Tomorrow March 10th from 8:00am to 9:00pm come out and join us for coffee with Rialto’s Top Cop.
Coffee With The Chief Rialto
09 Mar 2015 Leave a comment
in Ca, City of Rialto, Coffee Nutz, Crime, Inland Empire, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto Police Department, Rialto Rotary, SWAT
Rialto Community Forum Results and Break Down
17 Feb 2015 Leave a comment
On January 29th the city held a community forum on a wide range of topics that matter to Rialto. The layout was different from other forums being people were given an opportunity to vote and speak on each topic. The evening wrapped up with Mayor Robertson asking if anyone from the crowd had any additional questions. The event was simple each person was given a clicker and was able to vote with multiple choice selections then make comments afterwards.
Looking back there were no questions on the failed water deal, on the distribution of Community Development Block Grants, on City Councils performance or on how the Measure “U” money will be spent. Why? Because the Mayor and her cohorts don’t want to hear what you feel on those issues. Well we want to know how you feel on one of those questions:
I was not able to attend due to my commitment to the Communities United Meeting that was the same night in Redlands but thanks to You Tube and Mr. Felton at Rialto Network we were able to see the results here:
Thanks to Mike Story you too can make your voice be heard in this online survey and answer the same questions that the people who attended to meeting did her:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RialtoEng
Now to the nights results:
Notice how none of the regular city people even gave them all excellant. Ask people this same question now that they see travel spending out of control, taxes being wasted and corruption poking its ugly head once again.
Here nobody gave the quality of life here in Rialto an excellent this is beyond sad because when I was a kid Rialto was a great place to be and live.
Yes shopping and eating are the greatest priorities to Quality of Life here in Rialto. So what does Rialto do they shove all the eateries into one small spot creating a traffic nightmare and further frustrate Rialto residents you see our City Council isn’t happy if you’re not upset.
This result worries me because with more warehouses comes more truck traffic and trucks don’t follow the rules of the road and they do major damage to our streets that will create another fee (TAX) and punish us because they refuse to allocate the proper funds to fix our roads.
You can’t read it but sit down restaurants once again led in the voting and I guess that is fine. You can only have so many restaurants before you need other business options to feed those businesses. I don’t know about you but I will shop at Target before I ever step foot in a Walmart or even a Super Walmart. With rude shaggy staff, dirty shelves and story after story of the crime a walmart brings due to their lazy policies on Loss Prevention. Oh and don’t forget even though San Bernardino leads the IE in deadly crime and gang activity they are getting a Golden Coral Restaurant later this year. Yes a restaurant that would do well in Rialto goes to San Bernardino.
Until the city figures out how to create a sales tax base for warehouses in Rialto I agree with None of The Above. The city wants to tax the residents to death because they see us as easy marks.
Rialto is easier to work with than most other cities and recent business owners to open up shop in Rialto attest to this fact. I’m sure after the recent elected officials settle in they will change that overnight.
Yes we think you should enforce property maintenance this is a silly questions. I love how someone doesn’t want to do their job they pass it off on the community to see if they need to enforce the rules or laws.
I would like to know what the city thinks Active Adult Community Housing is? Here is what google says it is:
Active adult communities are real estate developments that offer independent, relatively maintenance-free living to residents aged 55 and over. In “age restricted” active adult communities, 80% of homeowners must be 55 and over, while “age-targeted” communities simply market to the 55+ crowd. Many of the residents continue to work part or full time, which is why the term “active adult retirement communities” is less accurate. The residents are not opposed to children (or grandchildren!) either. Rather, the 55+ component simply assumes that people at the same stage of life probably share a few leisure-time interests and pursuits.
Not surprising that the largely elderly group voting would vote this way.
Wow you mean Rialto streets need to be worked on? Well of course they do but it seems like with the balance of power shifting to the side of corruption, money shifting and lavish traveling at the cities expense. Its so bad Councilman O’Connell had to eat his words when citizens told the council that the Trash Tax would not be an addition to current money spent on roads but a way to shift road money into pet projects to pay off favors to special interests.
Once again Street Maintenance wins out but good luck getting this council to do good things that will improve our lives here in Rialto.
If the 22 people want more free community events they need to bring their friends with with them our market nights had very low turnout numbers and our city refuses to work with anyone else to help make the Market Nights more appealing. Some of the community events are awesome and some are lame the lame ones tend to be the ones where outside help is not excepted at all.
Here is Joe Baca Jr. go to place he is Mr. Parks and he was MIA. The rails to trails is underway and costing the city hundreds of thousands of dollars more than originally planned.
