On Dragon Loco Ontario, and the reviews, and the reviews of the reviewers

I never got around to writing about Dragon Loco on this blog. But I wrote about it elsewhere.

A little history: David Allen blogged about Dragon Loco and admitted that he didn't care for the way that the Chinese-Mexican fusion was executed. He noted, however, that Yelp reviewers tended to be positive. One of those reviewers happened to be Allan Borgen, by the way.

I posted my own review on Yelp, which I am reproducing below.

Allan Borgen liked it (see his review here on Yelp), David Allen didn't care for it (see his Daily Bulletin column). I figured that I'd play it safe and just order a taco, rather than one of the larger dishes (burrito, quesadilla, etc.). If I loved it, I'd return some other time. If I hated it, not much lost.

Having heard of the small number of tables, I decided to order for take-out one night. This was a good thing, because when I arrived, all the tables were taken.

I ordered the orange chicken taco...and LOVED it. I'm glad that I didn't order the spicy orange chicken, because the one that I got was spicy enough for me.

I definitely plan a return visit!

Upon re-reading this, I realize that I made an error in confusing Allen's blog post (which included negative comments on Dragon Loco's food) with his Daily Bulletin column, which merely said "I'm not so sure the items that made the menu are successful either."

But the review that has people talking is the review by Jeff - not a review of Dragon Loco, but a review of David Allen's review of Dragon Loco. Allen quotes Jeff's complete comment here, which primarily boiled down to Jeff referring to Allen as "antique."

Allen, incidentally, resisted the urge to comment on some of Jeff's statements, such as the phrase "We seen it ate it, been their." Instead, Allen raised a question about reviewing in general:

But regarding your comment that my criticism showed that I was "ungrateful": Surely you don't think I should give somebody a good review simply because they contacted me? That doesn't seem fair to readers, does it, to purposely steer them wrong? Being "grateful" in exchange for favors isn't ethical behavior.

Even if Dragon Loco granted Allen no favors, Allen's mode of reviewing (and the mode of Borgen) is to provide honest reviews - sometimes positive, sometimes negative. There are those who provide uniformly positive reviews of things, but I don't necessarily remember their names.

And it's worthwhile to remember that even if David Allen and Allan Borgen and my wife all loved a particular restaurant, that doesn't necessarily mean that I would like it. And if I didn't like it, I'd have no problem telling David and Allan that I didn't like it.

(Actually, my wife would be fine with my honesty. She'd just feed me green peppers for dinner instead.)

Cagles does what a big business would never dare to do

There are plenty of big businesses that spend all sorts of money on social media and other efforts to engage their customers.

Why do they do it? They have to.

Take this example. I bet that there are a lot of appliance superstores that are very busy with Labor Day weekend sales. These businesses are pumping out ads and Facebook messages and the like encouraging people to shop this weekend.

Cagles Appliance in Ontario is not doing this. Oh, they're putting out Facebook messages - but it's a very different message.

Remember Cagles Appliance is going to be closed till Tuesday Have a great Weekend

That's right. Cagles is closed on Labor Day itself, which is a refreshing thought. And they're closed on Sunday. And they're even closed today, Saturday.

And I bet that 99% of their customers are extremely happy about it. Cagles doesn't need to hire so-called "social media experts" to engage their customers. They just engage them. And when they're closed, Cagles customers don't think "This is terrible! I'm going somewhere else to shop!" Instead, they think "Hope they're having a great weekend! I'll see them next week."

Two local business blogs

I guess I'm not giving away any deep dark secret, but I would be extremely ecstatic if my name, or one of my blogs, came up first in a search for Ontario California blogs. (Actually, I'd be happy if I were third - I will gladly go behind Liset Marquez and David Allen. Heck, I'll go fourth and let Matt Munson go ahead of me.)

I'm not first in such a search - yet - but I did find a couple of Ontario business blogs of interest while searching.

Bumstead's Bicycles (now in northwest Ontario) - http://bumsteadsbicycles.blogspot.com/

Treasures N Junk - http://treasuresnjunkantiques.blogspot.com/

Make-a-Wish, and an update on a June 2009 post

In the process of commenting on a Drew Olanoff share on Google+, I had occasion to remember the story of Travis Clark and Gene Kranz.

You may recall this story from a few years ago. Travis Clark was a young boy who was, among other things, a huge fan of NASA. After Clark was diagnosed with a brain tumor, the Make-a-Wish Foundation and the Los Angeles Fox television station KTTV made arrangements for Clark to speak to former NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz via video hookup.

Sadly, the Fox report on this video conversation is apparently no longer online. However, I still remember the part of the video that gave me a smile. At one point Kranz asked Clark if he had any specific questions that he wanted to ask...and Clark pulled out some papers with a huge amount of questions.

And Kranz answered them.

I recently discovered a North County Times article from 2010 that discussed the wish. The article was written on the occasion of the opening of a Riverside office for the Make a Wish Foundation. Clark had unfortunately passed away by this time, but the article included several quotes from Clark's father, Barry Clark (whom I know personally). Here is some of what Barry Clark said:

"Initially, I hesitated to contact Make-A-Wish," said Travis’s father, Barry Clark, of Rancho Cucamonga. "I thought it was only for terminal cases. I learned it was for children with life-threatening illnesses."

Travis got to meet Kranz via satellite from a Houston television station. They spent an hour talking, Barry Clark said.

"He was thrilled to get to meet Gene Kranz. We were all so excited. It was a wonderful moment in midst of a tough time," he said, his voice filling with emotion.

Travis died June 9, 2009, a few months after meeting Kranz.

"On one hand, you’re going through the worst thing you can imagine and on the other hand, you get to experience something so wonderful that you're smiling from ear to ear," Barry Clark said. "We think about it frequently."

For more information about the local Make a Wish office, visit http://www.wishoc.org/default.asp.

On the late Rodney King

I just learned that Rodney King died today.

Why am I writing about King in my Inland Empire blog? Because in the last years of his life, King lived out here with us. Earlier today, he was found at the bottom of the pool at his Rialto home. He was pronounced dead at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.

Views on King often span two extremes. Some considered him a heroic symbol. Some considered him a drunken criminal. The truth is somewhere in between.

King certainly was not perfect. Then again, neither am I.

Whatever else he did in his life, or was done to him in his life, King secured his place in history by his reaction to the Los Angeles riots - riots that began because of the initial jury verdict for the people accused of beating him. The Los Angeles Times records King's reaction to the riots:

King said he was shocked to see the destruction of the riots that followed the not-guilty verdicts.

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," he says. "Mayhem, people everywhere ... looting, burning. Gunshots. I turned back and went home. I looked at all of that and I thought to the way I was raised, with good morals from my mother, even though I didn't always follow them.

"I said to myself, 'That is not who I am, all this hate. I am not that guy. This does not represent me or my family, killing people over this. No, sir, that is not the way I was raised by my mother.' I began to realize that I had to say something to the people, had to try to get them to stop."

So, on the third day of the rioting, he pleaded on television: "People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along?"

A simple question, but a powerful one.

Rest in peace, Rodney.

Redirected from the 909 party (Gorilla Cookies band news)

In early 2009, I wrote a post in this very blog entitled 909party is not an oxymoron. Among other things, it referred to a club in Chino called Godfather's. http://909party.com/ is a flashy place, devoted to two locations. Happy's Grill, 23545 Palomino Dr., Diamond Bar CA 91765. Godfather's, 12570 Central Ave., Chino CA 91710. The two places are somewhat different - Happy's allows kids, while Godfather's is 21 and over only. Actually, I've been to Godfather's, but it was several years ago. Alexa's Wish played there once, and I saw them there. Well, the years have passed. Alexa's Wish broke up, and Godfather's closed. But I recently read this announcement from the band Gorilla Cookies. Update!! Gorilla Cookies debut show at Happy's Chino (formally Godfathers) on July 13th! Also, as an added bonus, we will also be having a special guest band.......TAVO! I am extremely happy to have Mark Taylor and Gus Garcia be a part of this special evening. Please save the date and do not miss this event! More details to follow! This is a full circle event in many respects, since Ralph Tomaselli of Alexa's Wish is now in Gorilla Cookies. The Happy's people no longer own the 909party domain, and my attempts to go to Happy's new website resulted in "too many redirects" errors. But the band Gorilla Cookies (not to be confused with other similarly-named bands) has a Facebook page here.

