(May 1) The Upland City Council this week on a 4-1 vote approved spending $75,000 of  taxpayer money in an effort to convince the city’s residents to approve the imposition of a half percent city-wide sales tax and an increase in the city’s business tax.
For seven months, Upland City Manager Stephen Dunn has been pushing the city council to seek residential approval of these measures to shore up city finances and head off projected deficits in upcoming fiscal years. The council shied away from immediately approving that request but in October appointed a budget task force to look at the city’s fiscal circumstance. One option outlined by the task force was that the city council could seek, through a ballot measure, city voter approval of a tax.
Simultaneously, however, a growing number of vocal city residents have advocated against any tax increases, asserting that past decisions by the city council have conferred upon city employees salaries and benefits that are too generous and which are leaving the city in the position of having to pay exorbitant  pensions to employees upon retirement. They are calling for a renegotiation of the employment contracts with municipal employees to reduce ongoing and future operating costs and pension obligations before residents are called upon to cover  those costs in the form of new taxes.
This week Dunn requested the council appropriate $75,000 from the city’s general fund reserves “for two purposes: to engage a firm to survey the citizens of Upland about the potential sales tax and business license tax measures and to engage the services of a public relations firm to assist staff in providing the public with accurate and correct information on many of the task force recommendations that will be addressed over the next 12 months. The estimated cost for these services are $27,000 and $48,000 respectively.”
Councilman Glenn Bozar, the leading advocate on the council for reducing city expenses, in particular its pension costs before increasing taxes, pointed out that the language in Dunn’s request, specifically  “providing the public with accurate and correct information on many of the task force recommendations” may involve  undertaking an effort to convince residents to approve the sales tax by means of the polling questions being asked.
Dunn had previously discussed the city’s pension cost increasing to $7.7 million per year in fiscal year 2014-15. According to the California Public Employees Retirement System, pension costs are scheduled to increase by more than 50 percent in the next six years. Currently, after working for the city for 30 to 35 years,  city employees are eligible to retire at the age of 55 and receive 90 percent of their highest annual salary as a pension. Dunn’s projections indicate that nearly all revenue raising initiatives that are being considered will be consumed by pension costs.
Bozar sought to convince his colleagues that the informational campaign Dunn is seeking could be done at less cost by including information in the utility bills the city sends to utility service customers.
Bozar’s colleagues, however, said that they felt Dunn had to be given the support he requested.
Councilman Brendan Brandt expressed faith in Dunn’s judgment and decision-making, encouraging the others to approve his recommedation.
“We do not have the money, but we need to find it and move forward,” said councilwoman Debbie Stone.
“I voted against that expenditure because I don’t think it is necessary and it is an unwise use of public funds,” Bozar told the Sentinel. “If you want to educate the public as to what these measures are, you could do it through our utility bills at a fraction of the cost.”
Indications were that Steve Lambert of the 20/20 Network would be given the $48,000 no-bid contract to lobby the public with regard to passing the half percent sales tax. The 20/20 Network is a communications firm  headed by Lambert and Tim Gallagher specializing in media and community relations, branding, strategic planning and crisis management. Lambert is the former editor of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, the most widely circulated daily newspaper in Upland. The 20/20 Network represented the city of Rialto in its public relations effort to promote the privatization of its water division, blunting resident outrage over a resultant 115 percent increase in water rates in that city.
On May 1, Lambert  told the Sentinel materials for public consumption would not be ready for at least another two weeks. “We will be sitting down with the city to do a strategic review in the next couple of days,” Lambert said.

SAN BERNARDINO (April 28)—The much ballyhooed  and equally maligned sbX bus service was initiated this week, getting off to an inauspicious start with protestors gathering at the christening of the project to voice objections to the danger they say the underground  fuel tanks at the bus line’s refueling facility pose to a nearby neighborhood.  The inauguration of the system  was further marred when one of the high speed busses collided with an SUV that intruded into the bus-only lane on its first day of operation, Monday April 28.
Omnitrans, the public transit agency serving the San Bernardino Valley which operates the sbX line, and SANBAG, the county transportation agency which acted as the lead agency in obtaining $75 million in federal funding which was applied toward th $192 million project, hailed the opening of the line as a major leap forward for beleaguered San Bernardino, which declared municipal bankruptcy in 2012.
Running 15.7 miles from near the Veterans Administration Hospital in Loma Linda to just north of Cal State San Bernardino, the sbX line features 60-foot long articulated buses that use clean-burning compressed natural gas as fuel. According to a schedule released by Omnitrans, from three to six busses will cover the route each hour during daylight.
Like the unconventional capitalization and spelling used in its acronym – sbX stands for San Bernardino Express – the route embodies unusual features such as a dedicated lane for more than a third of the route that has been fashioned from what were once street medians. And each sbX bus driver has been given virtual command of the traffic lights encountered along the route so that the busses will rarely if ever encounter a red light.
Indeed, from its inception, the sbX concept was sold on the speed of travel it would offer. This week, project planners and engineers were gathering data to determine if the busses are consistently making the entire trip from Loma Linda to San Bernardino State University or vice versa with 13 stops in between in just under 39 minutes.
Initially, planners had envisioned the route having only five stops between its starting points/end destinations and completing its run in just under 25 minutes., rivaling or actually bettering what a commuter utilizing a car typically encounters over the same span utilizing the freeway during the morning or evening rush hour.
In 2012, however, the city of San Bernardino  approved a transit overlay district entailing 13 stations/bus stops. Moreover, Omnitrans officials were unable to live up to the representation they had made to Federal Transit Administration officials that dedicated center lanes for the busses would run for nearly the entirety of the route. Instead, only about six miles of the stretch, along Hospitality Lane and in the downtown area, have dedicated center lanes. The dedicated lanes help speed the busses along the route by eliminating interaction and merging with traffic.