I would agree ask me about dispatch and thats a whole different story.
NO I don’t feel safe in Rialto. We are holding onto a low crime rate by holding back a flood with a bed sheet. We need to bolster our staffing within the police department, get our bars under control and finally get serious about the issues of San Bernardino crime rolling into our city.
Yes our police department is in a much better place with Chief Tony Farrar at the helm. He is an approachable person, a good leader and a great cop. One of the things I like most about Chief Farrar is that he doesn’t seem like he is on a fast track to a cushy political career like others that have recently left Rialto Police Department he is busy making our police department the best it can be with the resources he is given. Even as a big PD Supporter there are times I don’t see eye to eye with the police but the command staff isn’t against sitting down and hashing it out and talking about issues. In the end sometimes we have to agree to disagree but the respect remains because they took the time to hear you out.
I would agree with the 22 people that voted on this question. My question is why do we compare ourselves to other cities when it comes to safety or a justification to raise illegal taxes on the people of Rialto? Yet when you ask them to do a simple thing like figure out how to create a sales tax base opportunity from the numerous warehouses that are being forced on the community they throw thier hands up and claim they are trying their best? Well I’m sorry your best isn’t good enough anymore. If San Bernardino can get their warehouses to pay a separate tax to the city why can’t Rialto?
I believe our fire services are great. We use our own ambulances in most cases, fire fighters are kind men and women and Chief Mat Fratus is constantly working to make Rialto Fire an innovative part of Rialto.
I do believe one thing we need is a FREE class that teaches Basic CPR & First Aide because many people have no idea what to do when a friend or family member falls ill or is the victim of an emergency.
The Fireworks Enforcement in Rialto is horrible. The people we have working the Fireworks hotline could not hear or understand the callers, hung up on the callers and did not give the community confidence that our concerns were getting through. Then you have Rialto PD Dispatchers that kept pushing you off onto the deaf fireworks hotline operators it was a major fail. We owe it to our community and veterans to work much harder to:
- Eliminate the use of illegal fireworks in the city by hitting our gang areas early and then looking at places where over the years there has been a constant flow of calls for service on a house or specific street. My street is a WAR ZONE every year with illegal fires, illegal fireworks and excessive drinking and drug use. Needless to say its not a family environment on my street the first week in July.
- Create a major community event like Redlands does where the entire day is dedicated to family and community with a parade and fun zone ending with a massive fireworks show. We have massive stadiums at our High Schools and we can put together a quality event that people want to attend.
The Mayor made a statement that she is fine with taking the input of 22 people most of them city employees over looking for ways to get more input from more people. I can tell you why the numbers were so low:
- No sense of urgency among the elected officials to get their camps excited about spreading the word about this forum. When the council wants something from you like funds for their campaign or your vote you can’t get them out of your face.
- The Mayor and her council members don’t want to hear what you have to say unless its agreeing with them. If you disagree with them in any fashion they bark at you, make fun of you or try and shut you up.
- It sucks but if you want people to show up you need to entice them with food and have their children involved in the event. They could have the recreation staff have a series of group activities for kids so parents could go and if we have some of our awesome young leaders involved in the process we could begin to expose them to the process and hear what they think Rialto needs.
To end it all you have Mr. Scott slamming Fontana saying that “they (Fontana) doesn’t care” he says this at 2:02 towards the end of the meeting well maybe they are not working with us because of comments like that Mr. Scott.
We need to get involved and show the Council that Rialto cares because if we don’t we will be on the fast track to being just like San Bernardino.
January Coffee With The Chief Re-Cap
14 Jan 2015 2 Comments
in Andy Carrizales, Assemblymember-Elect Cheryl Brown, Burglury, Ca, City of Rialto, Community Coalition, Crime, davidsMarketing, Dr. Michael Neeki, Ed palmer, Inland Empire, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Police Department, SCAT, Shawn O'Connell, SWAT, youth Tags: Chief Farrar, Colton, Crime Stats, Redlands, Rialto, rialto police department, San Bernardino
Hello Rialto Now readers!!!!! An awesome time was had by all at the first Coffee With The Chief in Rialto for 2015. Why was it awesome you ask? Well first off its kinda nice to have a strong yet open Chief of Police. So many people hold Police Chiefs and their command staff on such a high pedestal that they become “LIKE” gods. When they are simply men and women that will risk their lives for complete strangers. Now that fact isn’t something to be taken lightly but it also isn’t a reason you can’t stop and ask them a question.
