(September 16) Rod McAuliffe said he is running for the Upland City Council to end a small group of incestuous insiders’ domination of the city.
“It is time to rid City Hall of the ‘you do something for me, and I will do something for you’ politics once and for all.” McAuliffe said. “Only then, will City Hall be able to finally get its fiscal house in order.   I am running for city council because the residents deserve to have someone who will truly represent them, rather than represent the many special interests that have taken over. I am convinced that one of the main reasons Upland finds itself in the financial disaster it is in today is because most of City Hall makes decisions based off what will please and satisfy the special interests, rather than making decisions that are fiscally responsible and best for the city and its residents.”
The City of Gracious Living is on the road to financial ruin, McAuliffe said, and aggressive action is called for.
“There are several major issues facing the city at this time,” McAuliffe said. “The most critical issue is the city’s financial condition. The city is in this condition because many at City Hall are fiscally irresponsible, wasteful, and make deals and contracts that they will benefit from. An example of this could be seen in a multi-million dollar 12 year contract with an outside company that several members of the council voted to approve without allowing it to be put up for bidding. This is just one of numerous examples.”
McAuliffe continued, “Another issue has to do with many of the city executives and department heads receiving astronomical salaries. Some of them receive salaries the same or higher as a person holding the same position in a city twice as big as Upland. Regardless of this excess, many at City Hall felt there was no need to freeze their raises. They had no trouble, however, trying to pass a tax increase on the residents, they said ‘because the city needed money.’ When that failed, they just raised the cost of the water and sewer service.”
He took aim at what he said was the city’s costly retirement plan for its employees.
“Pensions are another major issue facing the city,” McAuliffe said. “The California Public Employee Retirement System has been mismanaged so bad in Sacramento that they continue to increase the contribution amount demands on cities. If not dealt with soon, not only will the city find itself worse off financially than it is now, it could also cause the city to terminate many of its employees and lose other valuable employees to cities that are more fiscally sound. According to the Upland Budget Task Force Report that was completed this year, one of the main reasons Upland finds itself in this situation is because City Hall has continued to conduct poor negotiations. We need to negotiate contracts that will be beneficial and provide long term stability to both the city and its employees.”
Upland’s daunting financial challenges, McAuliffe said, are the result of “the quid pro quo politics at City Hall, and the lack of leadership that is needed to create an environment where people could put their differences aside and work as a team to resolve issues in a way that will be most beneficial to the city and its residents. We need to manage our budget in a way that reflects fiscal responsibility.”
He identified six steps in a plan of action that he said would position the city to turn the corner on the problems facing it.
“We need to, one, eliminate special interests from City Hall; two, eliminate excessive pay; three, eliminate redundant positions; four, operate within the means of the city budget; five, be fiscally responsible; and six, implement the appropriate cost controls to provide the proper checks and balances to the budget,” McAuliffe said.
McAuliffe said he is qualified to serve on the council through “my past experiences and education. I have nearly 20 years’ combined experience in both the public and private sector. While in law-enforcement I held several positions besides patrol. One of the positions I held was an administrative position in scheduling, at the courthouse, where we had over a seven million dollar annual budget. I was one of the people in charge of scheduling for over 100 personnel. I never exceeded the budget, and always knew how to operate within its means. As a corporate loss prevention manager, I was responsible for investigating loss and shortage throughout different parts of the corporation and, after gaining personal insight to how each sector operated, effected controls that played a significant role in the reduction of shortage and future losses for the corporation.
“I have experience both in the public and private sectors,” McAuliffe stated. “Obtaining my Bachelors and Masters degrees in business management has allowed me to become  well-versed in the theory and practice of running an efficient and lean operation. I have no trouble speaking up for or standing up for what I believe in. I realize at the same time that to take action, a consensus is necessary. I will stand up to the special interests. I will be fiscally responsible with the taxpayer money I am entrusted to oversee. I will operate within the means of the city budget. I won’t raise taxes because of the city’s financial mismanagement. I will always be accountable to those who elected me. My intent is to be the “Voice for the Taxpayers,” and ensure their voice is always heard.