The 39-minute terminus-to-terminus trip still compares favorably with the 65 minutes users of public transportation endured on the previous conventional bus route that covered the same 15.7 mile stretch.
The bus route entails a departure from a station near the Veterans Hospital and other medical facilities just off Barton Road in Loma Linda, a turn north on Anderson/Tippecanoe Street, a turn left on Hospitality Lane and then a right turn  north on E Street before terminating at San Bernardino State College. The return route covers the same span in reverse.
On all five workdays this week through today, May 2, riders have been and are able to ride sbX for free. Omnitrans is confident that if riders are exposed to the route as users, many, especially students attending Cal State San Bernardino or Loma Linda University, will be persuaded to forsake their vehicles in favor of taking the bus. Officials are equally hopeful that veterans who frequent the Jerry Pettis Memorial Veterans Administration Hospital in Loma Linda will alos elect to use sbX.
Omnitrans and SANBAG officials also are hopeful that bus ridership along the 15.7 mile route will increase significantly over the far less impressive numbers that utilized the conventional buses that ferried passengers over the same route up until last week, thus justifying sbX’s  expense and imposition on the community.
Part of that imposition consists of the elimination of the turn lanes along Hospitality Lane and E Street, such that motorists are now unable to make left turns and are now obliged to continue further down the street to make a U-turn where that is possible and then retrack back to access  businesses, including many of the restaurants in that area. The owners of several businesses located along the route, including Ammons Diamond & Coin Gallery, Burger Mania, Pride Envelopes and Barber Shop 215, claim  their operations have already been negatively impacted by the street alterations.
As Omnitrans and SANBAG officials gathered on the morning of April 28 together with San Bernardino city officials at the central city bus platform to celebrate the opening of the system, dozens of sign and placard bearing protestors were assembled to insist that Omnitrans  remove liquefied natural gas and compressed natural gas tanks at the refueling station on the city’s Westside in midst of an impoverished residential zone and an elementary school.
“There is danger in San Bernardino thanks to Omnitrans” one sign in Spanish said.
Officials did their best to carry on with the ribbon cutting festivities, despite the protests.
Later that day, another dreaded element relating to the advent of  the sbX bus system manifested when some nine  hours after the busses began running, one of them with about nine people on board ran into an SUV on E Street just south of Mill Street around 4 p.m.  A girl, described as about ten years old was injured  in the mishap, and she was transported to a local hospital with injuries described as non-life threatening. The driver of the SUV was injured, but was able to drive away from the scene.
The SUV was apparently caught in the bus-only lane and the bus, running at an accelerated rate of speed approaching or exceeding 60 miles per hour, was unable to break in time to avoid the collision.
Critics of the sbX system had inveighed against it on the basis of the traffic hazard represented by the buses traveling at speeds in excess of the speed limit for passenger vehicles along the same span of roadway.
Officials had hoped that posted signage informing motorists that the bus lanes are to be used exclusively by busses and that the minimum fine for entering the bus lane is $341 would deter drivers from doing what the driver of the SUV near E Street and Mill Street did on Monday afternoon.

(April 29) Cliff Harris is running for San Bernardino County sheriff, he said, “because first of all, I want to change the culture of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. I want to stop the institutionalized abuse of the inmates in the jails and on the streets. I want to stop racial profiling. I want to establish a human rights commissions and civil rights commission with subpoena powers.  I want to implement written guiding principles and use those principles as the basis for the department and the county’s residents to move into the 21st Century and so everyone can stay on the same page.”
Harris said he believes establishing defined standards, goals and guidelines is key to raising law enforcement function in San Bernardino County to the level of professionalism that has been lacking historically.
“I want to implement a set of written values and address all identifiable problems,” Harris said. “I want on an ongoing basis to announce to the communities the substantial changes that will be made in the department affecting the delivery of services to the community. My bottom line is moving the department into the 21st Century as I stated, to transform the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department from where it is today to a better organization. The potential to do that exists because of the many good men and women there. There has been a lack of consideration of the economic and sociological issues associated with our society so that what we have is a culture of officers enforcing their own personal belief system on citizens due to the lack of leadership.”
Harris said he anticipates encountering resistance to his reforms, but believes he has the determination and strength of will and character to push them through.
“The changes I have indicated I would like to make would be difficult but with those changes and the ability to manage the change, we will conduct business in a way that is more acceptable to our citizens,” he said. “I intend to bring citizens into an oversight role within the department and end the adversarial relationship that exists in many parts of the county between the department’s deputies and citizens.  I want to bring modern technology into the process,  meaning we should start utilizing what’s available – optical storage disks, chips, artificial intelligence,  parallel processing,  optical computers,  nanotechnology, the list goes on. For the residents, these are difficult to understand let alone embrace. But they represent important tracking capabilities that will help us reduce crime and use our man-and-womanpower in a more effective manner.  I want law enforcement to participate in the developing era of information technology used throughout the country to better serve communities.”
Harris said he will be strict with his command echelon in forcing it to be strict with the department staff.
“I want to demand and will demand accountability for all managers in my administration  and that way we will be able to let our citizens know what they are getting for their money,” he said. “I will have the performance with regard to every member of the department prominently displayed and I will have that information incorporated into negotiations, so the cities we serve can see what they are getting for their money. I believe in the principle of holding those working for the public accountable and engaging in a philosophy of service that gives the public a clear picture of what the department believes in. By having consistent overall values and goals for the department, we will take away the guesswork about what we are trying to achieve and what we are doing. This principle will also provide the same basis for operational strategies and a framework through which all branches of the department will operate and this will make evaluation easier for those on the outside.”
He believes in swift and intensive policing operations in dealing with bona fide criminality,  Harris said.
