Basketball Game Turns Deadly

Just blocks from Riverside Living headquarters, at Central Middle School, a pick up basketball game turned deadly.  An argument erupted during the game and two men were shot.  One died at the hospital, the other’s condition was not released.  The suspect is still at large.  That is pretty scary to think that this happened just a few blocks away.  There are so many people walking around that area with their kids and dogs.  And obviously people playing ball.  No one expects anything like that to happen on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Who Are Your Neighbors Supporting?

A map of Riverside campaign contributions, from The Huffington Post, shows that $717,243 was given by Riverside residents, with $367,870 from 276 people to Republicans and $349,373 from 311 people to Democrats.

Best Of: Riverside Neighborhood and Neighbor

Monday, March 31st is the LAST day to submit nominations for the best Riverside neighborhood and neighbor.   The Jack B. Clarke Good Neighbor Award, established in 1996 in honor of the late councilman, is for that special person who cares for his/her neighbors and makes their neighborhood a better place to live.  The Neighborhood Spirit Award will go a neighborhood group or organization  who hosted an outstanding, community building event or project in the past 12 months.  The Neighborhood Awards Programs winners will be announced at the Riverside Neighborhood Conference in May.

Saturday Night News

One of my quieter Saturday evenings, although beer and hanging out at Foxy’s is never dull. She, Rocky and the Fat Kid cheered me up. Especially the Fat Kid trying to get his bed juuuuust right. A tear still comes to my eye when I think of it. Here’s what happened in or around Riverside, while I was out.

Creepy… Human remains were found near UCR, more specifically near Box Springs Mountain Park. Paintballers found the remains.

Fast and now furious.. More than 100 LEOs swarmed Canyon Crossings shopping center and corralled 150+ vehicles, in an area where street racing has become a problem. Races had been taking place over the past several weeks. The tally: 3 arrests, 100 citations given for vehicle code violations, 48 citations for illegal engine mods, 20 cars impounded, 1 stolen engine/transmission and 14 altered engine or transmission ID information.  Street racing will not be tolerated in Riverside, says RPD.

Cities around the world turned off the lights for Earth Hour 2008.   Where was Riverside?  And where was Scoop Brenenstuhl, my environment loving Johnny-on-the-spot reporter with this news?

Stuff To Do This Weekend: 3.28 – 3.30

Friday, March 28th:

Happy birthday, Scott.

Lawrence of America at Back To The Grind.

Saturday, March 29th:

Fly down to the 16th Annual Riverside Air Show, at the Riverside Airport. Military aircraft and vehicles, classic cars, carnival food.. no doubt some funnel cake in the mix.

Twigface at Lake Alice. Club Scandal at Pepitos. Club X-statica at Incahoots. Flawless at VIP.

Icognegro: New Works by Steven Greenfield at Sweeney Art Gallery at UCR. Today is the last day to catch it.

Sunday, March 30th:

Sundays with the Johnsons at The Coffee Depot on Mission Inn Ave.

Trans-personae: Robbie Miller, Nadia Oslen and Bob Debris at UCR/California Museum of Photography

Prickly Palace Open Gardens and Plant Sale in Riverside. Learn about drought tolerant landscaping and pick up some of the 600+ plants.

Rock Out @ the Main Library

Guitar Hero.  Tuesday.  Main Library. Be There!

Riverside Wi-Fi: Included!

Good news for me and my neighbors. The Riverside Wi-Fi system should be up and running by the end of May, according to AT&T and Riverside officials. The AT&T owned system will cover 55 miles of the 85 square mile city, and will provide wireless internet access to most residents. The first two neighborhoods (shown on PE.com’s map below) include downtown (my hood).

With free wi-fi access and free computers for low income families (which also includes computer training), Smart Riverside‘s desire to develop and utilize the technology skills of its future workforce could come true.

As an IT professional and geek, I think this is a great idea. I didn’t have a computer growing up, but I loved using them at the library and school. Eventually I got one and learned all about DOS and hardware and a whole wonderful, geeky world opened up. Then I think about the kids that live here and what doors can open up for them by having a computer and high speed internet at their fingertips. Great opportunity. Go Riverside!

I Could Have Gone My Whole Life W/Out Knowing This

1. There is a class of places called Class U4. This is a populated place within an incorporated place with a different name. Like Harlem is within New York City.
2. There is a Class U4 place within Fontana called Declezville.
3. Declezville is known for the Declez Ranch-Pagliuso Winery Historic Site and the Declezville Granulite Mine, among other things.

I am going to check out the Winery. Maybe I can be the first to upload a picture of it on the America On Wheels site.

Happy Easter!