McAuliffe graduated from Arcadia High School, served in the Marine Corps and obtained two degrees from Azusa Pacific University. He has lived in Upland for nine years. He is married with one child now attending Upland High School.

(September 17)  HESPERIA — The city of Hesperia will not give up on its effort to induce more development through the stratagem of discounting the development impact fees it has traditionally imposed on builders, a divided city council decided this week.
Hesperia experienced explosive growth in the late 1990s and well into the first decade of the current millennium. In 2000, the population in the City of Progress stood at 62,582. Over the next ten years, there was an influx of 27,591 into the city, as indicated in the 2010 Census, when 90,173 noses were counted.
But between February 2010 and April of 2012, the city did not issue a single residential construction permit. At that point, the council voted to reduce its development impact fees as a ploy of encouraging further expansion. City officials represented the move as an ‘experiment” and “pilot program,” stating that it was understood that the discounts would lessen the amount of money collected to offset the construction of infrastructure, such as providing equipment and capital improvements for the fire department, water and sewer facilities and roads and bridges.
Residential construction in the city did pick up afterward.  Ariaz Construction undertook a project to construct a single 1,711-square-foot home eight days after the council approved the developer impact fee reduction, which was largely seen as a symbolic change. But gradually, things got moving. From April to November 2013, 21 planned homes were submitted for a plan check, and 61 building permits have been issued since October 2013.
In November 2013, Alan Colatuono requested that he be allowed to apply the discount to his plans for a 19-home tract development. The council granted that request, as it did to that of Sorrento Homes to save $5,500 per home on its proposed project.
The city calculates that since the inception of the developer impact fee discounts, it has foregone the collection of $330,000.
While the economy in general and in Hesperia in particular has not come roaring back, homes construction is picking up.
This week, the city council considered an extension of the reductions, which were to sunset later this year.
Expressing concern that the discounts were depleting the city of its ability to create infrastructure to stay on pace with development, the two senior members of the council, Mike Leonard and Thurston Smith, opposed the extension. The remainder of the council, Eric Schmidt, Bill Holland and Russ Blewett, supported the extension, saying they were hopeful it would provoke further growth.

(September 15) Bill Hanlon said he is running for city council in Rancho Cucamonga “because we want to take control of our city government. We, the people, do not have control.”
The major challenge facing the city, Hanlon said, is thinning out the city’s top heavy managerial ranks and reducing the too-generous salaries and benefits being provided to the city’s top administrators.
“We have a real problem with our top employee pay schedule,” Hanlon said. “Our senior level employees in Rancho Cucamonga make $204,000 per year on average.  The second challenge we face is our budget. I have done a little bit of research on this. There are way too many things that are wrong. I found that we are paying significant overtime to management. Management receives one hour of leave/overtime for every hour they work past 40 hours per week.  Management by definition is salaried.”
Hanlon went on, “At Heritage Park the city was negotiating with the equestrian community for the maintenance of the equestrian services in the park. In the middle of the negotiations, the city closed the restrooms. So, while they were closed, I asked what it cost to clean the restrooms – one men’s restroom and one women’s restroom. I was told that the cost was $22,000 per year. So I ran that number. If you take $22,000 per bathroom times the 31 restrooms we have at our park and recreation facilities and you include retirement pay, that comes to $810,000 just to clean restrooms. If anyone cannot see a problem with that, they have money to burn.”
Hanlon continued, “Let’s talk about the pay schedule. The first thing you have to look at is how it compares to the rest of the county, considering people in equal positions. We need that to set some guidelines as to where we are going from here. We have to look at this very hard. We have a city manager. We have an assistant city manager. We have three deputy city managers. We have five people doing the job of two. We have to have a city manager. I agree we need an assistant city manager. But we have three deputy city managers and that is just overkill. We have to learn we are not just made of money. We can’t keep raising taxes all the time.”
Hanlon said he understands that there is a stark difference of orientation and  opinion between himself and the existing council.
