Well Rialto it is that time again time to VOTE! Now we all thought we had a break from this since everyone keeps talking about 2020 and the big presidential race. Sorry some agencies out there still run their elections on off years.
Today we come to you with one of our Q&A segments on someone looking for your vote. This election is for West Valley Water District and its boundaries are all over the place landing in both San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. There are two other seats up for election on November 5th with regards to West Valley Water. The 1st seat that is currently held by Director Kyle Crowther who is the Vice President on the board is up against two seasoned challengers. Former Board President Betty Gosney and Former Director Linda Gonzalez are running against Mr. Crowther.
This Q&A is simply a way for you to learn something you may not know about candidates seeking your vote. No matter who you choose please get out and cast your vote.
Why do you feel qualified to sit on the West Valley Water Board?
I was a board member with West Valley water District for 13 years president of the board for two years I left there at the end of my term for health reason
Are you aware of the boards changes to the open meeting laws over the last few years? How do you feel about those changes?
I am aware of most of the changes made by the board. I don’t feel that they were in the interest of the District but the interest of the board at the time I don’t feel it was a good decision.
What is your purpose for running for West Valley Water Board?
I would like to get back on this board. A board that is a fair Board that does it’s job as it should be done not to micromanage.Not for self service.
What is your political party affiliation?
This is a nonpartisan election. Political affiliation has no business as a board member for West Valley water District a board member should be open minded and fair to all.
Have you taken any monetary or non-monetary support from large interest groups like unions or environmental groups? If not have you seeked out money or support and been denied?
I have never been denied money or support I’ve never ask I’ve never taken any monetary or non-monetary support from any group or any person nor any union or environmental groups I’ve never seeked out money or support I have always been honest and work the best I could for what I thought was right in all things that I do.
Are you being funded or supported by any current West Valley Water Board Members?
No I am not being funded by any current or past west valley water board member.
What is your take on the corruption rumors floating around for the last 8 years?
I am only aware of corruption and or rumors in the past four years.
Can you promise no new rate increases?
No I cannot promise no new rate increases, as rates were increased in 2013 due to a large increase in electric, gas, which is needed to deliver water to our rate payers. Because of the raised infrastructure all cost for the water District had been raised we had no choice but to keep up with our expenses and as always cost to go up as does income.
Do you support working to create a live broadcast of Board meetings and using a system to archive recorded meetings? Why?
Not sure about live Broadcast however not against it And yes meetings need to be recorded and saved. I do wish some of my past meetings were recorded.
Do you support creating rules that bar board members from using West Valley staff and Water District marking materials in future election advertising?
No board member should ever use the staff district materials for any future elections or for any personal use.
Any words you would like the Rialto Now readers to know about you?
I feel I am an honest and fair person I’ve lived 74 years raised six boys have eight grand kids and 9 great grand kids they are my life. I have spent several of my years working towards the betterment of my Surrounding areas. I have been on the Bloomington MAC for 20 some years still working towards the betterment of the county areas.
Because we are gluttons for punishment in California and especially in Rialto our fearless leaders are dropping yet another gas tax on people who buy gas in California. Rialto residents get additionally taxed because Rialto residents have to pay for damage that Burttec has caused to our streets.
California is poised to charge the highest taxes and fees on gas in the COUNTRY once the 5.6 cent tax increase goes into effect on July 1st. What is scary is that State leaders say they will still be BILLIONS of $$$$ short of what is needed to fix California roads. They are still trying to fix what is already there still they have no plans on how to increase lanes yet they keep increasing the population. These taxes are part of the SB1 bill that state Demoncrats approved in 2017 and California Voters failed to pass a proposition that would have killed SB1 and the pending tax increases.
Even with the increased taxes the state claims they will be $78 Billion short of what is needed to bring California Roads and Bridges into GOOD repair. Why are all these taxes not enough? Here are some glaring reasons:
More than 60% of the money from SB1 wont ever go to fund a single road repair project, this money is going to mass transit, failed high speed rail and bike lanes.
Caltrans is a drain on society, they work slow and have thousands of engineers that sit around. They agency is full of fraud, bribery, favoritism, bid rigging, and spending work time to derail a citizen proposition.
California leaders have been robbing the road fund for years only to now say we don’t have enough.
Funding health care, drivers licenses, food stamps, public education and so much more for illegal aliens.
