Joe Baca Jr | rialtonow

Rialto Public Safety Resources Coming Under Attack

04 May 2016 1 Comment

by rialto-now in Bad Commerce, Budget, Ca, city attorney, City of Rialto, Colton, Crime, Currupt, Deborah Robertson, Ed Scott, Fontana, Freinds of Rialto K9, Friends of Rialto K9, Grand Terrace, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto Police Department, San Bernardino, SWAT

December 1, 2015
I’d like to give a big shout out to Mike Hayes from the city of Rialto for restoring our lights back of the canine training yard.
Thank you Mike and team!

The photo above was taken from the Freind’s of Rialto Police K9 Facebook page. The team said let there be light and apparently the city made it so. So why now are the lights gone and people from the program upset over recent actions?

Rumors began swirling last week that Rialto Public Safety agency has been targeted by a select number of city council members over a vendetta from a very tense vote over what events should be labeled city events and have access to the Tax Payer General Fund Account.

Late last week we were made aware of the action to shut down the Freinds of Rialto K9 training yard. Apparently a couple of people who sit on our collective city council including the mayor were upset that the mayors efforts to cover her tracks in causing $10,000 to be lost from the Tax Payer funded General Fund in connection to the Mayors State of the Woman event. The details are not clear at this point but we do know that the K9 Training Yard operated by the 501c3 Non Profit Freinds of the Rialto Police K9 program has been red tagged and lights, training boxes and demo car have all been removed without a valid reason from the City of Rialto. According to reports we have received the City Leaders and the Chief of Police are experiencing some memory loss because they claim to have no prior knowledge of the improvements to the K9 training yard. What is funny is the Rialto K9 Friends Association was recognizied for the efforts that Eagle Scouts Tyler James and Trevor Benson made to bring shaded seating and lights to the Freinds of Rialto Police K9 training yard.

As you can see is the efforts of the work on the K9 training were part of a public meeting of our city council so why are they playing dumb? The efforts to upgrade the training area were so open knowledge that the department gave out awards to tyler the youth involved in rasing the funds recived and the award was covered in the Rialto Record Newspaper.

We spoke to Cheif Deanda today and he gave us his word that this effort with the K9 training Yard was not politically connected in any way. He also said that his abilities to speak freely were constricted by the ongoing investigation. What exactally is being investigated was not made clear but Cheif Deanda told us that once the investigation was over things would be made available.

Keep checking back as we will update the story as information comes in.

Unboxing the Rialto Water Services Water Saving Kit

14 Mar 2016 Leave a comment

As you saw in our un-boxing video there are a number of things you can do inside of your home to save water and most of those things came in this water saver kit. In the video below Joel Greene host of Curiosity Quest shows you how to use the things inside this box and why they work.

Now Rialto Water Services claims to have increased customer service and is working to make your experience with them as painless as possible. What is funny is if you spell the name Rialto Water Services right in google you get this:

Rialto Water Services has not registered their new address with Google. Well who cares right its not like were living in a digital age where use google to locate places. Rialto Water Services spends money where it counts, on the pet projects of our elected officials. Go ahead try and get them to donate money to keep kids off drugs or help people without jobs get training that will help them find work. Unless your connected to one of the elected officials you will find ZERO help here.

Now if your having a bad day you might just stumble over the correct search as long as you don’t click Googles correction of your spelling of the name RialtoWaterServices.

So if your looking for Rialto Water its not as easy as they make it seem………..

Video by rialto-now

Rialto Mayor Goes After Rotary & Chamber of Commerce

13 Mar 2016 Leave a comment

Money and the way it is spent has been a hot topic over the last few council meetings. Reports of the mayors spending coming under possible investigation have led Mayor Robertson and Councilman Ed Scott to attack the events that have been a part of the fabric of Rialto for years.

