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Rialto City Council Meeting Tonight

22 Mar 2016 Leave a comment

Well after a month between meetings we are back from Washington and ready to get back to the business of spending your money. This agenda is super top heavy with lots of Proclamations and Awards for all types of things. One that stands out to us is:

5 16-180 Proclamation-National Public Safety Telecommunications Week Mayor Deborah Robertson

What are we Proclaiming here? With wait times on the phone being as much as 30 minutes and residents reporting that they have called dispatch only to get a recorded message. Yes we know their job isn’t easy but when do we get off that excuse and ask the Police Department to get dispatch under control?

Vice President Gonzalez said something about the West Valley Water Board agendas that makes sense all over especially in Rialto. Millions of dollars is hidden and spent in the Consent Calendar. As you can see below the three we highlighted below are all things that should be examined individually not all at once hidden is a blanket motion. Here is how we break each one down:

E.6 – Request City Council to Approve Amendment No. 1 to the Exclusive Right to Negotiate Agreement with Fernando Acosta for the Development of Approximately 8 Acres of Property Located at the Northeast Corner of Ayala Drive and Renaissance Parkway.

Fernando Acosta is being given exclusive right to negotiate on the cities behalf on a portion of land that has 3 major owners and one that fell under our scrutiny when Cal Trans was using it as a construction storage facility and was full of blight and graffiti. Why is Fernando being given Exclusive Right to Negotiate? Is it because Ed Scott has majority power on the council right now and he is a donor to Ed Scott’s Campaign? Fernando live in the Flores Park Community but is never seen participating in the community efforts and his businesses only help organizations that are close to the Baca Foundation. Even local schools that are struggling to provide for low income kids cant get Fernando’s support. But were giving him access to what would be a multi million dollar deal?

E.10 – Request City Council to Approve an Increase to the Purchase Orders for Fritz Ford for Vehicle Parts in the Amount of $5,000, for a Total Not to Exceed Amount of $20,000.

Pay close attention to how staff spelled FRITTS FORD. We pay these people a lot of money and they can’t even spell the name of a business right especially a business that is Outside of the city of Rialto and is getting $20,000 of our tax money.

E.12 – Request City Council to Authorize an Increase to the Purchase Order with the Daily Journal for Advertising Services in the amount of $15,000 for a total amount of $30,000 in the 2015-2016 Fiscal Year

This one steams me how much are we paying for a subscription to a legal paper? This paper is just a news site for the legal world. Isn’t this something our well paid city attorney should be signing up for? The city claims it has no money for youth development and enrichment and the mayor is attacking groups like the Rotary and Chamber of Commerce all while wasting $30,000 a year on a digital newspaper subscription?

TAB 5 – Request City Council/Rialto Utility Authority to Approve a Third Amendment to the Agreement with West Valley Water District for Operation and Maintenance of Groundwater Contamination Treatment Systems for the 2015/16 Fiscal Year in the Amount of $68,381.69.

This final item is an TAB item (what the items above should be on) and what makes it stand out is the fact that the current President and Vice President of West Valley Water Board spent months telling us that their Groundwater Contamination Treatment Systems are not functioning properly in an effort to damage former General Manager Butch Ariza’s reputation. So the question is are we paying over $68,000 for treatment systems that are not functioning?

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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.

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Eisenhower High School Is Entered Into The NFL High School Honor Roll

05 Feb 2016 2 Comments

“The golden football represents accomplishment,” said Terrell Davis. “It validates a lot of hard work that I put it in. The fact that no matter where you come from … it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.” http://www.nfl.com/sbhonorroll

As part of the nationwide Super Bowl 50 celebration, the NFL started the Super Bowl High School Honor Roll program to acknowledge schools and communities that have directly influenced Super Bowl history and impacted the game for the better.

High schools across the country, and around the globe, will be given a Wilson Golden Football for every player or head coach who graduated from the school and was on an active Super Bowl roster. More than 2,000 high schools and roughly 3,000 players and coaches will be recognized this season.

