So on Monday June 16th the City Council held a workshop to get a report of the first year of the water services contract with Veolia Water Services acting as Rialto Water Services. From the sounds of it this was something that Veolia did not want to publicized because on almost every account they are behind on the infrastructure improvements six months to one and a half years. Ullico is in charge of tracking and auditing the progress Veolia has made in the first year of the 30 year contract.
Marcus Fuller the Department Head from Public Works and Ullico worked very hard to turn a bad report into a better one but the city council, Mayor & Mayor Pro Tem all saw through the smoke and mirrors. Below you will see some of the slides Ullico presented to city council last week:
Here you will see that Veolia is one year five months behind on roughly 2 million dollars worth of improvements, eight months behind schedule on 3.6 million dollars worth of improvements & five months behind on 876 thousand dollars worth of improvements. Now Ullico wants you to give Veolia a break as they want to drag their feet and “get comfortable” with the contract they took on after American Water was kicked out of the deal by Rialto Residents and the Union that represented the water employees.
One major issue with giving them months and months to go over this infrastructure agreement is the 41 million will soon begin to be eaten up when interest rates increase. This means their will be less money to complete the long list of projects Former Mayor Grace Vargas, Former Councilman Ed Scott, Current Mayor Deborah Robertson and Current Mayor Pro Tem Ed Palmer all said were so vital to Rialto moving forward as a progressive city. Council Members told us these upgrades would be vital to major projects like the proposed Super Walmart & the Target Shopping Center that no longer has a Target store (Target has backed out). So what happens if Super Walmart goes in and the sewer system isn’t able to handle the bump in use? There was talk of the sewers backing up and spilling out into the streets.
Councilman O’Connell asked the VP of Veolia if the interest rates caused the money to be used up prior to completion of the listed projects would Veolia see those projects to completion. The VP of Veolia said no.
So Veolia can drag their feet and tie up these projects in paperwork and read tape while the clock ticks and you continue to pay massive increases to your rates with NO CHANGE. Even their field techs, people that live and work in this city are blown away and say that Veolia is doing nothing!!!!
The end result was a motion to have Marcus Fuller, Public Works Director meet with Rialto Water Services and Veolia to get a expedited time frame of when we can see projects beginning the construction phase. Marcus Fuller will report the outcomes in 90 days from the meeting date.
We have reached out to Veolia VP Lanita McCauley Bates and Rialto Veolia Manager Michael Greene when they respond we will update with their comments.
This Tuesday is a major June Primary for many local seats that impact your life in major ways. From Sheriff to Congress seats are up for grabs and polling close.
What makes it even more interesting is with the new primary system you can have the top two candidates be from the same political affiliation running against each other. Below we will have a poll for each race for you to choose who your voting for.
These polls are confidential and the only thing we ever see are the results nobody’s personal information will collected or seen.
Congressional District 31
Congressional district 31 is full of names you know and some you don’t. The only one that matters as far as we are concerned is Paul Chabot a long time advocate for our local communities & Families. He is a former Navy Officer, worked for 2 presidents, 1 governor & advocate for the Drug Free California program. Paul is a local advocate ready to effect the IE in a big way.
Congressional District 35
San Bernardino County Sheriff
For Sheriff were torn between Clifton Harris and John McMahon. Sheriff McMahon was appointed right before the Christopher Dorner case where we lost a Deputy to this evil man and he handled it as well as can be expected. We don’t care for his lax style of protecting our youth and families but we feel we can work with him on that. We do like Clifton Harris and his desire to improve relations between the community and the Sheriff Department. We have to say NO to Paul Schrader he is a pro drug Sheriff that has spent his time pandering to marijuana users and people that are making it easier for our kids to obtain drugs and further medicating our society with a harmful substance. Paul Schrader also is against DUI enforcement & has been encouraging people to interfere with police activities like DUI check points and Fire Arms Buy Back programs. If he is our sheriff this county will fall into disarray.
Governor
We are supporting Tim Donnelly to advance in this primary. Tim has stood in the GAP for what is right and just even when it goes against his own parties wishes. We need a Governor that will leave the special interests, kill the bullet train to nowhere & fight for a California that isn’t spend crazy.
Ca Assembly District 47
In our opinion Cheryl Brown has been a perfect replacement for Mrs. Carter. She is a strong advocate for our communities and jobs a vote for her is a vote for forward positive progress.