Councilman Ed Scott was more subtle in his attacks on events and the city of Rialto. Councilman Scott attacked the very development firm that is tasked with bringing the dream of retail/restaurant/entertainment zone to where the Airport once stood. He seems to praise the warehouse developers (except for the Target cold storage facility) and do everything he can to shoot down the development the city really wants to see. It is dangerous to have Mr. Scott on the Economic Development Committee and the Sub Committee that is overseeing the projects under development in the old Airport zone. Looking at Mr. Scott’s Campaign Contributions it makes you wonder what is really going on here. Also Mr. Scott who last Council meeting took issue with the fact that the people in Las Colinas collected food and toys for the less fortunate. Now he is trying to drag the city of Rialto into looking to go to districts rather than an at large council? He claims that South Rialto is under represented where is his proof?

Mayor Deborah Robertson’s attack wasn’t so subtle. She called out to have organizations that hold events in the city of Rialto pay back the money that the city has contributed to the private events being held on city property. Mayor Robertson called out two organizations in particular the Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce. In the video below Mayor Robertson chooses to attack the organization that helps school children (Rotary) and the Chamber of Commerce an organization that strives to create a healthy environment for business to thrive in Rialto. It is dangerous for the mayor to attack the Chambers Taste of Rialto event because it has been the event that shows off the different business owners that are bringing the different food options to the customers of Rialto.

It sounds as though the Mayor is still trying to make her possible misuse of public funds from the General Fund over the last few years ok. The problem is the events she brought up are community interest events and the funds the city applies are pre-approved via the special events committee where the city provides services like street closures and other services that the event can’t hire out privately. The mayors event attached a PRIVATE TRUST FUND to the cities GENERAL FUND and then failed to report the trust fund and cost the city thousands in lost dollars in fines and penalties. Some on the Council called this floating loans from the General Fund. Also the Mayor claims the State of the Woman event comes at an annual cost to the city of only $9,000. We wish she could explain the $22,000 plus dollar figure that this event cost the city in 2013 when the city made repairs to a private building’s roof and bathrooms and spent thousands on special media equipment and staff time to make this location work.

Mayor Robertson would like to make this out as an attack on the State of the Woman event but it isn’t that at all it is and always was about the gross waste of money. When the voters approved the cities extra tax on the tank farms the voters were promised that the city would be wise with the money entrusted to them. Well from the looks of things not everyone was or is on board with this promise.

Video by rialto-now

City of Rialto Travel Under Community Scrutiny

22 Feb 2016 1 Comment

Travel spending in Rialto has been an issue for years. At one time it was so bad that City Council had to request a special audit and change policies that allowed Elected Officials in Rialto to take what many called lucrative vacations at the cities expense. Since Councilman Ed Scott came back to the council things have began to move back towards the old days.

Now we ALWAYS question travel because we never see ANY benefit for it. Nobody gives a briefing on what they learned at the training and even when the city goes to ICSC the International Convention for Shopping Centers where developers meet protective cities we still get Mc Donalds, Chipolte (2) more tire centers and fast food like Carls Jr and Wendys. Where is our innovative development? Is the In and Out pad or last and only option?

Now we have used the years of advocating for the public to understand each line item of most expense request forms but this is another example of the we don’t care how your money gets spent attitude.

First off is we pay people very good money to fill out a simple form and apparently Commissioner Britt is stuck in a time warp of some sort because his whole week is stuck in one day Tuesday, March 10, 2016 – Friday, March 10, 2016
Second is this part of the form Individual requesting travel and/or training authorization: you see in speaking with Mr. Britt he knew nothing of this form or even some of the money that is being requested on his behalf.
So the $265 & $495 are the registration fees for this event ok that’s easy.
Meals are $95 ok……….
Only one Commissioner is getting lodging at the cost of $400 for a Conference in Long Beach?
Thank God nobody is flying to Long Beach
What is that $80 other charge? It is for a Reception & Banquet? How does this bring value to Rialto? Why are my tax dollars being spent this way?
What will the commissioners be doing at this conference?

?????Love, Companionship & Intimacy for Today’s Senior?????

