Who is the most qualified?
by Allen McCombs 01/19/08
The election spotlight now turns toCalifornia, which will hold its firstFebruary presidential primary. That’swhat the state wanted—to bring the candi-dates here for a showdown that wouldcause them to spend millions of dollars towoo voters, with the final election still 10months away.The sample ballots are out. Some votershave already mailed their absentee ballotsback in.That’s why we made our recommenda-tions on the seven state measures last week.In case you missed it, we recommended“no” on all seven.The lineups for president on the two majorparty ballots are:
DEMOCRATS Joe Biden Barack Obama Bill Richardson Dennis Kucinich Mike Gravel John Edwards Chris Dodd Hillary Clinton
REPUBLICANS John H. Cox Sam Brownback Ron Paul John McCain Mitt Romney Alan Keyes Mike Huckabee Duncan Hunter Fred Thompson Tom Tancredo Rudy Giuliani
Instead of succumbingto all the infighting going on among candidates, votersmight do well to consider some of the fol-lowing criteria to evaluate their choice:—Which candidates have the backgroundand experience to undertake this mostimportant job in our government?—Is he or she a statesman? This countrybadly needs a leader who can reestablishrespect for our country rather than dependon scaring others into following us.—Which candidates have the ability andconnections to assemble the most effectivesupport team, starting with the choice forvice president and extending into the cab-inet?—Which as president will appointjudges who will put the law ahead of theirown social agendas?—Which candidates can you believe?—Which candidates show the ability tobe open and above board about the officeof president, and government’s actions ingeneral?—Which candidate is most capable ofbalancing the need for national securitywithout cutting away at our constitutionalrights and freedoms? Forget the emotional issuesbeingadvanced as bait. Insist that larger issuesbe addressed, such as the country’s eco-nomic and social health, the direction of itsdefense effort, the need for a good immi-gration policy and for bipartisan accom-plishments in the capitol. Divisiveness,indecision and debt are beginning to killus.Which candidates would be most likelyto achieve solutions? Make up a chart andgrade them 1 to 10.
Paul Vincent Avila, an Ontario-Montclair school board member, filed papers Aug. 2 to run in the Nov. 6 election for one of three seats on the Chaffey College board.
The three incumbents, Gary George, Paul Gomez and Lee McDougal, and contract administrator Gregg Ross filed papers in July to run for the four-term seats.
Mr. Avila was elected to the Ontario-Montclair School District board in 1993 and served until 2001. He was reelected in 2005 and is currently serving a term that will last through 2010. He retired after 23 years as a counselor with the California State Employment Development Department. He formerly worked for the California Department of Corrections.
He belongs to the California School Boards Association and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. He has an associate degree from Los Angeles City College and a bachelor’s degree in English/Creative Writing from California State University, San Bernardino.
Mr. Avila is a Vietnam War veteran.
He and his wife Maryanne live in Ontario and have five grown children and 10 grandchildren. Mrs. Avila said her husband had a gap in his service on the OMSD board because he helped take care of her after she suffered a stroke.
Mr. George, of Chino, is a 29-year employee of Verizon and is its director of government and external affairs for the San Gabriel Valley and western San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Mr. Gomez, of Rancho Cucamonga, worked 28 years in municipal management and retired from the city of Ontario in 2000. He serves on the 25-member elected board of the Association of Community College Trustees.
Mr. McDougal, of Montclair, has been city manager of Montclair since 1992. He was previously the city’s director of administrative services and redevelopment.
Mr. Ross did not respond to an emailed request by the Champion for biographical information.
The filing period for the Chaffey board race ended at 5 p.m. Friday, which was after
the Champion’s press time.
The Chaffey College district serves Chino, Chino Hills, Fontana, Montclair, Mt. Baldy, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland.
Another person has thrown his hat into the ring for the Chaffey College board election to be held Nov. 6.
Gregg Ross, a contract administrator, filed papers with the county registrar of voters office on July 30 to run for one of the three four-year terms available.
Incumbents Gary George, Paul Gomez and Lee McDougal have also filed papers for the race.
Information on Mr. Ross was not available at the Champion’s press time.
Mr. George, of Chino, is a 29-year employee of Verizon and is its director of government and external affairs for the San Gabriel Valley and western San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Mr. Gomez, of Rancho Cucamonga, worked 28 years in municipal management and retired from the city of Ontario in 2000. He serves on the 25-member elected board of the Association of Community College Trustees.
Mr. McDougal, of Montclair, has been city manager of Montclair since 1992. He was previously the city’s director of administrative services and redevelopment.