Eisenhower High School was lucky enough to be able to receive three of these coveted balls. Rialto has been the launching pad for three NFL players that reached the big game the SUPER BOWL.

David Lang – Lang was drafted in the 12th round of the 1990 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams. On April 27, 1995 he signed with the Dallas Cowboys as a free agent. On April 27, 1995, he signed with the Dallas Cowboys as a free agent. That season he was named the special teams captain and set the franchise single-season record for special teams tackles with 30, until it was broken the next year by Jim Schwantz (32). The Cowboys started keeping the stat in 1990. He was part of Super Bowl XXX winning team and retired at the end of the season. Lang founded the nonprofit organization “Legends by Lang” to mentor urban youths. He was shot and killed on May 21, 2005.

Ronnie Lott – Lott was born May 8, 1959, He attended Frisbee Junior High and Eisenhower High School in Rialto where he played football under Coach Bill Christopher and graduated in 1977. Lott considered his time at Eisenhower High School the best years of his life. It is commonly thought that he was the best player on his team, he started as a wide receiver in 1975 as a sophomore, started at wide receiver and safety in 1976 as a junior, and in 1977 he started at quarterback and safety. Lott played football for USC and played in the NFL Lott played for the San Francisco 49ers, LA Raiders, New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs. The football stadium was recently named after Lott, even though he never played in the stadium. Lott was also the winner of the 1977 Ken Hubbs Award, given to the greater San Bernardino, California area’s top male high school athlete. Lott was part of Superbowl’s XVI, XIX, XXIII and XXIV.

Here is a great Ronnie Lott highlight video

Craig Newsome – He was born August 10, 1971. He played for Eisenhower High School and attended San Bernardino Valley College and later transferred to Arizona State University. The Packers drafted Newsome with the 32nd pick in the 1995 NFL Draft. He was the starting cornerback on the 1996 Green Bay Packers championship team. He also had a forced fumble and an interception in Super Bowl XXXI. On September 19, 1999 the Packers traded Newsome to the 49ers. Now he coaches pee-wee football for Holmen Youth players, where his son Craig Newsome Jr. plays. Newsome played in Superbowl XXXI

Here is Newsome’s Interseption in Superbowl XXXI

More footage of Newsome along with some color comentary

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First round of Rialto Police Area Command meetings for 2016 review

04 Feb 2016 Leave a comment

So 2016 is underway and with that comes the first round of Area Command meetings held by the Rialto Police department. With recent retirements and promotions the program has gone through some major changes. Normally change would be bad but these changes have moved key people into great leadership roles. The Area Command program is now anchored once again by to great and passionate leaders in Lt. Kurkusky in the south and newly promoted Lt. Smith in the north.

We missed the first Area Command Meeting on the south end but covered the Area Command meeting in the north and since they share the same info this is a great breakdown of what happened.

Over 50 residents filled up an assembly room at the Sunrise church on north Riverside Ave. The program began with newly promoted Lt. Smith introducing himself.

After Lt. Smith’s introduction he had officer Wilson come up and talk about the Operation Lifesaver Program. Though the programs ideas sound good some are leary of it. One reason that people are leary of this program is the fact that we’re tracking people and creating a regular access point into someone’s home (“to change the battery”). Second is the style of equipment used it’s very old tech and reminds us of what was innovative back in the 80’s. Finally getting grants are good but with every grant comes a long list of rules you must follow and some out there don’t trust Washington at all.

Next up was Cpl. Marquez who had the original task of overseeing the Rialto Reentry Program but now has a long list of other programs that have been added to his plate. The Reentry program is the first thing Cpl. Marquez spoke about:

Next Cpl. Marquez spoke about the next program that he oversees which is the Crime Free Multi Housing Program. This is a program that is aimed at keeping multi housing projects safe:

Next Cpl. Marquez spoke about the Nixle Program a program where you can get direct information from the police department. He also goes over the Text to Tip portion of the program.

Next Cpl. Marquez talks about the Homeless Outreach program and explains what him team will do in this program.