“Under my leadership, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department will react in a way that emphasizes crime prevention through vigorous law enforcement,” he said. “I want to embed a message that intensive preventative law enforcement is important as a deterrent. The department must establish a commitment to work with the community to help the community help us.   Vigorous enforcement and vigorous  prosecution of the perpetrators who prey on our citizens will address those in community who will make accusations of the department being too weak.”
Fair and unbiased enforcement is a requisite, Harris said.
“As a democratic society we must project that we stand for democratic values,” he said. “Every deputy sheriff must be a living expression of the values and potential for the democracy we serve.  I will implement a new way of thinking, so that we embrace the community and become advocates for the community.”
Harris is one of three candidates in this year’s race. He is challenging John McMahon, the incumbent sheriff, who was appointed to the post following the resignation of former sheriff Rod Hoops midway through his term less than two years ago. Also running is Paul Schrader, a deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
“I believe if you look at our backgrounds and our education and my vision, the difference between us is obvious,” Harris said of McMahon and Schrader. “I have not heard or seen vision from the other two candidates. They may have vision, but they have not expressed it. I have looked at their websites. I don’t see anything that stands out about what they believe. I have not heard them talk about fair and equitable treatment of all citizens. I have not heard about what they consider to be our role within the law. I have not heard about our youth. I will engage our youth through elements of service. Our society has changed. Part of that change is we do not deal with the challenges we face, law enforcement and otherwise, just by locking people up. That is not to say we will not be putting people, and in this case I am talking primarily about young people, in jail. If the offense is large enough and serious enough, we will not hesitate to jail people. But we have to be careful that we deal with young people who are at risk of embracing a criminal lifestyle in a way that is not counterproductive and we must take care not to push them into a life of crime by exposing them to hardened criminals who will then mentor them into a far more serious world of criminality. We have created more criminals by the sheriff’s department’s current policies in dealing with juveniles than we have turned around.”
Harris said, “The biggest part of law enforcement should ideally be crime prevention and deterrence. I have spent time in the academic world. That has given me a chance to look at the other side of society, not just that involved in law enforcement. I am advocating emphasizing human rights and civil rights protection. All I have heard from the others is the need to build more prisons. We are never going to prison build our way out of the situation we are in socially. In today’s world we have to be flexible and have flexible policies to deal with what is changing. This county needs different medicine to deal with different problems. I have not heard from either of the other candidates about accountability, integrity, equal law enforcement or respect for others.”
A San Bernardino High School graduate, Harris attended college at the University of La Verne, where he obtained a degree in business. He served in the U.S. Army. He held various jobs, including management training positions with J.C. Penney and Ford Motor Company.  After a two year stint as a reserve deputy with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s department from 1994 to 1996, Harris was hired as a deputy. He remained with the department until 1991, having achieved the rank of detective. He subsequently hired on with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, remaining in that assignment until he retired in 1999.
He is currently a newspaper publisher.

(April 30) Chaffey Union High School District Board Member Art Bustamonte said he hopes to parlay the commitment and passion he has for the community into a berth in the California Assembly representing the 40th District.
Bustamonte, a Democrat, is joined by sister Democrats Melissa O’Donnell and Katie Henry and Republican Marc Steinorth in this year’s race to represent the 40th, which stretches from Rancho Cucamonga in the west and across the San Bernardino Mountains to cover portions of San Bernardino as well as Highland, Redlands, Loma Linda and Grand Terrace.
“I am running to make a difference,” Bustamonte said. “I want to make a difference. I want  progressive policies to promoted the  middle class because the middle class has been neglected. I want to be able to bring jobs to the district, help single parents, especially single women who have children,  with day care so they can work and I want to be able to provide jobs with higher wages. I want to be more connected to the community and I feel this is the best way  for me to do that.”
The major challenge facing the district is “finding jobs for the people who live here,” Bustmonte said. “I see the main issue in San Bernardino County is rejuvenating our economy. San Bernardino County has the highest unemployment rate in the state. We need to attract companies manufacturing companies to the Inland Empire because we have all the necessary infrastructure to connect three airports, our  railroad stations and highways. We have something Los Angeles doesn’t have – space to provide manufacturing companies to come over here and set up shop here. That is not necessarily going to happen until we get our house in order. We need to improve our schools. We need to have a more stable political arena. To stabilize our politics, we need to end corruption in government because companies will not come here or relocate here unless we have good schools and the politics are stable. No company is going to want to come into an area where we have unsafe streets and neighborhoods. We need  good law enforcement and political stability and an educated workforce. Without those three things, companies will not come here. The first thing they look at is will  they have employees who are trained or who they can easily train, and is their police protection and  political stability that allows government to function and be fair. We need to work on those things.”
Bustamonte said a  more coordinated effort among the various political and governmental entities and jurisdictions is needed.
“The counties and cities have their own economic development departments to lure business into their respective cities or into the county,” he said. “We are not working together in unison. It is important that we get everyone working together to bring manufacturing jobs to the county. We have good infrastructure to make that possible. We are not working in unison.  We need to bring jobs to the county.”
As a 17-year member of the Chaffey Union High School Board of Trustees. Bustamonte gravitated toward the subject of improving the education system.
“We need to improve our schools,” he said. “The high school dropout rate in the county is very disappointing. We need more resources from the state to turn that around. The state has cut back on school budgets and that has resulted in class sizes being increased and teachers are not being adequately compensated. We have quality  teachers going elsewhere. I want to  bring resources from the state to the Inland Empire, mores school funds, more money for schools.”
Bustamonte said he is a different kind of Democrat who understands the damage overregulation of business is having on the economy and the well being of everyday citizens.