The Pacific Electric Trail revisited

When I started the Empoprise-IE blog on May 11, 2008, its first post concerned the Pacific Electric Trail. For those who aren't familiar with the trail, it is a bicycle/walking trail that stretches through a good deal of the Inland Empire, following the path of a former railroad.

At the time that I wrote my May 2008 post, portions of the trail had been completed, while other portions were still in progress.

I blogged about the trail on February 10, 2009, and returned to the topic on February 14, in a post that referenced the first occurrence of the "Cucamonga Challenge" under its new name. There was a brief post on April 9, and another brief post on May 11.

I have not blogged about the Pacific Electric Trail or the Cucamonga Challenge since.

My bad.

A lot has happened in the last few years, including a complete reworking of the bridge on the west side of Rancho Cucamonga over Foothill Boulevard. Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reporter Wendy Leung has blogged about the bridge work, and also mentioned that the 2012 Cucamonga Challenge is coming up, on May 12, with a variety of events. See Leung's post for events and fees.

Also see http://www.cucamongachallenge.com/.

For Technorati

EPZG6GZVRBW3

In which I visit Shirlee's Fitness Club for Women (but it's OK)

On occasion I have to begin my blog posts with an FCC-suggested disclosure statement, usually related to my employment. But today I must start with a more basic disclosure.

DISCLOSURE: I AM NOT A WOMAN.

Ordinarily this fact would not make a lot of difference, but in this case it affects my background knowledge about a fitness club for women.

But let me back up a bit.

Last year, The Spa Fitness Club for Women suddenly closed without warning, adversely affecting the many people who had paid for memberships and other services at the club. There aren't a lot of women-only fitness clubs in the area, so the closure of The Spa definitely left a void.

As Sandra Emerson noted in a February 3rd Daily Bulletin article, someone stepped in to fill that void.

Gary Peterson, lessor of the property at 1275 W. Foothill Blvd., has been working on renovating the fitness club for several months since it closed abruptly in October....

Peterson is no stranger to the women's fitness club. He purchased the business in 1982 when it was [Shirle's] Fitness Center. He renamed it Spa Fitness for Women and made several changes to the two-acre facility, including the addition of the cabanas, an extended workout room and an area for boot camp.

Peterson has renamed the business "Shirlee's," which is an acronym for the club's philosophy: "Strengthen, Hearten, Inspire, Restore, Love, Encourage, Empower and Support."

Peterson has been reaching out to the former members of The Spa, and I was there on Sunday when he spent an hour with one of the former members, answering her questions.

Peterson has taken the opportunity to perform some major structural work on the facility, including the flooring and the roof. As you will recall, it was raining pretty hard on Sunday, but there were no roof leaks in any of the buildings - and from what I understand, that's a significant improvement.

Since I am not a woman, I had never seen the entire facility before - I had never gotten any farther than the front desk. So I can't tell you exactly what changes are being made over the former facility configuration. However, I did gather that the new facility will be ADA-friendly, and it sounds like the new configuration will offer some new opportunities for the members.

There's still some more work to be done, and an opening date has not been officially set, but if you want to get updated information, you can go to Shirlee's website (http://shirlees.com/), its Facebook page, or the @Shirleesfitness Twitter page.

And if you're thinking about joining, I can assure that you once the facility reopens, I'll probably never be going in there again. But maybe Sandra Emerson will go in there and tell you more.

Shirlee's will be located at 1275 W. Foothill Boulevard, Upland, CA 91786.


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Classic.

Remember the Carbon Canyon Chronicle?

It recently posted an item with the title California Conservation Corps Crews Continue Carbon Canyon Creek Cleanup.

C?

Do you see green in the IE?

David Allen links to the IEShineOn blog, noting that it offers a number of St. Patrick's Day tips.

Allen wasn't kidding.

This post alone lists 12 IE events from Pomona to Temecula, and this post lists another 19.

As for me, I'm going to two private events, one with family, and one with people from my BBS days.

Graber Olive House honored by the local dude

Every fall, I try to remember to go to Graber Olive House during the canning season. Every fall, I fail to go to Graber Olive house during the canning season. Granted, it's still nice to go there at any time of the year.

Gary Ovitt went to Graber Olive House in early March, but he had a purpose in doing so, according to Liset Marquez.

San Bernardino County Supervisor Gary Ovitt honored the company as his February Small Business of the Month because of the impact the family-owned enterprise has had on the community.

Of course, Ovitt is familiar with Graber's business. Not too long ago, he worked just down the street from Graber Olive House, over at Chaffey High School.

False excitement about the Ontario Wal-Mart Supercenter

The press release title was certainly promising.

Ontario Wal-Mart Supercenter Celebrates Grand Opening

Store’s impact seen in 255 new jobs, benefits and $19,000 in charitable donations

And the first paragraph also included some promising words:

Creating 255 new jobs and focusing on charitable support and every day low prices, the ... Wal-Mart Supercenter in Ontario will celebrate its grand opening at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 20. Doors will open at 8 a.m.

But there are two problems.

First, this is a 2005 press release.

Second, this is not for Ontario, California. It's for Ontario, Ohio.

But there's encouraging words for those of us out here also. I had thought that the Wal-Mart was a done deal, but Liset Marquez set me straight with her March 5 Inland Valley Daily Bulletin article:

After years of litigation and more than $1 million spent in attorney fees, a dispute over an environmental report related to the building of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in this city has finally drawn to a close.
The seven-year battle ended when an attorney for Ontario Mountain Village Association - a group of residents who have opposed the building of the facility at the northwest corner of Mountain Avenue and Fifth Street - dropped the last appeal involving the case.

Attorney Cory Briggs said he decided against appealing an October court decision that only rewarded him $54,000 for court fees.

Read the rest here.

Do you want to know how long this story has gone on? When I initially started talking about my parody "Ontario Vineyard Village Association" several years ago, I joked that the OVVA was located in a high-rise building in Guasti.

Today, there actually ARE high-rise buildings in Guasti. OK, maybe none of them has a 25th floor - yet - but as long as the planes don't hit them, a 25-story Guasti building could be in our future.

Organizational chaos

I like organizations.

Throughout my life, I've been involved in a number of organizations.

There was the Fairlington Fun Group (FFG), who entertained other kids in the neighborhood.

There was the Independent Republic of New Concord, which was unsuccessful in its attempt to liberate Theodore Roosevelt Island from American rule.

There was the Campus Planning Commission (of Reed College), which was unsuccessful in building a subway system at the small college.

And there was the Ontario Vineyard Village Association (OVVA), which was unsuccessful at a lot of things.

As locals may realize, the latter non-existent entity was a parody of the Ontario Mountain Village Assocation (OMVA), which was extremely successful for years in preserving a dangerous eyesore near some residential areas. Oh, and it got fifty thousand bucks - not quite the $487,000 it wanted.

Of course, while the Ontario Mountain Village Association (which used to have a website - I quoted from it - but the website is long gone) was doing its thing, there were a number of other organizations that were fighting the good fight against evil non-union corporations.

There were the various "smart growth" associations in Blythe, Menifee, and Murrieta. After some delays, two members of Murrietans for Smart Growth were produced - the president of the organization, from San Diego, and one of the founders of the organization, from Murrieta - and the founder had never heard of the president.

What links the Ontario Mountain Village Association, the Blythe Citizens for Smart Growth, the Menifee Citizens for Smart Growth, and the Murrietans for Smart Growth - other than their concern with large non-union stores with no parallel concern of union stores?

All of them are associated with the same lawyer, Cory Briggs.

But Briggs is branching out. His new organization - whoops, I mean a new organization which he just happens to represent - is the Inland Oversight Committee. Liset Marquez of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports that the committee seeks an injunction to prohibit the city of Ontario from promoting Christianity via City Council meeting invocations.

And if you want the Inland Oversight Committee members identified to see if they're really the Murrietans for Smart Growth, don't hold your breath.

Members of the Inland Oversight Committee have asked to remain anonymous, Briggs said.

"They are very concerned about retaliation and incrimination because they are taking on institution of government," he said.

This differs from Patrick Greene, another past opponent of the establishment of Christianity in Ontario. When Greene takes action, his name is prominently displayed.

However, the Inland Oversight Committee is not only concerned with the First Amendment.

Earlier this month, with Briggs acting as its lawyer, IOC filed a lawsuit asking for a refund for taxpayers of the $102 million settlement made by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors in 2006 with Rancho Cucamonga-based developers Colonies Partners LP.

The Daily Bulletin has posted the IOC's lawsuit against Ontario (see the link at the top of the article). The lawsuit seeks injunctions preventing the city from (in its words) violating the U.S. and California Constitutions. It also seeks attorneys' fees and "[c]osts as authorized by law."