Today’s Coffee With The Chief covered a lot of areas today. It was held at the Coco’s restaurant on Valley and Riverside Ave’s and the waitress was super nice as she took care of each persons order and kept the coffee flowing. Chief Farrar was in attendance along with Cpl. Marquez, two Detectives, three Lieutenants and Captain Deanda. Chief Farrar began by welcoming everyone and went over these topics:
- Crime Reduction – Overall Crime was down by 20% in 2014. Chief Farrar said that crime had been dropping for a while now and does expect crime rate to level off.
- Women’s Law Enforcement Fitness Challenge – On March 21st Rialto Police Department will be taking any females interested to the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department physical agility course and going over the physical agility course portion of the tests and training to become a Sworn Police Officer. Chief Farrar said its his goal to attract more females into Police Work and hoped that this event would be the catalyst to attract them. The most difficult portion Chief Farrar said was scaling the 6ft wall and that they would help the women learn a technique that would lend them success on this obstacle.
- How does Rialto Compare in Crime Stats to other cities? – Chief Farrar said that he has been asked this multiple times and has been reluctant to venture down this road because of the differences each local city faces. He decided to look into it finally and the results were promising. Chief Farrar compared Rialto to three other cities that touch rialto, have police departments (not sheriff) and are of comparable size. Cities he used where Fontana, Redlands, Rialto & San Bernardino. Rialto had a lower overall crime rate than all cites that were used. Redlands had a lower violent crime rate than Rialto. Even though Rialto has more residents than Redlands.
- Promotions – Chief Farrar said that the Department is looking to do some more promotions in the next 4-5 months these promotions will add two more captains.
- Work Load Study – Rialto Police Department will be doing a Workload Study to better evaluate if the work load is being evenly distributed. Rialto Police is now at 103 Sworn Police Officers and is only down 3 budgeted Sworn Positions. Chief Farrar hoped that the workload study would give them a clear idea of where to look to add more resources and or staff.
- Rialto Police Appreciation Awards – On February 20th Rialto Police will be recognizing staff and community members.
- 20/20 Interview – Captain Randy Deanda was interviewed by ABC News 20/20 show about the Judith Oakes case. Judith Oakes is the former Rialto Unified School District employee that was caught and convicted of stealing school lunch money down her bra to the tune of over 1 million dollars.
- Request a Training – Rialto Police Detectives went over the police program that offers training to local businesses on how to best protect themselves from becoming a crime victim.
- Cold Cases – Rialto Detectives also let us know that they are waiting on the DA’s office to approve the case files they have on two cold cases in Rialto. Since 2013 the Detectives Office has closed 8 cold cases.
- Use of Force & Police – I asked a question about training for local community groups especially the Flores Park Neighborhood Watch in better equipping our residents on how to properly handle a situation with a officer and avoid the horrible situation on both ends. Chief Farrar said that the key is to follow the instructions to allow for a more positive outcome more often and avoid tense standoffs that should have never happened.
Below are a series of You Tube videos that show a reporter and a civil rights activist undergoing a use of force training with Maricopa County Sheriff. Chief Farrar said this is a great way to see how a situation where someone isn’t following instructions can lead to horrible consequences.
http://youtu.be/b5PuLeR7Wt8 Video 1
http://youtu.be/uVOQs8yb9P4 Video 2
http://youtu.be/tk-bXyNbsCE Video 3
http://youtu.be/yfi3Ndh3n-g Total Interview
http://youtu.be/pAJXP0okzwk Post Interview
Celebrate L.E.A.D. Today & Thank A Cop
09 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in and the unincorporated communities of Bloomington and Muscoy, Assemblymember-Elect Cheryl Brown, Ca, City of Rialto, Colton, Crime, Ed palmer, Flores Park, Flores Park Neighborhood Watch, Fontana, Fontana PD, Grand Terrace, Inland Empire, Lynn Hirtz, Nieghborhood Watch, Public Safety, Redlands PD, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Police Department, San Bernardino, San Bernardino County’s regional dispatch center, San Bernardino PD, San Bernardino Police, SCAT, Shawn O'Connell, Street Crime Attack Team, SWAT Tags: #IELEAD2015, #Isupportfirstresponders, Civil Rights Community, Michael Brown, Officer Garcia, Pay It Forward, Police officer, Police Officials, Rialto Police, San Bernardino
Today January 9th 2015 is LEAD (Law Enforcement Appreciation Day)
If there ever was a year our Police Officials could use a “Thank You” or a “Pay It Forward” this year would be that year. Here locally Rialto Police have had a busy end of 2014 with a few deaths and some more aggressive robberies. On top of that every cop has been on edge since the Civil Rights Community decided to take their frustrations about the decision to not charge the Ferguson officer in the shooting death of Michael Brown out on police all over the Country.