Next up Councilman O’Connell goes over his first quarter Rialto Rap Up. This is where he talks about what is important to the community and he makes himself available to questions from the community. Here is a copy of the Press Release he is reading from:

Officer Anderson was next up to talk to the community about the Inland Regional Center Terrorist Attack in San Bernardino. Officer Anderson is a longtime SWAT Officer and former K9 Handler. He and his team were in the main fight when the two ISIS Terrorists were shot and killed.

Rialto Fire on scene at the San Bernardino Terrorist Attack.

Officer Anderson also talks about the Foundation that makes the Rialto Police K9 program possible The Friends Of Rialto Police K9 he invites the community to interact with the K9 program through their Facebook Page.

Next the Terrorism Detective from Rialto Police gave us a terrorism threat assessment training of some sort that was a little confusing. We have heard this Detective give presentations before and they seemed to flow better. The title of the powerpoint and a lot of the information that was given didn’t seem to match up.

Run Fight Hide

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Hundreds of People Come Out to Support The Rialto Police Officer Fallen Hero Memorial 5k Fundraiser

30 Jan 2016 Leave a comment

Early Saturday morning while others are wrapped up snuggled in their beds Rialto Police Officers, Volunteers and City Workers were up closing streets and setting up for a memorial 5K to raise funds for a future Fallen Officer Monument to Honor the Three Men who have died in the line of duty.

The crowd stacked up up waiting for the start of the 5K

Turnout was a little lower than last year but things that may have attributed to this was a change in person in charge of the event promotion, change of venue and the threats of winter weather conditions including a severe wind warning. Participation from fellow officers was lighter this year than last year and one of those reasons probably was the Battle of the Badges boxing match that is slated for later on this evening.

Tonight

Chris “The Makau” Sellig from Rialto Police will be boxing

Abarham “ABE” Adame from the California Department of Corrections in Bout #3

and

Robert “Don’t Doubt Me” Morales from Rialto Police will be boxing

Jerry Magoffin from Pachenga Department of Public Safety in Bout #11

The weather was made for running but many runners commented that this years course was too difficult and much more difficult than last year. Also a major difference from last year was the fact that NONE of your elected officals came out to support this year and we only saw two department heads (Police Chief Deaanda & Parks & Rec Manager Perry). With this year being an election year it is odd to see none of the elected leaders than will be vying for your vote out this year.

Probably the coolest part for the Rialto Now team who had 2 runners this year was the Sheriffs Academy class were out once again running in a group chanting their cadence check it out below.

Check out all the cool photos and videos by going to Rialto Re-Entry, Rialto Network or Rialto PD Facebook

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Rialto High School Cheer Squad Wins 1st Place At State

25 Jan 2016 1 Comment

by rialto-now in Andy Carrizales, Assemblymember-Elect Cheryl Brown, Ca, City of Rialto, Coffee Nutz, Colton, Fun, Inland Empire, Rialto, RUSD, San Bernardino, youth

The students of Rialto High School put our city on the map today and it was for something positive.

Rialto High Cheer just placed first at the CheerPros State Championships today which were held 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. Below is a tweet from the Cheer Pros Twitter account that shows the top five finishers.

The team has placed first at their regional competitions for the past four years and will once again be representing Rialto at the USA Nationals Cheer Competition this March. The team is made up of incredible athletes and students.

More than just the first place team they support at every football and basketball game, pep rally, Rialto Family Festival, other community and school events all while training and competing in their own right.

Join us in recognizing this awesome team and their ability to represent for the city of Rialto.

Go Knights!!!!!!!!!

Local Police Agencies Across the Region Will Look Very Different In 2016

22 Jan 2016 Leave a comment

Credit Fontana Police Facebook Page

No matter what the city or population having the right leader is key to finding success. As we usher in 2016 two local cities will have new faces running their police departments. Last December Rialto Police Chief Tony Farrar retired handing off the reigns to former Police Captain Randy Deanda. Today we learn via a Press Release that Fontana Police Chief Rodney Jones will retire effective February 5th handing off the reigns to Captain Bob Ramsey who will serve as Interim Chief of Police.