Juvenile weapon related arrests down 60%, violent crime down 53%, property crime down 26% & overall Juv arrests down 40%. Why?… Because of the program Rialto Police implemented the Pride Platoon and the resurrection of the community policing program lead by Cpl Cameron Nelson. Come out tonight and see this awesome documentary. If you do miss out check back here and on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/rialtosnow for pictures and hot highlights.
This week we learned of a new program that apparently came from one of Mayor Robertson’s trips to Washington DC. Mayor Robertson advocated for Rialto in an effort to bring a training institute run by the local EPA to train people to obtain jobs in the area of Perchlorate clean up. Recently the city finalized its lawsuits in the area of Perchlorate contamination and now will begin the long efforts of removing the harmful contaminate. So last Tuesday May 13th was our first glimpse of this new program presented by Councilman O’Connell. Councilman O’Connell said Tuesday that he brought this item up because of the high unemployment numbers in the local region and in Rialto being 17%. Councilman O’Connell said he wanted the rest of the City Council and the public to hear about this program even in its infant stage.
A few things surprised people watching in the audience. First was the constant references to the opportunity being open to Rialto residents only or having first stab at the training opportunity. Second was the way people would be selected to join this training opportunity. (Blank Person Name) said that they are looking for people that would not be seen at your local job fair, not a high school graduate and not outside Rialto. (Blank Person Name) also said that they were going to put potential applicants through a stress test or boot camp of sorts which would consist of three meetings.
The First meeting applicants will be asked to provide documentation but not all necessary documents (Blank Person Name) is going to purposely not ask for some documentation to force the applicants to attend a second meeting simply to turn in something that could have been turned in already. The third and final meeting will be a series of skills and critical thinking tests that will be evaluated by staff and ranked. People sitting in the Audience of the council meeting Tuesday appeared to have a uneasiness with the way the program selection process is being designed.
A representative with Inland Empire Job Seekers an organization that assist youth and young adults with finding and keeping a job said the way the program is laid out it seems to favor a certain section of a larger community and sends the wrong message to our unemployed. First why only seek out the people without an education or someone that wouldn’t attend a local job fair? Inland Empire Job Seekers makes it clear to all that they help anyone can give you a job it’s up to you if you’re going to make an effort to succeed and keep that job or you will find yourself right back where you started. Inland Empire Job Seekers were concerned with the talk of excluding the larger work force and only offering the training to young people effected by the contaminate. Its Inland Empire Job Seekers hope that all area residents will have a fair opportunity at this training. Inland Empire Job Seekers said that there are a lot of unemployed parents with families that would jump at this opportunity. Inland Empire Job Seekers said they hoped they would be able to lend a hand in making this program a success for the Inland Empire Region.
The reaction from those in the public was mixed. Stacey from Colton said that she thought everyone should have a fair shot at the opportunity to train for much needed jobs. George from Rialto who lives in the most Northern portion of Rialto said he would like for the program facilitators to train people that would want to go to a job fair he said “we need smart people removing the chemicals from the ground. Others like Frank a local Inland Empire Educator stated that any job training was better than nothing. Councilman O’Connell said he thought that the program was a great idea and was eager to see it kick off and start reducing the 17% unemployment rate here in Rialto.
One thing was constant nobody could understand why it was necessary to “wear people down” during the selection process as stated by Michael Ltyhcott a senior analyst with Skeo Solutions the firm responsible for the implementation of this program for the EPA.
Tonight is a very involved council meeting. It is full of proclamations & presentations, city council resolutions and even a back door sales tax. Below you will see the listed items we would like to highlight and a little better explanation of the meaning behind the items presented.
Presentations & Proclamations:
Presentation-EPA Superfund Job Training Institute-Council Member O’Connell
Presentation-2014 CIAA Softball Rookie of the Year Award to Jocelyn Hernandez-Council Member Baca Jr.
Introduction of 1st Class of Institute of Progress-City Administrator Story
Presentation-Fill the Boot 2014-Firefighter Ploehn
Presentation-RUSD Summer Lunch Program-Cindi Stone
Miscellaneous Items:
D.3 below is the city establishing Semi Truck routes within the city. What we would like to know is what does the city plan to do with the dangerous way they drive in our city. From speeding, running red lights and unsafe turns putting other vehicles in danger the city need to establish a way to take control of truckers before something bad happens to a innocent community member. With the massive amount of commercial space Rialto is allowing if we don’t act not this could turn bad real quick.