Oddly enough - probably due to some legal tradition - the items sought by the plaintiffs are in a section of the document entitled "Prayer," which includes the words "Plaintiff respectfully prays for the following relief." I'm sure that the IOC meeting got really heated when Briggs explained to the IOC members that such language was necessary.

Incidentally, the prayer includes items A, B, C, E, and F. Don't know what happened to item D - I guess point D asked to remain anonymous.

Indoor football in Ontario - the Ontario Warriors

While reading Bill Cortus' Facebook page, I discovered that a new indoor football team is coming to Ontario - the Ontario Warriors.

The Warriors are part of American Indoor Football, a league that has existed in some form or another since 2005. It's not quite at the level of the Arena Football League, but it presumably offers the same football experience that the AFL (or to some old-timers, the "new" AFL) offers. (As of today, nine indoor football leagues exist.)

The first Ontario Warriors home game is on Sunday, March 4 at Citizens Business Bank Arena.

Montclair then? (I guess "Montclair Now" is me)

I like to read several of the city blogs associated with the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, including Ontario Now (I live in Ontario), Upland Now (I used to live in Upland), and RC Now (I used to work in Rancho Cucamonga).

So when Jimmy and Julio moved J&J Auto Service to its new location on Holt Boulevard in Montclair, I began wondering if there is a Montclair Now.

The answer? Yes - and no.

Yes, there is a Montclair Now blog at http://www.insidesocal.com/montclairnow/.

Unfortunately, the blog hasn't been updated since last July.

So, for what it's worth, I'll announce that J&J Auto Service has moved to 5533 Holt Boulevard in Montclair.


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Their Facebook page is here.

Commerce is based upon your customer's location, not the location of the business

Wendy Leung was recently musing about city borders, and noted that the Upland Chamber of Commerce was hosting a meeting in Rancho Cucamonga. She then noted:

But I guess the Upland Chamber of Commerce is a bit of a misnomer. Its members spread across the Inland Valley making it more like a regional chamber.

The Upland Chamber of Commerce isn't the only one. I live in Ontario, and I checked the membership list for the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. The list, in alphabetical order, begins with companies based in Upland, Redlands, and Belmont Shore before it gets to its first business that is actually located within Ontario's city limits (Aaren Scientific).

But there's a reason for this inter-city membership.

While we like to think that a chamber of commerce's sole purpose is to promote the businesses within a city, it can also be used to promote BUSINESS within a city. There's a difference - in the latter case, you're looking for customers.

So when KSGN radio wants to get listeners in Ontario, it joins the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

I wonder how many chambers of commerce the average small-to-medium sized business actually joins. Even if the business only has a single location, I bet some of them join a half dozen chambers or more.

Go fly a kite

Liset Marquez reports that there will be a kite-flying event on February 23 at the Dorothy Quesada Center, 1010 S. Bon View Ave, from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

And you don't even need a kite - you can buy one at the event.

More details here.

How will you split up the airports?

If Ontario International Airport is "set free" from the control of Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a lot of details will have to be worked out. For decades, the airport has been run as an integral part of the entire set of airports managed by LAWA. Take this recent example (disclosure: ImageWare is a competitor of my employer):

ImageWare Systems, Inc., a leader in multimodal biometric security solutions, today announced that Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a City of Los Angeles department that owns and operates Los Angeles International (LAX), LA/Ontario International (ONT) and Van Nuys (VNY) airports, has placed an order for a number of biometric identity management and credentialing software products developed by ImageWare Systems, Inc. These software products will provide the foundation for a new biometrically enabled identity management and credentialing system used to identify airport employees, contractors, and police at LAX and Ontario airports.

So if the two entities split up, they'll have to work out new contracts with ImageWare so that Ontario International Airport has its contract, and Los Angeles International Airport has its separate contract.

And there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of these contracts that will have to be worked out.

Obviously these deals aren't insurmountable - Motorola, Safran, and their suppliers were able to work out a transition when my business unit was sold by Motorola to Safran - but it's something to take into consideration. Even if Ontario were to give LAWA umpty dumpty dillion dollars for Ontario Airport, it still would take time to work out the kinks.

Medical company with local presence acquires a chunk of NCR

While Quadramed is not headquartered in the Inland Empire - its headquarters are in Reston, Virginia - it does have an Ontario office, so this press release is of local interest.

QuadraMed Acquires NCR Healthcare Solutions
Self-Service Solutions Streamline Patient Access and Improve Patient Satisfaction

January 04, 2012 10:03 AM Eastern Time

RESTON, Va.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--QuadraMed® Corporation, a leading provider of healthcare technologies and services that improve the quality, safety and efficiency of patient care, today announced it has closed a definitive agreement with NCR Corporation (NYSE:NCR) to acquire NCR healthcare solutions, including its market-leading MediKiosk™ patient access software, NCR Payment Manager, Patient Portal, Patient Tracking, Physician Referral Portal and eForms software solutions. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The healthcare solutions acquired by QuadraMed automate and streamline routine patient interactions, resulting in improved workflow, increased revenue and an increase in patient satisfaction.

“This addition to QuadraMed’s portfolio is a logical extension of our existing Access and Identity Management offerings,” said Duncan W. James, QuadraMed CEO. “NCR’s healthcare solutions will improve our clients’ ability to meet the increasing demand for patients to control and self-direct their healthcare experience at hospitals, clinics and physician practices. When combined with our #1 in KLAS Identity Management solutions and our proven enterprise scheduling capabilities, QuadraMed will advance its mission of improving the quality and efficiency of care for healthcare providers.”

Under the terms of the agreement, NCR Corporation has entered into a reseller agreement with QuadraMed to provide hardware and self-service devices for its check-in and identification management solutions.

“In this rapidly changing and complex healthcare environment, our clients will gain the advantage of QuadraMed’s broader healthcare portfolio and dedicated industry focus,” said John Bruno, NCR Chief Technology Officer and executive vice president, Corporate Development. “Transitioning this business to QuadraMed is great for our customers, healthcare division employees, and shareholders as NCR continues our efforts to focus on growing our core industries and global services and support business.”

NCR’s healthcare employees who sell, develop, and service these solutions will join QuadraMed on January 5, 2012 and will remain in Lake Mary, Florida, and Hyderabad, India.

About NCR Corporation

NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is a global technology company leading how the world connects, interacts and transacts with business. NCR’s assisted- and self-service solutions and comprehensive support services address the needs of retail, financial, travel, healthcare, hospitality, entertainment, gaming, public sector, telecom carrier and equipment organizations in more than 100 countries. NCR (http://www.ncr.com/) is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia.

About QuadraMed Corporation

QuadraMed® is a leading provider of award-winning healthcare technologies and services that improve the safety and quality of patient care and enable financial health. Founded in 1993, QuadraMed provides proven, flexible solutions that help make our clients successful by streamlining processes, increasing productivity and driving positive clinical outcomes. Behind the Company's products and services is a staff of 600 professionals who support clients at over 2,000 healthcare provider facilities. For more information about QuadraMed, visit http://www.quadramed.com.

QuadraMed is a registered trademark of QuadraMed Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders. NCR is a trademark of NCR Corporation in the United States and other countries.


Contacts
QuadraMed Corporation
Public Relations
Laura Adams
Director of Marketing
703-742-5311

YISEBY (Yes in someone else's backyard)

David Allen recently wrote a column that talked about business signs at the Claremont Promenade.

If the name "Claremeont Promenade" doesn't ring a bell, think of the businesses that are off of Indian Hill and south of Interstate 10.

Yes, that strip of land is officially part of the city of Claremont - but it bears no relation to the rest of the city.

As some of the commenters to David Allen's blog post noted, different rules apply to different portions of Claremont. Imagine, if you will, a 90 foot tall sign in downtown Claremont. Now, imagine further that this 90 foot tall sign in downtown Claremont advertised a McDonalds with a drive thru. If such a business were established in downtown, residents would have a huge hissy fit.

But it's OK if it's on the other side of the freeway. Why? Because the restaurants and the auto dealer bring in a whole bunch of revenue to the city of Claremont - but because of their remote location to the rest of Claremont, they don't have any real impact on the residents of Claremont.

The residents of Pomona, of course, are another matter. But the people of Pomona don't vote in Claremont.

And before you get all huffy about the evil things that are done to the city of Pomona, consider the location of the Los Angeles County Fair - right on the periphery of the city of Pomona itself. Which doesn't necessarily make the residents of the city of La Verne all that happy.