Police Chief Rodney Jones has had a ruff couple years with the creation of the Fontana Police Regional Air Support program and the rising costs of providing police services to the city of Fontana. The air support program began with Rialto, Fontana and Colton. After its creation Redlands joined in offering the services of its fixed wing aircraft. Just a few days ago news hit that cash strapped Colton would not be participating in the air support program leaving an estimated $90K that needed to be covered by the three remaining agencies, couple that with the recent tension in city council in regards to the budget and how much of that budget the Police Department used.

In the Press Release Cindy from Fontana said “it sounded like the Chief wasn’t ready to go but it was Ken Hunt’s decision”. She is right many have asked why the Press Release was framed this way? “I fully support and appreciate the decision of the City Manager,” said Chief Jones “The timing is right because there are a number of candidates in the department’s command staff that could take over leadership of this great department.”

Kathy from Fontana said that she sees through the smoke and says “it feels like Chief Jones is being fired but is being given the chance to save face and retire.”

Other sources say that City Manger Hunt was made to look bad by Mayor Warren when she asked City Manager Hunt if he was part of the air support program negotiations. Ken Hunt said that he wasn’t part of the negotiations and Mayor Warren thanked Chief Jones. Days later the Chief is announcing his retirement without city council knowledge. Sources say that this was done because there wasn’t majority approval on the council to fire the current police chief.

Chief Jones accomplishments were listed in the Press Release as:

$12 million building expansion of the Fontana Police Department
Implementation of the Fontana Leadership Intervention Program (FLIP) with the Fontana Unified School District
Implementation of the Fontana Re-entry Support Team (FRST)
Implementation of the Fontana PD Rapid Response Team (RRT)
Jointly Implemented the Inland Valley SWAT (IVS) team with Rialto and Colton
Developed the Fontana PD helicopter program proudly serving Rialto and Redlands

Only time will tell how much of an issue this decision will be for the clearly fractured City Council and how much input City Manager Ken Hunt will have. Lets not forget the portion of the community that wasn’t entirely happy with some of the choices that were made under Chief Jones leadership. This promises to be a wild ride of an appointment.

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Don’t forget to sign up for the Rialto PD Officer Memorial 5k/3k Run/Walk

17 Jan 2016 Leave a comment

https://my.racewire.com/event/3408

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Rialto Police Honors 12 Officers for their Promotions At Council Meeting

13 Jan 2016 Leave a comment

Police Chief Randy Deanda Sworn in as Rialtos’s new top cop photo credit Rialto Network

As the city moves further into the next chapters of its history the Police Department has also turned a page and moved into a new chapter in providing police services to the community of Rialto. Up until recent history we have looked outside of our own Department and Even County looking for the person that will lead one of our most vital Public Safety agencies. Now as City Council moves to hire the next Police Chief we see yet another strong man coming from within our Police Department ranks. Replacing outgoing Chief Tony Farrar is former Police Captain Randy Deanda a long time officer within the Rialto Police Department. Chief Deanda is a man of strong Character and resides locally but not only since taking the helm but has lived for a long time and raised his family locally so he understands what we as a community are going through. Even though we have not always seen eye to eye Chief Deanda has always been willing to speak to those in the community in his previous roles listen to others opinions. We are lucky to have Randy Deanda as Rialto’s Top Cop.

The full Promotion class photo credit Rialto Network

Another awesome part about Chief Deanda taking the helm is that there was a flurry of Promotions from within our own department twelve sworn promotions. We will start with the Corporals and work our way up, all of these officers are fine people. You will see comments next to some of the names. Some we know a lot about others we only know by the badge they wear on their chest.

Photo from the Rialto Police Promotion Ceremony Photo Credit Rialto Network

Corporal Pouching – Cpl Pouching is a long time officer of Rialto Police Department we know him from his work on Patrol, as a former K9 Officer and most recently as a member of our traffic division a great guy with knowledge to lead the next generation of Police Officer.