They even go so far as to give themselves yet another raise!
Don’t forget the massive looming deficit coming for the State in the Retirement System PERS!
So it looks like California and Rialto are in for more and more increases in taxes until they start speaking louder from the ballot box!
So in today’s era of the Great California Drought and the massive amount of influence that local water boards have on the use and cost of your families water more attention is being put on Elected Boards that have a direct influence on our most valuable utility water. Most water companies are overseen by a Utility Commission but the final body to approve changes lies with Elected Council members and Mayors. Well in Rialto there is a strange mixture of utilities when it comes to the delivery of water and sewer services. This isn’t a perfect boarder but basically if you live south of Baseline Ave your serviced by Rialto Water Services north of Baseline you are part of West Valley Water.
West Valley apparently had a very turbulent board meeting according to Board Member Linda Gonzalez on Board Vice President Clifford Young’s Facebook page:
Now Mrs. Gonzalez telling people to check the minutes was a weird statement due to the fact that the only minutes that had been published were up to 9-3-15. Never the less we hear that there is a special meeting that was called and here is the meat of the agenda:
BUSINESS MATTERS
Consideration of:
1. Appointment of Special Counsel.
2. Appointment of Confidential Assistant to Report Directly to the West Valley Water Districts Board of Directors.
3. Appointment of Treasurer for the West Valley Water District Board of Directors.
4. Begin Conducting an Independent Review of all West Valley Water Districts Contracts.
5. Independent Review of all Contracts during the Tenure of Prior West Valley Water Districts General Manager. Consideration of Possible Suspension of all District Contracts Independent of Contracts Directly Critical to the Delivery, Safety and Operation of Water Services to the District.
ADJOURN
Rumors are flying about the reason for the special counsel that the board is looking to hire as well as why does the WATER BOARD need a Confidential Assistant? Were also wondering why this board is now calling into question EVERY SINGLE contract that was signed during the tenure of Mr. Butch Ariza the former General Manager of the WVWD. A lot of this smells of political leveraging against Mr. Ariza due to the fact that he is running for a seat on the water board. It’s horrible because public safety doesn’t even seem to matter as they look to suspend “Suspension of all District Contracts Independent of Contracts Directly Critical to the Delivery, Safety and Operation of Water Services to the District” This is horrible and has us wondering what is the motive for such a bold move?
Our 2 cents is they know that they fly way under the public radar and they think you don’t care enough to get upset. Well it should be on your radar because these people are well compensated for their time sitting on this board. According to the link on the WVWD website that each board member can be compensated at least $13,000 each year and the General Manager can approve for them to go over that amount if need be. See the info below if you wish to attend tomorrows SPECIAL BOARD MEETING:
WEST VALLEY WATER DISTRICT
855 W. Base Line Road, Rialto, CA
SPECIAL BOARD MEETING
AGENDA
Monday, October 12, 2015- 12:00 p.m.
“In order to comply with legal requirements for posting of agendas, only those items iiled with the District Secretary’s office by noon, on Wednesday prior to the following Monday Special Board meeting, not requiring departmental investigation, will be considered by the Board of Directors.”
OPENING CEREMONIES
Pledge of Allegiance
Call to Order
Roll Call of Board Members
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
Any person wishing to speak to the Board of Directors on matters listed or not listed on the agenda, within its jurisdiction, is asked to complete a Speaker Card and submit it to the District Clerk. Each speaker is limited to three (3) minutes. Under the State of California Brown Act, the Board of Directors is prohibited from discussing or taking action on any item not listed on the posted agenda. Comments related to noticed Public Hearing(s) and Business Matters will be heard during the occurrence of the item.
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:
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.
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 room was full of people looking for information on a wide variety of offices
Have you heard of the FELLAS? I had not until just recently, but I knew a couple of the members that make up this group. Some of the most powerful African American Men here in the Inland Empire make up the core of this group one of which now lives in Rialto. Some of the core members are Terrance Stone of Young Visionaries, Joseph Williams of The Youth Action Project (Rialto Resident) and Hardy Brown II of The Black Voice News.
It was powerful to arrive early and see these men in action and see the passion for the community they have. My group Flores Park Neighborhood Group was asked to be a co-sponsor of the event and help with administrative functions of the event. This Forum was the best multi candidate event I think Rialto has ever had. The diverse array of canidates as well as the information that was given was priceless.