Let's face it, every city is doing this. A city will tolerate certain things on the borders of the city that wouldn't be tolerated in the city center.

Imagine the Ontario Auto Center at the corner of Euclid and Holt. Now there used to be, and still are, auto dealers within a mile of Euclid and Holt, but they're nowhere as big as the ones several miles east. The prime example is Citrus Ford, which used to be located roughly where the Superior market is today. Now Citrus Ford is out by Interstate 15, and I'm pretty sure the new location is bigger than the old one.

Of course, decisions by cities often have adverse impacts on other cities. La Verne has to put up with traffic jams during the Los Angeles County Fair, but gets very litle of the resulting revenue. Pomona deals with traffic from the Claremont Promenade, but all the tax revenue from the businesses goes to Claremont.

So you end up having a lot of inter-city and intra-city wars. Target's relocation from northwest Ontario to Montclair was one of the catalysts for Wal-Mart's proposed move to northwest Ontario - a move that was blocked for years by a lawyer and a small group of residents who wanted Wal-Mart to choose a different location - say, several miles away, out by the auto center. And there's always the possibility that a thriving Super Wal-Mart in Ontario could lead to the closure of the not-so-super Wal-Mart in Upland, which would then lead Upland to try to poach a business from a neighboring city to fill the empty space.

And so it goes.

The power of parody (and the IE's the target)

As you may have heard, the city of Ontario is mounting a public relations campaign to get "our" airport back from the City of Los Angeles, to whom the City of Ontario sold the airport several decades ago.

Needless to say, some of the residents of the city of Los Angeles don't think that this is such a good idea.

David Allen notes that Venice resident Len Talan has created a parody of my city's "Set ONTario Free" logo. Talan's version uses the slogan "Get ONTario 4 free?"

You can see Talan's logo on David Allen's blog post.

In which I belatedly announce PlantCML's name change to Cassidian Communications

As some of my readers may know, I work in the biometric industry. For most of the last two decades, I've worked out of an office in Orange County, California for a company that has gone through several different owners (and thus several different names).

People have left this company at various times to join other firms. In a few cases, several ex-employees have ended up at the same firm. One example was an Orange County company called Viacore, which was the destination for a number of former co-workers of mine - technical people, financial people, human resources people. Viacore was eventually acquired by IBM.

Some of my former co-workers ended up across the country, in North Carolina, at a company called VisionAIR. This company is still going strong today.

Another popular destination, also on the East Coast, is a company called DataWorks Plus. (Long story.)

What does all of this have to do with an Inland Empire business blog? Well, another population destination for former co-workers was a company called Plant Equipment, right here in the Inland Empire. Well, it's on the opposite end of the Inland Empire, based in Temecula. Plant Equipment wasn't a biometric firm, but a 9-1-1 firm (as it turns out, my employer was involved in 9-1-1 systems also - another long story). At one point I knew of at least four people who worked for Plant Equipment or an associated company.

As time passes, people continue to change jobs, and when I discovered the Twitter account of one of my former co-workers - actually, a former boss of mine - I discovered that he was now working for a company called Cassidian Communications. I checked into my former boss' new company...and discovered that it was actually his old company.

You see, Plant Equipment (which actually went by the business name PlantCML) changed its name to Cassidian Communications.

Back in March of 2011.

I really need to follow up on these things a little more closely.

So if you missed the news also, here's the press release:

PlantCML® changes name to Cassidian Communications, Inc., an EADS North America Company

PlantCML conducts complete rebrand: name and logo
A clear signal of the business unit’s ambition to further expand globally
New brand reflects the CASSIDIAN mission to support those who protect the world

Temecula, Calif., March 1, 2011 – Plant Equipment Inc., dba PlantCML®, an industry leader in mission critical communications, today announced its official name change to Cassidian Communications, Inc., an EADS North America company. As the largest and most trusted source of mission critical communications in North America, Cassidian Communications is leading the way in standards-based 9-1-1 call center applications, notification solutions and services and P25 land mobile radio networks.

Over the last several years, the company has gone through a series of acquisitions and was most recently acquired by EADS North America in the spring of 2008. Consolidating the company and portfolio of brands under that of the Defense & Security division of EADS, Cassidian, adheres to the strategic goals of enabling public and private operations to improve situational awareness, expedite response, promote collaboration and increase response efficiency.

The name Cassidian is derived from the Latin term cassida (helmet) and meridian (imaginary line running north and south). It symbolizes worldwide protection and security. The name is accompanied by a logo that represents a globe encompassed by two hands – hands that are protecting the world.

“The challenges of today’s mission critical communications require innovative solutions,” said Dave Rutan, chief executive officer. “Our customers expect our solutions and services to make everyday operations easier and more efficient. Now, these same solutions must easily scale to support larger incidents, geographic areas and security initiatives throughout the world, ultimately saving more lives. Becoming a fundamental part of the Cassidian master brand will allow us to leverage established market leadership and the global assets of EADS, and better deliver on these expectations.”

While the PlantCML brand has changed, its offices and employees, located in Temecula, California; Frisco, Texas; Franklin, Tennessee and Gatineau, Quebec, remain the same, serving clients ranging from public safety operations to Fortune 1000 corporations to federal agencies. Its solutions are resident in two out of three U.S. Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) and more than 50 U.S. military operations. Cassidian Communications provides notifications to people in more than 100 countries, as well as to organizations in over 20 different industries.

Collectively, the company has more than 40 years of experience deploying 9-1-1 solutions, notification solutions and first responder radio networks.

About Cassidian Communications (www.CassidianCommunications.com)
As the largest and most trusted source of mission critical communications solutions, Cassidian Communications, an EADS North America company, is leading the way in standards-based E9-1-1 call center applications, notification solutions and services and P25 land mobile radio systems. Headquartered in Temecula, California.

About CASSIDIAN (www.cassidian.com)
Cassidian, an EADS company, is a worldwide leader in global security solutions and systems, providing Lead Systems Integration and value-added products and services to civil and military customers around the globe: air systems (aircraft and unmanned aerial systems), land, naval and joint systems, intelligence and surveillance, cyber security, secure communications, test systems, missiles, services and support solutions. In 2009, Cassidian – with around 28,000 employees – achieved revenues of € 5.4 billion. EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2009, the Group – comprising the Divisions Airbus, Astrium, Cassidian and Eurocopter – generated revenues of € 42.8 billion and employed a workforce of more than 119,000.

About EADS North America (www.eadsnorthamerica.com)
EADS North America is the North American operation of EADS, a global leader in aerospace, defense and related services. As a leader in all sectors of defense and homeland security, EADS North America and its parent company, EADS, contribute over $11 billion to the U.S. economy annually and support more than 200,000 American jobs through its network of suppliers and services. Operating in 17 states, EADS North America offers a broad array of advanced solutions to its customers in the commercial, homeland security, aerospace and defense markets.

# # #

Note to students - economics laws apply, even in the Inland Empire

College is the time when many people transition into what is known as "the real world" - one in which you have to pay bills, and in which bad things happen if you don't.

But the college experience itself is giving many students a hard lesson in the intricacies of economics.

The Huffington Post recently ran a report on for-profit colleges and the nursing profession, and focused some of its story on two Inland Empire educational institutions - Riverside Community College, a public institution, and Ontario's Everest College, a private one.

The opening of the article sets the stage:

ONTARIO, Calif. -- Just after she started working for an ambulance company in this suburban enclave east of Los Angeles, Cierra Nelson came to admire the quick decision making and street smarts of the nurses she met on runs to local hospitals. She soon opted to pursue a nursing degree, settling on a low-cost, two-year program at a nearby community college that has an excellent job placement record.

But despite her efforts to complete the coursework in the ensuing four years, Nelson is still not a nurse. California's budget cuts have forced the state's community college system to scale back the availability of crucial science classes. Nelson found herself repeatedly turned away from the oversubscribed courses required for her degree.

Frustrated and seeking an alternative, she took out more than $50,000 in student loans to enroll last winter in a nursing program at Everest College, one of many for-profit institutions that have sprung up in the area amid massive cutbacks in public funding for higher education.

Nelson's experience is not unique. I know of a college student who spent last year at an out-of-state university. The student decided to come home and take courses at Rancho Cucamonga's Chaffey College - but couldn't get any courses. Next year, he's heading back out of state.

Many local students are facing this decision - pay more money by going somewhere where you can get courses, or staying in California's community college system and not getting the courses for years, if ever?

