George Santayana because we find ourselves walking down a similar path. The last time the Utility Users Tax was placed on the ballot for renewal Deborah Robertson was the lone wolf standing in the way. She was throwing a fit and holding her vote hostage until she got what she wanted. This year she is the problem once again but this time it doesn’t seem like public safety is going to blink. You see we have the #1 fire department in the State if not the Country you are more likely to survive a cardiac arrest event here than anywhere else. Also here in Rialto our paramedic program provides an income for the city budget offsetting fire costs, in every other city in the region these services are paid out to minimum wage workers for a private ambulance agency.
Keeping to the topic of public safety lets not forget that it was former police chief Farrar who did the 1st study on the use of body cameras on police officers. That study led to such amazing results that Rialto was one of the 1st agencies in the USA to use body worn cameras department wide. As you can see from the image above officer use of force has dropped as well as citizens complaints of use of force. Also Rialto is one of the few agencies that still has an active Community Policing program and youth intervention programs that are producing results.
Sadly the writting on the wall with everything going on right now is that our city council is playing chicken with our public services and a massive looming debt. Many members of the Budget Advisory Committee see the Mayor and Councils actions as dangerous ways to run a cities finances. One member said that looking at $170 Million pension and health debt over the next 10 years, not moving the Utility User Tax to a vote and even discussing spending reserves is a dangerous course of action. Another member said that council is saying I know I’m get a pay cut next year but I am taking the expensive vacation anyway, this is no way to budget.
So where are things now? Well Council refuses to address the public again with this topic or even the new information on just how bad our budget looks like if we don’t act now. The Budget Advisory Committee on December 18th will hear just what council and the mayor are looking for in regards to spending reserves and playing with the reserve limits. The topic of making seniors pay for the UUT when they have not been required to in the past will also be discussed. The Budget Advisory Committee is a public meeting even though staff refuses to use the cameras in the room and stream the meetings on You Tube the meetings are public. They start at 6 pm and end at 8pm.
Mike Story called us after this article was published. After people that our staff brought up information that was never made available to us we felt the need to see it for ourselves and get information from trustworthy sources. We worked on trying to ascertain the information on this event and were unable to. We spoke to Mike Story in person on November 20th and he said he had nothing to do with the party. At this point we were ready to drop this story and move on as this is Mike Story’s last month of employment. At the Council meeting Tuesday November 28th not only did council do nothing to address the cities financial woes by tabling tab 2 of the meeting but proceeded to talk about Giant Cake, Olives and other nonsense. It was at that moment when we decided to force the truth out by going with what information we had already gathered. Guess what the story was 8 hours old and people were tripping over themselves to set the record straight. Below see the corrected information.
The following information was sent at the request of Mike Story via Angela Perry:
It was these Business Owners/Developers, as well as community individuals that made donations for Mike’s Retirement. NO CITY FUNDS WERE USED. The remainder of the funds are being donated to the City for the Rialto Institute of Progress. The other reception that you may be referring to, in your blog, was put on by “IHELPIE” a Senior Citizen organization and their volunteers, which was held November 29that the Senior Center after a taping of Senior Voices. You are more than welcome to attend his upcoming Reception being held on December 14th at Patio West from 5:00 – 7:00 pm; which is also being paid for from the Donations from business owners and the community.
11/29 10:30 p.m.
With Rialto on the brink of Bankruptcy if voters don’t approve the extension of the Utility Users Tax you would think Rialto would be watching every cent right? NOPE, they are out spending money like they just won the lottery They are spending money in poor ways but not on this party. As you can see from the video above the elite of Rialto had a secret high dollar lavish party at the Sierra Lakes Golf Club to honor outgoing City Administrator Mike Story.