By Brenda Dunkle
The three Chaffey College governing board incumbents up for election Nov. 6 have filed to run again and will be on the Nov. 6 ballot in Chino and Chino Hills. No challengers had filed for the election as of Friday morning.
The board has five members who serve at large. The two women on the board, Kathleen Brugger and Katie Roberts, are not up for election.
The election filing period with the county Registrar of Voters opened July 16 and will close at 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 10.
Up for election are the four-year terms of Board President Paul J. Gomez and board members Lee C. McDougal and Gary L. George.
The Chaffey college district serves Chino, Chino Hills, Fontana, Montclair, Mt. Baldy, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland.
Mr. Gomez was appointed to the governing board in June 1990, according to his biography on the Chaffey College website. He was subsequently reelected four times and served as president three times. During his term as president in 2002, the community college board led a $230 million bond measure to success.
He is involved in the Esperanza Scholarship Foundation and the Ontario Leadership Alliance. He is also an immediate past president of the Kiwanis Club of Ontario Parkway.
Mr. Gomez is a Vietnam veteran. He earned an associate degree at Bakersfield Community College and a bachelor’s degree in history from California State University, Los Angeles, where he also pursued post-graduate studies in public administration.
He worked 28 years in municipal management and retired from the city of Ontario in 2000. He serves on the 25-member elected board of the Association of Community College Trustees and is immediate past president of the Association of Latino Community College Trustees.
He is the father of two daughters and lives in Rancho Cucamonga with his wife Gloria.
Mr. McDougal was appointed to the Chaffey board six years ago and was elected to it two years ago.
He is a member and past chairman of the University of California at Riverside Alumni Association, and chairman of the West End Communications Authority. He also has served on the Mt. Baldy United Way and Habitat for Humanity.
Mr. McDougal joined the staff of the city of Montclair in 1976 as its housing coordinator, overseeing the city’s Community Development Block Grant Program. He became the director of housing and redevelopment in 1979, in charge of administering the city’s redevelopment, Community Development Block Grant and code enforcement programs. In 1984, he was promoted to director of administrative services/redevelopment, serving in this capacity until becoming city manager in 1992.
Mr. McDougal is a 1974 graduate of the University of California, Riverside, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in urban studies and black studies.
He lives in Montclair and has two sons, Lelan, 34, and LeSean, 30.
Mr. George was appointed to the board in December 2000 and reelected in 2001 and 2003. He said he was encouraged to join the board by the city of Chino because of the new partnership between the city and Chaffey to bring a campus to town.
Before joining the board, he was involved in the Chaffey College Foundation and the President’s Community Advisory Council.
He is a 29-year employee of Verizon and is its director of government and external affairs for the San Gabriel Valley and western San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
He was president of the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce from 1998 to 1999 and was on the Pomona Chamber of Commerce twice. He is a member and past president of the Pomona Rotary Club, past chairman of the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership and on the advisory board of the Inland Empire Economic Partnership.
He is chairman of CLOUT, a public/private coalition working on the development of the 210 Freeway. He was on the President’s Strategic Task Force at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, board member and past chairman of the Inland Valley Economic Development Corporation, and the Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital Foundation.
He lives in Chino with his wife, Deborah.
The filing period for the Nov. 6 election closed Friday, Aug. 10.
The three incumbents, Lee McDougal, Paul Gomez and Gary George, are running for the community college board. Challengers are Paul Vincent Avila and Gregg Ross.
Mr. McDougal, of Montclair, has been city manager of Montclair since 1992. He was previously the city’s director of administrative services and redevelopment.
Mr. Gomez, of Rancho Cucamonga, worked 28 years in municipal management and retired from the city of Ontario in 2000. He serves on the 25-member elected board of the Association of Community College Trustees.
Mr. George, of Chino, is a 29-year employee of Verizon and is its director of government and external affairs for the San Gabriel Valley and western San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Mr. Avila, of Ontario, is on the Ontario-Montclair School District board and retired after 23 years as a counselor with the California State Employment Development Department. He belongs to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
The Chaffey College district serves Chino, Chino Hills, Fontana, Montclair, Mt. Baldy, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland.
Mr. Ross works for Keller Williams Realty. Previously, he was a contract administrator for nine years. He also was a business owner, worked as a real estate agent and as a corporate staff accountant.
He earned a juris doctor degree from California Southern Law School in May 2004 and has been a member of the California State Bar since December 2004. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Cal Poly Pomona in 1987. He also holds a California real estate broker license.