Some condemn the private institutions (Everest, University of Phoenix, DeVry, etc.) for several reasons. First, their students do not pass tests such as the nursing tests as much as public college students.

More than 90 percent of the nursing students at nearby community colleges last year passed state licensing exams, which are required to practice in California. Fewer than 70 percent of Everest students passed the exams, registering the lowest success rate of all nursing programs in the state.

Second, their more expensive tuition costs affect the use of Federal monies:

The Obama administration has significantly boosted funding for Pell Grants, which are available to low-income students. Over the last three years of the program, the federal government has more than doubled spending on Pell grants, budgeting $20 billion more this year than in the 2007-08 school year. For-profit colleges have captured an outsized share of this pool -- roughly 25 percent -- despite educating only 12 percent of college students nationwide, according to the most recent federal data.

Third, this translates into less money for public colleges:

Had the $7.5 billion that for-profit institutions received via Pell Grants during the 2009-2010 school year gone instead to fund community college systems nationwide, that money could have created capacity for an additional 629,000 community college students, The Huffington Post calculated, using available estimates for the average expenditure per student. That would represent a 20 percent increase in the number of full-time community college students currently enrolled nationwide.

Yet, anyone who has a basic understanding of economics would realize that this scenario is easily predictable. When a market good - in this case, a public community college education - is offered for less than the market rate, there will be scarcities of the good, and competitors will enter the market to meet the demand. And strange behaviors will result to provide economic benefit. One community college student uses various tactics to get registered for required courses:

Izaak Ramirez, a biochemistry major from Riverside, remembers stocking his first semester schedule with loads of unneeded electives, just to get courses under his belt. Having more credits means higher priority registration the next time....

As a science major, Ramirez has among the toughest times getting the courses he needs. For many of the classes, which require lab components, there are only about 40 seats for hundreds trying to get in. He eventually decided to join student government, partially to get involved, but also because it would move him up the chain for priority registration.

Even the community college administrators, such realize that the days of rock-bottom tuition may need to end:

Gray said that eliminating costs for students was an admirable goal decades ago, but no longer makes sense due to disinvestment in the system. He advocates raising fees to a level more in line with other states, or perhaps differentiating fees so that higher-cost programs, such as nursing, cost more than lecture classes like English or history.

However, Gray does not have the power to set tuition for Riverside Community College. That power rests several hundred miles away, in Sacramento. And any talk of a tuition increase results in hundreds of students protesting, so politicians are leery to raise fees - unintentionally resulting in the promotion of the cause of the private institutions.

Once you start analyzing the various players in the game and their economic interests, you can paint a pretty fascinating picture. The students who have classes. The students who don't have classes. The faculty members at public colleges. The faculty members at private colleges. The administrators at both types of institutions. The state politicians. The federal politicians. Other entities who are affected, such as the hospitals that want to hire nurses, the prison guards that want to keep their jobs, and the taxpayers.

So even when they can't get courses, California students are getting a real education.

Dreaming a non-existent David Allen column - fiction is sometimes stranger than the truth

On Wednesday night I had a bizarre dream, which included portions of a David Allen column that has, to my knowledge, never existed.

In my dream, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin columnist David Allen wrote about a scandal engulfing the city of Ontario. The article reported that "until last week," sportscaster Bob Trumpy had maintained a city office in Ontario.

Allen took great pains to note that the office was maintained in the city's Aviation Services Division.

Incidentally, Allen had learned of the scandal while attending an Ontario City Council meeting.

While trying to analyze the dream afterwards, I became more and more baffled. Yes, portions of the dream are rooted in reality, but those portions are very few.

You will recall that there was a recent scandal in which someone maintained an office to which the person was not entitled. However, Jerry Sandusky's office on the Penn State campus was the least of Sandusky's concerns, and none of the other Sandusky story elements made it into my dream. (Thankfully.)

I'm not sure why Bob Trumpy made the dream. I don't listen to him much; in fact, he may have been the broadcaster that we ridiculed in college for the startling observation "He's an athlete." To my knowledge Trumpy, long associated with the state of Ohio, has no connection to Ontario, California.

I can see how airports made it into my dream. In fact, David Allen's colleague Liset Marquez just wrote about the battle between Ontario and Los Angeles for the local airport (I have yet to read the article; it's starred in my Google Reader account). However, the city of Ontario does not have an "Aviation Services Division." After all, why WOULD it have one? It doesn't have an airport!

Lastly, I cannot see how all of this could be elevated into a "scandal." While public offices should not be given to people not entitled to use them, this does not rise to the level of real scandals that Allen has discussed in the past. Since Trumpy has (to my knowledge) no connection with Ontario, I'm not sure how the office could be seen as an example of undue influence.

Oh well. While the dream is mystifying, I guess it could have been even more bizarre. Perhaps Allen could have turned into a book and read himself during the month of December.

I missed My Delight's birthday party

Earlier this month, Liset Marquez noted that My Delight Cupcakery celebrated its second birthday. But the customers got the presents:

On Tuesday, My Delight CupCakery hosted its second birthday party by giving away 200 cupcakes to customers.

To...um...top it off, food trucks were also present.

For more information, see Marquez's Storify entry. (First time I had heard of Storify. Maybe David Allen will join this service in addition to the others he's joined.)

First, Seventh and Mountain. Second, the world.

David Allen recently wrote a blog post that began as follows:

Ice cream lovers who like the Handel's in Upland will be thrilled, and maybe chilled, to learn one is coming to Rancho Cucamonga.

For a picture and the location of the new Handel's, read Allen's post.

But Handel's isn't the only business at Seventh and Mountain in Upland that is expanding to new locations. You'll recall that San Biagio's Pizza, just a few doors down from Handel's, has expanded to the Upland Colonies.

I wonder if that shoe repair place is going to expand soon.

Advertising fail from a Medicare advisor

I recently received an unsolicited advertisement that read, in part, as follows:

xxxxxxx
Senior Health Care Advisor
xxxxxxx Victorville, CA 92395

You're Source for Medicare Health and Drug Plans
Medicare Choices Made Easy

Congratulations! On your upcoming 65 birthday.

Please allow me to introduce myself...

So, please call xxxxxxx @ 760-xxx-xxxx to make an appointment. I will come to your home or you can come to my office in Spring Valley Lake....

I'm sure that xxxxxxx paid a lot for the mailing list that was used, but there are two issues with the mailing list that was purchased.

First, I live in Ontario. The chances of my driving from Ontario all the way to Victorville to meet a Medicare advisor are pretty slim.

Second, no one in our family is even close to our 65th birthday. Will xxxxxxx still be providing Medicare advice a couple of decades from now? I'm probably not going to retain xxxxxxx's advertisement that long.

Oh, and by the way, xxxxxxx, "you're" advertisement has at least one glaring grammatical error. If the advertisement has to have a grammatical error, don't put it in the title.

I assume that Dana Cornalino likes the color pink

I probably know as much as you about Mary Kay Cosmetics. It's sold by individuals rather than stores. And if you do really well at it, you get a pink Cadillac.

But what I didn't know is that if you continue to do well, you get a SECOND pink Cadillac.

And so forth. According to Sandra Emerson, Upland's Dana Cornalino has earned her FIFTH pink Cadillac from Mary Kay.

Cornalino goes by the name "Dana in the pink."

If you'd like to her Dana earn her sixth car, her website is at http://www.marykay.com/danainthepink/default.aspx.

Incidentally, the story of why Mary Kay Ash actually started Mary Kay Cosmetics is interesting.

In 1939, Ash became as a salesperson for Stanley Home Products, hosting parties to encourage people to buy household items. She was so good at making the sale that she was hired away by another company, World Gifts, in 1952. Ash spent a little more than a decade at the company, but she quit in protest after watching yet another man that she had trained get promoted above her and earn a much higher salary than hers.

I couldn't determine whether World Gifts is still a going concern. Maybe they should have promoted Mary Kay.

Thankfulness - Operation Community Cupid

[DISCLOSURE: I HAVE A BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH BILL CORTUS.]

I remember my wedding day well, and I remember how everything came together on that day. My wife and I didn't have an extravagant wedding, but there certainly were some expenses. Luckily for us, we were both employed at the time, and our parents were able to help out to make our wedding day special.

This is not always the case for everyone. It's no secret that our military personnel do not necessarily receive the highest salaries, and it's tough for some of them to arrange for their wedding days.