Most of these are at an additional cost:

Love, Companionship for Today’s Senior (3/8/16) $24

NAYS Youth Sports Administrators Academy (3/8/16) $376

From Coves to Marketplaces – Anaheim Walking Workshop (3/8/16) $36

More to Aquatics Than Just Water (3/8/16) $48

Mini SuperCal: Energizing Supervision (3/8/16) $48

There is a Mayors Session I wonder if Mayor Robertson will be at this one?

All three days is full of workshops with additional costs you can view them here file:///C:/Users/Marketing/Downloads/Conference_Registration_Form.pdf

The people of Rialto need to start asking for more accountability when it comes to our money. What does this provide for Rialto? Who else is going? How many PAID staff are attending this Conference and are they staying in hotels too?

If this upsets you please email these people:

Perry Brents – pbrents@rialtoca.gov

Mike Story – mstory@rialtoca.gov

Councilman O’Connell – soconnell@rialtoca.gov

Mayor Pro Tem Baca – jbaca@rialtoca.gov

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Rialto Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem & Councilman Spin Miss-use of Public Funds Into Tears and Past Tragedy’s

22 Feb 2016 Leave a comment

Questions over the Mayors use of public funds for her State of the Woman started with a request from City Treasurer Ed Carrillo to the state and county organizations that are responsible for keeping elected officials from overstepping their authority and keeping them honest. Ed Carrillo (as seen in our prior story) reported Mayor Deborah Robertson for her use of public funds, city resources and staff to put the event together, repair bathrooms and other misuse of funds (Here it from the City Treasurer Below):

As you can see from the City Treasurer he has many concerns. Two years ago when the city succeeded in selling the community on Measure “U” a measure that imposed hire fees on the Gasoline Tank Storage farm in the south end of the freeway. When the city went on their PR push for this measure the city promised these things:

The City told us that they would be transparent with all money that was spent here in Rialto no matter the source grant funds to general tax fund expenditures the money would be spent wisely.
A Yes vote on Measure U will finally require the billion dollar oil and gas companies who store their fuel in the “tank farm” on South Riverside to sacrifice just like Rialto residents and small business have.
If Measure U passes, Rialto residents will get a break in the form of lower utility taxes with a cut the utility tax by 2%.
Safety measures for the dangerous rails to trails project.

None of these things are happening and we doubt they ever will. What is happening and what was happening as these promises were being made was a raid of Rialto’s general fund and city resources. When was the last time the city came by and covered the cost of repairing your roof? Fixing your plumbing? Redoing your bathrooms? When was the last time the city ever covered the cost of turning on your utilities or even paying the bill?

Mayor Robertson worked very hard to insulate herself from these bad choices by having City Administrator Mike Story say he was the one who authorized the city staff to make repairs on a privately owned building, turn on utilities, pay utility bills and use staff time and resources to set up this event. Special sound and camera equipment were also purchased for this event. City Administrator Mike Story said that the use of the building was donated so the additional costs were appropriate. Normally when you rent a facility the costs are not $20 thousand and your not required to make improvements to the rental property.

To make matters worse is there is a private trust attached to this event and the GENERAL FUND!!!!!! This private trust cost the city of Rialto’s General Fund an additional $10,500 due to improper reporting practices!!!!! So lets do the math…….

10,500 + 20,000 + 9,000= $39,500

As you see from the image above the Mayor Deborah Robertson’s event is only supposed to cost $9,000 not $39,500. You see the Mayor Robertson thinks she is above being questioned. She thinks she is better than the rest of Rialto. So over the last few years we watched our former airport and beautiful fields that used to be filled with wildflowers of all different colors being filled with big ugly warehouses right in the communities back yard. Can you guess where Mayor Robertson is holding her self promotion events now? Inside the very warehouses she pushed on our small community. Mayor Robertson complains that there is nowhere BIG ENOUGH to hold her event. Yet it is unclear if the Mayor has ever looked to use one of the three gyms that at any of the Rialto High Schools or even asked to rent space from Calvary Chapel Rialto, Sunrise Church or Lighthouse for the Blind all who have large newer buildings that would accommodate the Mayors event.