“The incumbents vote 5-0 on everything 95 percent of the time,” he said. “This has been going on for four years. We don’t need yes people. It is groupthink. It is the political personification of apathy. I have gone to the council meetings and I have been an absolute bulldog when it comes to looking at what the problems are and coming up with the way to solve the problems. When I worked as the head of data management, I controlled budgets covering as many as 160 employees. I had  that many people reporting to me and I know as a member of the city council I can shed light on things. We need to examine upper management. Our administration is out of control. We have at least 92 people at the lower end of the pay scale who have not received pay raises for four years while upper management has been getting raises non-stop.”
Hanlon said that while he recognized that if he is elected “I would not be the only person and must be part of the team” he is convinced that “one man can make a difference. It has to start with one man. Everyone says this is a job that is too big and too hard and that it can’t be done. But I believe it starts with one man saying we can’t continue. I am not afraid of being that man. Everyone says the incumbents cn’t be beaten because they throw too much money, $150,000 or more at the election from unions and the trash company. I do not owe the unions any favors. I do not owe the trash company any favors. It is time that a citizen stands up and says ‘This has to stop.’”
Born and raised in New York, Hanlon attended Massapequa High School. He later attended El Camino Junior College in California. He is a Vietnam War veteran and spent more than five years in the U.S. Navy. He is married with one child. He is retired, but owns and manages property in Orange County.

(September 14) TWENTYNINE PALMS — Nicholas Bourikas, a member of the Twentynine Palms Water District Board of Directors since July 2010, has resigned from that position.
Bourikas, who is known by the nickname “Bo,” was originally appointed to replace Chris Gallagher, who had resigned more than four years ago.
In 2011, Bourikas was retained in the position when he and another board incumbent, Sam Moore, were the only candidates competing in that year’s board election.
Bourikas tendered his resignation on August 27, effective September 15. The board, which had the option of scheduling a special election to fill the vacancy, elected to instead appoint his successor to remain in place at least until December 2015, at which point the current term will expire. A regularly scheduled election for the post is due in November 2015.
During his tenure on the board, the district’s management of the Twentynine Palms Fire District and the efforts to enhance its funding has been a recurrent topic of discussion and votes.
“I thank you all very much for putting up with me the last four years,” Bourikas said. “I wish the district as a whole success as we move forward.”
Those interested in applying to replace Bourikas can do so by inquiring with the water district’s general manager, Tamara Alaniz, at (760) 367-7546.

By Mark Gutglueck
In its first ten years, from 1853 to 1863, San Bernardino County had ten sheriffs. The sixth of these was Anson Van Leuven.
Anson B. Van Leuven was born on October 16, 1829 at Camden, Canada. He came with his brother to San Bernardino in 1854 from Utah. In coming to California Mr. Van Leuven crossed the plains with an ox team, and a somewhat attenuated heifer, which he purchased, was hauled on a wagon the entire distance from Bitter Springs. This animal played well its part in the family entourage and lived to the age of thirty-four years.
His tenure as San Bernardino county sheriff came relatively early in his life, from the time he was 31 to 33 years old. Van Leuven was the third sheriff to serve during the 1860 calendar year. His time as sheriff corresponded with the run-up to and the first two years of the Civil War, a turbulent time when secessionist sentiment was running high.
San Bernardino and its surrounding areas were valuable to the Union, in some large measure because of the gold fields contained therein. During Van Leuven’s second year in office, expensive gold smelting and stamping machinery was transported down the Atlantic Coast to the Panama Isthmus, across the isthmus by train and by ship to Los Angeles, from whence it was loaded upon wagons and transported out to the San Bernardino Mountain community of Holcomb Valley.
Maintaining the security of Union gold was one of Van Leuven’s priorities that came on top of maintaining the peace in the San Bernardino Mountains. In Holcomb Valley, the gold strikes had attracted a cast of rough characters and ruffians whose character flaws and intensity rendered the boomtown into a dangerous place.
