With or without Elon Musk’s participation, local transportation officials are purposed to proceed with the underground shuttle system that would carry passengers between a Rancho Cucamonga train station and Ontario airport that the quirky billionaire proposed to construct more than four years years ago.
In May 2020, through one of his corporate holdings, the Boring Company, Musk proposed excavating a 2.8-mile underground tunnel linking Rancho Cucamonga to Ontario International Airport, and then using modified Tesla Model X electric vehicles to convey passengers through the tunnel at speeds reaching more than 100 miles per hour.
Musk, who initially earned his fortune as a cofounder of the on-line money exchange system PayPal, is the founder of the Tesla automobile company and the founder of the private sector space exploration company SpaceX.
As originally conceived, Musk’s brainchild was to serve as the final span in the transportation system that is intended to link Los Angeles with Ontario Airport. A significant portion of that yet-to-fully-achieved transportation mode – composed of a light rail system known as the Metro Gold Line – already stretched at that point 24 miles eastward across Los Angeles County from Union Station to Azusa. The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority Board in Los Angeles County is committed committed to extending it to Pomona and ultimately Claremont. Before reachin Claremont it is to be extended to a station now under preparation in Glendora. There was an understanding at one time that the Gold Line, now sometimes referred to as the A-Line, would cross into San Bernardino County, with the first extension to be completed terminating at the Montclair Transit Center. Thereafter, it was to eventually reach Ontario International Airport and then, by mid-century or beyond, extend out to San Bernardino, Redlands and Yucaipa and by the late 21st Century, all the way to Palm Springs. In 2019, however, at the prompting of San Bernardino County Transportation Executive Director Raymond Wolfe, San Bernardino County transportation officials abandoned the construction plans on the east side of the San Bernardino County/Los Angeles County line at the Claremont/Montclair border.
While there is the potential that at some point San Bernardino County transportation officials will renew their joint efforts with Los Angeles County transportation officials to undertake a continuation of the Gold Line/A-Line from its eventual terminus at the county boundary and take it to Ontario Airport and beyond, at this point those plans are on indefinite hold. Over $1 billion has been expended extending the Gold Line, consisting of a light rail train on two separate tracks running generally east west, currently to Azusa.
The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority, as its name implies, is San Bernardino County’s regional transportation agency. With a board composed of representatives from all 24 of the county’s cities as well as its five county supervisors, the agency, known by its acronym SBCTA, is charged with managing the expenditure of Measure I money. Measure I was first passed by San Bernardino County’s voters in 1989, providing for a half-cent sales tax override countywide, with the proceeds dedicated to paying for road improvements.
Another commuter rail system running from Los Angeles County into San Bernardino County – MetroLink – already exists and that there is an existing freight-carrying rail line linking the two counties as well. MetroLink commuter trains, however, run at a rate no more rapidly than one every 72 minutes, considerably less frequency than the Gold Line, which has with departures and arrivals every five to seven minutes during peak commuting hours and every 12 to 15 minutes during off-peak hours. Because of that, ridership on the MetroLink is relatively poor and Gold Line use is approaching capacity on its current schedule. If the goal of transitioning commuters from their automobiles to trains is to be effectuated, these advocates say, the Gold Line needs to be completed.
In the meantime, Assemblyman Chris Holden (D-41st District) and State Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D-25th District), whose districts straddle east Los Angeles County and west San Bernardino County, introduced legislation aimed at providing financial mechanisms to complete the faster rail travel methodologies in the region, most notably the Gold Line. With the Gold Line project have stalled out, however, Elon Musk, without actually having been asked to, in 2020 leapt into the breach and acting entirely on his own initiative had one of his corporate entities, the Boring Company, provide the San Bernardino County Transportation Agency with a proposal to undertake the underground tunnel project, one that would either use, partially use or parallel the existing flood control channelization constructed decades ago by the Army Corps of Engineers, and run from a station near Foothill Boulevard and the Day Creek flood control channel in Rancho Cucamonga to Terminal 2 at Ontario International Airport. That would have in some fashion dovetailed with the efforts to extend the Southern California region’s west-east commuting options that had at one time centered on the Gold Line extension, ultimately to Palm Springs.
Musk calculated the Rancho Cucamonga to Ontario Airport project could be completed for $60 million, largely because the purchase and monopolization of above-ground real estate would be bypassed and no construction of a rail system or purchase of trains would be necessary. Off-the-shelf or adapted Tesla Model X vehicles were to be used to provide transportation.
He proposed that a Musk-owned company operate the system.
In 2022, for reasons that are not altogether clear, Musk and Boring abandoned the project. Still, San Bernardino County Transportation Authority decision-makers remain convinced that Musk’s approach represents a far less-costly means of creating a usable public transportation system between Rancho Cuamonga and Ontario Airport than a rail system. One estimate is that extending the Gold Line to the airport would cost at least $1.1 billion and more likely closer to $1.5 billion.
On Wednesday, November 13, the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority will conduct an online public hearing that is to begin at 6 p.m. in which a proposal to .,as it evaluates the project’s
. Residents can share their opinions next month on a construct a 4.2-mile underground shuttle system running from the Rancho Cucamonga rail plaza to Ontario Airport, one that will cost in the neighborhood of $538.5 million to complete, will be previewed. Thereafter, input from any who are logged in with regard to the project, extending to potential environmental impacts, including those on the general ambiance, ground stability, air quality, flora and fauna and any random or specific consideration, will be invited. What is known at present about the plan is it will use what are termed “fuel-free-autonomous, zero-emission shuttles” to carry passengers, luggage and baggage through a tunnel 65 to 70 feet beneath or below and paralleling Milliken Avenue and East Airport Drive that is to stretch between Rancho Cucamonga’s Metrolink Station, which is ultimately to become a station for the high-speed train linking Southern California with Las Vegas, and Ontario International Airport.
Unless Musk agrees to return to the fold and have his company become involved again, Omnitrans, San Bernardino County’s public transportation agency which runs the area’s busses, would operate the system.
An 18,000 square-foot station and an adjacent maintenance facility are set to be built at the Rancho Cucamonga Metrolink Station in Rancho Cucamonga. Additionally, two 10,000 square-foot stations would be constructed at ONT, located across from terminals 2 and 4 in the city of Ontario.
Under the California Environmental Quality Act, a draft environmental impact report has been prepared for the project. In addition, in compliance with the the National Environmental Policy Act, an environmental assessment has also been prepared. Both the California and the federal documents are available for public review and comment between October 18 and December 2, 2024. All input must be received by December. 2, for consideration during the environmental phase. To Visit  goSBCTA.com/ONTConnector  To view the draft environmental impact report and the environmental assessment or to find a list of locations with printed copies publicly available, visit goSBCTA.com/ONTConnector.
San Bernardino County transportation officials invited members of the public to attend the on-line hearing on November 13 or peruse the environmental documents as “an opportunity to learn more about the project and the environmental studies, and to provide feedback.”