D.3 Request City Council to Adopt Resolution No. 6542 Rescinding
Establishing Truck Routes, and Establishing Truck Routes in
Conformance with the 2010 General Plan.
D.13 seems like a public access to internet services in the public areas of the city, but all it’s just an exclusive power grab from Time Warner to offer WiFi to their customers alone. Yes only Time Warner customers will have access to this internet.
D.13 Request City Council to Approve a Partnership Agreement with Time
Warner Cable Company for the Public WiFi Project.
D15 Is the second reading of the ordinance requesting the City Clerk offer more detailed meeting minutes. Lets see if everyone stays in their seats and votes for or against this ordinance last meeting one councilmember left his seat until the vote was over then he just came back. Lets hope everyone goes on the record on how they feel about this effort to properly record our cities business.
D.15 14-327 Request City Council to Adopt on second reading Ordinance No. 1542
ORDINANCE NO. 1542
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RIALTO,
CALIFORNIA, AMENDING SECTION 2.07.010 OF THE RIALTO MUNICIPAL
CODE REGARDING THE CITY CLERK’S DUTIES IN MAINTANING THE
MINUTES OF CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS
Tab 2 is a adjustment to our waste collection fees. Not to long ago our city council made a massive mistake by giving waste management a 10 year contract where we have to give them notice 10 years in advance of canceling the contract. Now they want to charge you a tax opps I mean a fee to help replace the roads because trash trucks cause more damage to our roads than a car. So because you have to have trash services per a municipal code and now we are locked into a forever contract. Oh also your trash rates are going up too. Your only hope is that city council doesn’t approve the Rialto Road Tax
TAB2 14-203 Request City Council to Adopt Resolution No. 6546, Declaring its
Intention to Set a Public Hearing for July 8, 2014, to Consider Municipal
Solid Waste Collection, Recycling and Disposal Service Rates for Fiscal
Years 2014/2015 through 2018/2019, to Incorporate a New Incentivized
Commercial Recycling Program, and to Implement a Pavement
Maintenance Fee.
Below is a picture Councilman O’Connell tweeted out this week to get residents to the meeting. If you watch on TV email your council members if you attend live stand up and comment on what your city is doing on your behalf to you or for you.
Well its that time again time for the Area Command Meetings. First up areas 1 & 2 and its at the same location that seems to work best for both areas Sunrise Church on Ayala & Riverside Aves. Sunrise is an awesome location and the church has been very good to the community in offering this space.
The location of Area Command meetings for areas 3 & 4 is St. Catherine of Siena Church on Sycamore just south of Foothill. The location of this meeting seems to change each time to possibly look for a location that works best for people in the 3 & 4 areas.
Every series of meetings their is a special presentation on a different facet of the Police Department. This is done because studies have shown the more understanding you have of a department or organization the better it is for the consumer and the producer.
This month Rialto Police bring you Cpl. Marquez and the RRST (Rialto Re-entry Support Team). This team is tasked with making sure people paroled to Rialto re-enter our communities without damage to the law abiding community members and also offers supports and programs for those really looking to make a change. They also deal with our influx of AB 109 early release population. AB 109 is Governor Browns failed attempt at reducing the stress on our prison system and moving criminals into our neighborhoods. This will be a great presentation and most presentations offer an opportunity for questions so come with your questions. Also they will be going over this summers events and activities.
The Area Command Program has improved each and every year it brings the concept of COP (Community Oriented Policing) to reality. Resources from all over the city are available and their is a full table of flyers and program applications to assist Rialto residents.
Also the Rialto Community Coalition will be asking people to take a survey on prescription drugs. These surveys assist them in making sure they are talking issues in a way that they will impact the community at large in a positive way.
Number 1 is the proposed location of the new stop light. Number 2 is where the city is looking to extend the existing road median. MC is where the 4th Mc Donald’s will be and the GAS is the proposed location of the Food 4 Less Gas Station
Hello Rialto residents if you didn’t follow us on twitter ( http://www.twitter.com/rialtosnow ) on Tuesday night you missed a couple interesting agenda and consent calendar items. Below we have them listed out for your reading enjoyment.
Consent Calendar D. 10
So normally consent calendar items are rarely ever discussed the consent calendar is meant to approve a block of items that have minimal importance, low dollar amount or lately a way to slide an item by the public without any response from your elected officials. The only way these items are discussed in the open is if they are pulled by one member for separate consideration or a separate vote meaning someone has a issue, question or problem with any particular item.