In 1861, Van Leuven led a posse of 17 men into the High Desert seeking to apprehend two fugitive horse thieves, Lot Huntington and William Alma (Al) Williams, who had been stealing livestock and making threats of vengeance against citizens who had resisted the gang of rustlers they rode with. While en route to Huntington and Williams’ desert camp, verbal hostilities broke out among the posse members themselves, culminating in a gunfight. Four posse members were shot, with two sustaining wounds so serious Van Leuven was obliged to call off the manhunt and return to San Bernardino to have the wounded tended to.
Indeed running horse and cattle thieves to ground took up much of Van Leuven’s time as sheriff, as horse thieves and cattle rustlers were extremely active and made use of the numerous hidden rincons, hideouts and escondidos the terrain offered. Many of those thieves preyed upon the San Jose Ranch in what today is Pomona, running the stolen horses and cattle out to the Mojave River. On one such occasion, thieves had made off with a number of horses, and were trailed after by the horses’ owner, who followed them in their progress up the Cajon Pass.
Van Leuven was notified and he took up the pursuit. The sheriff traced the men by the track of the defective hoof of a horse ridden by one of the thieves, which Van Leuven recognized as a peculiar deformity besetting that of a horse stolen from the San Jose Ranch. He succeeded in recovering all of the horses, and capturing four of the six thieves. After their conviction, Van Leuven took charge of them on the trip to state prison. The ranch owner, anticipating an attempt to liberate the prisoners, brought sixteen men to guard them on the trip to Los Angeles. Sheriff Van Leuven declined this offer of assistance and on his own escorted the prisoners to San Pedro on horseback and from there up the coast by steamer.
According to historian John Brown, Jr., writing in 1922, Van Leuven was of such competence, “His vigorous administration rid the district and county of many lawless and desperate characters, for rarely did a guilty man escape him.”
Also during the Civil War, Van Leuven served as a deputy United States Marshall. On January 14, 1863, as one of the most prominent and influential men of his county, Van Leuven married Elizabeth Robinson.
Anson and Elizabeth took up residence on an 80-acre spread purchased by his father, Benjamin Van Leuven, within the Mormon Settlement in San Bernardino in 1854.
That property is today situated on Mountain View Avenue in the Mission District in Loma Linda. His father had done much to improve the property, and it was there that the Van Leuvens became the parents of five children, Myron Franklin, born November 25, 1863; Sarah, born June 8, 1865; Byron, born April 2, 1869; Henry, born April 21, 1871; and Maude, born March 2, 1883.
It was on this property that Anson Van Leuven planted his first orange grove in the year 1862, such that he was responsible for the first trees to bear oranges within the borders of San Bernardino County, this having occurred in 1867. Apples and peaches were also raised on the Van Leuven ranch and were dried, and grapes were processed into wine. These products were sold and shipped out by wagon freight, as was also the grain raised for market.
Mrs. Van Leuven fashioned hand made calico dresses without the use of a sewing machine.
Also in 1863 he was elected to represent San Bernardino County in the California Legislature, and as a member of the Lower House provided a record of service in the General Assembly of 1864. He was a stalwart Republican, loyal to the Union.
According to Brown, Van Leuven was “a man of inviolable integrity, marked loyalty and much progressiveness and public spirit.”
Brown reported that “Long before the close of his life he and his
wife had severed their allegiance to the Church of Latter Day Saints.
Honest and upright in all of the relations of life, Mr. Van Leuven left a benignant and enduring impress upon the community in which he lived and wrought, and he was one of the honored pioneer citizens of San Bernardino County at the time of his death, in 1896.”

(September 14)  Jermaine Wright is seeking to elevate himself from his current post as Adelanto city councilman to mayor in this year’s election. He is doing so, Wright said, because “because of the current lack of leadership and the lack of vision” in the incumbent. “We have not been hard working enough. We have not been aggressive enough in going out to get businesses to build in Adelanto. We have to convince developers that we offer opportunity and that if they build it, customers will come. We have to let them know we are here. Stater Bros. built here and it is one of their best stores. Everyone in Adelanto shops there. People are coming from outside the city to shop there. We need to recreate that with other retailers. We have to let them know we are here and that if they come here, they will be profitable because the people in Adelanto will support their business.”