This is my anti-Easter. I didn’t go anywhere except Ralph’s, which means I missed my family’s usual Easter dinner. I didn’t even have ham or eggs today. We had fajitas and home made refried beans. I did, however, receive a Dove chocolate bunny from Jay. What a strange day.

Yesterday, the Fox and I went to the downtown Farmer’s Market and the Mission Galleria antiques store for some last minute Easter/Spring decorating ideas.  There were so many cute things for kids that we were wishing we had some little ones to spoil.  At the Farmer’s Market, I got two loaves of bread, organically grown veggies, hummus and pitas.  Yummy.  I love fresh flowers and veggies.  And the weather! It was 81 yesterday and so gorgeous.  I felt like yesterday was more Eastery than today for some reason.  I’m glad I took pictures.

More Easter photos if you continue reading.

Were You Born To Be A Star?

Can you sing? Can you sing well? Show up at Castle Park tonight and sing your little lungs out for the Born To Be A Star competition. This is a competition for ages 8 – 21 and you could win a management contract, a professional 5 song demo and all kinds of promotional gigs. Good luck. Let me know if you win.  Oh and KGGI will be there, giving out free stuff.

While I’m on the subject of Castle Park, the Easter Bunny will be rolling through at noon on Easter. So if you’ve procrastinated and dragged your feet about taking the kiddies to the mall or the Plaza to see EB, tomorrow is your very last chance.

Stuff To Do This Weekend: 3.21 – 3.23

Yesterday was the Vernal Equinox and doesn’t it effin’ feel like Spring?? If I weren’t in love already, I’d fall in love today just because it was so beautiful.

Friday, March 21:

Moonlight Hike in the foothills.  It’s perfect weather for this.  I would love to go *hint hint*.  The meet up is in Claremont but definitely check out the Sierra Club’s site for what to bring and wear and the details.

 

Saturday, March 22:Paid Dues Festival at the Nos Events Center. Like independent and underground hip hop? This is for you, son! Thanks Scoop Brenenstuhl for the tip.

Lily Tomlin performing at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium, to benefit the Inland AIDS Project.

Riverside author Ruth Strother will be signing (and reading) her book “W is for Woof: A Dog Alphabet” at the Redlands Barnes & Noble.

Lunafest is a national traveling festival of short films by, for and about women. One of its last stops is here in Riverside, at the YWCA on Magnolia. Each ticket sold will raise money for breast cancer research. It looks pretty good. Check it out with a woman you love.

Wondering where you can still take pix with the Easter Bunny? Inland Center Mall, hang a left at the Teacup Cottage. Saturday is your last day! It’s also the day every park who is any park has some kind of egg hunt, bunny friend, candy giveaway, or Easter related activity. Too many to list here.

Sunday, March 23:

It’s Easter! I think the best place to be in Riverside is going to be at Mt. Rubidoux. Where is everyone spending their Easter?

16th Annual Walk With The Animals

This Saturday, March 22nd, is the 16th Annual Walk With The Animals event at Fairmont Park. This walk raises money for the Riverside Humane Society Pet Adoption Center. If you can’t walk, you can donate the following items to help keep the animals healthy and fed:

• Clay formula cat litter
• Chicken broth
• Peanut butter
• Hot dogs
• Grooming supplies
• Kong and NylaBones

I definitely want to look into adopting a dog or cat (shh don’t tell Ruby – I’ll break it to her gently). Ruby probably gets lonely by herself during the day. Another pup would keep her busy but provide some companionship while we’re gone. We just have to convince her of that.

If you’re looking for a pet to adopt or want to help animals by walking to raise money, join us at Fairmont Park this Saturday. See you there.

RIP Arthur C.

Arthur C. Clark passed away today and UCR mourns. Mr. Clark had been scheduled to speak via teleconference at the University’s Science Fiction Conference in May. UCR is the school to go to if you are into sci-fi. It is the home of the J. Lloyd Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and boasts a sci-fi track in its comparative literature doctorate program.

Quoted from an L.A. Times article on sci-fi at UCR, “It’s like going to Graceland if you’re an Elvis fan. ”

Arthur C. Clark is best known for “2001: A Space Odyssey”, but did you know that he also had an important contribution to science with his theories on geostationary satellites?

RIP Arthur C. Clark.

Don’t Steal From Del Taco!

This guy got arrested for scamming a Del Taco in Rialto, filming it and putting it on You Tube.  The charge originally for stealing $15 worth of food was for felony commercial burglary but was reduced to a misdemeanor.

Easter Sunrise Service at Mt. Rubidoux

This Easter is the 99th Annual Mt. Rubidoux Sunrise Service, which is also the nation’s oldest continuous outdoor Easter sunrise service. It starts at 6:00 am. It’s supposed to be 77 or 78 on Easter, but cold in the morning so bundle up. See you there!