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME
CIV SB 2428772
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS:
Petitioner JUDITH LEE HOFMANN filed with this court for a decree changing names as follows:
JUDITH LEE HOFMANN to JUDITH LEE HOFMANN WADE
THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.
Notice of Hearing:
Date: NOVEMBER 18, 2024
Time: 8:30 a.m.
Department: S32
The address of the court is Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino, 247 West Third Street, San Bernardino, CA 92415
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this order be published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel in San Bernardino County California, once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing of the petition.
Gilbert G. Ochoa
Judge of the Superior Court.
Filed: August 29, 2024 by
Alyssa Leber, Deputy Court Clerk
Attorney for Judith Lee Hofmann
Jennifer M. Daniel
220 Nordina St.
Redlands, CA 92373
Telephone No: (909) 792-9244 Fax No: (909) 235-4733
Email address: team@lawofficeofjenniferdaniel.com
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on October 11, 18 & 25 and November 1, 2024.

FBN 20240008979
The following entity is doing business primarily in San Bernardino County as
C S M WATERWORK 12323 MEADOWLARK AVE OAK HILLS, CA 92344: ELAINA Y LEYVA
Business Mailing Address: 12323 MEADOWLARK AVE OAK HILLS, CA 92344
The business is conducted by: AN INDIVIDUAL.
The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on: N/A.
By signing, I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime (B&P Code 179130). I am also aware that all information on this statement becomes Public Record upon filing.
/s/ ELAINA Y LEYVA, Owner
Statement filed with the County Clerk of San Bernardino on: OCTOBER 4, 2024
I hereby certify that this copy is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office San Bernardino County Clerk By:/Deputy J6638 Hesperia
Notice-This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14400 et seq., Business and Professions Code).
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on October 11, 18, 25 and November 1, 2024.

