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Rialto Now 2020 Voter Guide

28 Oct 2020 Leave a comment

Rialto you once again have way to many people to choose from when it comes to electing new leaders. We have spent years in Rialto and we know a lion share of the people running for this years open seats. This guide is not a paid opportunity and isn’t tied to one party over the other. These seats are all ones where we need people wo don’t toe a party line but are willing to do whatever it takes to represent the people.

Some School Board Candidates were left off the image above and a couple faces got cut off this was not done on purpose we promise.

So without further to do here we go:

Rialto Mayor

For Rialto Mayor we were excited to see this race develop. You have Ed Palmer a strong former City Councilman and Small Business owner coming back to apply what he learned about this race 4 years ago. While you have Lupe Camacho looking to come in to steal the show. We feel that Ed Palmer will be the best choice for Rialto moving forward. If your worried about what will happen to Rialto’s development movement you can be rest assured that Ed Palmer did a lion share of this work already and can keep us moving forward.

For Mayor vote Ed Palmer

Rialto City Council

Nobody sitting on the council right now has my support. Councilman Trujillo made National news by trying to hold a secret meeting at City Hall about making Rialto a Sanctuary City. He has shown since that he has little to no voice and can’t stand up for Rialto when they need him. Councilman Carrizales is no better he is so tied to the Mayor that he couldn’t see or choose to not look as the Mayor gifted funds and city buildings to select people and non profits. At best he is a good looking face to stand in front of businesses he had no hand in attracting to Rialto. He also can’t vote on many business items in Rialto as he has to recuse himself time and time again.

Our picks to replace these two poor choices are Andrew Karol and Stacey Augustine.

Andrew Karol I know well and have had the pleasure of working with him for more than 10 years. My haters will be happy to know that Andy has not been shy to tell me when he thinks I am wrong or going to far. He always did it with care and tact. About 6 years ago when racial tensions were at a tipping point and a group of black lives activists were planning a demonstration in Rialto Andy led a group of officers to meet with the protestors and start conversations about how minorities and police interact with each other. Andrew Karol would make a fine Councilman that will represent everyone.

Stacey Augustine I have not known for long and there was a time I did not trust him. It wasn’t anything that Stacey did it was more about the people he surrounded himself with, I was unsure of his agenda. Stacey was the Chair of the Budget Advisory Committee that I also served on. Stacey was a fair Chair and we had a lot on meaningful conversations. As a corporate leader he also decided to bring something to Rialto that is needed and took a gamble brining it to the heart of the city. Stacey is bringing a restaurant/pool hall to downtown Rialto. Many downtown business owners have shared with me that they feel abandoned or forgotten in the Downtown Area so Stacey will bring someone with skin in the game that I believe cares.

Rialto Unified School Board

With Joe Ayala stepping away it clears space for at least one new face to sit on the school board and everyone has their candidate lined up to take a seat and do their bidding. Three seats are up this year With Nancy O’Kelly and Joseph Martinez are running for re election. I am only backing two candidates this go around and you don’t have to vote for three.

My picks are Mirna Ruiz and Joseph Martinez.

Joseph Martinez has always been kind, thoughtful and not hard to get a hold of. He has always taken my call or found time to talk about a problem even when he knew I wasn’t happy with anyone at the moment. He also knows when to stay out of the way and let staff handle things he isn’t the guy that needs to have the mic or be front and center for the photo. Martinez known for his love of STEM will be found in the background support students and staff at his favorite events. Joe is an all around good guy and the type of person you need leading your schools.

Mirna Ruiz is what every student needs on a school board. Mirna is a Special Ed Mom and a Special Ed Advocate. All to many times districts fail to do what is in the best interest of SPED students. Most of the time it is out of shear ignorance to how SPED programs work, the rest is willful defiance of a legal document. To put 2020 and this election into perspective over 400 SPED parents have sued school districts this year for lack of serivces provided. That is over 400 students that their IEP’s are so messed up that the parents had no other recourse then to sue the school. Don’t you think having someone on the board that knows a thing or two about SPED would be a good thing?

So all that you have left to do is vote, its easy this year you don’t even have to leave your house if you don’t want to. If you don’t vote you can’t complain!

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House Fire Rocks Rialto Neighborhood

23 Jun 2019 Leave a comment

Around 1:15 pm on Saturday June 22nd in the area of Driftwood and Rosewood in the city of Rialto a fire erupted from the garage at a single family residence. According to officials on scene a fire started in the garage and the smell of smoke alerted the family that were in the backyard at the time.

