Tensions in Fontana are growing after another explosive City Council meeting this week, this time leading to the arrest of seven community members and prompting Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes to take to social media to urge the city to “do better.”
The council cleared its chamber Tuesday, Nov. 14, and continued its meeting the following morning after interruptions and shouts from the audience grew increasingly heated as city leaders prepared to take action on several hot-button issues, including new regulations for street vendors, zoning changes for warehousing and changing meeting times.
Moments after audience members began shouting expletives at the mayor, council and police Tuesday evening, officers cleared the chambers, according to video of the meeting shared on social media. When the council meeting resumed, Mayor Acquanetta Warren confirmed the chambers had been cleared, according to a city video.
Officer Steve Reed confirmed Thursday, Nov. 16, that Fontana police arrested five people at Tuesday’s meeting, one of them on a warrant. Police made two other arrests, Reed said, one at Warren’s house for unlawful assembly and another Wednesday morning at the council chambers for willful disturbance of a public meeting.
Shane Ysais, a Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice member, criticized the city’s action Tuesday and shared video of police involvement on social media.
“There is a large amount of community members that are upset with the direction the City Council is going for the city of Fontana,” Ysais said in a phone interview Thursday. “And that includes things like bad land-use development with warehousing near schools, really predatory ordinances against street vendors and moving the City Council meetings from 7 p.m. to 2 p.m.”
With its actions, the council is creating more obstacles to community engagement at City Hall, Ysais said. Community members are outraged, he said, adding that those who spoke out Tuesday were warned by Warren before the chambers were cleared.
“It was really just, in our eyes, a smokescreen for what (the city) really wanted to do, which was, you know, silence this community,” Ysais said.
Over the phone Thursday, Warren said some of those who attended Tuesday’s meeting displayed “violent” behavior while making threats.
“We had to stop the meeting,” Warren said, “because they were going after people.”
Some in the crowd were out of control, Warren said. “They were cussing and having their children cuss,” she said.
In a news release, the city confirmed police cleared the chambers. After adjourning the meeting, the council reconvened at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday due to “ongoing disruptions,” the release said.
News of the events in Fontana prompted Reyes, whose 50th Assembly District includes Fontana, to express her disappointment in city leadership after the council approved impound fees for vendor carts and equipment, rezoning near schools for a 500,000-square-foot warehouse and changing the time of council meetings.
“Our communities, our constituents and our students all deserve better from us, and I echo their continued outrage toward these decisions,” Reyes said in a news release Wednesday.
The council voted Tuesday night to move its meetings from 7 p.m. to 2 p.m. The earlier start time is meant to relieve the burden of late-night meetings on city workers while allowing the council to stay focused on the business at hand, officials said Tuesday.
Councilmember Jesus Sandoval objected, however, saying the council shouldn’t “be backing down” by moving its meeting time.
“We need to make a stand and say this is the time of our meeting,” Sandoval said, according to the recording of Tuesday’s meeting. “I don’t think we should let any group or any organization come and dictate what time we should be moving our meetings.”
Warren said the council had been considering the move for some time, before recent events at its meetings.
“It’s not because of what we’ve seen out here,” Warren said, “but at the same time we need to keep our staff and all of the people that come here to speak to us safe, no matter what time we have our meeting.”
Councilmember Phillip Cothran encouraged those who are displeased with the earlier meeting time to take advantage of his and his colleagues’ open-door policies.
“Come talk to us,” Cothran said Tuesday evening. “I’m happy to sit down and discuss any project that you guys want to talk about.”
On Wednesday morning, the council approved an ordinance introducing impound fees for street vendors whose belongings are confiscated for failing to properly obtain or display a valid health permit. The council enacted the health permit requirements in October.
Also Wednesday, the council approved several land-use changes, overturning its previous rejection of a logistics project near Jurupa Hills High School by approving a zoning change to permit the development of three warehouses totaling about 532,100 square feet. The item returned to council after applicants made several modifications to their plans, including increasing buffers between the site and the school.
Each of the policies approved Tuesday and Wednesday drew emotional responses from public speakers, however, many of whom accused the council of failing to take their concerns seriously.
In a phone interview Thursday afternoon, Reyes said following Fontana’s tumultuous meetings in recent weeks, it’s key for the city to engage the community.
“We aren’t dictators that can just say: ‘This is what we’re going to do,’ ” Reyes said. “But rather, engage the community and say: ‘Here’s the problem. We have to solve it. We have to be fair to everyone. How do we solve this issue?’ And when you engage the community and have honest conversation, I think that as a community we would do much better.”