Spending tax dollars like this is one of the reasons that Rialto taxpayers are in for a world of hurt soon. Mayor Robertson and her council have spent thousands on special events for the political elite in warehouses, shut down public parks for Jazz Events that end up costing taxpayers thousands due to low ticket sales and gifting of public buildings to private organizations that are close to the mayor. Earlier this year Rialto Departments were forced to cut budgets by 20% as a way to find more money to pay to defend lawsuits and the consequences of not fully paying our PERS obligations.
When Mike Story was pressed about this party he becomes very uncomfortable and says I had nothing to do with it. Now we have 3 out of 5 of our elected leaders laughing about Cake, Olives and funny stories. Mike Story a person who in hard financial times made hard choices to get Rialto through a storm other cites like Colton have still not pulled through has shown an extreme lack of leadership by allowing this party to go onMike Stated that every expense that comes from the city he has to sign off on so he had nothing to do with the party and no tax money was spent on it. Early estimates put the cost of this one event near $20k dollars!!! What makes matters worse is there are still 2 more parties for the residents to pay for to celebrate Mike’s retirementThere are 2 more parties but these parties are apparently being covered by businesses or outside sources. On top of that there is a celebration for outgoing Police Chief Deanda that means the taxpayers are going to pay for three retirement partiesWe were unable to identify where the money from the party for Randy Deanda is coming from.
Update
Scott Beard CLAIMS that not one single dime from this party came from tax payers pockets. While we await his proof (more than words) we will deliver whatever can or will produce.
Both Rialto and Fontana are in for one heck of a ride when it comes to political campaigns in 2018. Next year more money will be sucked out of the economy and into the pockets of political hopefuls. Here is a breakdown of who is already setting up campaigns for 2018 to challenge some very unpopular people:
Rialto:
If Rialto City Council can get their act together the cities Utility Users Tax will be on the ballot as early as April 2018. If this tax is unsuccessful the city of Rialto will be looking at bankruptcy as early as 2019.
Ed Palmer is back and he is taking the gloves off. After loosing to Mayor Warehouse Robertson in 2016 he was on a short list to fill a vacant spot on West Valley Water Board. Now he is back to take on Ed Scott for a city council seat and word on the street is all of his knowledge of everyone’s secrets are on the table!!!
Joe Baca Jr. is up for re-election in 2018 but he has his sights set on jumping into the seat Josie Gonzales will vacate in 2020. He will tell Rialto residents he is here to work for them but his plans will be to jump ship halfway through his term showing Rialto residents where is true commitment lies.
Ed Scott will also be up for re-election and according to his own statements will be running a Mayor Campaign in Fontana. He has tons of experience running campaigns for people as you saw in 2016 when he ran a campaign for a made up person named Lindsay Fretter. Nobody ever saw this candidate and yet she put up signs and actually got votes!
Former candidate for City Clerk in Rialto Ana Gonzales will be throwing her hat into the ring for city council in 2018. She wanted to run for city council in 2016 but was told it was not her turn by her political affiliates to make way for a Carrizales/Trujillio council grab. Now she has apparently benn given the blessing of her camp and she is ready for yet another campaign.
Rialto will have a new Police Chief and a New City Administrator which means that Rialto’s future is unsure.
Fontana:
Fontana Mayor Warehouse Warren is up for re-election and she already has to announced challengers Fontana Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Sandoval and Former Rialto Police Chief Deanda. Warren squeaked out of two recall attempts one by the local Tea Party group and another by the Fontana Progressive Democrats. Neithier group showed any steal will to bring anything other than noise which left Warren to purchase the votes she needed to now control both Fontana City Council and School Board.
Newly elected School Board member and puppet for Warren and her desires will be up for re-election next year meaning in an already busy year with money flying everywhere he will look to the Inland Empire Business Association for more massive handouts. Group leader Phil Cothran will be very busy trying to keep his two friends happy, paid and elected.
Other notable campaign races of course is the California Governor race. Also will be a ballot measure to repeal the latest gas and registration tax and make any further attempts to raise gas and registration taxes must come in the form of a vote from the people.
rialtonow 