Wright is challenging Mayor Cari Thomas, the incumbent, as are Rich Kerr and Ronald Beard.
In his two years on the council, Wright said his major accomplishment has been opening government to scrutiny and making it more accountable to residents.
“In my time on the council, I believe I have made what the city does more transparent,” he said. “I have been trying to get information out to the residents so they can actually see what their local government is doing on their behalf, both for them and to them.”
The major issue facing Adelanto, Wright said, “is the lack of an adequate tax base. We need to get revenue into the city. The first thing is to jumpstart things by bringing in businesses. At this point, we just don’t have enough money to offer services to our residents, build infrastructure or offer businesses incentives. What we can do is streamline the process and cut fees up front and amortize their payment over time so those who might build here do not have to pay everything up front. No one can come up with the $400,000 or $500,000 to start a project. We can hold off on the collection of fees for a time. Once a project is in place and money is being made, we can be paid back over time.”
He said the city needs an engaged mayor who will devote as much time as it takes to promoting Adelanto and will not indulge in defeatist hesitation.
“There is no place for the excuse that ‘no one wants to come to Adelanto,’” he said. “I find it funny that Family Dollar and Dollar General were here seeking information and they decided to go elsewhere. They could have built here. If someone shows interest, we have to get the information for them. Even if they don’t show interest, we should be giving them information. Maybe then they will get interested.”
Wright continued, “We have to build up the community. We have to promote the community. We have to create the opportunity for others to bring small businesses to Adelanto. There has been little or no growth here for over six years. I am running because we need a change at the top. The current mayor only set 20 days aside in the last year to go out and represent the city and promote it. We need someone working on that all the time. We have to strive hard to get business into the community. We need someone who cares 100 percent about the city.”
Wright said, “I am the best candidate because I am here and willing to do whatever it takes to get it done and going on. I am going to be in the office when there needs to be someone in the office to answer the questions and I will be out and around meeting people or showing them around when that will do some good. I am not just going to be some bobblehead doing just what staff says. People can pick up the phone and call me. I shop in town. I will fight 100 percent for the residents. I am committed to staying in town. Residents know that I will be here for years to come. I am trying to build something for myself and for my family and for future generations for Adelanto.”
Wright grew up in Monrovia and attended Emory University. He owns two businesses, an armored car company and related transportation services agency and a property maintenance and rental company. Married, he has two biological children and four adopted/foster children.

(September 15)  John Harrison Montgomery is testing the political waters for the first time, vying for city council in Redlands.
It is a “complete coincidence” said Montgomery, that his first and middle name correspond to that of an incumbent on the Redlands Council, Jon Harrison, who is also vying for reelection.
Montgomery said his experience as an entrepreneur were the impetus for his political ambition.
“I have always been interested in politics, especially local politics where the impact is the most direct and important on our lives on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “In opening and running my businesses in Redlands, I ran into my fair share of challenges along the way. The area zoned for my business has a lot of crime and homelessness and blight. Just complaining about it and wasting my breath wasn’t going to do any good. I decided I should do something. The council seats are open, so I said, ‘Why not?’ Now is the time to make a change. I want to see if I can get the city going down the right track and see if it can stay there.”
Montgomery, a member and officer of the Redlands Masonic Lodge, imparted some of the Masonic spirit into the name of one of his businesses, “The Grand Tattoo Lodge.” His other business is Alla Prima Ink, which provides supplies to the tattoo industry.
“The major challenge facing Redlands as I see it is the business climate,” Montgomery said. “I would like to see the city restructure its restrictions and permitting and everything that gets in the way of letting business flourish. There are zoning restrictions. In the area where I am allowed to set up my particular business, I have encountered on a day to day basis crime and homelessness. This has made it difficult.”
Montgomery also said he would, if elected, target municipal “fiscal responsibility. The city keeps coming to us taxpayers asking for money for projects that should already have been funded. They come to the residents for fees, businesses for fees and taxes and they issue bonds. The city needs to reevaluate its whole licensing and permitting processes. They need to streamline that instead of setting up something that is adversarial against businesses and contractors. They need to reevaluate their zoning plan. I think Redlands’ zoning is a little restrictive, especially for a small city that relies on small local businesses. It is encumbering. The city does not make it easy for businesses to get where they need to be to flourish and develop. The city needs to be a little more open-minded.”