Councilman explains his issues with the money being spent on this event.

Below is a complete record of the tab item where Ed Scott uses his sons death and the Mayor cries to try and cloud the issue with emotion and taking your eyes off of all the money being spent on the mayors private event.

Video by rialto-now

Rialto High Cheerleaders Honored At Rialto City Hall

10 Feb 2016 Leave a comment

On Tuesday night the Rialto High School Cheer Squad received recognition for finishing number one for the 4th year in a row at City Hall during the Council Meeting. Rialto High Cheer just placed first at the CheerPros State Championships at the Citizens Bank Arena. They also won a full paid bid to the “Best of the West” Invitational in Long Beach. The Best of the West is on March 6th at CSULB and Nationals is March 18-20th at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The Cheer Team was recognized for their skill and dedication by Mayor Pro Tem Joe Baca Jr.

Most of the players were called up one at a time to receive their individual awards of recognition. There was a bit of an uncomfortable moment as Mayor Pro Tem left out four players who the awards were not printed.

The Team here at Rialto Now would like once again congratulate the team and wish them luck as they take on the Best of The West next month.

Video by rialto-now

Rialto City Treasurer Calls Mayor & City Clerks Events Gift of Public Funds

07 Feb 2016 Leave a comment

Newly elected Rialto mayor Deborah Robertson sits down for an interview at her home in Rialto on Friday, Nov. 9, 2012. Robertson made history this November election with becoming Rialto’s first black mayor. (Rachel Luna / Staff Photographer)

What is the given tag line when T.V. cops are looking to find a criminal act? Follow the money. Well the publicly elected person that oversees the cities finances has called a foul on Mayor Deborah Robertson & City Clerk Barbara McGee. Accusations of gifts of public funds and misuse of city employee’s duties has led Edward Carrillo to file a complaint with the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit on the actions of the Mayor and City Clerk when it comes to private events that get thousands of public tax dollars to fund them.

If the mayor had your neighbors roof repaired and repaired their bathrooms would that be a proper use of tax dollars? Below is a snap shot of one of many pages to Edward Carrillo’s complaints to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit asking for an investigation into these tactics.

Edward Carrillo says that the money spent over the years on events like those below were a misuse of public resources for their personal gain or benefit. So in a scramble to make these charges null and void the Mayor is trying to get the city council to call her events city events and not just into the future but PRIOR events as well. Mayor Robertson believes that if she can get two of her colleagues to go along she can skirt the investigation by the public integrity unit. What this has done is force the Mayor, City Clerk and other Council Members to try and cover their tracks.

The sad part is Mayor Robertson is lumping these events geared to promote her in a positive light in the community with real city events that are of a community interest.

State of Women Conference – ($9,000)

Run Around the Rocks – ($1,500) **Now we know why the Mayor skipped the Rialto Police Fallen Officer Memorial 5K

Below are a few of the many REAL public events that Mayor Robertson is using as leverage to get her private events approved. What is sad is in the two events above that shows another $10,500 that could be used to highlight Rialto Athletes or Really make a summer series that people want to attend.

Sports Hall of Fame – is a dynamic recognition ceremony that honors athletes that have brought honor and fame to the City of Rialto. The Athletes recognized range from individuals to championship teams.($3,800)

Summer Series – this event is designed to keep children entertained in a safe, affordable, productive environment during the summer months while school is out. There are combo movies/concert series, as well as other events in the parks with a variety of activities, like “Bark in the Park”, “Sounds of Rialto” and Pool Activities covering May through August.($9,000)

The answer is simple:

Mayor Robertson should remove herself from the room as she has a conflict of interest in this item.
Council should make a motion to approve all of the events except for the State of Women Conference & Run Around the Rocks
Any Council member that try’s to help the mayor avoid a investigation by voting these two events in should be put on notice that this will effect re-elcetion.