People living East of the fire were alerted to the smell of smoke and said that there was an electrical smell to the smoke from the fire. Rialto fire had six units respond to the fire along with two Rialto Police units. Rialto Fire worked quick to contain the the fire mostly to the garage from appearances.

This fire is a reminder as to why our garages contain fire doors, sheet rock and other materials that are rated to hold up a little longer to give people a chance of escape. Our garages are full of combustible materials including our cars in most cases.

The garage was a total loss and the roof had collapsed on two cars inside. Even though this is a horrible event the upside is that there no injuries or loss of life in this fire.

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Rialto’s New City Administrator Comes With Orange County Baggage

21 Jun 2019 3 Comments

by rialto-now in #CA31st, Ana Gonzales, Andy Carrizales, Ca, City of Rialto, Colton, Currupt, Ed Scott, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, joseph williams, Mike Story, Rafael Trujillo, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Fire

Something has not smelled right about this entire process of hiring the next city administrator replacing outgoing city administrator Mike Story. Not once did the city council even present a list of other people they were looking at and still refuse to produce the short list of candidates that were also in consideration. The main reason many say that is because nobody else wanted to even be considered for the job! Many highly qualified candidates spoke to us off the record saying they were offered a chance at consideration but turned it down over Rialto’s looming budget issues.

In comes Rod Foster a man that was whisked into Rialto without any word or discussion. The city council handed out a Quarter of a Million Dollar employment contract without any discussion, it was almost too easy like there was something to hide? Here is how Rod Fosters pay and benefits will break down:

A salary of $240,000 per year
$85,000 in benefits
120 hours of vacation leave up front + 10 hours per month
120 hours of sick leave up front + 10 hours per month
140 hours of administrative leave per year + 10 hours per month
Plus a 8,500 cash advance if he moves within 25 miles of Rialto

To make matters worse is if Rod Foster works for just 5 years he will be vested for life in the benefits program with his wife and any dependent children. All of this to some extent was in our 1st article, now onto the new stuff.

It all began on June 3rd when the Rialto Record wrote an article on the hiring of Rod Foster. The Rialto Record added 2 cities that Rod Foster had worked for that were not publicly known until that day. Part of Rod Foster’s experience was as an assistant manager to 2 totally broken cities in the Inland Empire Hesperia and Upland. Then came a message from the former Mayor of Laguna Niguel Jerry Slusiewicz who spelled out claims that Rod Foster is under investigation for mismanaging money in Laguna Niguel.

The past that haunts Rod Foster are claims of money mismanagement in Laguna Niguel by approving contract increases to the eventual tune of $4.1 million dollars. We reached out the Orange County DA and they wouldn’t elude into current open investigations. What is ironically scary is that when these questionable money matters were going on a flury of high end officals close to Rod Fosters office up and left without any notice.

Prior to that Rod Foster was around the city of Upland when City Manager Robb Quincey was involved in hiding facts and playing games with public money. Popular figures like Gary Grosich and Eileen Gomez want you to look past these times in Rod Fosters life and look to when he worked in Colton. Gary Grosich will bite your head off if you ask questions about Rod Fosters past and Eileen Gomez claims Rod Foster is a man of the people yet he refuses to talk to anyone outside of city hall.

Another fact is Rod isn’t the man he was in Colton. In Colton he worked 60 hours a week and did the job of 4 people. Many close to Rod have said he is just looking to max out his pension and carry a high salary job to pay for his sons college education. The San Bernardino Sentinel spells this out in their article on Rod Foster.

Under the control of Ed Scott it seems that he could care less if the people are informed and he will rule this city with an iron fist. Ed Scott moved this item along like it was a simple proceedure and not the highest ranking position in the city government. Ed Scott has asked for more clarification on details of parking lot construction when he feels slighted by the Mayor or a Developer but moved this along like it was nothing. After the cotract was approved he asked Rod Foster to protect him from the taxpayers!

When will Rialto wake up!!!!!

Two Dead Bodies Found in Rialto Neighborhood

28 Apr 2019 Leave a comment

Photo of crime scene at Sycamore and Jackson Streets from Loud Labs IE

RIALTO (LoudLabs News)

On Saturday morning, April 27, 2019, the Rialto Police Department along with the City of Rialto Fire Department responded to reports of a two people down. The incident was reported around 6:19am in the 100 block of E. Jackson Street.

