HomeMy WebLinkAbout58-Public Comment t
FeaW � SJLJ s�►d eWS J�II ilSe
Division Inland Empire Community Newspapers, a of CCRR Publishing
March tt : tt : Volume Number/ •m
Tm&-awwjm Baca
Complacency with the status quo has flourished throughout history.
Women and men co-exist with evil and injustice in their everyday
lives until a catalyst for change emerges:Small groups of brave people,
and in some cases a single individual,take a stand imparting.honesty
and revealing the truth.These ripples of hope collectively turn the tide,
of human struggle.
Proceeding my own lifetime, I have learned that the people of the
Inland Empire have chosen.silence and compromise' truth and _
action.Through tacit acceptance of elected officials that operate to the
detriment of our community we have allowed their continued presence
in our lives.This must cease if we are to welcome positive and substan-
tive change to our community.
Why won't anyone tell.the truth about Congressman Joe Baca? Many
are afraid to share his documented history of bullying developers,cred-
it unions, and city council members. These transgressions reward his
financial .contributors such as TELACU. After the San Bernardino
Mayor and the City Council received a pointed letter from the congress-
man,the developer,was granted approval to build a 90-unit,three-story
housing complex at the corner of Highland and Central avenues. ("SB
council approves senior-housing plan" SB Sun,03/17/2008) Nepotism
prevails when public officials under pressure endorse his sons with each .
run for a political office.
Publicly revealing what many know to be true has recently cost me my m is
job with U.S.Senator Barbara Boxer.Why stop now?Together we must r cn
reject the tradition of supporting an incumbent for the sake of political
expediency. o a`3
Congressional candidate,Joanne Gilbert,provides us with an oppor- CM co
tunity to challenge the Baca family dynasty. We need someone who v Y M
works for us.Residents of the Inland Empire must demand more.For �° E ca
more than eight years,Joe Baca has "worked" to promote the lives of 0 C.Z �
his family,a select few,and himself. c
It is time for a change. Who is going.to be a champion for our chit-
dren;our communities and the.overall welfare of our citizenry?
Share the truth about Joe Baca with your friends,family and neigh- a ~'
bors.End the lies,threats,and attacks of this divisive figure. cc
The time has come to reclaim both our courage and our community.
Corey A.Jackson
Rialto
INK-
city Fights A Holding Action Against graffiti
ou see it on walls. You see Organized Removal Citizen Complaints
it on stop signs. You see it
Next,the city is engaged in a highly Finally,the city responds to citizen com-
=-- on freeway overpasses.The organized,area by area removal effort to plaints to the Graffiti Control Office.Citizens are
people who spray paint their initials, gang eliminate the backlog log of graffiti painted asked to report the location and description of
names and slogans there are staking out in past periods. To carry this out, each graffiti that has appeared.Work crews then get
territory or just being smart.For the commu= to the area as fast as their other work permits.
pity it is an eye sore. Since March 1992,when the city
Graffiti removal is now over a formed its special graffiti control teams,
$200,000 a year business forthe city, x.> 3,897 areas have been cleaned. The
and staff members assigned to the 9 effort now reaches 800 sites per month,
task are just able to keep even. ` ?+
g _ _ up from 180 before the program started,
graffiti San Bernardino's re-
moval task force is now a highly orga- Unfortunately this has not eliminated
the problem,it has only held it even.
nized effort managed by two coordi- f i.� San Bernardino is investing in
nators and carried out by two working {
i.- A this effort as the city believes that when
crews.The operation approaches its i= ! graffiti is out of control it harms the
work in three parts. morale and success of the community.
wr Unfortunately the strain which the re
Plot Spots cession has placed on the city budget
First, there are the hot spots. prevents an even greater effort from
These occur when a gang enters a taking place.
new area,or an individual decides to go on part of the city has been surveyed. The
a rampage. To combat this ugliness, city worst affected areas have been priori- Reporting Glaffiti
staff continually reenters the affected area tized.Each day,crews go to the next most The best way to fight graffiti is to remove
=and paints over or sand blasts the graffiti important area and clean it.The neighbor- it yourself as fast as possible.If you have graffiti
they find. When successful, this strategy hood is then monitored in the attempt to which you do not feel you can remove yourself.
convinces the perpetrators their efforts will keep it clean. please contact the Graffiti Control Office at
continually go for naught.
384-5045.❑
Entered into Record at
�.i"CMV084ms Mtg:
;.i item
City Clerk/CDC Secy
City di Sjil )';Atldrdino
now San Bernardino
Is weathering the Recession
Balanced But Reduced Budget, Fund Deficits Eliminated
ith California mired in its budget will buy S3 million less services for
WIN worst recession since the the public.
' Great Depression, hove is
the City of San Bernardino being affected? How has the budget been cuts?
The ansvier lies in the current fiscal year's Three sets of actions have brought
budget. the budget down.