Mr. Ross moved to southern California in 1971 from New Jersey and now lives in Rancho Cucamonga with his fiancé. He has two grown children.
Biographical information on the other candidates appeared in the July 28 and Aug. 11 editions of the Champion.
By Richard Block
Chino voters will be asked to decide Nov. 6 whether 22 acres of strawberry fields north of Walnut Avenue west of Benson Avenue may be used for housing.
Depending on what the voters decide, the city has agreed to buy the adjacent Home Depot building, which it wants to turn into a police headquarters, from the Borba family for $9.9 million.
Both properties — the fields and the 108,000-square-foot home supply center on 10 acres to the north and west of the fields — are zoned for commercial use.
As it appears on the Nov. 6 ballot, Measure A asks voters to answer “Yes” or “No” to the following question: “Shall the general plan of the city of Chino be amended to change the land use of 17.68 acres of vacant land from general commercial to residential planned development-RD8 for a maximum of 84 single family dwelling units, and of 3.72 acres of vacant land from general commercial to residential planned development-RD20 for a maximum of 72 senior citizen dwelling units?”
The Home Depot plans to move its Chino store, where rent is $77,000 monthly, to Ontario. A new Home Depot is being built in southern Chino, at the Rancho del Chino shopping center, by Panattoni Development Co.
The Borbas’ view is that a commercial development on the land around the Walnut Avenue Home Depot would only be attractive if a large retailer remains located there, former City Manager Glen Rojas told the city council in June when it approved the $9.9 million deal.
Otherwise, Mr. Rojas said, the undeveloped land would be more valuable as housing.
But the city believes it needs a larger facility for its police department, and the Home Depot site is its first choice.
If ballot Measure A — necessary in Chino for a zone change from commercial to residential under Measure M, which passed in 1988 — is successful, the Borbas and Kendrew Development, the real-estate development firm with which the Borbas are working, plan to place 72 senior apartments south of the Home Depot building and 84 single-family houses east of the Home Depot.
The election must favor the housing development for the city’s purchase of the Home Depot to go through. The city estimates the special election will cost $55,000 to $69,000, which will be reimbursed by the Borbas, city spokeswoman Michelle Van Der Linden said.
Mr. Rojas said the money to buy the land will come from a $55 million revenue bond issue that will fund construction of redevelopment area projects. No public vote on the funds is required.
If the land-use changes do not go through, the Borbas would be free to propose a commercial development.
City Planner Brent Arnold said such a development would bring bright lights, large trucks, and more traffic than would a housing development.
According to the argument in favor of Measure A contained in the sample ballot and information pamphlet prepared by the county registrar of voters, use of the Home Depot building as a police station would generate much less traffic than does the current commercial use.
The Home Depot building, according to the argument in the pamphlet, would meet the city’s police station needs for the next 20-plus years.
The pamphlet contains no argument in opposition to Measure A.
The county registrar of voters has begun to mail sample ballot pamphlets to registered voters in San Bernardino County. Voters not registered in time for the initial mailing will be included in the second mailing later in October. The purpose of the sample ballot pamphlet is to provide general information pertaining to the upcoming Nov. 6 election.
The pamphlet includes information on contests, how to use the county’s voting systems, ballot-by-mail information, arguments and rebuttals for local measures and candidate statements.
Following are other important dates leading up to the Nov. 7 election:
*Oct. 9 -- The registrar begins mailing absentee ballots;
*Oct. 9 through Nov. 6 -- Voters may cast their ballots at the registrar of voters office, 777 E. Rialto Ave. in San Bernardino, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
*Oct. 22 -- Last day to register to vote in this election. Voters who have recently moved must inform the registrar of their new address by sending the new address information in writing or by re-registering by this date.
*Oct. 30 -- Last day to request an absentee ballot be sent by mail. Applications must be in the registrar’s office no later than 5 p.m.
*Nov. 3 -- Saturday voting is available between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the Registrar’s office.
*Nov. 6 – Election day. Absentee ballots must be received at the registrar’s office or a polling place in San Bernardino County no later than 8 p.m.
Postmarks do not count.
To find the location of your polling place, visit the registrar’s website at www.sbcrov.com
Message from the Mayor 10/26/07
Voting is a fundamental right granted to all American citizens to voice your opinion on how your government works. This civil right did not come easy for many in our society and the right to vote is not enjoyed by millions of others who are not lucky enough to live in the great United States of America.