“I believe I can help create a consensus and work with cities to lure more business to this area through tax incentives if those businesses commit to hiring a certain number of employees,” he said. “We’re  losing manufacturing companies. More are going out to other states are than are coming in. California has twelve percent of the nation’s population. We should have twelve percent of the manufacturing activity. We need to stop the migration of jobs to other states and overseas.  The state needs to look at the reality that  businesses are needed to create jobs. The  most important challenge to the state is to  stop businesses from leaving. By being a part of the majority party – because I am a Democrat – I should  be able to do something about that. My goal as part of the majority is to have a voice in getting things done versus if I were in another party. We have the governor of Texas coming to California offering business owners tax incentives and painting a picture of Texas as a state with lower taxes and actively soliciting companies to leave here.  We should be over there, bringing companies here. It appears at this time we need to put together a fact finding committee to see why our companies are leaving and how can we keep them here.”
Bustamonte said that the state needs to keep large corporations interested in maintaining an operation presence in the Golden State.
“Small businesses are great  but they are not going to employ everyone in California,” he said. “We need manufacturing jobs, good paying manufacturing jobs that will stop the decline in the middle class. We need higher wages  the middle class is in the decline. At the same time, I would like to see tax incentives for small businesses. I want to assist   those who start a small business and want to employ people.”
The government should work to see that its citizens are not gouged, Bustamonte said.
“Look at the gas prices in the Inland Empire,” he said.. We seem to be paying more for gas than surrounding counties. I’d like to know why.”
And state government should vector its resources to assist local governments that are struggling, Bustamonte said.
“I know the city of San Bernardino is having severe problems with their finances,” Bustamonte said. “It has lost a lot of police officers. They need more police officers but they can’t hire them because they don’t have the money. I would  like to get together with San Bernardino officials and the police chief  and go to the state for help. Until the city can get its financials back in order, I would ask the state to loan  CHP officers to  the city of San Bernardino to help them in their law enforcement, to  help them protect the citizens of the city.”
Bustamonte said he offers the voters in the 40th District the best choice “because I have been serving my community all my life. I served my community as a police officer. I am still serving my community as a member of the board of trustees of the high school district. My background, my experience, I think, coupled with my education, far exceeds my competition. I am the only candidate that supported and endorsed a bond measure for the Chaffey High School District that was passed by 60 percent of the voters  a $848 million school bond. That is something no other candidate has done  The bond will build the infrastructure for the school district and increase the technology in the  schools. this is a seven-year project and is going to bring money back into the Inland Empire.”
Bustmonte continued. “I am connected to the community,” he said. “As a member of the school board for 17 years, I have handed out hundreds if not thousands of diplomas to kids. I talk to people in the community  every day. I know what they feel. I know they are not happy with the way things are as far as job wages and having a better life. I can’t say the other candidates are as connected to the community as I am. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I am who I am. This is me. I have passion. I  have had a passion all my life, working for the middle class. I am in it for the duration. I want to fight for the middle class.    I will do what I said I am going to do. I will not hold back.”
Bustamonte graduated from Garfield High School in Los Angeles and obtained a degree from Cal State Fullerton in criminal justice. He served with the Marine Corps for three years on active duty and four more in the reserves. He was a police officer with the city of Huntington Park and retired from that agency after he was felled by a work related injury. He is now an investigator with the San Bernardino County Public Defender’s Office. Divorced, he has three children.

(April 30) Upscale Chino Hills, located at the extreme southwest tip of San Bernardino County and surrounded on three sides by Riverside County, Orange County and Los Angeles County, is leading the way in the economic recovery from the downturn/recession of 2007 in the home building sector.  Some 253 homes involved in six projects, many of which have been on the drawing board and delayed for years, will soon be constructed, if the applications and approvals that have been granted hold true.
Several of the projects were originally proposed  and approved by the county prior to the city’s  1991 incorporation and are now moving toward completion under the city’s more exacting standards.
The largest of the projects is Chino Hills Country Club LLC’s proposed 107 estate home subdivision, to entail 537 total acres on the south side of Carbon Canyon Road at Canyon Hills Road.  The project has undergone several adjustments since it was first proposed under the city of Chino Hill’s land use authority in 1998 as the 341-dwelling unit Canyon Meadows Development by then- proponent the St. Clair Company. St Clair had deviated from a previous entitlement to build 114 homes, to be known Soquel Canyon Country Estates, as  granted to Wayne Napthal by the county of San Bernardino in 1989.  The project was reconstituted as the Ranch at Carbon Canyon in 2000, but it, too, never materialized.
A tentative application has been submitted for 23 other homes in the Carbon Canyon area, at the extreme end of Red Apple Lane south of Carbon Canyon Road.
Stonefield LLC is resuming its attempt to make good on the 2009 approval of 28 homes on 35 acres within a gated community at the northeast corner of Carbon Canyon Road and Fairway Drive.
The second largest pending project in Chino Hills is Forester Canyon Hills’ 141-acre gated community of 76 homes, described as “mini-mansions” across from Hidden Hills and west of Canyon Hills Road.
On October 20, 2009, Richard and Soledad Meaglia obtained an entitlement to subdivide  6.64 acres into 11 residential lots, two open space lots and one lot for a private street on the north side of Pinnacle Road south of Carbon Canyon Road.  The Meaglias have sold the property and the new owner intends to begin construction later this year.
Recently, Caltrans redressed landslide issues in the environs of property south of Carbon Canyon Road and east of Canon Lane  The elimination of rock and mudslide hazards, it is anticipated, will allow a 38-dwelling unit project on 68 acres there that was originally approved for applicant Shanghai Aviation Industrial Corporation by the county of San Bernardino in 1988.

SAN BERNARDINO (April 28)—Boeing is once again pulling up its stakes at San Bernardino International Airport, where for the last eleven months it has been flight testing 747 and 787-8 aircraft.