Because of this, a number of volunteers in the Inland Empire recently banded together in something called "Operation Cupid" - a celebration of marriage for ten military people and their spouses.

On this Thanksgiving Day, Bill Cortus has posted a video of the parade that preceded the weddings. The parade took place on Haven Avenue, the major north-south street through the city of Rancho Cucamonga.



The actual ceremonies took place at the Ontario Airport Hilton, according to Jannise Johnson:

Couples and their bridesmaids and groomsmen arrived in a limo. Each wedding party walked down a rose petal-strewn white walkway where they ascended the stairs to a stage for the actual ceremony.

Johnson also listed the couples:

The 10 couples - with the military person listed first and the names of their fiance following:

Marine Corporal Victor Martinez and Erika Acevedo; Coast Guard pilot La'Shanda Holmes and Jamal Jones; Marine Lance Cpl. Emerson Alex Rodriguez and Melissa Moore; Marine Sgt. David Castillo and Maritza Alvarado; Marine Pfc. Kevius Tamagyow and Jayline Dugwem; Marine Lance Cpl. Anthony Stewart Roldan and Rosa Rivera; Coast Guard Marine Science Technician and Petty Officer 2nd Class Jennifer E. Donnely and Raymond Jennings; and Marine E-3 Thomas Wright and Rocel Basco. Navy E-8 Sean Bailey and his bride Alison Bailey and Marine Sgt. Jose G. Herrera and his bride Australia Herrera repeated their vows in the wedding. The two couples merely married in simple court ceremonies before the military men were deployed.

Read the rest of Johnson's article here.

P.S. As long as I'm doing all my good blogger disclosures, I should mention that when I went to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin website to read Jannise Johnson's article, this blogger received a 40% off coupon for the Hobby Lobby that is opening in Rancho Cucamonga. I don't know the value of this coupon yet - it depends on what my crafty bride may find.

Oh, and Bill Cortus' page is here, if you're interested in the services of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

Mike Sanders - a Harlan Koch in the Inland Empire

Some time ago, I wrote a post in my Empoprise-BI business blog about people who have a passion for their job (or are, in my words, "insane"), and created a character called "Harlan Koch" as a combination of Kentucky Fried Chicken's Harlan Sanders (yeah, Kentucky Fried Chicken - it certainly wasn't called "KFC" when Colonel Sanders was part of the company) and the Boston Beer Company's Jim Koch (the guy who drinks Samuel Adams beer and touts it at every opportunity).

It turns out that the Inland Empire chapter of the Society for Technical Communication has a Harlan Koch of its own. Here's the story of Mike Sanders and espresso:

After a business trip to Italy in 1993, Mike got hooked on espresso. Not even knowing how to brew a cup of coffee at the time, he worked after hours for several months to develop a college-level coffee and espresso course and even wrote a small book on the subject. His proposed course included coffee history, its spread through the millennia and the world, its trade significance during the early years of our country, and the invention and proliferation of espresso.

Mike proposed his course to four colleges and universities in Southern California. After an on-site demonstration at UCLA Extension, it picked up the program. Mike taught his espresso class for two years through UCLA's Culinary Arts Program. He became a national authority on espresso and, in 1994, addressed the trade's national coffee convention at the Long Beach Conference Center (Specialty Coffee Association of America). He has also appeared on television debunking espresso myths.

I love this story. If Sanders had run into an "expert" in 1993, the expert would probably have told him that he was wasting his time. However, within a year he's speaking on the topic.

The local effect on the NBA lockout on college basketball

In my Empoprise-BI business blog, I've recently been looking at the business of sports. Specifically, my November 11 post NBA Basketball Veterans, Your Absence is Now Irrelevant and my November 12 post Joe Gerrity has a different view on NCAA popularity during the NBA lockout looked at the relationship between the NCAA mens' basketball season and the NBA lockout. But what about the local effect? There are a number of men's basketball teams in the local area, including Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, U La Verne, Cal Poly Pomona, Pomona-Pitzer, U Redlands, UC Riverside, Cal State San Bernardino, and probably some others that I missed. Now none of these schools is a basketball powerhouse like North Carolina or UCLA, and few if any of their games will be covered on TV, lockout or no lockout. So people looking for their Lakers fix on TV are not going to be satiated by our local teams. In-person attendance is another thing, but frankly, the number of Lakers and Clippers season ticketholders who will instead go see Pomona-Pitzer or whatever is probably pretty small. What do you think? Will you pay more attention to our local basketball teams because of the NBA lockout?

Double the hope - Steven's Hope now has two locations

Tony Cappelli commented on my September 2009 post about Steven's Hope in Upland. And it turns out that the last sentence is only half right. Yes, Steven's Hope is in Upland...but it is now also in Rancho Cucamonga, according to the thrift store website: Not only will you save money at the Children's Boutique, you help families that have seriously ill or injured children. Proceeds of the sales go to help the mission of Steven's Hope for Children, a 501c3 organization located in Upland, CA. The Children's Boutique receives donations from the surrounding community and then resells them to the public. Visit our stores. Hear our stories. Help our families. The Children's Boutique 1014 W. Foothill Blvd., Suite C, Upland, CA 91786 Mon-Fri 10AM - 6PM, Sat: 10AM - 4PM (909) 373-3757 (Between Mountain and San Antonio) The Children's Boutique 10730 Foothill Blvd., Suite 170, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730 Mon - Sat: 10AM - 6PM, Sun: 12PM - 5PM (909) 256-0100 (Across from the Terra Vista 6 Cinemas) The main Steven's Hope website is here.

Perhaps I'm taking RedFusion's promotion too seriously

The announcement was bold: Inland Empire marketing firm has client featured by Jay Leno on the "Tonight Show." And the article made a point of mentioning the firms involved: The brochure was designed by the marketing firm, RedFusion Media and was printed by Redlands Print Shop, both located in Redlands, California. There's only one minor little problem. Leno MADE FUN of the brochure. Specifically, Leno was amused by the copy that said that Longmont Dairy's milk "is unconditionally guaranteed until you drink it!" There are two ways in which that statement can be interpreted, and Leno chose the interpretation that would get him laughs. However, Longmont Dairy chose to use the lemons to make lemonade (if I may mix my drink references). "We find it amusing that our guarantee is actually so humorous, and we have sent him some samples so he can see how good our product really is." But do you really want your firm to be known for writing confusing copy? If so, I know a blogger who would be more than happy to write all of your copy in a confusing manner.

(empo-tymshft) Remember record stores?

How much things have changed. Based upon a post by David Allen and a subsequent comment by Bruce R Kilgour, there is exactly one place within the Victoria Gardens mall where you can buy compact discs. Hot Topic. Although their selection is Hot Topic-y, understandably. ("Where's the Slim Whitman?") Things were certainly different when I first moved to Southern California. I remember when "there was a place called Licorice Pizza that didn't sell food." But I did most of my shopping at Wherehouse or Music Plus, unless I made the trip to Brea to go to Tower Records. You can still get CDs, of course. Wal-Mart has a few, and you can probably get some at a car wash. I wonder if Rhino Records in Claremont still sells vinyl?

Are we stoopid loosers?

I was surprised by this result: A Brookings Institution study analyzing an area's lack of educated workers relative to the demand for those employees, reveals the Inland region has the fourth worst "education gap" in the country. I was surprised by this because my experience has been the opposite. Although I live in the Inland Empire, all of my full-time jobs since 1991 have been outside of the Inland Empire - primarily because when I was hunting for jobs in 1991 and 1994, the jobs that required my education and experience were all outside of the area. What is your experience? Does it differ?

Revisiting Eastvale

I had a little bit of extra time one morning due to a dental appointment that ended early, so I thought I'd take an alternate route for my morning commute. To get from Ontario to Orange County, I figured that I'd get on Archibald, head south across the bridge over the Santa Ana River, then go through Norco and Corona to get to Orange County. I hadn't taken that route in several years, and my primary intent in taking that route was to see how much of the cow pastures still remained in Ontario. The last time I drove it, the route was pretty much cow country all the way from Riverside Drive to Norco. So anyways, I got on Archibald, and within about a half mile I found myself in cow country. At least on Archibald, the suburbanization of south Ontario hasn't occurred yet. And then I continued driving, until I hit the Eastvale city limit. Yes, the Eastvale city limit. Several years ago, Eastvale wasn't even a city. Back in 2007, I blogged about Eastvale's incorporation efforts. I've blogged about Eastvale a few other times, most recently in 2009 when I wrote about some charity work that Jay Johnstone was performing. Well, I guess they've incorporated now. So I drove along Archibald, and passed housing communities, and more housing communities, and even more housing communities. Presumably the bulk of the businesses are on Hamner. And the housing continued, almost all the way to the bridge over the Santa Ana River. And by the way, Eastvale did capture the area east of Hamner, according to this map, when it incorporated in October 2010.