Being a Police officer is not an easy thing to do. You put on a badge and a uniform and are the front lines of safety in our cities and streets. Look at San Bernardino that community has been falling apart around its self with many major crimes and Officer Garcia from San Bernardino becoming gravely shot and left fighting for his life.
Today please stop and say thank you even a simple two word phrase and a hand shake can change someone’s day.
We would also like to highlight two elected officials we caught saying Thank You to Rialto Police by purchasing doughnuts for the police today. Its nice to see our leaders “LEADING” us to do the right thing.
Knowing a lot of First Responders read this blog I would like to say Thank You for doing what you do and always working to keep us safe even if you don’t know our names. #Isupportfirstresponders #IELEAD2015
Local Leader Says “Time To Act Is Now”
22 Dec 2014 Leave a comment
in Ca, City of Rialto, Colton, Community Coalition, Crime, davidsMarketing, Flores Park, Fontana, Grand Terrace, Inland Empire, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Parks, Rialto Police Department, San Bernardino, SCAT, Shawn O'Connell, SWAT, Uncategorized, youth Tags: Councilman, police officers, Shawn O'Connell
In all of the turmoil since the latest officer involved actions in 2014 one local leader calls for his colleagues and the media to ACT NOW in response to the rise in the war on police officers in the united states. Councilman Shawn O’Connell from the city of Rialto penned a statement that will make you think about the men and women that keep us safe in this country. (See Below)
I agree with Councilman O’Connell and wish people would take a step back and help our police. When our police feel supported and understood they feel more comfortable to do their jobs extremely well. Also the trend of holding court on the street with a cop is a poor choice. Police officers are not the lawyers, judges or jury they are a protection and information source for our legal system. As community leaders and media sources we need to do more than a simple call for calm and turn down the rhetoric.
Santa Flys Into Sunrise Church In Rialto
19 Dec 2014 Leave a comment
in Ca, City of Rialto, davidsMarketing, Ed palmer, Inland Empire, Josef (Joe) Britt, joseph williams, Lynn Hirtz, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Police Department, SCAT, Shawn O'Connell, SWAT, yap, youth Tags: Santa Claus, Sunrise Church
This coming Saturday December 20th Santa Claus will be flying in on a helicopter to greet the children of the IE. His fly in will be at Sunrise Church on Ayala & Riverside Ave at 2pm. (See flyer below)
City of Rialto Holiday Parade and Fair
12 Dec 2014 Leave a comment
in Assemblymember-Elect Cheryl Brown, Ca, City of Rialto, Food Trucks, Inland Empire, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Parks, Rialto Police Department, SWAT, youth Tags: Bloomington Av., Musical Performance, Rialto City Park, Riverside Ave, The Holiday Parade
The Holiday Parade begins at 10:00 am, Saturday, December 13th. Starting at Bloomington Av. and Riverside Ave. traveling south on Riverside Ave towards Rialto City Park. Enjoy the Musical Performance, Vendor Fair and Snow at Rialto City Park following the parade.
Final Rialto Candidate Forum Today
27 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in Ca, city attorney, City of Rialto, Community Coalition, Crime, Currupt, Deborah Robertson, Ed Scott, In & Out, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Josef (Joe) Britt, Lillie Houston, Lynn Hirtz, Public Safety, RDA, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Parks, Rialto Police Department, rialto unified school district, RUSD, Russel Sliva, SB Sun, SCAT, Shawn O'Connell, SWAT, Taxes, Veolia, Water, wwwstoprialtowaterratehikes.com, youth Tags: candidate forum, City Council, Rialto Unified School Board, seats
The final candidate forum of the 2014 election year is today and will only highlight two of the may areas up for grabs on November 4th. The two areas that will be covered are City Council ( two seats open out of four candidates ) and Rialto Unified School Board ( two seats open with six people for the seats ). One interesting portion of this event is it appears Ed Scott will poke his head out and finally speak publicly on the race which he has primarily done through private fundraisers and mailers & signs. It will be nice to see a majority of the candidates out together and we can hear their view points at the same time. The event is at the Rialto Senior Center on South Riverside Ave. See flyer below for more info.