It was announced this week that Boeing will leave San Bernardino International in favor of Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville.
The Seattle-based company, the world’s leading manufacturer of large scale passenger aircraft, last week signed a three-year $1.8 million lease at Southern California Logistics Airport, known by its acronym SCLA.
Boeing had a previous arrangement with San Bernardino International for test flights intended to shake out both  aircraft as well as the GE engines that power them, but left the facility three years ago after growing disenchanted with the way Scot Spencer, the airport’s former contract developer, was managing the facility.
In September 2011, the FBI conducted a search warrant at San Bernardino International Airport and many of Spencer’s corporate facilities and offices. In February 2012, the San Bernardino International Airport Authority – a joint powers agency combining the interests that the county of San Bernardino and the cities of Highland, Loma Linda, Colton and San Bernardino have in the airport – moved to break its contract with Spencer after a series of operational miscues at the airport, including the depletion of its aviation fuel stores to the point that planes flying out of the facility could not be refueled.
Spencer was subsequently criminally charged. In May of last year, Boeing resumed test flights out of San Bernardino.
The decision by Boeing to utilize Southern California Logistics Airport as the staging area for its systems flight testing, is a setback for San Bernardino International.
Though it has an ultra-modern concourse and terminal, which was completed at a cost of more than $136 million, San Bernardino International has virtually no commercial flight activity. There is little prospect that will change in the near future. It is in direct competition with Ontario International Airport as a hosting ground for commercial carriers and flights into and out of Ontario have diminished over the last six years as flights at Los Angeles International Airport have risen.
San Bernardino International Airport was formerly Norton Air Force Base, which was shuttered by the Department of Defense in 1994. Southern California Logistics Airport was formerly George Air Force Base, which was closed by the Department of Defense in 1992.

By Ruth Musser-Lopez
(May 1) Unpredictable and wild, circa eighty-five year old dips and timber trestle bridges are among those extraordinary characteristics of San Bernardino County’s desert section of California U.S. Highway Route 66 which make for a thrilling, one-of-a-kind ride. Yet, for safety reasons, timber trestle bridges cause government officials to shudder.
Just west of Daggett, “catching some air” driving fast across the dips on old Route 66 is a cheap but perhaps dangerous thrill that some bikers seek at their own risk.  It seems to be the general consensus of the public actively participating in assisting with the development of the Bureau of Land Management’s Route 66 Corridor Management Plan (CMP) that despite the inherent dangers of those driving irresponsibly there, to smooth the road out would be to alter the historic route’s integrity and lose some of its intrinsic charm.
Photo Courtesy Lardner/Klein
On the other hand, the timber trestle bridges are the “something old” along the corridor that some government officials seem to think are of immediate concern—they may not be that safe. If you drive the abandoned de-designated state route…you apparently may be doing so at considerable risk.
In a recent analysis by the County of San Bernardino, 128 “aging” 80-year (+/-) old timber trestle bridges are in the area between Daggett and Mountain Springs Road, reported Lardner/Klein Associates.  This number is “staggering,” according to Lardner/Klein  These 128 are “opposed to only 30 currently carrying automobile and truck traffic on U.S. Highway 66 across all other states and counties (including Los Angeles County, California) combined.”
Lardner/Klein also reported that according to the county analysis, the 128 bridges were constructed during the period of time from 1929 to 1935 and are included within a total of 136 bridges and large culverts in this portion of Route 66. Of the remainder, four are reinforced concrete bridges, three are pipe culverts, and one is a concrete box culvert.
However, maintaining the original character and charm of the route including the dips and bridges, is important to tourism with an increasingly large number of foreign tourists from Europe and Asia arriving each year desiring to visit the Grand Canyon via Route 66 from Los Angeles.  According to a study conducted by Rutgers University, these are high-income visitors who are staying longer and spending more than the typical passerby.
Stewardship strategies for Route 66 including the bridges and dips are proposed for consideration by the Route 66 Ad Hoc CMP Planning Committee – abbreviated simply as the “AHPC.”  The AHPC’s first “webinar” meeting took place on April 28, 2014, lead by Lardner/Klein Landscape Architects, P.C., a firm contracted by the Bureau of Land Management to assist with corridor management plan development.  According to Lardner/Klein, the proposed stewardship strategies are based on issues identified in public outreach conducted during initial scoping phases that took place between November 2013 through March 2014 at which time there was a bus tour, small group meetings, conference calls, public meetings, including a web-based meeting all conducted by Lardner/Klein.  The photographs in this article are courtesy of their contracted work for the federal agency.
Jim Klein, acting on behalf of the firm, said with regard to the strength of the bridges, that the route between Barstow and Needles built 80 years ago was never intended to bear the type of tonnage now being pulled by diesel trucks.  With maintenance, the bridges have held up under over-capacity weight even during an emergency redirect when I-40 was closed down due to a temporary hazardous condition.  In reference to the timber trestle bridges, he said that according to the county’s historian Roger G. Hatheway, “You can stick a pencil through them.”
Upon hearing this, one scenario that has been posed more or less as a question by San Bernardino County Sentinel editor Mark Gutglueck, “What are the odds of a catastrophic bridge collapse on Route 66 in the middle of the desert during the ‘perfect storm’ where two heavily-laden 18-wheelers, moving in opposite direction at the same time across a weak timber trestle bridge?”
The County of San Bernardino which maintains the section of Route 66 between Daggett and Mountain Springs Road, is currently conducting a study as a part of the “Dola and Lanzit Bridge replacement projects.”
Nearly all of the distinct segments of the road paralleling I-40 access have some bridges that are weight limited. According to Lardner/Klein, “San Bernardino County is faced with a difficult challenge of keeping the road open to all vehicles. A consulting firm for the San Bernardino County Department of Public Works is currently preparing a study evaluating the manner in which the state inspects and evaluates bridges on historic Route 66 in San Bernardino County, and how this translates into the posting of load limits.”