Food trucks and Neil Derry

Food trucks are usually not discussed at any length, but that has changed in recent months.

As I noted back in April, the IE Food Truck Fest was scheduled (and held) in Ontario back in June. Frankly, I thought that it was silly to buy tickets to get to a food truck, and then to have to pay for the food.

Things were a little different last weekend, when I went to the Inland Empire Auto Show. In this case, I paid money (and parking) to actually see an event, and the food trucks were just an additional benefit. And a delicious love - I tweeted my love for Baconmania.

Well, the publicity surrounding these food truck events in San Bernardino county has had a positive effect:

The [San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors] unanimously agreed to amend a county ordinance to establish a new category of "hot food truck events" that would allow food trucks to operate at sites other than temporary special events such as outdoor festivals, circuses, rodeos, etc.

But rest assured that San Bernardino County is not going to become a lawless bastion of free enterprise like its neighboring counties to the west:

Supervisors Janice Rutherford and Brad Mitzelfelt pushed to allow food trucks to operate anywhere in the county, but they were outnumbered.

Supervisor Neil Derry said his biggest concern was the potential competition food trucks could have on brick and mortar restaurants that are heavily invested in the communities they serve and whose sales tax revenue stays in city and county coffers.

Let me go on record as saying that I oppose Derry's view. Not that Derry will ever see my view - I'm sure that Derry refuses to read blogs (and the ads that appear in them) because they adversely affect the San Bernardino Sun and other community newspapers (not including the Press Enterprise). And Derry presumably isn't an Amazon Associate either.

But Derry is a blogger. If you go to neilderry.com, you can see this post:

This is Neil talking. Sed pulvinar orci eu velit suscipit gravida. Ut pulvinar mattis placerat. Nunc ut sodales nibh. Aenean tincidunt euismod magna adipiscing commodo. Donec facilisis posuere mauris, et scelerisque nulla dignissim non. Suspendisse sagittis urna at tortor sagittis dignissim laoreet nisi varius. Praesent interdum lacus vitae quam viverra ultricies. Phasellus euismod tempus nisi, at molestie libero pretium sed. Pellentesque non elit vitae mi fermentum ultrices. Aliquam tincidunt sodales ullamcorper. Vivamus ac elit odio. Aenean sit amet est mi.

Get the man a pulled pork/bacon slider...

Farrell's, again

Back in the 1980s, there was a Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor in Montclair on the northwest corner of the Montclair Plaza property. The place was eventually torn down and paved over (it's part of the Plaza's parking lot today).

That didn't stop us for searching for Farrell's in the area. One night my wife, her brother, and his wife all piled in the car to head out to a Farrell's in the San Gabriel Valley. It was a Saturday night, and since we were all children of the 1970s, we had "Disco Saturday Night" on the radio.

But I digress.

That Farrell's closed down also, which meant that the whole country (not just the IE was Farrell's-less).

Well, Farrell's is about to make a comeback here, and elsewhere. The Press-Enterprise announced that a new Farrell's will be opening in the Terra Vista Town Center, in a spot previously occupied by a Macaroni Grill. (One chain's misfortune provides a pig's trough of opportunity for another chain.)

To learn about the demise and resurrection of Farrell's, go to the history page at Farrell's website. Excerpts:

In 1963, Robert "Bob" Farrell opened the first Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour in Portland, Oregon. It immediately became a huge success and by 1970 the company had grown to 58 restaurants. In 1971, Bob Farrell was approached by the Marriott Corporation who subsequently bought the company. He continued to work with Marriott as the company grew to 130 locations nationwide....

[In 1985] [n]ow under new ownership, the Farrell’s concept was changed from a unique celebration restaurant to a traditional family style restaurant. By 1990 almost all Farrell's locations closed....

In 1996, a new company whose mission was to bring back the heydays of Farrell's past acquired Farrell's Ice Cream Parlours. From this purchase, a few legal tussles from 2003-2008 again stopped Farrell's development.

More here. The legal wranglings of the early 2000s are described here.

Parlour Enterprises...had entered into a development agreement in 2000 with the Kirin Group lead by Herman Chan, to build Farrell’s throughout California. Chan decided to cancel Parlour's rights in 2003 citing that Parlour owed back attorney’s fees to Kirin....

The resulting lawsuit filed by Parlour against Kirin found the two embroiled in a three week-long trial resulting in a $6.6 million jury verdict in favor of Parlour. The verdict was then appealed by Kirin, which resulted in a substantial reduction of the judgment a year later. Parlour then pursued collection of the remaining judgment resulting in Kirin filing for bankruptcy.

Just after Parlour got its judgment, Chan sold the rights to the Farrell’s trademarks for Hawaii to the E Noa Corporation and its president, Maki Kuroda. The sale resulted in Parlour’s lawsuit against E Noa, and E Noa’s countersuit to claim those rights.

In the end, Parlour Enterprises and E Noa Corporation decided to share the rights giving E Noa Corporation rights to Farrell’s in Hawaii and Asia, and Farrell’s International securing the continental U.S. and the remaining countries throughout the world.

So a sticky situation was averted.

My geographic ignorance

I pride myself on my unequalled geographic knowledge, but that pride is a false pride. There are a lot of places in the Inland Empire that I could not find on a map.

Recently I met someone who was from Wildomar. I thought that meant that she lived up in the mountains. It turns out that I was getting Wildomar confused with Idyllwild, which is in the mountains. Wildomar is between Lake Elsinore and Temecula.

But Wildomar shouldn't feel so bad. Sedco Hills is in the same area, and I've never even heard of Sedco Hills before.

I'll grant that since I live in Ontario, and since I rarely head toward Temecula (I think I've been through the Temecula area three times in the last ten years), perhaps my ignorance can be excused. But I ought to know where Glen Avon is, and I don't. (It's off the 60 between the 15 and 91, west of Rubidoux and northeast of Mira Loma.)

Here are some other places that appear on Google Maps that I probably couldn't find independently if my life depended on it:

Declezville
Del Rosa
Home Gardens
Masson Grove (didn't Orson Welles live there?)
Northgate
Smiley Heights
Sierra Lakes

Oh well, at least I know where Guasti is. It's south of downtown Chino.

Skate America in Ontario, California this October

This was announced last March, and I missed it. I shouldn't have.

For those who do not follow the world of figure skating, there are a number of important competitions in the fall at which the leading figure skaters compete for an opportunity to advance to the Worlds competition the following spring.

One of these competitions, Skate America, is held in the United States. And this year, it will be held at the (relatively) new Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, on October 21-23.

So what is Skate America?

Skate America is an Olympic-style international figure skating event featuring three days of competition in ladies, men's, pairs and ice dancing. The event, which is one of six annual events in the International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Prix Series, annually attracts approximately 60 world-class figure skaters. Past champions include five-time World champion Michelle Kwan and Olympic champions Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton and Evan Lysacek.

Skate America doesn't just attract American figure skaters, but also skaters from other countries. For example, the ladies' competition will include many European figure skaters, including Carolina Kostner and Laura Lepistö, both of whom appeared at the Worlds in Los Angeles in 2009.

One day in June

So anyways, I was at Country Cuts in Ontario this morning, getting my hair cut.

While sitting in the barber chair, I flashed back to an episode in a story in which the (fictional) President of the United States was getting his hair trimmed, right in the midst of a national crisis. I believe that the episode occurred in Seven Days in May, which I read decades ago. Since the Ontario Library is just down the street from Country Cuts, I thought I'd go there and check out the book.

The Ontario Library has no book with the title Seven Days in May.

I logged into one of the online computers, found the names of the co-authors (Fletcher Knebel and Charles W Bailey II), and then did an author search. No such luck.

You know that you're old when you look for a book that is so old that even the library doesn't have it.

P.S. The aforementioned Country Cuts now has its own Facebook page.

[11:20 POSTSCRIPT] The link above goes to a generic page. Country Cuts' own page is here.

Join the Wal-Mart conversation at Inland Utopia

For some unknown reason, a 2008 Matt Munson post about Wal-Mart has suddenly attracted a number of comments.

Naturally, I had to join in, and it was just then that I realized how long this whole Wal-Mart thing has dragged out.