So on this occasion there were three items pulled for separate consideration. The first two were uneventful and took minimal time D. 10 was not so easy. Councilman O Connell was the one that placed this item on the agenda and Mayor Robertson pulled the item. So what was D. 10? D. 10 was a request that council direct the clerks office to provide detail minutes versus ACTION minutes. What’s the difference? The difference is action minutes merely report the overall final vote 3-1, 4-0 ect. Over the last 6 months the Clerk has given the city ACTION minutes only. So when the Mayor was accused of giving preferred treatment to one security contractor over another. their is no record, or the funny way the money from the sale of our water company for 30 million dollars has been allocated and many other examples.
Mayor Robertson issue was that the city council was directing one elected official to do something? She went on about different branches of government and not over stepping boundries. It sounds good right council cant direct the City Clerk to do something right? Well if our City Clerk was only a City Clerk it would be that way. Our City Clerk is also a Department Head she makes a nice yearly salary department heads report to the city council and mayor as well as the city administrator. Councilman O Connell came prepared for the item to be pulled because he came with a power point that really drove the point home about why he was concerned about the ACTION minutes. There was a lot of back and forth where even the City Clerk tried to blame her lack of reporting on the moving of her offices, lowered staff and being ill. The city attorney said that the way this issue was handled was if the city had a Municipal Code directing what type of minutes were to be generated which Rialto does not have, so they fall back to state law which states that ACTION minutes were the bare minimum. The outcome was the City Attorney would draft a Municipal Code that would direct the Clerk to produce more than ACTION minutes. So this one is TO BE CONTUNIED……
Visit our twitter account and get a picture of Barbara McGee’s body language during the Councilman’s power point.
Agenda Tab 4
Welcome to Rialto the Home of Liquor Stores, Indoor Swap Meets & Mc Donald’s fast food chains. On Tuesday the City Council made this more of a reality. Apparently on the corner of Cedar & Foothill where the Verizon Store is and the empty video rental building is will now house Rialto’s 4th Mc Donald’s chain. But wait there is more that very busy and dangerous shopping center is also getting a Food 4 Less Gas Station Yay?????? But wait there is more to make matters worse the city is extending a median on Cedar North of Foothill & putting another stop light between Linden and Cedar on Foothill???????
Neighborhood Watch Liaison for the Flores Park Neighborhood Watch addressed his concerns on Tuesday that the city was spending a total of $150,000 on a project that is only going to make traffic worse not better yet Flores Park Can’t get 1 single stop sign in front of their park to slow down traffic and help the RUSD traffic guard assist the children across this dangerous street. Council Members were un moved by the pleading from the community because the new gas station and Mc Donald’s brings in revenue. So I guess street safety is only important as long as the city can make money off it. The sad part is that this new Mc Donald’s is less than 50 feet from a Head Start Pre School that is already flanked by a wienerschnitzel so much for healthy Rialto. Anyone that uses this area already knows its a mess inside the shopping center traffic wise now that the city is going to force people to turn south onto Cedar which will be further backed up by an additional light on Foothill is a recipe for a disaster.
As to Flores Park and their desire for a stop sign on Etiwanda no one on the council seemed to care. Especially Public Works Director Marcus Fuller who increased the speed limit on Etiwanda by 15 MPH from 25 MPH to 40 MPH. When asked why he stated that 80 percent of the people were speeding on the street so they increased the speed to accommodate the speeding public. There seems to be no law preventing turning our local streets into legal drag strips. Both Cactus and Cedar that run parallel to Etiwanda have speed limits of 50 MPH just 15 MPH shy of a freeway. Flores Park said the will continue to push on the issue and look into legal avenues to force the city to offer protections for our neighborhoods and community streets.
On Friday April 4th the Rialto Community Coalition held a Substance Abuse prevention forum at Eisenhower High School. The event included a vendor resource zone with education a resource tools for attendees, speakers from Rialto Police Department, Rialto Unified Public Safety, Principle Scott Sparks, Key note speech from Prevention Specialist Ray Lozano and a Q&A Panel.
Speaker Ray Lozano gave a riveting presentation on the dangers and effects of drugs and alcohol on a young persons system. Ray Lozano used props and audience participation to make sure the information was interesting and hit home.
