EL CHICANo Weekly
Vol 63, NO. 46
August 20, 2026
Nicholson Park Reopens as $13.5 Million Inclusive Park on San Bernardino’s West Side
IECN.com
Ontario, Fontana Outpace Market-Rate Housing Goals as California Lags on Affordable Homes Pg. 5
PHOTO MANNY SANDOVAL A child enjoys Nicholson Park’s new inclusive zip line with her mother during the park’s Aug. 15 grand reopening on San Bernardino’s west side.
By Manny Sandoval
A
t 5 p.m. on a Saturday, more than 600 people filled Nicholson Park on San Bernardino’s west side, where children crowded onto new playground equipment and families spread across a green space neighboring apartments and a mobile home community.
PHOTO MANNY SANDOVAL Children pack an inclusive merry-go-round designed to allow a wheelchair to roll directly aboard, giving children of different abilities a shared play experience.
For a neighborhood that had gone years without access to the park during its redevelopment, the turnout Aug. 15 offered a visible measure of what the public space means to the community. Children spun together on an inclusive merry-go-round that allows a wheelchair to roll directly aboard, played on adaptive swings and explored a newly constructed
playground designed for children of different abilities. The celebration marked the reopening of Nicholson Park, 2750 W. 2nd St., following an approximately $13.5 million transformation of nearly the entire property. The park sits on San Bernardino’s western Park, Cont. next pg.
SBVC Nurse, Crafton Hills Firefighter Share Affordable Paths to Local Careers IE Businesses and Nonprofits Urged to Diversify Revenue Ahead of Riverside Sustainability Summit Pg. 8
City of Fontana Receives $1.2M for Aldea Apartments Project Pg. 8
PHOTO MANNY SANDOVAL Colton resident Karen Miranda Diaz, a San Bernardino Valley College nursing alumna now working at Redlands Community Hospital, returned to college after more than a decade away from school and graduated in 2025.
By Manny Sandoval Inland Empire Community Newspapers Office: (909) 381-9898 Editorial: iecn1@mac.com Advertising: iecn1@mac.com Legals : iecnlegals@gmail.com
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ong before Karen Miranda Diaz became a nurse, she was a 9-yearold standing near a young boy who had been struck by a vehicle outside her home.
PHOTO MANNY SANDOVAL Redlands resident Anthony Estrada, a Crafton Hills College fire academy and paramedic program alumnus, turned his college training into a career as a firefighter-paramedic with San Bernardino County Fire.
The child was unresponsive. Diaz said she followed instructions over the phone and performed CPR. Later, while visiting him at the hospital, a nurse told her that what she had done helped save his life. Years later, a different roadside emergency pointed Anthony Estrada toward his
own career. Estrada was driving home from work, between Cabazon and Beaumont, when he came across a serious crash and stopped to help. Unsure what to do, he watched firefighters, police officers and paramedics arrive, organize the scene Affordable College cont. on next pg.