Many choose not to exercise this valuable right to vote because they feel their one vote will not make a difference. However, many elections have hinged on just a few votes and in recent years, the outcomes of many state and congressional races have been reversed as re-counts have shifted a small handful of votes from one candidate to another. Do not squander your right to vote and participate in your future.
On Tuesday, Nov. 6, registered voters in Chino will have the opportunity to cast their vote on the future usage of the 21.4 acres north of Walnut Avenue, east of Central, south of the 60 Freeway and west of Benson Avenue.
This land is currently zoned for commercial use and is occupied by Home Depot and an adjacent vacant lot. If the voters elect to pass Measure A next month, the city council will be authorized to re-zone a portion of this property to residential use allowing the current land owner to build a maximum of 84 single family dwelling units and 72 senior dwelling units on this property. The remaining small portion of the 21-plus acres including the Home Depot building would be sold to the City of Chino to be used as a future home for the Chino Police Department.
This Measure A ballot item is a direct result of an amendment adopted by Chino voters back in November 1988 that prohibits the Chino City Council from rezoning non-residential land for residential uses without voter approval. Since this re-zoning issue was put into the hands of voters nearly 10 years ago, I encourage you to exercise that right and get out and vote Nov. 6.
Five men vie for three at-large seats on Chaffey board 10/26/07
Five men are vying for three seats on the Chaffey College governing board with the race to be decided Tuesday, Nov. 6.
All three positions are at-large, meaning they represent the entire Chaffey College district, which serves Chino, Chino Hills, Ontario, Fontana, Montclair, Mt. Baldy, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland.
Lee McDougal, Paul Gomez and Gary George are incumbents for the community college board. Challengers are Paul Vincent Avila and Gregg Ross.
The terms of Chaffey Board members Kathleen Brugger and Katie Roberts do not expire until 2009.
Mr. Gomez was appointed to the Chaffey College Board in June 1990. He has been re-elected four times, serving as president three times, including the present. During his term as president in 2002, the board led a successful $230 million bond measure. He is involved with the Esperanza Scholarship Foundation, which is named after his mother. He has served on numerous community volunteer boards.
Mr. Gomez attended Bakersfield Community College, where he earned an associate’s degree. He earned a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Los Angeles, majoring in history. He also pursued post-graduate studies in public administration at the Los Angeles college.
His experience includes a 28-year career in municipal management. He retired from the city of Ontario in 2000 as a public works administrator.
Mr. Gomez served as the Pacific Region Chair for the 25-member elected board of the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), a national organization representing more than 6,500 elected and appointed trustees who govern more than 1,200 community, technical, and junior colleges in the United States, Canada, and England. In September 2007, he was recognized as an ACCT Lifetime Member. He is immediate past president of the national Association of Latino Community College Trustees.
He is a Vietnam veteran.
Mr. Gomez, who lives in Rancho Cucamonga with his wife Gloria, is the father of two daughters, Stephanie and Christina. Stephanie is a graduate of Chaffey College.
Mr. McDougal joined the staff of the city of Montclair in 1976 as its housing coordinator, overseeing the city’s Community Development Block Grant program. He became director of housing and redevelopment in 1979, in charge of administering the city’s redevelopment, Community Development Block Grant and code enforcement programs. In 1984, he was promoted to director of administrative services/redevelopment, serving in that capacity until becoming city manager in 1992.
Mr. McDougal is a 1974 graduate of the University of California, Riverside, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in urban studies and black studies.
He has served on the Chaffey College Foundation, Pomona Valley Habitat for Humanity, Baldy View Boy Scouts, West End YMCA, Spanish Trails Girl Scouts, Augusta Homes, Housing Partners Inc. and the University of California Riverside Alumni Association and Foundation.
He lives in Montclair and has two sons, Lelan, 34, and LeSean, 30, both former Chaffey students.
Mr. George is a 28-year employee of Verizon and is its director of government and external affairs. His involvement in community service activities has included presidencies of the Exchange Club of Downey, Murphy Ranch Little League in Whittier, CLOUT (a public/private coalition working on local transportation issues), two terms with the Pomona Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club of Pomona, Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce, and the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership. He has served on the board of directors of numerous philanthropic and economic development organizations throughout Southern California.
Mr. George obtained his undergraduate degrees from Rio Hondo Community College (associate of arts) and California State University, Long Beach (bachelor of arts), where he also pursued post-graduate studies. He has been an instructor at Rio Hondo Community College and Tri Cities Regional Occupation Program.
Mr. George is past president of the Chaffey College board. He was appointed in December 2000, elected in November 2001 and re-elected in November 2003. Before serving on the Chaffey Board, he was a member of the Chaffey College Foundation and the President’s Community Advisory Council.