Despite lov.!er sales taxes,$750,000 First,74 full time positions have been
in new county tees for jailing prisoners,and eliminated, with nearly ever} department
5900,000 taken by the State of California to affected. In the case of police and tire,
solve its budget%roes,the city has been able however,the number of uniformed officers
to reduce and balance its budget,eliminate protecting the public were left unchanged.
$9.2 million in fund deficits, and maintain Second.out of 1,187 city employees.
critical service levels. only wo
The smaller budget means the city will y groups p were granted wage in-
creases. For equity's sake.the 84 eanplov-
spend S500,000 less than it did last year. ees who voluntarily took no pay raise th
This cut,together with a local price increase past two years were brought up to par. It,.
3.7°x. means the city's S107.1 million
Continued on page
San Bernardino Dtiy Puchasing Power
Adjusted for Inflation, FY 92 vs. FY 93 Change in
City Staff Levels
76,025,495
— FY 91-92 FY 92-93 Change
73,004,470 Mayor 11 10 (1)
Common Council 11 11 0
City Clerk 17 17 0
City Treasurer 1 1 0
City Attorney 20 18 (2)
City Administrator 8 7 (1)
Civil Service 5 4 (1)
FY 91-92 FY 92-93 Personnel 7 6 (1)
Note:Spending in both years adjusted to 1982-1984 prices Finance 31 28 (3)
,/ Planning&Building 48 38 (10)
San Bernardino Buflget. a . Fire 198 190 (8)
Police 425 415 (10)
Continued from page 1 Eliminating Fund Deficits Public Works 57 48 (9)
addition, police and fire officers were given Facilities Mgmt. 55 45 (10)
the automatic raise mandated by the voters While San Bernardino leaders have Parks&Recreation 90 79 (11)
through Charter Section 186. been down-sizing this year's budget. Public Services 71 62 (9)
Third,each city department has been they have also faced a second financial Risk Management 8 4 (4)
required to cut spending by 2.7%.This will problem. During the late 1980s,the city Library 37 31 (6)
be accomplished by eliminating trips,reduc- built up deficits in several funds used to Cemetery 6 5 (1)
law
pay for future items such as liability Cable TV 5 5 0
ing supply levels and in many cases delaying
equipment purchases until next year. suits and worker's compensation cases. Animal Control 15 15 0
When 1989 began, these deficits Refuse 93 83 (10)
Street Lights/Sweep 0 23 23
Will this affect city services? totalled 513.1 million. They were $9.2 Public Liability 1 1 0
million in March, 1992.Today they have Telephone Support 2 3 1
In planning these cutbacks, the city a combined positive balance of S4.6 Motor Pool 30 28 (2)
1 as been careful to leave police.fire,animal millior. Workers Comp 0 3 3
control, trash pickup and emergency ser- Tv:ro actions made this possible. Management Info 8 7 (1)
vices unaffected. In other cepartments the First. in a complex transaction, the city
public may experience minor delays.Just as followed a strategy used by many corpo- TOTAL 1,260 1,187 (73)
families and businesses have had to do rations. It sold its main offices to the
more with less, so will workers in these redevelopment agency and leased them Summary
areas. back at a manageable annual rate.This Despite the recession, San Bernar-
Actually, San Bernardino has been transaction freed up S9.2 million which dino will move through this fiscal year with a
less adversely affected than surrounding wiped out the entire fund deficit.Second, reduced but balanced budget. Its funds,
communities.In part this was true as it was $4.6 million of the refund from the state which have been in deficit,are now showing
able to transfer some functions, such as retirement fund was set aside to cover surpluses.Meanwhile.taxpayers should ex-
Central City mall security,back to the Rede- future possible liabilities from various court perience no cutback in essential daily ser-
velopment Agency which is separately actions such as workers compensation vices, though there will be minor delays in
funded. The city absorbed many of these and liability cases. other functions.
tasks in better times when RDA needed
help.
The budget was also aided by a$7.2
million refund from the state retirement fund. City Hall Christmas Closure
$2.8 million of this was applied to the current
budget to keep services from being severely ---- ----.
cut. the recession persists
(Note: if he City Hall complex will close on Christmas Eve,December 24, 1992
and reopen Monday,January 4, 1
and harms city revenues next year,San p Y 993.The closure is one of many cost
Bernardino could face the severe prob- - saving measures being taken by the City of San Bernardino to reduce
its budget during this serious recession.The holiday time was chosen in the hope that
lems which have hurt other loco!cities. it would be the least disruptive period to the public.
re then some equipment will have to be During the cloauro,city omploycco will be required to utiliLC vac cdlui i to r rc fl
, ualir iy
replaced.Also,the one time items which holidays or administrative leave(if applicable).
helped this year's budget wil! not be
available.) kAlater bills can still be paid at non-City Hall locations.11
7