Montgomery said he is qualified to serve on the council because “I am a citizen who owns two businesses in the city, I have children in the school district. I openly participate in civic groups and I shop locally. I make the perfect candidate for city council. I am not a politician. I just want to maintain and improve the quality of life in Redlands. Someone can say I am doing this because I am selfish and am a member of the middle class who wants to do well for myself and my family and I want my businesses to flourish. But if I can make it so my type of businesses thrive, then everybody in the city can do just as well. I am running a simple campaign. I am not taking money. I am not spending money. I am knocking on doors and running a small town city council campaign.”
Montgomery grew up in Orange County and attended Troy High School in Fullerton. He is married with four children.

(September 16)

Walt Stanckiewitz was elected to the Grand Terrace City Council in 2008. Shortly thereafter, the city descended into controversy and scandal, as longtime city manager Tom Schwab was felled by cranial subdermal hematoma. During Schwab’s medical leave his protégé, Steve Berry, was elevated to acting city manager. When Schwab sought to return as city manager, an unseemly political battle broke out, pitting those who favored Schwab against those who favored Berry. Stanckiewitz initially sided with Berry, but before it was over, accusations were flying in all directions. A resultant revelation was that Berry had become involved in an alleged embezzlement at City Hall. Berry militated with former councilwoman and district attorney Mike Ramos’s paramour Bea Cortes to have criminal charges lodged against councilman Jim Miller. Miller was eventually driven from office, a development that stood as a short-lived tactical victory for Berry, but which ultimately redounded to his discredit as the community reacted to the procedural, political and prosecutorial overkill that had evolved out of Berry’s power play. Ultimately, after Berry lost the crucial swing vote of support from Stanckiewitz, he was fired, but Schwab was never returned to his city manager’s post. The tawdriness of it all convinced then-mayor Maryetta Ferré to not seek reelection.
Stanckiewitz leapt into the breach and was elected mayor in 2010. But the string of bad luck in Grand Terrace did not relent with the 2010 election, in which Cortes was soundly defeated. While the city is an enviable residential area because of its tranquil isolation atop a majestic terrace that rises above the Santa River, as well as its geographical placement between uninhabited and impassible Blue Mountain and the nearly uninhabited Riverside County frontier south of it, Grand Terrace has little commercial traffic traversing through it because of that splendid isolation. With little influx retail activity, the city receives but a pittance in the way of sales tax revenue, given its 12,040 population, which makes it San Bernardino County’s third smallest municipality population-wise. The city’s financial decline hastened with the stagnating economy that persisted after the 2007 housing meltdown and ensuing stock market panic. The situation worsened when the state of California in 2011 shuttered redevelopment agencies up and down the state. Grand Terrace was particularly hard hit because for years Schwab had utilized redevelopment spending authority to shore up city operations, borrowing redevelopment money for use in the city’s general fund and then forgiving the loans. The council Stanckiewitz headed was faced with making hard choices, which entailed reducing city operations, cutting back on services, layoffs, position eliminations and further economies that reduced Grand Terrace to a shell of its former self. Whispers loudened into open talk about the disincorporation of the city. In what seemed to be a last ditch effort to salvage what was left of the city in 2013, city officials, led by Stanckiewitz, sought to convince the city’s residents to impose upon themselves a utility tax. The measure was defeated at the polls.
Another politician might read the writing on the wall, the tea leaves at the bottom of the cup and the bottom line on the city’s financial statement and bug out. Stanckiewitz is either too stubborn, too insensate, or too determined to quit. He is seeking reelection.
The owner and operator of La Pasta Italia in Grand Terrace since 1989, Stanckiewitz is a relative newcomer to the city as a resident. He moved there in 2007, after his home in the San Bernardino Mountains was destroyed in a fire.
