EL CHICANo Weekly
Vol 62, NO. 25
April 10, 2025
“I Hate Living in San Bernardino”: Residents Grill City Officials Over Yearlong Feldheym Library Computer Lab Shutdown
IECN.com
Brothers Open Fire on Teens in Colton, Critically Wounding Two; Arrests Made Weeks Later Pg. 3
PHOTO MANNY SANDOVAL
San Bernardino City Council listens to constituent complaints on April 2 inside the Feldheym Library’s Bing Wong Auditorium at 555 West 6th Street — the designated council meeting location due to seismic safety concerns at City Hall.
By Manny Sandoval
“
Today I’m here to let you know how much I hate living in the City of San Bernardino,” resident Gina Mireles said, her frustration echoing through council chambers during the April 2 City Council meeting.
Seven SB County Fathers Graduate from Fatherhood FIRE Program, Gaining Skills in Parenting, Financial Literacy Pg. 5
Her remarks launched a wave of public criticism aimed at city officials for allowing the Norman F. Feldheym Central
Library to go without a functioning computer lab for more than a year — an absence that many argue underscores the city’s failure to meet basic community needs. Located in Ward 1 at 555 W. 6th Street, Feldheym Library is the city’s central library and a vital public resource. As National Library Week is here, from April 6–12, residents say they’re left without access to essential digital tools like internet-connected computers and printers —
access widely available in neighboring cities. Mireles, who moved to San Bernardino from Rancho Cucamonga and Ontario, explained she chose to buy a home near the San Bernardino Police Department, expecting a comparable level of public services to her former cities. “I was expecting the level of service I received in Ontario,” she said. “I hate the fact that the city canLibrary cont. on next pg.
One Porta-Potty Is Easing San Bernardino’s Public Defecation and Urination Problem Tied to Raves and Homelessness By Manny Sandoval
A
fter years of finding human waste splattered on the walls of his downtown business, Alan Stanly says the solution is simple: put out more portable toilets. Stanly, who owns The Enterprise Building in San Bernardino’s Ward 1, has long sounded the alarm about the lack of public restrooms for the city’s homeless population and the overflow of rave attendees.
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With the NOS Events Center just blocks away, massive music festivals bring up to 50,000 people into the area multiple times a year, with attendees using surrounding streets, parking lots, and garages throughout downtown.
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PHOTO MANNY SANDOVAL A porta-potty in front of The Enterprise Building, between the building and the former Carousel Mall Parking Garage, is said to mitigate public urination during the weekend-long Beyond Wonderland Rave held March 29th-30th, 2025.
“This isn’t just a one-weekend thing,” Stanly said. “Every rave, it’s the same thing. Our building becomes a bathroom.” This past weekend’s Beyond
Wonderland rave, held March 28–29, was no different— except for one key change: the city placed a portable toilet outside The Enterprise Building. “Historically, we’d average around 75 people urinating on our building, our doorways, our dumpsters on weekends when raves are held,” Stanly said. “This time, only two people urinated on our property. That’s the power of one portapotty.” According to San Bernardino’s January 2024 Point-In-Time Count, there are 1,417+ unhoused individuals in the city. Stanly, who uses surveillance cameras to protect his property, said the math is disturbing: if each person defecates once a day, that's a lot of waste. “That’s 30,000 sh*ts a month, minimum,” he said. Porta-Potty cont. next pg.