The slection of rotation was interesting and seemed to work out well. If anything was accomplished yesterday it was showing off who was ready to start on day one if they won the majority of votes in November.
The powerful stand out were the following and why:
Lynn Hirtz Rialto City Council – Lynn came prepared and blew away the audience with her list of council accomplishments and background working in Rialto and commitment to make sure we didn’t shut down the airport for nothing that we will have a beautiful development in the Renissance area of Rialto.
Paul Chabot speaks with community members. Here he is speaking with a Sara Garcia a Representitve with Assembly Woman Cheryl Browns office.
Paul Chabot Congress 31st District – Paul came out explained that their are big issues here in the Inland Empire and he is the true voice of the Inland Empire. As a Naval Officer, Reserve Deputy and a small business owner he had the knowledge and passion to best represent the 31st.
Dina Walker RUSD Board – Dina Walker came out prepared to let the parents know they would have a voice with passion, knowledge and experince in implementing created policy. She even went as far as to tell people she wasn’t and expert in everything with left many feeling like she was going to be a straight shooter something that has been missing for years in Rialto.
Christina Gangier Congress 35th District – This young firey passionate young business woman is ready to take Washington by the horns and advocate for the Inland Empire. Her big focus was job readiness of our youth and older unempolyed. She refereenced her work with preparing people to be able to use technology to obtain careers not just jobs. She unlike her opponetnt Norma Torres will not forget who she represents and promised not to have special interests tapping her on the shoulder while she is advocating for the IE.
The elected hopefuls that were in attendance:
Rialto City Council: Lynn Hirtz, Joseph Britt
Rialto Unified School Board: Lillie Houston, Russel Silva, Dina Walker
Congressional District 35: Christina Gagnier
Congressional District 31: Paul Chabot, Pete Aguilar
Valley College Board Trustee: Joseph Williams
San Bernardino County Schools Board: Hardy Brown II
So a while back Rialto gave Burrtec a 10 year contract to help them secure low interest loans to increase and upgrade their fleet. We were promised no rate increases for two years. In return they would take over our street sweeping at no additional cost to the city, cleaning of the catch basins and of course pick up our trash.
Less than one year later we are looking at rate increases & a special fee placed by our city.
The use of special “fees” comes from the governments requirement to take new taxes to the public for a vote. So governments all over the state had a simple answer to this problem of stealing money from the tax payers, they decided to call their TAXES “fees”. Governments also have another tactic that normally works out well for them, it is to exempt the Seniors and low income from paying the tax or “fee”, putting the entire burden on the young and working class.
So what is this fee all about? Apparently public works and the city just recently figured out that trash trucks are heavy and do more damage than a regular car. So what is their solution?
Did you know that 3 trash trucks come down your street each week?
You see a trash truck is as heavy as 11,800 cars.
So your city staff (Marcus Fuller) recommends that YOU be taxed (Fee) as an increase to your trash rates to pay for street maintenance. It starts out low and then jumps in four years.
Now I have just a few questions for our city staff (Marcus Fuller):
Wasn’t there a way we used to pay for street repairs I think it was called our normal taxes? Did they go away without my knowledge?
Why is it the residents responsibility to pay for damage that Burrtec is causing?
Are the 18 wheelers that traverse all over the city being required to pay for the damage they cause?
Since the city has recently balanced the budget why are we once again looking into the residents pockets when Mr. Fuller has been successfully getting street repairs done for less than the projected cost?
What makes matters worse is Councilman Joe Baca Jr. was overheard after the council voted to set the public hearing back in May saying, “Should we be voting on a tax in a election year?”. Really? Is this fee or tax fair? Should we be doing our jobs in an election year? It is sad that there are still people working for us (Marcus Fuller) & people representing us (Councilman Baca) that clearly don’t seem to care about the bottom line of struggling families. Nobody except for the select few financially tied to the Water deal are making any more money. It is quite the opposite, families here in Rialto are making less and being asked to pay more.
How long will Rialto Residents put up with this type of governing? I am calling on all Rialto Residents to come to City Hall this Tuesday and let our council and city government know that if this is such a big concern, Burttec should be made to pay for THIER DAMAGE.
Below you will find the public notice and the table for the trash rate increases without the special fee. You have Burttec and the city reaching further and further into your pockets every year.