You can go up the mountain two different ways. One entrance is at 9th and Mt. Rubidoux Dr., around 9th and Redwood. The other entrance is at Glenwood near Tequesquite and San Andreas. This is a picture of the entrance at 9th Street.

More photos after you continue reading.

Riverside For President: Meetups for Your Candidates

Who are you voting for? Where do you get involved locally for your candidate? I’m sure each major candidate has an office and active group in Riverside, but I thought I’d start by listing their meetup.com groups.

Republicans:

John McCain: What’s up with McCain? He has no local Meetup group, either in Riverside or anywhere else that I could find, and only 2 people wanting to start or join one. Are his supporters just not into the idea of an interweb meetup group?

Ron Paul: The Riverside Ron Paul 2008 Meetup group meets next on April 14th, and will be discussing their plans for distributing literature and DVDs at local post offices to people dropping off their tax returns on April 15th. (Good idea!) It looks like this is an active group, with regular meetings and lots of plans. By far, at least by appearances, the most active of the local meetup groups with 289 members.

Democrats:

Hillary Clinton: No Riverside Meetup group for Hil, but 34 people are looking for one in Riverside, so if you want to start one, you should.

Barack Obama: Barack also does not have a Riverside meetup group, but 47 people are looking for one. He does, however, have an Obama Campaign Meetup in San Bernardino. They don’t have any meetings coming up, but it looks like they had an active phone bank for Texas and Oklahoma primaries in February. They also must have a booth at the Redlands Market Night, from their description.

Next time, I’ll list their local offices and appearances and more information as the election draws nearer. And by the way, check out meetup.com’s Riverside meetups. Maybe you will find something you like!

Riverside News: Sloppy County Credit Card Use, Environmental Issues and MMJ

A new policy in Riverside County requires the Board of Supervisors approval for credit cards at stores such as Home Depot and Smart & Final, and the balances must be paid in full each month. An audit of nine County departments showed lack of proper documentation for purchases, failure to get Board or purchasing agent approval for credit cards, finance charges and late fees incurred, and “credit card use a little sloppy”. The departments audited (which did not include my department) were: IT, Child Support Services, Probation Department, the D.A.’s office, TLMA, Waste Management, Fire, Office on Aging and the Sheriff’s Department.

Environmentalists gathered in front of Supervisor John Tavaglione’s house Sunday to protest Tavaglione’s approval of warehouses which bring trucks and pollution to Mira Loma.  They would like a designated truck route that would divert trucks and commercial traffic from Mira Loma residential areas.

Palm Springs City Attorney Douglas Holland is proposing that the city allow medical marijuana co-ops, making Palm Springs one of the few cities in Riverside County to allow medical marijuana cooperatives.  Good news for Jude!

Yes, It Is Easter This Weekend

I know it seems like it came around too quickly but yes, it is Easter this weekend, so if you have kids, yesterday would be the time to go to Target and buy candy and grass and baskets and whatever else.  If I had little kids, I think I’d skip the whole plastic scene and do it natural and green this year.  Or maybe not.  Little kids are a lot of work.

Who You Gonna Call?

So, I’m watching Paranormal State and getting creeped out.  I turn to the intranets to find something comforting.  Instead, I find more creepy stuff.

Did you know that there is a group called Inland Empire Paranormal Investigators, who investigate paranormal phenomena in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties?   Not surprising, they’ve heard voices saying, “Help me” at Riverside’s Evergreen Cemetery.

Speaking of Evergreen, it’s looking good these days.  For all of you geeks, they are removing the headstones to grade the cemetery grounds, then returning them to their exact location using GPS.  Great use of technology.  Another use for GPS?  Geocaching!  Yes, there is a geocache at Evergreen, a multi-part virtual cache using headstones to find the answers.  I’m not sure if this cache is still possible, with the renovation, but it would be fun to try.

Happy Birthday Jessika!

A big happy 23rd birthday to Jessika Pedersen! Happy Birthday, Sunshine.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Hands down, the place to be in Riverside is Killarney’s at the Plaza.  Everyone that I know celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, except for Jessi and Erick who are at an Irish pub in Fullerton, is at Killarney’s.  Bag pipers, dancers, drink specials, beer garden… What more can you ask for?   It’s not too late!

Told You! Stay Off The Roads, Boozers!

Last night, Moreno Valley PD impounded 78 vehicles  during a safety check point at Perris & Bay.  San Bernardino is having check points in various places, all weekend long.  On my way to and from the liquor store at 14th and Market (you know the one), I saw 4 LEOs.  It’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend.  Get a designated driver with balls of steel or call a cab.

