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Mayor Nuaimi Speaks at Chamber Roundtable |
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Saturday, 03 February 2007 |
FONTANA
By Cheryl Brown
It's a Great Day in Fontana!
That wasn't yelled loud enough so Ken Glasso, Chairman of the Chamber of
Commerce, got a megaphone and when he thought he wanted to make more of a point
he got out his bullhorn. That got the meeting started at Sierra Lakes Country
Club in Fontana.
The business community of Fontana
waited to hear what Mayor Mark Nuaimi was going to speak about in this yearly
roundtable meeting.
 Mayor Mark Nuaimi, Councilwoman Acquanetta Warren, and Ken Galasso.
In his introduction of Nuaimi, Glassco told the story of
A.B. Miller the town's founder. "When Miller told the area residents of his
desire to establish a town they called him a silly fool and said that his idea
would blow away in a month. Eighteen years after arriving, the city held the
largest citrus grove in the world, the largest pork producing farm; in 1914
Henry J. Kaiser found the pig farm site as the best location for the Fontana
Steel Mill. He opened a little hospital across town and it grew into the
largest HMO in the world," said Glassco. He ended by saying it wasn't by
accident,
Nuaimi picked up on the same theme and said, "Miller was a
man with a plan and a vision for this community." With that Nuaimi said that Fontana being one of the fastest growing cities in America wasn't
an accident. It is part of a plan and a vision that he and the City Council are
taking.
"The theme for 2007 is "Tending to the Farm".
Seeds have been planted. Next year will be the great harvest," he said.
Nuaimi told the audience that Fontana's new library will cost some $60
million, $10 million has already been raised for it and it will be the largest
in the entire region. Slated to open in 2008, the largest park will open the
same year as well as a new 11,000 square foot community center. In 2010-11 the
widening of three freeway off ramps will be completed and we will bring people
off the freeway from the north on the 210 and from the south on the I-10. Each
project is $30 to $40 million. There will be free after school programs in
every school.
It is Fontana's plan to
capture some of the dollars that are now going to Victoria Gardens,
with a 140 acre specific plan that will take people off at Sierra. He said he
wants people to live, work and play in Fontana
and to that effort he added a corporate corridor strategically placed so that
people can live in Village
of Heritage and bicycle
to work in this new development. "We want to develop what's right first. Not to
develop out the land. We are putting money in our infrastructure and developers
will have to understand," said Nuaimi. And in taking Miller's attitude, he said
that Fontana
would not be blown away in 6 months by the winds of change.
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