Continue reading →

By Mark Gutglueck
BlueTrition Brands’ lawsuit challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s order that the company discontinue the diversion of water out of Strawberry Canyon in the San Bernardino Mountains, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in August, must be heard in Riverside Federal Court, a federal judge ruled this week.
For more than 90 years, BlueTriton and its corporate predecessors, including Nestlé Waters of North America, Inc., Nestlé, Perrier, BCI-Arrowhead Drinking Water Company, Beatrice Foods, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Los Angeles, Rheem, Arrowhead® Mountain Spring Water Company, California Consolidated Water, Arrowhead Water Corporation, Arrowhead Springs Corporation and Arrowhead Hot Springs Company, diverted water from Strawberry Creek and one of its tributaries located between the 5,200-foot and 5,600-foot elevation in the San Bernardino National Forest, using the water for their bottling operations. That diversion began in August 1930, originally involving water taken from a single “bedrock crevice” spring along Strawberry Creek at an elevation of 5,600 feet. Subsequently, in 1933 and 1934, California Consolidated Waters developed three springs using adits – horizontal borings – and then added 10 further horizontal borehole wells to tap spring water aquifers in the mountainside, thereupon transporting the forest spring water through a pipeline down the mountain, giving twenty percent to half of the water thus obtained to the Arrowhead Springs Hotel and then bottling and selling the rest, marketing it under various names, including Arrowhead, Puritas, Arrowhead and Puritas, Arrowhead Puritas, Arrowhead® Spring Water and Arrowhead® Mountain Spring Water among them.
Because a private entity cannot claim water rights on federal forest land that did not exist prior to the dedication of the forest as a national asset, the companies in question had to apply on a continuous basis for a water drafting permit to take the water, renewing it on an annual basis for a $524 fee.
While the Arrowhead Puritas Water Bottling operation was yet under BCI’s control in the mid-1980s, Arrowhead Puritas’s U.S. Forest Service-issued water drafting permit in Strawberry Canyon expired, and the BCI-Arrowhead® Drinking Water Company applied to extend the permit. In 1987, while that application was yet being processed, Perrier purchased the BCI-Arrowhead® Drinking Water Company.
The then-pending water extraction permit renewal required a U.S. Forest Service review of the water drafting arrangement and its environmental/ecological impact, which the U.S. Forest Service then did not have the immediately available resources to carry out. In a gesture of compromise, Perrier was allowed, pending the eventual Forest Service review, to continue to operate in Strawberry Canyon by simply continuing to pay the $524-per year fee to perpetuate the water extraction under the terms of the expired permit. In 1992, Nestlé acquired the Arrowhead brand from Perrier. Nestlé continued to pay the $524 annual fee without renewing the Strawberry Canyon operation permit, which at that time existed under the name of the “Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water Co,” one that was never listed legally in corporate filings, but which operated under Nestlé and then what became Nestlé Waters of North America, Inc. Continue reading →

Gigi Hanna is venturing into Yucaipa politics, she said, to spur the interest of the city’s residents in civic affairs and ensure that their opinions and perspectives are taken into consideration by the city’s leaders.
“I am committed to public participation in the government, and I have spent more than 30 years working to help link people to their elected leadership,” Hanna said. She did this, she told the Sentinel, “first, as a newspaper reporter, then in public agency communications, and as a city clerk – the citizens’ main connection to their government.”
Part of her involvement in government evolved from her roots. Her father was a firefighter whose specialized skills in fire science were in demand with different agencies, including ones inside and outside California and inside and outside the United States.
“I come from a public service-oriented family,” Hanna said. “The youngest of four children, I was born in Illinois, spent part of my childhood in Samoa and graduated from high school in Pasadena. I have an undergraduate degree in journalism and completed my master’s studies in communications from Cal State Fullerton. I spent the first 16 years of my professional life as a journalist, then transitioned into public agency publicity and government relations, working for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. I was appointed associate director of the Water Resources Institute at Cal State University San Bernardino, where I earned a master’s degree in public administration.”
At that point, she entered into the arena of elective office.
“I was the elected city clerk for the City of San Bernardino, taking office in 2012, just three months before the city entered into what was to become the longest municipal bankruptcy in the nation’s history,” she said. “It was a challenging time, one that saw budget cuts that took my office staff from 17 to 3, at the same time there was a ten-fold increase in public records requests. Despite that, our on-time fulfillment rate was better than both my predecessor and successor.” Continue reading →

