Page A2 • January 3, 2013 • Inland Empire Community Newspapers • Rialto Record

IECN PHOTO COURTESY CARL DAMERONThe Inland Kwanzaa Group and Black Student Leadership Al-liance (B.S.L.A.) at the 46th Kwanzaa Karamu celebration held atthe Rialto Senior Center on Saturday, December 29.

IECN PHOTO COURTESY RIALTO POLICE DEPARTMENTCpl. Cameron Nelson helps brothers Nicholas and Kristian Mingl pick out Christmas gifts duringShop with a Cop which was held on Wednesday, December 19 at the Walmart in Rialto.

IECN PHOTO COURTESY RIALTO POLICE DEPARTMENTThe Rialto Police Department flew in Santa to Sunrise Church in Rialto during the days of theirHearts to Share/Shop with a Cop program. This was the first year that they had Santa fly in.Children and their parents waited patiently to visit and talk to Santa.

sents for their parents. In orderfor families to participate in theShop with a Cop, they had to fillout an application, and were se-lected by officers based on need. “Hopefully this changes youth’sview of police officers,” Cpl. Nel-

son said. “This will give them theopportunity to see that we are hereto help them, and to see us whenthere isn’t an emergency.” Rialto Officer Cheri Schafferadded, “It makes you feel good tocome out with the kids and seetheir faces light up.”

In addition to the Shop with aCop day, this year the Rialto Po-lice Department flew in Santa toSunrise Church in Rialto. Santamet with children at the church.Next year Cpl. Nelson said thatthey plan on making the event big-ger with more surprises.

Cop, cont. from frontAfter the Ingathering, EdwardCartwright Jr., led the Drum Rollto begin the evening’s activities.The activities included aKukaribisha (welcome), thesinging of the Black National An-them by Akhir Shabazz-Regains,spoken word by Siecuna Yeboah,Kaleeyah Hopkins and ShyanneBenjamin, dances by AdiaShabazz-Regains, AaliyahMuhammad and EmaniCartwright, storytelling by Edward

Cartwright Jr., and the lighting ofthe candles. The Masters of Ceremony of theevening was B.S.L.A. membersDarien Rainy and Terry Alford.The Tambiko (Libation Statement)was read by Theresa Cartwright. “Planning this event taught ushow to learn to work together as ateam,” Hazel Sowell said. “It alsotaught as leadership skills.”Ryan Hogan added, “It alsotaught as about our African rootsand what it means to be African-American.”

Kwanzaa, cont. from front

IECN PHOTO NAOMI BONMANB.S.L.A. students led the guests in a drum roll in the beginning ofthe 46th Kwanzaa Karamu which was held at the Rialto SeniorCenter on Saturday, December 29.

cant concentration of car dealer-ships, which is a substantial leak-

age of potential sales tax dollars.As often reported, Rialto’s salestax fortunes rely heavily uponvolatile fuel prices, with gasoline

related sales taxes comprising40% or more of sales tax collec-tions.

Sales, cont. from front

Rialto joins Countywide water and energy efficiency program

Last month, the City Coun-cil approved joining otherSan Bernardino Countycities to participate in the PropertyAssessed Clean Energy (“PACE”)program. The PACE Programprovides a tool to residential andcommercial property owners to fi-nance energy and water conserva-tion improvements that will helpthem save money on their utilitybills. Eligible improvements in-

clude air sealing and weatheriza-tion; cool roof systems; high effi-ciency and tank-less water heaters;weatherized doors and windows;high efficiency toilets and showerheads; drip irrigation systems. The PACE program also pro-

vides a source of private invest-ment into local communities for property improvements thatwill provide jobs to local contrac-tors and suppliers. The propertyowner repays the loan through an

assessment on the tax bill for theproperty. The term of the loanranges from 5 to 20 years The program is expected to be

available to property owners earlynext year. It will be managed bythe San Bernardino AssociatedGovernments. The public cancontact John Dutrey, Housing Pro-grams Manager, at (909) 820-8014to inquire more information andapply for the PACE program.

Merle Casey Elementary School saferoutes to schools improvements

In 2008, the City of Rialto, inpartnership with the RialtoUnified School District(RUSD), submitted an applicationto the State of California Depart-ment of Transportation (Caltrans)for a Federal Safe Routes to School(SRTS) Program requesting grantsto install In-Roadway WarningLight (IRWL) system along withcurb, gutter, sidewalk, and ADAimprovements at Merle Casey Ele-mentary School. The grant wasawarded to the City and acceptedby City Council on January 26,2010. The proposed improvements in-

clude installing an In-Roadway-Warning-Light (IRWL) system toprovide a safer pedestrian street

crossing to the school, constructionof sidewalks and ADA related im-provements in the vicinity of theschool. A neighborhood meeting was

conducted on Tuesday, November4, 2012 to provide the affected res-idents with an opportunity to re-view the improvements, askquestions and/or provide input. Afavorable outcome was obtainedwith residents welcoming the nec-essary improvements for the proj-ect. The design phase of the project

has been completed and staff willbe scheduling City Council ap-proval of the plans and authoriza-tion to bid the project in January2013.

RR2_Layout 2 1/2/13 10:36 AM Page 1