North Fontana, long an enclave of low-income African Americans, is now being proposed as the site for Fontana's most expensive housing and commercial developments. Some see this as progress, others as an attempt to erase this part of San Bernardino County's cultural history.
Beginnings
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday February 23, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 0 inches; 31 words Type of Material: Correction
Neighborly Advice -- An article about north Fontana in Sunday's Real Estate section referred to a 210 Freeway extension as having opened in 2004. The freeway segment opened in November 2002.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday February 26, 2006 Home Edition Real Estate Part K Page 7 Features Desk 0 inches; 27 words Type of Material: Correction
Neighborly Advice -- A Feb. 19 article about north Fontana referred to a 210 Freeway extension that opened in 2004. The freeway segment opened in November 2002.
Look at the seal of Fontana and you can divine the entire history of the city: grapes for what was once booming vineyards; citrus groves and chicken ranches; and a prominent steel mill for the industry that defined the community from 1942 to 1984.
Many African Americans settled in north Fontana -- an area north of Baseline Avenue that remained unincorporated until 1985, when it was annexed into the city of Fontana -- and worked at the Kaiser Steel mill. Even after the mill closed, the population remained. Now this 8,900-acre area is experiencing a painful growth spurt, and large new homes dwarf modest single-family dwellings.
For years, the community has been underserved and overlooked by the rest of the city, says Ellen Turner, president of the Rialto/Fontana chapter of the NAACP, who has lived here since 1968. "Most of the community still has no streetlights, no sidewalks and no gutters."
It's a claim not in dispute but something City Manager Ken Hunt said would change with $100 million in future capital improvements.
The city has admitted that the area lacks improvements. It formed the North Fontana Redevelopment Project in 1982. But not much changed until master-planned communities such as Hunter's Ridge and Heritage Village sprang up. Some fear developments like these will displace this longtime community.
When the 210 Freeway extension came in 2004, it changed the landscape in north Fontana. Suddenly, people saw it as a viable place to live and from which to commute to various parts of Los Angeles County. And with that change came much more interest from developers who saw raw land ready for thousands of new homes and businesses.
The conflict
When you tear down the old, you tear down history, is the view of some residents.
In August, the Jessie Turner Community Center was demolished to make way for commercial development. The center, a landmark and gathering place for the African American community, was named after local activist Jessie Turner, Ellen Turner's mother.
There are plans to rebuild it as the Jessie Turner Health and Fitness Community Center on 40 acres, but the new center is at least five years from completion and located farther away. Some fear that it will no longer serve the community.