When Officers arrived they located two males, down in the front yards of two different addresses, roughly 200 feet apart. Both victims were pronounced deceased at the scene. Homicide Detectives as well as the Coroner’s Office were just arriving at the scene around 8:30am.

Police investigators working the crime scene where 2 dead bodies were found on the corner of Sycamore and Jackson Streets photo from Loud Labs IE

Details surrounding the two deaths are limited as Police will only say they are conducting a death investigation. No further information was immediately available.

Why are murders and deaths on the rise in Rialto?

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Rialto City Hall Hemorrhages High Ranking Staff

03 Apr 2019 3 Comments

by rialto-now in #CA31st, Andy Carrizales, Budget, Burglury, Ca, City of Rialto, Deborah Robertson, Ed Scott, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Public Safety, Rafael Trujillo, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Parks, Rialto Police Department

In a sign of what is going on under the surface of Rialto City Hall another high ranking longtime employee of the City of Rialto’s management team has left the city of Rialto. Human Resources and Risk Management Director Lucy Garcia has left the city of Rialto for another unknown agency. For the last year and a half the city has lost seven main leadership positions and has only managed to fill one of them. We learned late last month that Development Director and Assistant City Administrator Robb Steel will be leaving this August.

To make matters worse is the City is on its 3rd Interm City Administrator, the people that the city has offered code enforcement and city engineering jobs to turned them down and nobody wants to be our police chief so we brought back Kling who is on a mission to destroy the relationship between the community and the police. Nobody wants to work here and we should strongly question anyone who chooses to except a job here.

Sources inside city hall say that Lucy Garcia left because she was being asked to withhold information from employees and do things that were not ethical. The information coming out of city hall isn’t surprising to me since I watched Lucy get attacked by the city council over giving the Budget Advisory Committee the information we asked for and not holding things back.

I will point out once more there is no plan for dealing with our $150 Million in Unfunded Liabilities and they just keep adding more and more public safety positions. Just in the last Council Meeting in March the Police and Fire Departments have added staff that were frozen over future cost concerns. Now Rialto has a new police captain we can’t afford and the fire department is adding a Deputy Chief to the payroll.

Never in my life have I looked at such a blatant disregard for financial ethics and common sense.

Rialto City Council Doubles Down With $2.5 Million Dollar Employee Raises

26 Mar 2019 Leave a comment

The Rialto City Council prepares to pay off more election day favors tonight as the Fire Union receives a $2.5 Million Dollar increase the city can’t afford. I respect our public safety officials but running for political office in this city and taking the Rialto Fire Union meeting was a big mistake. I learned that the only way a person gets the nod or financial support of any union in this city is by vowing blind devotion to whatever that union wants no matter if we can afford it or not.

These are costs we can’t afford, Rialto is the only public agency that has failed to address the $150 Million Dollars in unfunded liability the city of Rialto faces. They report the number being only $126 Million but that is because the other $24 Million is unfunded liabilities to the cities Retiree Medical Benefit Fund. You may be asking yourself how did they address the $24 Million in unfunded liabilities to the cities Retiree Medical Benefit Fund? They are simply ignoring it!!!

Yes this is how your elected officials deal with major problems they just ignore it and go on spending taxpayer money like nothing is going on!

To those of you that think I am wrong to say our elected officials are bought and paid by the unions, all you have to do is look at the juvenile way Councilman Ed Scott dealt with being given a professional opinion. Ed Scott voted against emergency repairs to the waste water treatment plant, voted against much needed infrastructure repairs but voted yes on the tab item presented by the Rialto Fire Union!

In the agenda for tonight’s meeting staff says that the $2.5 Million cost for this public union pay off is factored into the budget. So why would I say that this is a misleading statement? Well what the staff report fails to mention is that the way we afford this union pay off is by illegally dipping into the cities reserve fund.

“The City Council adopted the FY18-19 Budget with anticipated adjustments. Hence, the proposed compensation increases for FY 18-19 have been absorbed in the current Fiscal Year Budget. Future enhancements will need to be incorporated into future fiscal year budgets.”

The future enhancements referenced in the staff report are:

A change from the cities own ordnance that dictates that the city hold 50% of operation costs in a reserve account.
Additional taxes on homeowners for a fire district tax.
Additional taxes on Hotels.
Additional Sales & Gas Tax.