Heck, I was writing about City Rentals' pollution record back in 2005. (And if you don't know what City Rentals has to do with Wal-Mart, perhaps this post from the same period may offer a clue.)

And perhaps it's appropriate to repeat part of what I wrote in 2010:

You see, Briggs hasn't only opposed the Walmart in Ontario. At around the same time that the Ontario Mountain Village Association started its battle, there was a battle that was being waged in another city....

On January 2, Cory Briggs of Upland registered an organization called the "Murrietans for Smart Growth." (He also registered an organization called "Blythe Citizens for Smart Growth" on the same day.) One day later, the Murrietans for Smart Growth filed a suit to block a SuperTarget in Murrieta.

Now the city of Murrieta hadn't run into a lot of Murrietans who were demanding smart growth, and people began to wonder if the only one demanding this was non-Murrietan Cory Briggs.

Read the rest here.

Since I wrote that post, the Target in Montclair has expanded to include a full grocery section. Yes, that's the Target in Montclair, California - the Target that used to be in Ontario, California way back before Mountain and 5th became the Cory Briggs Ghetto Vandalism Park. (Anthony Muñoz must be so proud.)

The Spot - a belated update to my post about Robeks Claremont

A little over a year ago, I wrote a post entitled "The advantage of Facebook-friending Robeks Claremont." That post concluded as follows:

Incidentally, if you're an Inland Empire Facebook user, just search for "Robeks Claremont" and you'll find their page.

But if you're a driver, searching for Robeks Claremont, you won't find it.

A few days ago, I was in Chino Hills and was unable to locate another Robeks that I had visited a couple of years ago.

It turns out that Robeks is still going strong. I don't know what happened in Chino Hills, but Claremont declared its independence:

On a December 2010 evening, the Owner and Staff voted to cut its corporate ties from a smoothie franchise to become an independent, family-owned, student-powered establishment.

The Staff voted to renew the store “The Spot”, while the logo was co-created by CHS Alumni Kevin Coduto ‘10 & Matt Arias ‘09. Arias and Courtney Kessler ’12 added panini recipes.

The smoothies now have more fruit and less sugar/dairy, and the establishment has instituted touches that are very Claremont-like:

New relationships were formed to better serve the 909 Community by buying 100% Organic Wheatgrass from local farmers Cal Grass of Pomona, Organic Oranges for freshly squeezed OJ from King Ranch of Alta Loma, & world class roasted coffee beans from Coffee Klatch in Upland.

And yes, I stand corrected - Coffee Klatch's headquarters are in Upland.

Free book offer for pastors of local churches

Jim Ulvog is offering free copies of his book Once Upon Internal Control to local church pastors.

Read the details here.

Update on the University of LaVerne Law School Accreditation

I haven't written a lot here lately. In fact, my last post was on May 24, and discussed the possibility that the American Bar Association may revoke its provisional accreditation of the University of LaVerne Law School.

Guess what the ABA did? Tiffany Ray of the Press-Enterprise reports that the ABA did deny accreditation, but that the college had other options.

[Dean Allen] Easley said he intends to quickly reapply for provisional ABA approval, and to apply for accreditation from the California Bar.

From my previous post, you'll recall that even if the University of LaVerne lacks state accreditation, its students could still sit for the California bar exam - they'd just have to go through an additional step - the First Year Law Students' Examination. (Students at accredited schools are exempt from this requirement.)

The full list of California bar requirements can be found here. Note that the legal education requirements do NOT require graduation from an accredited school:

LEGAL EDUCATION

•J. D. degree from a law school accredited by the State Bar of California or approved by the ABA;
•Four years of study at a fixed-facility law school registered with the Committee;
•Four years of study, with a minimum of 864 hours of preparation and study per year, at an unaccredited distance-learning or correspondence law school registered with the Committee;
•Four years of study in the law office/judge’s chambers study program; or
•A combination of these methods.

The latest on the University of La Verne Law School in Ontario

Back on May 6, the Press-Enterprise reported that the University of La Verne Law School, which happens to be located in Ontario (kinda like how Pomona College isn't in Pomona), might lose its accreditation. It currently is "provisionally approved" by the American Bar Association, but at the time it did not appear that the ABA would recommend full accreditation.

Last Friday, the Press-Enterprise updated the story, after the ABA sent a 14 page letter to the University:

According to ABA accreditation standards, there are two batches of statistics that the group uses to judge schools: For at least three out of the past five years, the number of graduates to pass the bar exam must be 75 percent or higher or the percentage of first-time exam takers must be within 15 percentage points of the ABA average.

[Dean Allen] Easley acknowledged that his school doesn't qualify on the latter standard, but it does pass the first.

So if the University is unsuccessful in appealing the ABA's decision, what could happen? The experience of the University of West Los Angeles School of Law in 2006 may prove illustrative. Here's what was reported in March 2006:

The University of West Los Angeles School of Law has lost one key accreditation, which will affect students' ability to get federal financial aid.

The Western Association of Schools and Colleges voted in November to terminate its accreditation of the school....WASC reviewed the law school's appeal, but decided two weeks ago to terminate the school's accreditation....

State accreditation is critical because students who attend a nonstate-accredited law school are ineligible to sit for the bar exam without first passing the First-Year Law Students' Examination, or "Baby Bar," according to the State Bar.

As of today, the school still lacks WASC accreditation. It also lacks ABA accreditation - the accreditation that the University of La Verne is in danger of losing - but UWLA considers that a plus:

The School of Law has made a decision not to seek ABA approval because we believe that meeting the standards for ABA approval would be in conflict with the University’s Mission to offer affordable, quality legal education to the non-traditional student (one who must work, attend to family issues, and so on). We also believe that adoption of ABA criteria would impose increased financial burdens on students while severely limiting admission opportunities to the students we want to reach.

Back to La Verne. Even if it loses its ABA accreditation, it still maintains a WASC accreditation. More will be known next month.

San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society

When I began BBS'ing 20 years ago, I met a man who worked for the (then) Santa Fe railroad. We still keep in touch a bit via Facebook, and his wife is a fellow Gardens of Time player. I couldn't help but notice that she has a train in her garden.

One night I was scanning through YouTube videos of the Inland Empire, and I found several videos of Santa Fe 3751. I figured there had to be some significance to that particular train...and there is.

[T]he San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society (SBRHS) ... is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization founded in 1981 and dedicated to the preservation of Santa Fe Railroad operating and mechanical documentation and the maintenance and operation of former Santa Fe steam locomotive 3751.

Past contributions and volunteer power have helped transform steam locomotive 3751 from a rusting display in a park into one of the country's premier passenger steam locomotives.

The website is http://www.sbrhs.org/. And here's one of the videos. Spot the train enthusiasts.

To the Michaels' employee who told my wife about reading my blog

I hope you don't think that my blog is 40% worse than other blogs.

In case you wine - I mean whine - about Upland's personnel delays

This is a little bit dated, but I figure that there are people like me who haven't really been keeping up with the scandal in Upland. (I doubt I'm the only clueless one out there.) This has engulfed a number of people, including the mayor and the city manager. The mayor has already resigned, and the city manager was fired - but not until early May.

Why did the Upland City Council take so long to act? You see, there's a law:

A statute in the city's municipal code prohibited the council from terminating Quincey within 180 days of an election if a new council member was elected. Councilman Gino L. Filippi was elected on Nov. 2.

The presumed reason for this was to make sure that the Council didn't take advantage of a new Council member. For the record, Filippi joined the other Council members in unanimously voting to terminate Robb Quincey.

Wow, that sounds appealing - duties but no power

Years ago, I served as an alternate on a jury. It was the worst possible situation - I had to sit through the entire trial, but I wasn't allowed to go in the jury room and shoot my mouth off regarding whether the accused should be punished or not. (The bailiff was kind enough to phone me and tell me of the jury's decision afterwards.)

I was reminded of this when I read this call for a volunteer:

City officials [in Ontario] are seeking a non-voting student representative to the Recreation and Parks Commission.

What a way to begin. Even before you're told what the job is, you're told that you'll have no power. But you will have responsibilities:

The duties will include attending regular and special meetings of the Recreation and Parks Commission. The regular meetings are held every fourth Monday of every month at 6 p.m.

The student shall express opinions and participate in discussions regarding matters that affect recreation and park programs and facilities in Ontario.

But the student, like an alternate juror, won't have any say in what the Commission does.

Now arguments can be made that this is a wonderful experience, and maybe the student can get some school credit or something like that.

But it doesn't sound all that enticing.