“When I first ran for city council, it was as a ‘thank you’ to the citizens of Grand Terrace,” Stanckiewitz said. “It was this community who came to aid my family in our time of need and it was this community that gave us the strength when we needed it most. The love and support given to us by the residents gave us something to be thankful for that first Thanksgiving, only one month after our home burned down. It was this community that gave us joy that first Christmas. I did not believe that just saying ‘thank you’ was adequate. Words are never as effective as action. As my time on the council passed, signs of financial instability were becoming obvious. I felt that my previous management and command experience with Johnson & Johnson, Honeywell, TDK, and the US Army could help us face these problems.”
Stanckiewitz said the accelerated tribulations of the last four years have not been enough to dim his enthusiasm for governing.
“Shortly after being elected mayor, more of the previous financial mishandlings came to light and the governor cut funding for redevelopment,” he said. “Because of these unforeseen events, it became clear that four years in office was not going to be enough time to get the job done. Transparency became the norm for council actions; budgets have been balanced all four years; City staff was reduced from 36 employees to less than ten; the city’s retirement benefits program was reduced before the state mandated it; reduced work weeks were instituted; cuts to law enforcement services were reluctantly implemented; and financial reporting systems were vastly improved. We have been able to successfully get the ball rolling in the right direction as we unanimously adopted and are implementing the 2030 Vision and 2014-2020 Strategic Plan.”
Those plans, Stanckiewitz said, are intended to “ensure our fiscal viability; maintain adequate public safety, and promote economic development in our city. It is great to have goals, but more importantly, we have plans that are already in motion to get them going. We will concurrently work on developing and implementing successful partnerships between the city and civic and business organizations as well as developing proactive communication strategies, some of which will be launched before year end.”
Stanckiewitz said now is not the time to alter the city’s leadership.
“Right now, Grand Terrace is at a critical stage,” he said. “We have put plans into motion that will not only benefit our generation, but the generations to come. The council has functioned as a well run team during my tenure even with changing members over the last four years. This positive synergy will continue if I am reelected. It is my desire to continue my actions of saying ‘thank you’ to Grand Terrace by turning the dream of stability and growth into a reality for all of us.”
Stanckiewitz said it was not all doom and gloom in the Blue Mountain City.
“We have accomplished the opening of Grand Terrace High School; the opening of a new Stater Bros, Walgreens, Auto Zone, and recently Chillz Frozen Yogurt,” he said. “Soon a new McDonald’s will call Grand Terrace home. We recently reached agreement with the city of Colton, settling costly litigation and getting us out of the sewer business. We have completed the environmental document for the Barton Road Interchange with construction scheduled to begin in 2015; the Newport Bridge widening is scheduled for completion late this year.”

(August 14)

After four years on the city council in Yucaipa, Greg Bogh said he is ready to serve another term. Hence, he is running for office against incumbent Tom Masner and challengers David Avila and Tom Powell.
“I think I accomplished quite a few things,” Bogh said. “The number one thing is we have more business prospects in Yucaipa. You can see that the vacancy rate in our business district has gone down. People are spending money. People are locating businesses here and more people want to locate businesses here.”
He continued, “One of the things we accomplished was the agreement with the chicken ranches and with [city franchise trash hauler] Burrtech to regularly collect their manure. That has definitely helped in that area. We brought back the Fourth of July event. We restarted the farmers market and the arts festival. We will be starting a winter arts festival. We worked with the school district in putting a track in at the high school. We have continued the trend of Yucaipa becoming a better place. I would hate to see it go back in the wrong direction. There are still some economically depressed areas. We have a few mobile home parks that need help. We need to focus our energy in helping them improve or rezoning them into something different. I’m not sure of the exact solutions but we can come up with something. We are continuing to work on the uptown area and we need to improve the Dunlop area.”
The formula for dealing with the city’s major challenges, Bogh said, is pursuing prosperity.