Another strange thing is that the cities Fire Chief was moved into the place of Iterm City Administrator before this contract was put in place is now the one responsible for signing off on its validity.

For City Council Meeting [March 26, 2019]

TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council

APPROVAL: Sean Grayson, Interim City Administrator

FROM: Lucy M. Garcia, Director of Human Resources & Risk Management

Another glaring point in this agreement is the additional money that the city is dumping into the fire station and union staff. Right now the city offsets the costs of the cities fitness center and pool by paying for each and every employee to have access to the cities gym and workout facilities. Now the city is spending $79,000 this year alone on what the city already provides?

Medical Assessments and Fitness Equipment: To address safety, the parties agree to new annual health assessments and fitness equipment at the fire stations. Costs: $79,000 initially (including $54,000 in medical assessment costs and $25,000 in fitness equipment costs). Equipment maintenance costs and other annual testing will ensue thereafter.

What is worse is there is zero accountability that the Fire Staff will actually use said equipment and there are heavy maintenance and replacement costs that this contract fails to address and ignores.

To add insult to injury the Rialto City Council hidden in the Consent Calendar is an increase in the rate of pay for all Commissioners in the city of Rialto….. No Wait that is a pay increase for the only commission that is paid the planning commission! Once again people who said they would volunteer their time are being paid and now they are receiving a raise we can’t afford. Still to this day there is no plan for how to deal with the $150 Million Dollar Unfunded Liabilities.

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Rialto City Council Member Threatens Legal Action Against Interm City Administrator and City Attorney

19 Mar 2019 1 Comment

On March 12th 2019 the Rialto City Council held yet another episode of As Rialto Turns. Apparently Iterm City Manager Shaun Grayson and City Attorney Fred Galante gave Councilman Ed Scott a recommendation that he abstain from TAB 1 on the city council agenda because the tab item touched on his area of residence.

This enraged Councilman Ed Scott as he is not accustomed to being told what to do. What is funny is this was only a recommendation it was not an order, but Ed Scott took it as he was being forced to abstain. Mr Scott brought up the reason as to why he would not be involved in this tab item but wouldn’t go into detail about why he believed this was taking place short of claiming it was political and was clear in the staff report.

What was even more surprising was how quickly Ed Scott shut down City Attorney Fred Galante’s attempt to explain his recommendation and adding “I don’t care to hear your reason” as the city attorney tried to explain his actions. What is funny when Councilman Ed Scott is being sued our money and attorneys are fine to give him legal advise as long as he agrees with it.

To add insult to injury Ed Scott voted NO on every other single tab item outside on the tab item presented by Rialto Fire (the union that paid to get him re elected). We are not sure why Ed Scott decided to try and derail over 6 million in much needed infrastructure projects even a $49,000 item for Emergency Slope Repairs at the Rialto Waste Water Treatment Plant. So Ed Scott was mad at the City Attorney and Interm City Administrator but shouldn’t he be able to grow up and at least vote for emergency repairs to our Waste Water Treatment Plant!!!

Look to our next story as we outline how staff are fleeing Rialto City Hall in droves and what this says about Rialto’s future!

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New Fire Prevention Specialist Richard Boltinghouse Joins Rialto Fire

19 Mar 2019 Leave a comment

Richard Boltinghouse joins the Rialto Fire Department Family from the City of Chino Hills where he served as the Emergency Services Coordinator. He was responsible for development of their Emergency Operation Plans, Hazard Mitigation Plan, and training for city staff for ICS/NIMS/SEMS.

Prior to working for the City of Chino Hills, Richard worked for the City of Corona Fire Department where he had almost seven years of combined employment and volunteer service. At Chino Hills, he served as an Emergency Management and CERT Technician. Richard currently resides in the City of Corona with his wife Christina and their 5-year-old daughter Faithlyn.

Richard has a bachelor’s degree in fire and emergency management from Kaplan University and a master’s degree in public administration from Cal Baptist University according to his Linkden profile.

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Rialto Middle School Holds Annual Career Day

06 Mar 2019 Leave a comment

On Wednesday February 27th Rialto Middle School held their annual career day where fifty three different presenters came out to expose the students to a wide variety of potential careers. Many were your traditional careers like law enforcement, teaching and the medical field. Yet there were many presenters that were from career fields we may not think of when we are preparing kids for their future!