Timber trestle bridges may have originally been built to support the National Old Trails Road (circa 1912).  Made of what appears to be materials similar to modified railroad ties and cut up utility poles, they were not uncommon nationwide in the first couple of decades of the twentieth century—1900 through 1920 according to Lardner/Klein.  “Beginning about 1920, however, they began to be regarded by many highway design engineers as temporary structures, although they continued to be used in specific locales due to the fact that they could be erected quickly and inexpensively.
Lardner/Klein cited a 1920 book, by Milo S. Ketchum, C.E., entitled
“The Design of Highway Bridges of Steel, Timber and Concrete,” which states that “Timber Highway bridges were formerly quite generally used, and are still in use for temporary structures and in localities where transportation is difficult and where suitable timber is available.” In very simple terms, timber trestle highway bridges were built nationwide with a limited anticipated lifespan.
At the April 28, 2014 meeting of the AHPC, safety concern over the timber trestle bridges were on the agenda as the main subject topic.
The Archaeological Heritage Association suggested that the timber trestle bridges be studied by engineers as an example of what works in the desert’s arid environment.  “The bridges have proven to be durable and strong.  They have held up under tremendous weight over the years.  Perhaps the aridity of the desert has something to do with it. The wooden structures don’t deteriorate as quickly here as in wetter conditions back east.  So that we don’t lose the integrity and charm of the road’s character, maybe all that is needed is some in-kind buttress work to preserve these historic bridge features in place.  As far as weight limits, perhaps its time to consider making this portion of Route 66 a toll road, limit the weight of the vehicles coming across and use the tolls for maintenance of the route.”
Some protection for the road appears to be available through its potential listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).   Lardner/Klein said that in their review to date, the general consensus of preservation professionals is that the Route 66 alignment itself is eligible for the National Register, however, the transportation and related roadside features such as wooden trestle bridge structures or roadside architectural features will need to be evaluated separately for eligibility.  This opinion seems to imply that the bridges would not automatically be protected under a future Route 66 National Register status by simply being a feature of the road itself.   A study evaluating for NRHP status the individual eligibility of all of the 136 bridges and large culverts between Daggett and Mountain Springs Road on historic Route 66 is currently being prepared as part of the County of San Bernardino’s “Dola and Lanzit Bridge replacement projects.”
Lardner/Klein also reported the following findings with regard to that study:  “The County of San Bernardino currently maintains the 128 timber trestle bridges.  Of these 128 timber trestle bridges 127 are on National Trails Highway (NTH) the predecessor to Route 66, and one timber trestle bridge is on Ludlow Road, an original portion of the Route 66 alignment immediately to the west of Crucero Road.  Of the 127 timber trestle bridges/structures on NTH, 31 are not eligible for federal historic bridge repair and/or replacement funding as they are less than 20 feet in length and are officially classed as culverts and not bridges.
“By the mid-1940s, the State of California recognized the need to rebuild its aging timber trestle highway bridges statewide, and several articles were published by the Division of Highways detailing the need for reconstruction.  At this time, the State of California clearly recognized that all U.S Highway 66 timber trestle bridges between Daggett and Mountain Springs Road were quickly approaching the end of their design and economical service life.”
Yet, Lardner/Klein states,  “Seventy years later, the county of San Bernardino is attempting to maintain the same bridges—a very expensive and difficult task.”  But, the “California’s State Historical Building Code (http://www.dgs.ca.gov/dsa/AboutUs/shbsb/shbsb_health_safety.aspx) – provides a tool for historic preservation,” which would alleviate some of the expense of maintaining historic properties.  The law provides that qualified historic structures would not be required to comply with current code standards. Alternative provisions in California Code Section 18961 provides for consultation with the State Historical Building Safety Board regarding the treatment of qualified historical buildings or structures.
Even so, raised are two potential issues and/or concerns with the application of the California State Historical Building Code as it applies to historic Route 66 on federal lands.  First, if any given bridge is determined not eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, then it cannot be considered to be a qualified historic property thus it appears the alternative historic building code would not apply.  Second, if a property is considered to be eligible for listing, it is unclear whether utilization of a less restrictive State Code on federal historic properties is allowable if federal funds are involved.   Further, if the Federal Highway Administration’s funding process requires review under the National Environmental Policy Act and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act guidelines then the utilization of a State Code may not be feasible.  Resolution of these issues and concerns over the course of the corridor management plan  project is anticipated.
Route 66/National Trails Highway is an important emergency alternative when Interstate 40 is closed due to a maintenance issue or emergency situations such as an accident on the highway.  It thus serves an important transportation function in addition to its historic scenic, recreational and local business uses.  It is used by at least two state agencies, the California Highway Patrol and Caltrans. However, according to Lardner/Klein the alignment has never been officially designated as an emergency corridor by the State of California despite repeated requests by the county of San Bernardino.  Failure to designate the road as an emergency corridor has rendered the route ineligible to receive federal or state funding targeted specifically for emergency detour routes.
We need to hear all of our San Bernardino County region candidates for state assembly and senate positions this election season say that they will endeavor to obtain designation of Route 66 through San Bernardino County as an emergency detour route. Consider this:  other bridges such as the “Big Mac,” the Mackinac suspension bridge in Michigan is under constant maintenance 9 months out of the year.  Isn’t an emergency escape corridor for the millions living in Los Angeles and the “Inland Empire” just as important?

Syndicated 2014, Ruth Musser-Lopez—Small quotes citing author, the Sentinel and publication date are permissible under copyright law.  Please respect the rights of those quoted herein by referencing source:  Lardner/Klein may be contacted at cart66cmp@lardnerklein.com.  Permission to reprint this article may be obtained by contacting Ruth at the Archaeological Heritage Association (AHA) 760/885-9374 or via email at Ruth@RiverAHA.org.