Roberto told us “its not fair that the people we elect spend more time trying to hurt us rather than help us.

Cindy said in a quote “I voted for Mayor Robertson as did my family and she not only helped put her opponent back on council but she is doing the same things we expected from him (ed scott)”

Speaking of the election when looking for a photo for this story we stumbled on a story that Josh Dulaney did on the win over Ed Scott.

Robertson didn’t hesitate in saying she will bring a different kind of leadership than Vargas, who had a reputation for being swayed by other council members when it came time to vote.

“There’s a difference between Grace and I,” she said. “Grace was there and Grace was led. I’m there and I’m very comfortable with leading.”

Robertson pledges to bring transparency to City Hall, and says the top priorities are jobs, economic development, a healthy community and open space issues.

How is spending public money on non city events transparency? How are you leading if you are not listening to your colleagues?

Email Drobertson@rialtoca.gov and let the mayor know what you expect out of her as Rialto’s Mayor

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What Happens When The City Can’t Follow Their Own Rules?

08 Jan 2016 Leave a comment

Ever since the city of Rialto took on the Water Reductions from the State of California we have been threatened with massive fines if we did not follow the new strict water rules. Even families that ripped out entire lawns were fined by the city and to get anyone to listen to their plight they had to go to a city council meeting.

The city does everything it can to make sure you know what your not supposed to be doing with your water use even to go as far as use http://www.nextdoor.com to beat residents over their digital heads reminding them not to waste water but who is keeping an eye on the City Officials? Even Mayor Deborah Robertson is caught on video claiming that “every drop counts” but does it really?

The park above Flores Park on Etiwanda Ave has long been a park that the city has ignored and left things up to the local residents to make changes. The disdain for this local community made up of all races, young and old, cops/teachers/business owners/laborers has had their speed limit jump up almost 20 MPH, told no on a stop sign, forced to band together to get more police help and protect their children from Fire Ant Infestations and Play ground Equipment that is boarded up and falling apart. Now they want to flood the grass and waste water. The local Community Group Flores Park Group a collection of community members have invited the Mayor and Park Councilman Joe Baca Jr. to many events but they have never came out to see what the community deals with everyday.

Video by rialto-now

Rafael Trujillo Exits Stage Left But May Be Waiting In The Wings

08 Dec 2015 Leave a comment

by rialto-now in Ca, Cancer, Clifford Young, Colton, Crime, Currupt, Fontana, Grand Terrace, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Rialto, San Bernardino, Uncategorized, Water

Rafael Trujillo is a name you may know but may not be able to remember where from. Prior to September his greatest claim to fame would be a former aide to numerous State and Federal elected officials and a member of the Rialto Parks and Recreation Committee. He has tried to run for every local office that is available to him and has always fallen short. He has even used political favors to try and get appointed to Rialto City Council but not even that worked.

It wasn’t until a seat came open on the West Valley Water Board that Rafael found his way in. This September Rafael was appointed as a Director of the water board. He still had to cross a hurdle that he has yet to successfully win an election where the people had to choose him. He failed to win one of three seats on the water board even though he worked hard to tarnish the reputation of the only incumbent seeking re-election Alan Dyer.

At the November 5th meeting Rafael hinted at the future for him even though he had already lost the election? What pray tell can be his future when he lost the election?

On top of all this Rafael was given a glowing recommendation of his time on the board three whole months. Below is Rafael’s speech after he was given his Resolution for his three months as a water board director.

Here are our problems with this:

Two board members left with this election Betty Gosney and Rafael Trujillo. The resolutions were done on different meetings Mrs. Gosney the outgoing President and 13 year veteran did not get her resolution and was called a racist. Rafael Trujillo revived his with a unanimous vote for only three months of service.
When President Clifford Young gave Rafael Trujillo his award Mr. Young gave Rafael time to speak yet he didn’t limit him to the same three minutes that he limited all other speakers to.
Rafael refers to issues he was passionate about but fails to remember his passionate issues when accepting his public resolution.
The West Valley Water Board continues its witch hunt on Mr. Dyer and if they find enough dirt to remove him from his seat you can guarantee that Rafael will be there waiting in the wings.
Are there people on the board feeding Rafael information from closed session meetings? Everything having to do with the Boards illegal informant is done in closed session and Rafael seems to be well versed in what has been going on.