One presenter was John Merchant a local voice actor, professional beat boxer and a radio DJ personality. John Merchant showed off his latest project he worked on was the Missy Elliot Project where musician Christina Hall pays homage to one of the most influential female rappers of the 20th century. John also spoke to the kids about how to be successful in life with something you are passionate about. John Merchant didn’t talk at the students he spoke with them.

We came to this interview unprepared because we thought that Kenny Landreaux just worked for the Dodgers organization in the front office. We were not aware that he played professional baseball. Kenny came to speak to the filed of being a professional athlete and working in other facets in the professional sports arena. It was pretty cool to see that Rialto Middle School had him out to speak to the kids.

We wanted to see Mike Kindrich’s presentation just because of our knowledge of what his employer Mercy Air does. Mercy Air operates private air ambulance service helping get critically injured people to a care facility as quickly and safely as possible. When we found out Mike was a helicopter mechanic that was even better. Mike spoke to his body of work and the many different opportunities that existed in the field he worked in. Mike is a A&P Mechanic this A&P license has given Mike the ability to work as a civilian for the army, a ride mechanic for Disneyland and now a Mechanic for Mercy Air.

One thing that was clear at this career day was that the staff were invested in seeing the students succeed now in school and in the future. This career day event was inventive, exciting and totally an out of the norm type of event for a public school. This event was something you normally see in a private school not a public school setting. I was honored to be able to get a chance to attend and cover this event.

Big thank you has to go out to Mr Rod Campbell who invited us to this event, the principal who was so welcoming, school counselors for going the extra mile and the school security staff that always had a smile each time we saw them on campus!

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Double Homicide Rocks Flores Park Neighborhood

01 Mar 2019 1 Comment

by rialto-now in Ca, City of Rialto, Inland Empire, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Police Department, youth

Rialto Police Detectives working on incident scene – Photo by Jennifer Maher

On February 25th around 5pm a shooting was reported to Rialto Police on Baseline just East of Cedar. When Rialto Police arrived on scene they discovered two victims shot in a vehicle that was facing Westbound. Witnesses said that the victims vehicle was approached by the suspects vehicle and while in motion and while side by side shot into the victims vehicle numerous times striking the two occupants.

Rialto Fire arrived on scene and transported the victims to Arrowhead Regional where life saving treatment but both victims passed away due to thier injuries. Still at this time Rialto Police do not have any suspects. The official statement from Rialto Police Public Information Officer Lt Stella is that they still do not have a motive in this case. The incident shook the quiet community of Rialto known as the Flores Park Area and snarled traffic for hours as Rialto Police worked late into the night investigating this tragic event.

Rialto was once known for violence like this in the 90’s but has seen a sharp decline in violent crimes especially car to car shootings. To make matters worse one of the victims of this crime was a High School Student from Carter High School Jaylen McClain. Parents and staff from Carter High School said that this week counselors were on hand to help students and staff deal with this tragic loss. Officers speaking to students also spoke about first getting to know Jaylen when he was 9 years old and say that it is tragic that something in his life led him to be killed this way.

Witness statements posted to our Facebook page spell out what happened that evening:

Stayc Paul “I was on my way to take my Grandbaby to softball practice about 4:50pm. I was headed down baseline. I was at the light, as I crossed cedar ppl were honking at a gray 2 door Honda Civic because he was half in one lane half in the turn lane. Looked like he was shot in the head. He was in the driver seat, and his head was slumped back. It must’ve just happened when I passed. I didn’t see a second person though”.

What is sad is 10 years ago this community was dealing with gangs, drugs and graffiti coupled with a lot of home invasion robberies. A group of residents banded together to help Rialto Police deal with the unwanted crime in their neighborhood. A lot of good work was done for a few years and crime in this area was down dramatically. When Rialto Police started giving up on resident outreach in this area because some in the community were not comfortable with corruption going on inside the department and city things have taken a sharp decline. Just one week prior to this shooting an armed robbery and suspect pursuit ended behind the communities elementary school prompting school officials to hold an brief lock down. Drug activity has been on the rise in this community along with personal property theft and graffiti.

Nobody wants to see Rialto slip back into crime and unrest but nobody knows how to stop the slide?

The Rialto Police Investigations Unit was contacted and is currently conducting an investigation into the double homicide. Anyone with information concerning this investigation is asked to immediately contact Detective Ralph Ballew at (909) 820-8055 or via email at Rballew@rialtopd.com