“The number one way to fix most issues is economics,” he said. “We need to bring in jobs and create a good business environment. Money has to keep moving. Commerce is what truly brings people out of their economic problems. We need to keep building an economic base for the community. We have the money to make improvements. In some of our mobile home parks we need to go through and clean them up, get the police department [i.e., the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, which provides contract law enforcement service to Yucaipa] to come in, since some of the mobile home parks have crime problems. I think rezoning the parks will give some of the owners an opportunity to convert them into something different, commercial areas and so forth.”
Bogh said he merits reelection and is distinguishable from the competition he faces.
“Look at my record,” he said. “Over the past four years, things have changed tremendously. Speak to anyone and ask if they like the direction Yucaipa is going in and if they think it is better off now than four years ago. There has been a lot of change. Yucaipa has been dominated by specific individuals. I think I am an independent voice. I did not take money from anyone other than my family. When I vote on issues, my vote is not connected to anybody. It doesn’t really require that much money to run for office in Yucaipa, but if you are taking money from special interests that can make a difference in the way you vote. When I was running for years ago, I told everyone, ‘My kids go to Yucaipa schools. I want to do a good job so when they get out of school, they will want to stay in Yucaipa.’ The test of whether I have been a good councilman will come down to whether the decisions I am making are creating huge problems for my city to the point that my kids don’t want to be here or do they want to stay. I try to make my votes and decisions as to what this will do twenty years into the future.”
Bogh attended San Bernardino High School and Cal State San Bernardino, where he majored in business. He is part owner of his family’s construction business. He is married with three children.

(September 16)

Tom Powell, a retired Caltrans project manager who has lived in Yucaipa for ten years, said he is running for the Yucaipa City Council in November because he wants “to bring a fresh perspective to City Hall and new voice to Yucaipa residents who have not been represented fully. It’s time all the residents of Yucaipa, in all our neighborhoods [to be] represented and treated equally with the same opportunity, not just the same few entrenched people over and over again.”
While he served as the project manager on multiple million dollar projects in the region while working with Caltrans, Powell maintains he is nonetheless committed to keeping the scale and pace of development in Yucaipa at a modest level. “It’s important,” he said, “that our beautiful community, nestled in our snowcapped foothills maintains the great small town atmosphere and charm it always has.” Powell pledged to “support main street businesses over huge parking lots with rows of glaring white lights.”
He acknowledged that some progress must take place because “Yucaipa needs necessary services, conveniences and entertainment for its residents who are already here.”
Powell enunciated a clear difference between himself and several of the council incumbents with regard to the issue of maintaining Yucaipa’s several aging mobile home parks as a feature of the city.
“As your next city council member I will vote to support and protect our mobile home park residents in Yucaipa. I will support mobile home rent control and affordable housing. Mobile home rent control is important! I understand the investment and security our mobile home park residents have in their homes. I will work to protect our residents from unfair and unreasonable rent hikes that could mean that they lose their homes. I will work to be firm in maintaining fair and reasonable rent controls that are already in place. The mobile home residents and seniors of Yucaipa will always have a friend, and a voice in me.”
He elaborated, “While there are some park owners who are reasonable and fair, I also know that there are plenty of owners who would not hesitate to prosper and profit from unfair rate hikes and the resale of homes gained from out of control rents. Out of town corporations will never profit at the peril of Yucaipa’s residents.”
Powell said, “Working for the best city services is my top priority. I have the experience to bring great solutions to our challenges. We live in a great town, and maintaining it’s natural beauty, small town atmosphere, and clean, safe streets will be my job #1! I will work and welcome and recruit small businesses that bring in real, sustainable jobs that pay decent wages and benefits. Good jobs will keep our best young talent at home.”
Powell said he is not in league with the status quo and the long-serving current ruling coalition on the city council, and said he represents the political opposition.
“I looked at the pictures in the lobby of City Hall, and it’s the same faces for years and years,” he said. He is in favor of changes in the city’s current political processes that will bring about change and break the hold the political establishment has over the city.
“Electing our city council by districts instead of at large from the whole city will make our city council more responsive and answerable to everyone, not just the privileged few,” Powell said. “This will help guard our city from special interests who do not have the best intentions of our city in mind, other than profit.”
Powell has a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from Cal Poly.
He and his wife are the parents of six grown adults.