Jennifer Ariza from The Rec Center came with videos and tools to educate parents and students of the effects and dangers of substance abuse. Farmers Insurance Services came out and showed event attendees the dangers of alcohol use and driving. The African American Health Coalition came with resources and training event attendees could utilize at the event and after.
99.1 KGGI with Diana Wehbe and KC were on hand and Laniea Dominguez from Comedy for Causes was the event MC.
Campus Security Officer Juan addressed the public on a incident where a student was almost dumped by his FREINDS by the side of a building after giving the teen synthetic marijuana which resulted in the teen experiencing cardiac arrest. If the campus security officer had not found the teen he may have met a dire consequence.
All throughout the event the message was driven home to parents and teens that if your depending on your friends to notice when your life is in danger your depending on the wrong people.
Ray Lozano said that the #1 reason teens use drugs for the first time is because they are bored. This drove the point home to youth and adults to help us find other ways to curb boredom and make better choices.
Don’t Go There a Community forum aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of drug and alcohol consumption among our youth.
Rialto Community Coalition brings this informative forum working with Rialto Police Department & Rialto Unified School District.
This event will include A resource zone where Students, Parents and Educators can obtain information on how to deal with Drug and Alcohol Consumption, start the conversation or deal with use that is ongoing. We are also proud to announce that Ray Lazano the highly popular world wide drug and alcohol counselor will be our keynote speaker. We will also have a Panel where people in attendance can ask questions of Coalition members, School District personnel, Rialto Police dept. staff and more……
Check the event listing for an up to date list of everything that they will have going on.
Come early and meet Diana Wehbe and the 99.1 street team who will be doing a live remote.
This week the people that make up your Rialto Community Coalition Rialto Police Department are coming together to bring you a public forum tackling the problem of drug and alcohol use and abuse among teens especially during prom and graduation season which is kicking off in full gear this April. Here are some facts that show our teens are under attack of further danger:
More teens die from prescription drugs than heroin/cocaine combined.
In 2013, more high school seniours regularly used marijuana than cigarettes as 22.7 percent smoked pot in the last month, compared to 16.3 percent who smoked cigarettes.
60 percent of seniors don’t see regular marijana use as harmful, but THC (the active ingredient in the drug that causes addiction) is nearly five times stronger than it was 20 years ago.
One-third of teenagers who live in states with medical marijuana laws get their pot from other people’s prescriptions.
By the 8th grade, 28 percent of adolescents have consumed alcohol, 15 percent have smoked cigarettes, and 16.5 percent have used marijuana.
These are just a few of the staggering statistics on drug and alcohol use in our schools. Talking with the members of the Rialto Community Coalition I found out why it was so important for them to hold this event. David Phillips said “when we were working on the issue of synthetic drugs we found out that education was the missing component. Education on all three sides of the equation the youth who thought these were safe forms of drug use (because they were sold over the counter). Parents who had no idea their kids had harmful drugs right before them (because of their colorful packaging and being sold over the counter). Finally our teachers with a combination of packed out classrooms and a lack of education on the issue with the false information that these drugs were legal leaving educators with a sense of helplessness.
So what the Coalition decided was to hold a 3 hour public forum mainly consisting of three components.
A Vendor Resource zone where parents, educators and youth can get additional resources or help with what they already are dealing with or my deal with in the future.
Key Note speaker Ray Lozano from Prevention Plus to speak to the teens at their level on these dangers and why they should avoid them at all costs. Ray said Continuous effort, strength and intelligence are the key for a young person to reach their full potential. When they start using marijuana, not only do those qualities vanish, but their uniqueness is lost and they become generic.
A Q&A Panel where attendees can ask questions and get answers from people that know and are part of the solution.
Laniea Dominguez of comedy for causes is going to MC this event when we asked her why she is getting involved she said this “I lost my mom to drugs & alcohol and wanted to give my children a better memory of me. I wanted to be part of this event to remind teens that life has sooo much to offer & it’s up to them to chose to live it or lose it.”
The event is this Friday April 4th from 5-8 pm and will include a visit from Diana Wehbe & the 99.1 KGGI Radio Street team, Rialto Police Department will have its under the influence simulator for people to experience the varied levels of how it feels to be under the influence. This all goes down at Eisenhower High School in the Gym at 1321 N Lilac Rialto, Ca 92376.
For more information contact Michael Townsend on the flyer or visit their Facebook event posting at the link below.
Any and all media are free to use the content here for free please notify the Media Relations person David Phillips at 909-534-9558 or Davidsmarketing@aol.com
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