He lives in Chino with his wife, Deborah.
Mr. Avila was elected to the Ontario-Montclair School District Board in 1993 and served until 2001. He was re-elected in 2005 and is serving a term that will last through 2010. He retired after 23 years as a counselor with the California State Employment Development Department. He formerly worked for the California Department of Corrections as a job specialist/counselor for the parole division in El Monte.
He belongs to the California School Boards Association and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
He has an associate degree from Los Angeles City College and a bachelor’s degree in English/Creative Writing from California State University, San Bernardino. He also earned Masters of Boardmanship and Masters in Governance from the California School Boards Association.
He is a member of the San Bernardino County Democratic Central Committee and Ontario Chamber of Commerce. He has also been president of the California State Employees Association Eastern District 706, president of Ontario’s Hispanic Heritage and a chairman/judge of San Bernardino County’s Academic Decathlon.
Mr. Avila is a Vietnam War veteran.
He and his wife Maryanne live in Ontario and have five grown children and 10 grandchildren.
Mr. Ross reported in August that he worked for Keller Williams Realty and previously was a contract administrator for nine years. He did not respond to an email request Oct. 15 for current biographical information.
He also was a business owner, worked as a real estate agent and as a corporate staff accountant.
He earned a juris doctor degree from California Southern Law School in May 2004 and has been a member of the California State Bar since December 2004. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Cal Poly Pomona in 1987. He also holds a California real estate broker license.
Mr. Ross moved to southern California in 1971 from New Jersey and reported in
August that he lived in Rancho Cucamonga with his fiancee. He has two grown children.
Chaffey board candidates respond:
All five candidates for the Chaffey Governing Board race on Nov. 6 were asked three questions by the Champion staff to help explain their platforms.
Mr. Ross did not respond to the Oct. 15 email request.
What are the biggest challenges facing Chaffey College in the next five years?
Mr. George: Providing enough classes and qualified instructors for a fast growing and diverse population, and a possible decline in enrollment if the state decides to raise tuition fees for community colleges and because of spiraling text book costs.
Mr. Avila: Accommodating the increasing student enrollment at Chaffey’s main campus, satellite centers in Chino and Fontana and Internet students; the need to streamline the college’s registration process; the need to rotate board meetings among the cities Chaffey serves in order to get better public participation in those meetings; and the need for independent and student evaluations of instructors so that quality instructors will be maintained at the college.
Mr. Gomez: Providing facilities, faculty and staff members to meet the increasing population growth and expand the educational programs provided by Chaffey.
Mr. McDougal: The satisfactory completion of the capital building campaign under way in Chino, Fontana and Rancho Cucamonga, retention and selection of well-trained and highly motivated professional faculty and staff members. The college needs to reduce its reliance on part-time adjunct faculty while increasing the ratio of qualified full-time professional faculty. The college must continue efforts to review and adjust class offerings on a timely basis to meet changing needs of the region. The college district must continue to increase its efforts to attract funding from “as many credible sources as possible.”
What strengths would you bring to the Chaffey Governing Board?
Mr. George: The ability to partner business and civic leaders with Chaffey College, including helping to bring the Chaffey College satellite center to the former Bank of America building on Central Avenue and C Street in Chino and the Information Technology Center behind that building. The Information Technology Center was created to allow Chaffey students and local business people to advance their proficiency in technology.
Mr. Avila: Ten years of experience working with the Ontario-Montclair School District, the second largest school district in the state. That experience has given Mr. Avila skills in research, writing, adjudicating, managing office budgets, panel interviewing, student discipline, personnel hiring, claims and litigation, budget approval, labor and wages, educational, governmental and child laws, and unemployment insurance codes.
Mr. Gomez: Seventeen years of service on the Chaffey board, especially as current and several times president of that board. Mr. Gomez is proud that the board has provided good oversight of its resources, including funds totaling $258 million, more than 1,000 employees and a $230 million facilities construction bond approved by voters in 2002. During his tenure on the board, he has acquired a “great amount of knowledge and experience” about the role of trustee and the governance of an institution of higher learning.
Mr. McDougal: Knowledge has gained as a member of the governing board for six years, including knowledge about the college, its mission, how it interacts with different state offices, elected and appointed officials and other colleges. Throughout his adult life, he has served in a leadership capacity, including 15 ½ years as city manager of Montclair.
How do your see the Chino area figuring into Chaffey’s future?