We write all of this not because we dislike Mr. Trujillo or to cause him grief we simply want to get our elected officials to work on the peoples behalf not their own.

Rialto Unified School District Hears Parents Concerns and Responds With Help

09 Oct 2015 1 Comment

Dollahan Elementary gets a RUSD Public safety Officer

Parents at the local school of Dollahan Elementary watched school drop off and pick up times become a major issue. The issues were wide spread out on the street Etiwanda Ave, in the City Park that is in front of the school (Flores Park) and inside the enclosed oddly shaped parking lot. We have covered numerous stories of issues that almost led to dire consequences and we fielded a lot of calls from the city, school district and police.

Well the school district has had the appropriate reaction to our pleading for more safety at this Elementary school. Monday September 28th Rialto Unified School District Public Safety Department has had a Public Safety Officer on site keeping things safer inside of the school parking lot. You may ask what has changed by adding a Public Safety Officer? Well here are the changes:

No longer do parents double and triple park bringing the traffic flow to a dead stop.
The angry pushy bus drivers no longer come into the parking lot blaring their horns.
Areas that are labeled for buses or Day Care Vans no longer have parents parking there.
Staff and District vehicles are no longer driving on the side walks while kids are preparing to leave for the day.
Parents and children are now safer inside the parking lot.

What hasn’t changed is the total disregard for parking rules in Flores Park and traffic on Etiwanda Ave where the issue of angry parents and fighting over traffic supremacy and the ZERO enforcement of traffic by the city or police. Parents still speed up and down local neighborhood streets, road rage controls Etiwanda Ave, the crossing guard is nearly taken out on a daily basis and the city should remove all of the red curb paint and handicap markings because nobody pays any attention to them and Rialto PD seems to have an issue enforcing the CVC code.

One of the latest issues that sits solely on the shoulders of the city is the sidewalks. When Marcus Fuller was the Public Works Director residents complained about the 1000’s of lifted sidewalks in the Flores Park Area. Mr. Fuller’s remedy was to grind some of those sidewalks and the others they used black asphalt to create ramps. So like everything else Mr. Fuller did in Rialto it was a halfway attempt to fix a problem and now things are worse than before. Here is why:

When the asphalt was laid down it was allowed to spill over and damage residents lawns and properties.
The asphalt didn’t fuse together correctly so it has began to fall apart and denigrate.
Since parents that don’t want to fight the traffic that the police can’t get under control they walk their kids and there has been a recent spike in people falling and injuring themselves.
With speeding up and down residential streets at an uncontrolled high, the neighborhood street that should be a safe place for kids to ride bikes and skateboards isn’t an option so the kids have been pushed onto sidewalks. The pitted and uneaven sidewalks have left local children with an increase in injuries.

Calls and conversations with the new Public Works Director Robert Eisenbeisz have left us with no solutions. The only thing Mr. Eisenbeisz has said is that “IF” measure “I” money comes in from SANBAG then we can look at Etiwanda Ave.

Normally this is where I would tell people to speak up and demand action but that doesn’t work anymore. If your not in the political favor of Mayor Robertson or the “Liberal Park Councilman” Joe Baca Jr. or the “Pay For Me To Travel One More Time Councilman” Ed Scott your not getting ANYTHING!!!! The city leadership doesn’t seem to care about the community, the brown act or just being transparent. The city and the many departments don’t do anything all they do is point the finger at someone else.

So what is ironic about this is the School District is the only party here that had an appropriate response to issues within their sphere of influence and a level of appreciation goes out to the Public Safety Department for their quick and timely response.

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