(April 29) Second District County Supervisor Janice Rutherford said she is seeking reelection in June because “I think it is important to continue with the reforms and progress we have made in the last four years. We have begun a tremendous cultural shift in county government away from the toxic politics of the past and toward accountability and performance measurements. I very much want to continue that work.”
Rutherford said, “The issues for the Second District are countywide issues as a whole. The cultural shift I mentioned is one that took place from a countywide perspective. With regard to issues that are particular to the Second District, the transformation of Lake Gregory is important, rebuilding the dam at the lake, getting on a regular dredging schedule and seeing the successful transition of the lake’s recreational amenities to CalParks. This is year one of that transition. This is important to the economic health of the Crestline community, that we see that program through.”
She continued, “Another issue on the west side of the district is continuing to work with the Foothill city of Rancho Cucamonga on the Front Country Trails System and access to and maintenance of the North Etiwanda Preserve.”
Rutherford said her concerns for the county went beyond the Second Disttict.
“Most of the other issues are pretty much countywide ones,” she said, “such as fixing the inefficiency of county government every resident is concerned about, the need to grow the local economy and the need to focus on moving those on public assistance to self sufficiency. We are also focused on how we continue to respond to the effect and consequences of the state prison realignment, which is putting dangerous criminals into our communities. We first need to find the revenue to hire more sheriff’s deputies to staff the High Desert Detention Center and get more patrol coverage. We need to acknowledge that the jobs of our probation officers have changed dramatically with regard to the new state policy and that we have to stay on top of their needs.”
Rutherford said the county also need to “take a look at fire and emergency response. The county fire department is significantly into the county general fund and that is not sustainable. Instead of being sustained by fire district funds, the county fire division is now getting $18 million in county general funds. We need to create ways of looking at emergency response and do things more creatively and efficiently.”
For the county as well, Rutherford said, “Another broad category is our reaction to the Affordable Care Act and  the newly insured portion of our population and the remaining uninsured portion of our population and the effect this will have on the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center. How many of our indigent population will still rely on county service? How does the county hospital shift its approach to a community that now has other options for health care?”
With regard to the preserve and trail systems in Rancho Cucamonga, Rutherford said she is “trying to see if we can get additional funding for the accurate GPA mapping of the trail system. We have to get that in place before working with community organizations on how to develop and maintain those trails and make sure there is both pedestrian and equestrian access to the trails.”
Rutherford said her approach to improving the district and county’s economic outlook consisted of “Finding how do we advocate with the state legislature and the governor to show that they are driving businesses out of the state. How do we make sure the South Coast Air Quality Management District doesn’t kill the logistics industry, which is what is keeping our local economy going? We need to work with our business and education sectors to reform our school system to produce graduates who  have the technical skills the next generation of employees need. We have to help our young people become entrepreneurs. It is not enough to import jobs and try to get international or national companies to locate here. We have to grow our own.”
Rutherford said, “My goal is that we all recognize we have taken a bit of a back seat in getting our house in order and  look at what programs give taxpayer the most bang for their buck. We should be giving those who receive public aid the skills to be independent. We are just starting that going and are  at the very beginning of the process. That is why I hope to be reelected, to continue to work toward that end, attracting more money and funding. We need more private foundation funding to replicate those programs.”
She said approaches to driving down the county fire department’s costs include “asking fire service to respond on how they deliver their services. Why do we have to roll a truck to every medical call? Who should transport if the subject has to go to the hospital? Is the fire district organized as to get the most efficiency?”
Rutherford is opposed by Randolph Beasley, a retired sheriff’s department scientific division forensic examiner. She said she compares favorably to him.
“I think I have a clear track record in supporting accountability and transparency in governing,” she said. “I’ve got a track record as a policy maker that has brought about some vibrant change in the county. I have helped restore confidence in county government that is worthy of continuing, to see what progress we can make in the next four years.”
A graduate of Ontario High School, Rutherford attended George Washington University before transferring to UC Riverside, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in political science. She obtained a master’s degree in American politics at Claremont Graduate School. She worked for State Senator Bill Leonard and then later rejoined his staff when he was on the Board of Equalization. She was on the Fontana City Council from 2000 to 2010. Married, she has two children.

(April 29) Ensen Mason is challenging incumbent county treasurer-tax collector-auditor-controller Larry Walker in this year’s election, Mason said, “because I don’t think the job is being done well. There is a  lot of corruption and financial mismanagement in county government. The responsibility for that should have fallen to the auditor-controller. These issues need to be made public. I think he is doing a horrible job in connecting with the people he is elected to serve. If you walked into a room full of people and asked each of them who among them had heard from him, zero would say they have had any word from him. A vital role is connecting with people.”
The county is seeing an inadequate return on the money it is investing under Walker’s watch, Mason said.
“The main problem is we have an extremely lazy investment policy stance,” Mason said. “The job of the tax collector is to collect the money and deposit it properly. The treasurer is responsible for depositing that money, accounting for it and then investing it wisely so that it grows properly or at least keeps pace with inflation. The county has a triple A credit rating, which sounds good, but that rating comes at a huge cost. We are basically getting no return on our money. We are getting very little return on our investment tools. We are sitting on short term instruments. The county’s money should be invested prudently and safely, but we should be seeing a decent return on our investments given the amounts involved. Prudence and a good return are not mutually exclusive functions.”
Mason continued, “The controller has an accounting function, which is supposed to focus on reporting and maintaining transparency. The auditor is usually responsible for keeping an eye on the other three people. The auditor reviews the controller’s reports and offers an opinion on the validity and accuracy of the information provided. Unfortunately, the way the county has designed it, the person in the position of keeping an eye on the others serves in the capacity of those entities having an eye kept on them.”