The many reasons not to vote for Ed Scott
22 Oct 2014 1 Comment
in Budget, Ca, City of Rialto, Crime, Currupt, Ed Scott, Family, Inland Empire, perchlorate cleanup settlements, Public Safety, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Police Department, SWAT, Ullico, Veolia, Water, wwwstoprialtowaterratehikes.com
So it’s no secret that Mr. Ed Scott and I don’t agree on anything outside of our favorite football team. What I find appalling are his campaign signs “Proven Leadership”. What leadership? Do you pat the guy on the back that did everything in his power to drive rialto down the same road that San Bernardino now finds itself?
So since my last post about Mr. Ed Scott drove our numbers through the roof I thought it’s time to do a highlight of the Ed Scott Years. We will start with most recent Ed Scott blunders and let you decide if we want this type of “Proven Leadership” back in power in rialto:
- Most recently we are finding out the most expensive of the Ed Scott policy issues the Outsourcing of Rialto Water to Veolia. Now Veolia was not Ed Scott’s first choice to have our water company for the next 30 years. We now know that Ed Scott’s water pipeline infrastructure project was a like a local unfunded mandate meaning he dumped it into our laps and later we found that the money was not enough to complete most of the projects. When the residents forced American Water from the deal the proposal was handed to west valley water district and General Manager Butch Araiza wanted nothing to do with the water deal. Now residents are left with ever increasing water rates and Veolia is allowed to walk away without completing what was their part of the deal. This deal was written leaving the city of Rialto with no ability to back out if the project is not completed. Yet millions went to local consultants??????
- Under the direction and supervision of Mr. Ed Scott Rialto residents were forced into a battle that the Federal Government should have waged but because Mr. Ed Scott wanted to sue the involved companies on the backs of the Rialto Rate Payers. Those rate payers were promised a refund, yet no real refund ever came. People that only paid the rebate for a short time received funds that were meant for the people who lived there before them. Others Like Anne moved to another house both in Rialto both in the Rialto Water Services area and was not given the total refund due to her she received a small portion. Even residents that could not take the Rialto the Ed Scott built and moved out were left with nothing even though Ed Scott promised they would receive a refund.
“Between the two deals, Rialto residents will get back about $9 million in a perchlorate charges they have paid on bills since 2004, Rialto City Councilman Ed Scott said. The surcharge will stop in December or January, which is when rebate checks will be issued to current and former residents, he said.” JANET ZIMMERMAN / STAFF WRITER Published: Oct. 26, 2012 5:41 p.m.
“Councilman Ed Scott, who is on the perchlorate subcommittee” By Josh Dulaney, Staff Writer Posted: 09/26/12, 9:00 PM PDT
- Ed Scott & Jimmy Gutierrez had a very comfortable relationship so comfortable that it has been rumored that Jimmy is now Ed Scott’s attorney. Why is this another black mark on our former councilman? Jimmy Gutierrez was bleeding the city dry on attorney fee’s making $3.1 million one year as the part time attorney for rialto. Jimmy was brought to rialto by Ed Scott and was fed well while Ed Scott was on the Dias. It took forward thinking councilmembers O’Connell & Hirtz to take the contract out and find an attorney that is now saving the city $750,000 a year.
- Ed Scott has been labeled as the councilmember that abused the cities week travel policy the most. It was so bad that it took the current city council a year and a half to undo the damage and set the ship right.
- Last but not least let’s not forget that Ed Scott has tried numerous times to outsource our police department to the sheriff. The worst time was when we actually lost quality police staff because they didn’t want to be left to the uncertainty of having a job at the last minute. Ed Scott had one last hurrah when he began threatening to bring the topic of outsourcing back up and the residents formed a group named Rialto Residents for Rialto PD. They stormed the council meeting forcing Ed Scott to back down at the last minute and change his tone.
Rialto residents it is clear from this brief outline of some of the Top Ed Scott highlights that Mr. Scott is not the trusted or proven leader Rialto needs. The current council has found a groove and seems to be able to accomplish what needs to be done for the better of Rialto. If it isn’t broke don’t fix it.
Coffee With The Chief
14 Oct 2014 Leave a comment
in City of Rialto, Community Coalition, Crime, davidsMarketing, Ed palmer, Inland Empire, Joe Baca Jr, Josef (Joe) Britt, Mike Story, Public Safety, Rafael Trujillo, Rialto, Rialto, Rialto Fire, Rialto Parks, Rialto Police Department, rialto unified school district, SWAT
Join us and other strong community members as we are coffee and go over crime stats and upcoming events tie to our police department. Join us with Rialto PD’s top cop at Carrow’s on baseline.

