Public Hearing for New Refuse Collection Service Charges
The City Council has scheduled a Public Hearing for July 8, 2014, to consider changes to the City’s current rates for refuse collection service charges. These charges are established by the City and billed by its trash hauler (Burrtec) to cover costs for trash and green waste collection and disposal, and recycling services. more
A notice has been mailed to all residents and business owners regarding the proposed rates to accommodate increasing costs for service in excess of the Consumer Price Index, as well as the inclusion of two specific items: 1) an incentivized rate structure that includes commercial recycling services; and 2) a pavement maintenance fee (does not apply to senior or disabled accounts). For residential services, the proposed monthly rate increases estimated to occur over the next five years are identified in the following table:
Who remembers the old Builders Warehouse? Does that take you back too far, how about the movie theatre?
Builders Warehouse was a home improvement store in the late 80’s and early 90’s that closed down. Then came the movie theatre in the summer of 1997 and lasted until 2010. Now we have a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market where these other two businesses once stood. As each business took residence of this anchor spot they made it their own by totally changing the look of the building. Now I must preface this post with a disclaimer I am not a fan of ANYTHING Wal-Mart does. With that said when I cruised through the Shopping Center it is clear this is going to be an interesting social experiment. Then I saw the front of the building and I was shocked! This picture looks like it has been photo shopped but promise it is as real as it gets.
So here it is from the outside it almost looks exactly the way it was when it was a movie theatre. So instead of telling you what I think about this look I want you to share what you think about it? So post here, Facebook or Twitter and tell us what you think. Also will this new market concept find success where Fresh and Easy failed?
Hello Rialto Now readers. So now that the elections are over we can now put that climate aside for a while, right?
Nope we have a state senate seat open here in rialto and other surrounding areas. Norma Torres is running against the Mayor of Ontario Paul Leon for our state senate seat. I asked each of them one question via Facebook. What role should our state senator play in helping the communities they serve work to combat graffiti that harms our communities. Norma Torres had no response but Randall Ceniceros did kind of respond on her behalf.
Paul Leon said that he thinks that the state senator needs to be more connected with the issues plaguing the communities they are representing. He was open to helping local cities combat crime and graffiti in a effort to make the Quality of Life for the community as high as possible.
Norma Torres Never responded but Randall Ceniceros said he would ask me and get back to me. That answer never came and that was asked in February.
So as I post the Meet and Greet info for Mrs. Torres I urge Rialto residents to attend and bend her ear to what YOU care about. Our state legislator both assembly and senate are greedy, power hungry people that through their actions have no real concern for the PEOPLE THEY REPRESENT. Make them listen or not get elected.
The picture provided below was provided by Joe Britt.
Assemblymember Cheryl R. Brown (D-San Bernardino) has been appointed by Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) to the following Standing Committees for the 2013-2014 Legislative Session: Rules; Housing and Community Development; Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media; Veterans Affairs; and Aging and Long-Term Care.
“I’m excited about the work that I’m going to be doing in Sacramento for the 47th Assembly District,” said Assemblymember Brown. “I’m pleased to be appointed to the Committee on Rules, which oversees all incoming bills and other fiscal and personnel business of the Legislature.”
“I’m also excited to be appointed to the Housing and Community Development Committee. My background as an urban planner will aid me as I work to ensure that our communities have access to affordable housing and that we’re utilizing our community development tools for economic growth.”
“My appointment to the Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media will allow me to build on my experience in this area, especially tourism and internet media. In addition, I will look for new ways to promote economic growth through entertainment, arts, sports, and tourism.”
“I feel especially gratified to be appointed to the committee on Veterans Affairs. I feel that veterans are very important. I appreciate their service and the sacrifices they’ve made to keep our nation free. We should honor and treat them with respect. There should be no homeless veterans.”
“I’m proud to be a strong voice for seniors and help with issues affecting aging and long-term care. As a member of the Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care, I look forward to sharing my ideas and personal experience in long-term care and having a positive impact. I want to thank Speaker Pérez for assigning me to these important committees.”
Assemblymember Brown represents the 47th Assembly District, which includes San Bernardino, Rialto, Colton, Bloomington, Fontana, Muscoy, and Grand Terrace. Assemblywoman Brown was elected on November 6, 2012.
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