| Southern California’s freeways may be famous for snarled
traffic and sniper attacks, but they are the vessels that carry life to the
region’s cities.
The trucks that come from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach carry with
them the goods that supply our industries and homes.
In Ontario’s case, those same freeways are a cash conduit to governmental
coffers.
They convey shoppers who spend time and money at Ontario Mills, visitors who
attend conventions and stay in the hotels, and travelers whose journeys begin
and end at Ontario International Airport.
As Ontario grows into the economic engine of the Inland Empire, it faces the
challenge of being the service provider for the region, a challenge some believe
is a burden on Ontario taxpayers.
Residents of other cities benefit from Milliken Landfill, Ontario
International Airport and the Ontario Convention Center, but only Ontario pays,
former Mayor Bob Ellingwood said.
Being the region’s hub of commerce and transportation has its costs, but
those services also bring in sales tax and bed tax, City Manager Gregory
Devereaux said.
Ontario’s development has depended on the essential component of
transportation. Plans for the future could solidify Ontario’s place as a
transportation hub, or they could shift the power base elsewhere.
Since before California was a state, its residents have been mobile people.
The first settlers trekked across the country by wagon or on foot.
Trains brought carloads of settlers, lured by cheap fares and the prospect of
a new start.
During World War II, the military developed airfields for use as training
schools for pilots.
Today, the passes through which wagon trains descended into the valleys are
major highways, the rails carry trains filled with goods rather than settlers,
and the airfields have been converted into commercial airports for travelers and
cargo alike.
Transportation has been the lifeblood of Ontario throughout its history, said
Riverside historian Michael Rounds, who is authoring a book on Ontario’s
history and building an exhibit for the Ontario Museum of History and Art on
transportation’s role in Ontario’s development.
Holt Avenue became part of the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway in 1912 or 1913, and
the U.S. Highway Act of 1926 gave it the designations U.S. 60 and 99.
The Ramona Freeway was built in 1951, and later it became Interstate 10
following passage of the Interstate Highway Act.
The city’s goal for the future is to secure its place as a commercial
center for the Inland Empire.
“Ontario is evolving. It’s already a center of commerce; it’s going to
become more so,” said Otto Kroutil, the city’s director of development. “We’re
uniquely placed in the region because of our transportation ability.”
The key, Kroutil said, is to strike a balance between the three modes of
transport in which Ontario is well represented: air, highway and rail.
The transportation bill now being debated in Washington could provide money
for a project that would create a rail corridor from the shipping ports to the
Inland Valley.
At the end of the Alameda Corridor east would be a terminal where cargo
containers would be transferred from rail cars to truck trailers.
The rail corridor would help solve congestion problems on the 60 and the 10
freeways, Kroutil said.
Catering to the needs of the cargo container shippers makes sense in today’s
business climate, he said.
“The whole industry, the retail business and manufacturing has gone toward
just-in-time manufacturing. You can order supplies just in time for when you
need to assemble those parts,” Kroutil said. “All of the railroads have gone
to container cargo. It could result in a whole new generation of industrial
development out there.”
Ontario could benefit from its location, he said.
“Transportation plays an integral role in just-in-time manufacturing,”
Kroutil said. “Ontario is well-placed for that type of business.”
Ontario’s foreign free trade zone is another way the city is working toward
becoming a transportation gateway, Kroutil said. The zone allows manufacturers
to bypass certain duty requirements, assemble parts in the free trade zone, then
ship them back out.
“It’s always been an issue with new businesses coming in,” he said. “The
intention is to attract businesses that do commerce with foreign parts.”
Cargo containers come in to Long Beach or Los Angeles from Asia,
manufacturers assemble components here, then export the finished product to
other countries without tariffs.
The only catch is that those products leave the country via Los Angeles or
some other point; they are not flown directly out of Ontario International
Airport.
Ontario leaders have been looking to the airport as an economic boost ever
since the military turned it over to the city after World War II.
“We knew the airport would be the catalyst for economic growth in Ontario
and the west end,” former Mayor Howard Snider said. “Everybody thought it
was the engine for economic growth for the future when we were in the ’50s and
’60s, and it’s proven it has been.”
“One of our goals is to get some international cargo in here,” said
Dennis Watson, the airport’s public affairs director. “What needs to come
first are global freight forwarders. They gather international freight from
around the area, then ship it out.”
Once the airlines know that the freight forwarders have a satellite office in
the inland region, they will follow, Watson said.
“I think there’s a lot of international freight that’s being created in
the Inland Empire that’s being trucked right past Ontario to LAX,” he said. |