A major factor in Yucaipa’s current political/governmental climate stems from what was unanticipated action by the city council majority barely two months after the last election.
On November 8, 2022 two newcomers were elected to the council. Matt Garner managed a narrow victory with 35.59 percent of the vote over Sherilyn Long and her 33.96 percent of the vote in the four-person District 1 council race which also involved third-place finisher Mark Taylor and Erik Sahakian, who came in fourth. In the District 2 contest, Chris Venable, with 62.11 percent, convincingly outdistanced Nena Dragoo, with 37.89 percent of the vote, to capture a seat at the council dais.
Both Garner’s and Venable’s victories had been set up by the decision of two longtime council members – David Avila in District 1 and Greg Bogh in District 2 – not to seek reelection that year.
Garner and Venable were sworn in during a largely ceremonial council meeting held on December 12, 2022. In Yucaipa, the mayor is not directly elected by the city’s voters. One of the handful of matters taken up by the newly installed council at that December 12 meeting was the council’s selection of which member would serve as mayor and which would be given the secondary honorific of mayor pro tem, what is essentially the vice mayor.
Justin Beaver, who had been in office only since 2020, was selected mayor. Councilman Bobby Duncan, who had been mayor in the past, was made mayor pro tem. With the December holiday season coming thereafter, the second council meeting for December 2022, which would have been held on December 26, was canceled.
On January 9, 2023, at what was the second public meeting of the newly composed city council and the first council meeting of the year, the vast majority of the Yucaipa community was blindsided when Garner joined with Mayor Beaver and Duncan in confronting City Manager Ray Casey during the closed session that precedes the open public session of council meetings. Beaver and Duncan informed Casey, who had originally been hired as Yucaipa’s city engineer in 2003 and was promoted to its top administrator in 2008, that if he did not tender his resignation immediately, he would be fired on the spot, as they had Garner’s vote to hand him a pink slip. With no better option available, Casey, reluctantly, resigned. Continue reading →

Fair Political Practices Commission Signs Off On Near
Record Local Fine Of Adelanto Councilman Ramos

After an interminable delay, the California Fair Political Practices Commission last month finalized the action it initiated against Adelanto City Councilman Daniel Ramos years ago, imposing on him one of the largest fines the watchdog agency has ever applied against a local politician.
In making its findings and assessing the penalty, the officials noted the length of time Ramos had allowed the case against him to go unresolved and his incalcitrance and repeated misrepresentations, the latter of which it was noted had required the expenditure of hundreds of hours of investigative work to fathom.
The case the California Fair Political Practices Commission brought against Ramos relates to a litany of reporting violations that were committed not just by the Committee to Elect Daniel Ramos Adelanto City Council 2020, which funded at least in part a campaign in which he was successful, but his Ramos for City Council 2018 committee, a separate entity that was related to his unsuccessful run six years ago for the Victorville City Council.
After more than five years of trying to get Ramos to acknowledge the gaps and flaws in his campaign finance report filings from his Victorville campaign and three years of seeking a similar sign of recognition from Ramos with regard to his Adelanto campaign, the Fair Political Practices Commission in May issued a default notice to Ramos and two individuals involved in his campaigns, Ricardo Ramos and Arley Arsineda, calling for the levying of a $57,500 fine on the councilman and/or his various campaign operations.
All told, it is estimated that Ramos collected and then spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $57,000 on both the 2018 and 2020 electoral efforts. An exact figure is not available because he has not filed the State Form 460 documents, the State Form 410 documents and other documents used to itemize donations to, expenditures from, loans to and from and nonmonetary contributions to, or in-kind payments relating to his electioneering efforts. Nor has he accurately delineated the bank accounts into which donations were deposited and from which expenditures were made. Continue reading →

The elections office in San Bernardino County, known as the registrar of voters, is allowing early voting to take place at five locations around its far-flung 20,105-square mile jurisdiction.
At present, county residents can vote at the registrar’s headquarters, located at 777 East Rialto Avenue in San Bernardino, Monday through Friday through November 4, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Voters can also cast ballots there on Saturday, November 2 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. On election day, November 5, the registrar’s office will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
There are to be four other early voting sites around the county beginning on October 29 and running until November 4 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the exception of Sunday, November 3.
The locations and addresses for the additional early voting sites are:
• The Apple Valley Recreation Center, 14955 Dale Evans Parkway, Apple Valley
• The Joshua Tree Community Center, 6171 Sunburst Street, Joshua Tree
• The Ontario Conference Center, 1947 East Convention Center Way, Ontario
• Victorville City Hall, 14343 Civic Drive, Victorville
“Early vote sites are ideal for voters to request and vote a replacement mail ballot prior to Election Day and avoid the lines of voters that may occur at polling places on election day,” said San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters Stephenie Shea. “Choosing when to vote is up to you and we feel that it’s important to give voters the opportunity to cast their ballot when it’s most convenient for their schedules.”
Further information, including the locations where mail ballots can be dropped off, can be had by calling the registrar’s office at (909) 387-8300.