Mr. George: The partnership between the city of Chino, the state and Chaffey to bring a full campus to Chino is the college’s latest achievement. Beginning with the spring semester of 2008, that campus will house approximately 1,500 students and is expected to expand to at least 15,000 students in a few years.
Mr. Avila: The Chino Valley is important for the development of a four-year medical university, call it California State University Chino Valley. That university could become a reality without sacrificing the Chino Valley’s “Norman Rockwell-like” image.
Mr. Gomez: The Chino area will play an important role in Chaffey’s future as the southern part of the community college district continues to grow. Chaffey needs to position itself now in the Chino Valley to meet the educational needs of residents, and the needs of current and future businesses, including government. The construction of the Chaffey campus in Chino is a source of “great satisfaction” because in 1990 Mr. Gomez advocated a campus in the southern section of the college’s district.
Mr. McDougal: The southern part of the college district, which includes the Chino and Chino Hills area, is the “key to the long-term success” of the district. The governing board has long recognized the importance of the area by locating some its teaching facilities, including the Information and Technology Center and the Chino Educational Center, in Chino. “We know when significant growth occurs in the district, it will happen in Chino and south Ontario as the agriculture preserve is transformed to an urban environment.”
Voters return incumbents to Chaffey board
Ballot measure passes in Chino
The three incumbents on the Chaffey College governing board were re-elected Tuesday to four-year terms on the community college board. Gary L. George of Chino led the pack with 13,078 votes or 25.24 percent, according to the county registrar of voters. Lee McDougal of Montclair received 12,617 votes or 24.35 percent. Paul Gomez or Rancho Cucamonga received 10,048 votes or 19.39 percent.
In Chino, voters passed Measure A, approving rezoning of 22 acres of strawberry fields to make way for residential development and the eventual construction of a police station at the adjacent 10-acre site of the Home Depot on Walnut Avenue. Twothirds of the ballots cast on Measure A — 1,818 – were for approval. Of those, 1,237, or 67.67 percent, were absentee. Of the 913 “no” votes, 591 were absentee.
“It think this is a good move on the part of the voters,” said Chino mayor Dennis Yates. “It’s going to enable the city to construct a much larger facility for our much larger police department, which is growing with the city.”
The city plans to begin closing escrow on the Home Depot site when ground is broken on the company’s new location, at the southeast corner of Riverside Drive and Euclid Avenue in Ontario. The city has agreed to pay the Borba family $9.9 million for the site.
The ballot measure was made necessary by the need to rezone the strawberry fields north of Walnut Avenue and west of Benson Avenue from commercial to residential.
Measure M, which passed in 1988, requires voter approval for such a zone change.
The Borbas and Kendrew Development, the real-estate development firm with which the Borbas are working, plan to place 72 senior apartments south of the Home Depot building and 84 single-family houses east of the Home Depot.
In the Chaffey College governing board race, challenger Gregg T. Ross of Rancho Cucamonga received 8,467 votes or 16.34 percent, while challenger Paul Vincent Avila of Ontario received 7,421 votes or 16.34 percent.
There were 184 writein votes, accounting for 0.36 percent. The results reflected all 344 of the precincts reporting. Only 51,815 — 18.36 percent — of the 282,224 voters eligible to cast ballots in the Chaffey race did so. Of those, 41,142 or were absentee votes, counted as of Monday. The three men won at-large seats, representing the entire Chaffey College district of Chino, Chino Hills, Ontario, Fontana, Montclair, Mt. Baldy, Rancho Cucamonga and Upland.
The terms of Chaffey Board members Kathleen Brugger and Katie Roberts do not expire until 2009.
Mr. George said he was pleased all the incumbents were re-elected. “We have a great team and I didn’t want to see that broken,” he said. Mr. George said his top priority now, as it has always been, is to see the Chino campus completed and opening on time so that Chino and Chino Hills residents can “fulfill their educational needs.” Mr. George is a 29-year employee of Verizon and is its director for government and external affairs for the San Gabriel Valley and western San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Tops on Mr. McDougal’s agenda are seeing that the ongoing construction projects at Chaffey, including the new Chino campus south of Edison Avenue, are completed. He also said he wants the college to add more full-time faculty members and update existing facilities at the college’s Rancho Cucamonga campus. Mr. McDougal has been city manager of Montclair since 1992. He was previously the city’s director of administrative services and redevelopment.
Mr. Gomez worked 28 years in municipal management and retired from the city of Ontario in 2000. He serves on the 25-member elected board of the Association of Community College Trustees. Mr. Gomez could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
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