Mason said he believed that Walker has done a reasonably decent job in his function as treasurer, but has lagged behind with regard to his duties as treasurer, auditor and controller.
“I think he has done alright as far as collecting and receiving and counting and then depositing the money in the right place, at least as far as I can tell,” Mason said. “I do not think I would change very much in that regard.”
It was in the other three arenas, that Mason said his major differences with Walker lie.
If elected, Mason said he would depart from the county’s current investment policy.
“I would invest in a conservative portfolio that would return a reasonable rate,” Mason said in describing his difference with the treasurer’s office policy under Walker.
Mason said he had an even more substantial difference with Walker in regard to the merging of the functions of the tax collector treasurer with those of the auditor controller. In 1998, Walker, who was then Fourth District County supervisor, successfully ran for the post of auditor-controller/recorder. He was reelected to that post in 2002 and 2006. During that period, the position of treasurer-tax collector was an independently elected position. Prior to the 2010 election, the county moved to consolidate the treasurer-tax collector position with that of the auditor-controller, appointing Walker to replace former treasurer-tax collector Dick Larsen, and subsequently moving the recorder function into the assessor’s office, which is also an independently elected post.
Despite the objections of many at the time that the merger represented an unwise consolidation of duties, Walker consented to the change and seamlessly made the transition. Mason ran against Walker in the 2010 election, the first time where the voters were asked to elect one person to fill the consolidated treasurer tax collector auditor controller position. Walker, running as the incumbent garnered 128,033 votes, or 70.94 percent to Mason’s 52,445 votes, or 29.06 percent.
Four years later, Mason is engaging Walker in a rematch, looking for a different outcome based upon his belief that the county’s residents have had an opportunity to consider the disadvantage in having the county treasurer serving as a watchdog over himself. In this way, he is anxious to remind voters that Walker embraced the consolidation.
“They [the county board of supervisors] should not have done that,” Mason said. “By doing that they have lost an important check and balance. They eliminated one elected position from the county roster of officials chosen by the voters. Instead of having more accountability in the system to more people, you have less. That was a mistake. They could have redrawn the elective duties in a different way that did not give one person essentially all of the monetary collection, depositing, investing and accounting authority. This could have been done in a way that would have made more sense without eliminating the individual and independent layers of accountability.  If  I were elected, I would advocate having the auditor controller separated from the treasurer tax collector.
In examining the merger and Walker’s acquiescence in it, Mason said,”You have to look at his motivation. He received something like a $70,000 to $80,000 bump in pay when this reorganization went through. Did he think this was a good idea or did he just want to get paid more? The transition does not make sense from the standpoint of better accountability and accounting integrity. It only makes sense from the standpoint that somebody was going to make more money from doing it that way.”
Mason said voters should consider the implication of the consolidation as well as the degree to which accountability in the handling of the taxpayer’s money has been compromised, Mason said.
“The main difference between us is that I would not have accepted the merger,” Mason said. “I would have greater connectivity with the people. No one is listening to what the community has to offer. I think that should be changed. If I am elected, I would serve as the administrative head of all four departments, but I would separate myself from them and make sure that all four functions are independent of one another. If you are going to have those functions combined, they should be independent and the people overseeing them should be separate. They should be run as you would run separate companies, with separate oversight. You should have independent department heads who can have no influence over one another, to ensure the public’s interest is well cared for.”
In assessing why he makes a superior choice to Walker, Mason said,
“Honestly, I am the one legally qualified to do the job based upon the requirements. Look at the qualifications to run for this office. There are six specific ones. Mr. Walker would not be able to run for this position if he was not the incumbent. To run for this post, you need to be a CPA or have a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He has neither of those qualifications. That says something about whether he should be there in the first place. The only reason he is treasurer is he was on the board a long time before and he was appointed to the treasurer-tax collector position by the board of supervisors when it made the mistake of folding those roles into the auditor controller’s office. That is the only way someone without the qualifications could get into that position. If you ask him, he will tell you he is not a CPA and that he does not have a degree in accounting.”
Mason graduated from Piscataway  High School in New Jersey and received his undergraduate degree from Western Governors University in Salt Lake City. He also has an MBA in finance from the University of Redlands. He is currently employed as a certified public accountant and financial advisor. He formerly worked as a program system analyst for Boeing. He is a single father.

(April 30) Eleven of the 424 public elementary schools statewide identified by  California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson 2014 Calfiornia Distinguished Schools are located within San Bernardino County.
“It’s an annual honor to see the outstanding schools from our county recognized for the tremendous work they do with the students, staff and communities,” San Bernardino County Superintendent Gary Thomas said.
According to the California Department of Education, schools chosen for the Distinguished Schools distinction are among “California’s most exemplary and inspiring public schools. Schools selected for the Distinguished School Award demonstrate significant gains in narrowing the achievement gap.”
The schools so honored in San Bernardino County this year are Alta Loma’s Hermosa Elementary in the Alta Loma School District; Ontario’s Liberty Elementary School in the Chino Valley Unified School District; Chino Hill’s Gerald F. Litel Elementary in the Chino Valley Unified School District; Chino’s Chino’s Oxford Preparatory Academy in the Chino Valley Unified School District; Alta Loma’s Caryn Elementary School in the Etiwanda School District and Etiwanda’s Windrows Elementary School in the Etiwanda School District; Fontana’s  Oak Park Elementary School in the Fontana Unified School District;  Yucca Valley’s Yucca Mesa Elementary in the Morongo Unified School District Redlands’ McKinley Elementary School in the Redlands Unified School District and  Mentone Elementary School in the Redlands Unified School District; and Victorville’s Galileo Academy 101 in the Victor Elementary School District.