Corporal Hince

Corporal Russo on his Police Bike

Corporal Russo – Corporal Russo has been for as long as I can remember one of Rialto’s finest Traffic Cops. He has won multiple awards for his work with Under the Influence drivers and has made himself available to many community groups and our youth to stress the importance of safe driving habits.

Corporal Farmer – Quiet, strong man from a Rialto blood line who’s father is a Former Police Chief, Council member and Mayor. Corporal Farmer most recently was working in the Detectives Division and has been part of closing out some of Rialto’s most notorious Cold Cases.

Sargent Nelson posing for a picture at Rialto’s National Night Out with Former Traffic Sargent Shepard

Sergeant Nelson – Sargent Nelson is almost a carbon copy of probably one of our most favorite Police Officers. Sargent Nelson who now oversees the traffic Division was the Corporal that brought the Community Policing vision back to Rialto. When he was tasked with overseeing Community Policing I wondered when he slept. He made himself available what was almost 24/7 he was a valuable resource and a workman to help make residents feel safe and heard. He was the ultimate advocate for the community.

“Sgt. Muir on-duty taking the time to interact with some kids in our community by buying them an ice cream at George’s Burger.” Photo Credit Rialto PD Facebook

Sergeant Muir – Now Sargent Muir has been a Sargent for a few months now but we are not at all upset at him being included in this batch of promotions. Sargent Muir can’t be thanked or honored enough for what he has done for this community. Rialto is a better place because of the hours of dedicated work he has put in. To the criminal he is your worse nightmare, to the child he is a welcomed face in the midst of tragedy and to a victim he is your knight that will work diligently to see that justice is done. Our owner David Phillips tells us stories all the time of this living legend. David has gone on countless ride-a-longs with Sargent Muir when he was a Corporal and tells us how Sargent Muir would adapt to each call effortlessly and seemed to be a master of each situation. Our favorite story is when a local African American community member told Sargent Muir that someone had drawn a swastika in her wet cement and she didn’t notice until it was dry Sargent Muir came to her house on his personal time and patched her driveway. Dedicated Father, Friend, Cop and Solider there is no other like Sargent Muir (Sargent Muir is who we refer to when we’re talking about Sargent Nelson)

Sergeant Balawag

Sergeant Gerard

Lieutenant Lane

Lieutenant Smith – Is a great guy with a lot of passion and heart. The former Sargent of the Traffic Division and Risk Management he is a great person to step into this promotion. He is also the new area commander for the northern section of the city. He is probably the best person to fill the shoes of the three people that have held that job before him. Most recently Kathy Thompson, Andy Karol and Craig Crispin. A great promotion and a awesome show to the community that Rialto Police wants to see the Area Command program live on.

Captain Wilson – Another great guy who has a very easy way about him. A former Area Commander and a person that will listen and talk to anyone that asks. He and Captain Karol have always worked so well together they will be an awesome team that helps launch Rialto PD as one of the Top Law Enforcement agencies in California.

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Your 2016 Update On The City Care Of Councilman Shawn O’Connell

11 Jan 2016 Leave a comment

Councilman Shawn O’Connell continues his track record of meeting all of his campaign promises and keeping the community informed with his 2016 Rialto Year Update. Councilman O’Connell is the only elected official to who not only worked diligently to make good on what he said on his first run on the good ole campaign trail, he has done everything he promised with a year to spare in his political career.

To top it off Councilman O’Connell one of Rialto’s most influential people in Rialto in 2015 has just released his yearly update for 2016 which you can see below is an update of what is vital to residents, what has been done and what is coming up. Councilman O’Connell normally releases these Press Releases before each area command meeting as a way to give the community an honest and unbiased look at what is vital to the community.

So as we said Councilman O’Connell releases these Press Releases before each Area Command meeting series and tonight kicks off the first Area Command for the South Part of the city. They will be discussing things to consider during an “Active Shooter” incident. Several Rialto Police Department SWAT officers who responded to the Inland Regional Center incident in San Bernardino will be in attendance and provide insight on their experiences that day.

Join Rialto PD and Various City Department heads this week to get your information for 2016.