Freeway Closure: 215 @ Central This Weekend

The 215 Southbound ramp at Central will be shut down tonight after 10pm, lasting until 10 am Sunday. Unless it rains in University City.

And it looks like it will be raining all weekend.  A cold storm is rolling into the IE as I type, promising chilly temps and heavy-at-times showers.

Drunk and Drugged in Riverside and Redlands

Watch out, lushes and winos. LEO is looking for you.

Tonight, Law Enforcement Officers are targeting drunk drivers in Riverside and Redlands. Between 6 pm and midnight, Riverside will have a sobriety checkpoint somewhere in the city. They’re not saying where but I hope it’s not near the Plaza, where I plan on being. Redlands’ checkpoint is at Colton and New York between 6 pm and 1 am. San Bernardino LEOs are going to be all over San Bernardino County the entire weekend. They’re not saying either.  The CHP will also have extra patrols all over Riverside County all weekend.

Why this weekend?  It’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend!

St. Patrick’s Day Update: Back To The Grind

Private party at Back To The Grind this Saturday night.

Stuff To Do: St. Patrick’s Day in Riverside

Green beer, anyone? Everyone is Irish on Monday, so put on your green and let’s hang out and drink! Some of us are more Irish than others, especially my favorite red head Jen. This is for you, Miss Firecrotch.

The Falc (The Royal Falconer) is having an Irish breakfast from 8 am to 11 am. Mmm eggs, bangers and beer. It’s 5’oclock somewhere, maybe even in Ireland.

After you’re sated from The Falc, digest, work up another appetite and head over to Killarney’s for their St. Patrick’s Day Bash. Bag pipers and a parking lot beer garden!

What else is going on for the holiday???

Stuff To Do This Weekend: 3.14 – 3.16

Friday 3.14:

Samantha, Superfucker, Speak, Bizzart at Back to the Grind. Speaking of B2tG, the gorgeous Carolina Moon performed a solo burlesque show Wednesday. I missed it but from what I heard, she was great.

Sangre, End All, Flatline LA, Skaven at Angel’s Sports Bar.

Grandpa’s Porno Collection at Friar Tucks in Pomona. Added just for the name.

Life or Death, Skare Tactic, Hammerfist, Hold My Own, Count Time, End of Time at The Showcase in Corona.

Crosstown at Lake Alice.

Brian Brown at Ciao Bella.

A Green Tomorrow 2008: Video Contest at the UCR/California Museum of Photography.

Saturday, 3.15:

Spring Egg Hunt at various Riverside parks.  Check out the list on the Chamber of Commerce site, then take the kiddies to get some eggs and treats.

Vengeance at Lake Alice.

Fred Griffin at Mario’s Place.

Pretty in Stereo, The Sleeping Sea King, Metroid at Angel’s Sports Bar in Corona. Support The Sleeping Sea King – they’re from Riverside!

Time Again, The Rocketz, Not A Chance, The Rekoning, Noise Attack at The Showcase Theater. The Rekoning are from Riverside so go support them!
Spring Fest in Lake Elsinore. It’s actually called Trevi Family Entertainment First Annual SpringFest and is going on all day Saturday till 2 am on Sunday. They’re going to have all kinds of stuff going on such as Art and Dance Showcase and local bands. Hope the weather is as beautiful as its been all week, but I hear its going to rain. Bands, if you’re going to be there, post a comment. Will there be a Second Annual SpringFest?

Sunday, 3.16:

Quilt Stories Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum. Jessi and I saw this or something like it at the same museum a few years back. I love quilting.

A Sunday favorite: Sin Sundays at Killarney’s. Enjoy $3 domestic drafts, $4 premium drafts, $5 Long Islands, car bombs and Jagerbombs.

Bad Religion is playing Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the House of Blues in L.A.  Not in the ‘hood, but close enough.

Stuff To Do This Weekend: 3.7 – 3.9

First and foremost – Party for Tim & Jessi at my house Friday night. Thank you Sam and Amanda for putting this all together!

Friday 3.7:

Back to the Grind has a full night – check out Zombelle, Autpgolpe, Voice On Tapes and Ten Year Gap.

Saturday 3.8:

Guttermouth will be at Angel’s Sports Bar. The last band I saw there was Fool Blown Idiot (where are you Jon and Angel?)

Jep Rocket at Back to the Grind

Cockfight Raided And Kitten Saved

Did I not say that cockfights abound in Glen Avon? Four arrested Sunday at a cockfight raid in my former town. Another ten cited and a whole bunch of roosters dead or abused.

Not on the same occasion or at the same location, the elusive UCR cat was re-caught and will reside with a UCR faculty member.

Starpool @ The Barn

Starpool and The Aggrolites are playing at the Barn tonight at 7 pm. Admission is free.