'''FONTANA'''

(Interwiki: IPAc-en » icon|f|ɒ|n|ˈ|t|æ|n|ə) is a city of 196,069 residents in San Bernardino County, California. Founded in 1913, it remained essentially rural until World War II, when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser built a large steel mill in the area. It is now a regional hub of the trucking industry, with Interstate 10 and State Route 210 transecting the city from east to west, and Interstate 15 passing diagonally through its northwestern quadrant.
It is home to the largest of the San Bernardino County system libraries, a renovated historic theater, a municipal park, and the Auto Club Speedway on the site of the Kaiser Steel Mill. Fontana also hosts the Fontana Days Half Marathon and 5K run. This race is on record as the fastest half-marathon course in the world.
The U.S. 2010 Census reported that Fontana's population was 196,069 in 2010, making it the second most populous city in the county and 20th in the state.

HISTORY

Fontana was founded in 1913 by Azariel Blanchard Miller. Within a few years it became an agricultural town of citrus orchards, vineyards and chicken ranches astride U.S. Route 66 (now known as Foothill Boulevard). The Fontana area was radically transformed during World War II when Henry J. Kaiser built one of only two steel mills west of the Mississippi River outside the city limits.
Ross and Violet Gesler immigrated to Fontana, Ross developed the Ross Gesler orchid in the greenhouses on his Arrow Boulevard home. Later his grandson, David Eshleman, became mayor of the city.
In the 1950s and '60s Fontana was home to a drag racing strip that was a venue in the NHRA circuit. Mickey Thompson’s Fontana International Dragway was also referred to as Fontana Drag City or Fontana Drag Strip. The original Fontana strip is long since defunct, but the owners of NASCAR’s new Auto Club Speedway opened a new NHRA-sanctioned drag strip in Fontana in mid-2006 to resurrect Fontana’s drag-racing heritage.
Ro-Val's automobile museum, located on Foothill Blvd on the western outskirts between Fontana and Cucamonga, was for a while the home for many classic automobiles of the 1920s and '30s, including a huge vehicle once owned by screen actor Fatty Arbuckle. When the Ro-Val museum closed, the vehicles were sold to Bill Harrah, a Nevada casino owner and automobile collector, who placed them on display in the museum located at his casino.
As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,929, but the present population is now estimated to have reached 189,021 (2009). This rapid expansion had much to do with the numerous large, new residential developments in the almost totally undeveloped northern part of the city, as well as with the city's aggressive (and highly successful) campaign to annex several unincorporated, but developed, San Bernardino county island areas in 2006-2007.

GOVERNMENT

Category: File - :Fontana, California City Hall.JPG|thumb|300px|Fontana City Hall, on Sierra Avenue

TOPOGRAPHY

Most of the city of Fontana, like its eastern neighbors Rialto and San Bernardino, is built atop a geologically young, gently southward-sloping alluvial fan from nearby Lytle Creek, deposited mainly during the Holocene and late-Pleistocene epochs. There are also sedimentary deposits of similar age from Etiwanda Creek on the western edge of the city. However, the northern and southern edges of the city are formed by the much older San Gabriel and Jurupa mountain ranges, respectively. The Jurupa Mountains are composed primarily of Cretaceous and Paleozoic-era rocks, as are the San Gabriels, which also include even older, Proterozoic formations. The most prominent of the San Gabriel Mountains visible from Fontana is Cucamonga Peak, elevation 8,859 feet (2,700m). Additionally, the Cucamonga Fault Zone, contiguous with the Sierra Madre Fault Zone, runs through the northern part of the city, along the base of the San Gabriels, notably through the Hunter's Ridge and Coyote Canyon planned communities. It is estimated to be capable of producing earthquakes approximately of Magnitudes 6.0 to 7.0.
The city's listed elevation, measured from the northeast corner of the intersection of Upland Avenue and Sierra Avenue, downtown by City Hall, is Interwiki: convert » 1237|ft|m. However, the highest elevation within the city limits is approximately 2,600 feet (792.48m), in the northernmost part of the Panorama neighborhood of Hunter's Ridge. The lowest point within the city limits is approximately 840 feet (256.03m), at the intersection of Etiwanda and Philadelphia avenues, the extreme southwestern corner of the city. This difference in elevation is due to the southward slope of the Lytle Creek alluvial fan.

ECONOMY

Fontana's current economy is driven largely by industrial uses, particularly trucking-based industries. The city is home to several truck dealerships, and other industrial equipment sales centers, and, like its neighbors Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga, many product distribution centers for such companies as Toyota, Target, Sears, Mercedes-Benz, Southern California Edison, Home Shopping Network, and Avery Dennison. The city is also home to numerous small manufacturers of building materials and other locally-used products, and many small auto dealerships and salvage yards. Fontana's economy has also heavily encouraged, at least until such activities had been somewhat hampered by the Subprime mortgage crisis, the planning, developing and construction of new housing tracts. The city also has numerous local shopping centers, such as the Summit Heights Gateway/Falcon Ridge Town Center at the north end of the city, and Palm Court in the southern section. The city also features commercial strip zoning along several of its major avenues and boulevards, such as the "Miracle Mile" Straddling the 210 Freeway between Citrus and Sierra Avenues. The official Fontana Auto Center is part of that zone, with two major dealerships already in place.
According to the City's 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

#	Employer	# of Employees
1	Kaiser Permanente	5,300
2	Fontana Unified School District	3,939
3	City of Fontana	1,883
4	Target	1,393
5	Manheim Auctions	700
6	Better Beverages	500
7	American Security Products	450
8	Coronado Stone Products	400
9	Firth Rixson	380
10	Reddaway	350

Possibly the city's largest economic engine, however, is the Auto Club Speedway. Although technically not within the city limits, the speedway brings tens of thousands of racing fans and dozens of teams to the region for a few days each year, which can be a major boon for local restaurants, motels, hotels, and auto service stations.

SURROUNDING AREAS

Interwiki: Geographic location »
|title = Destinations from Fontana
|Northwest = Rancho Cucamonga
|North = Lytle Creek
|Northeast = San Bernardino
|West = Ontario
|Centre = Fontana
|East = Rialto
|Southwest = Eastvale
|South = Jurupa
|Southeast = Bloomington/ Riverside

DEMOGRAPHICS

Interwiki: USCensusPop »
|1990 = 87444
|2000 = 128929
|2010 = 196069

PUBLIC SAFETY

Effective July 1, 2008, the City of Fontana formed its own Fire Protection District (similar to a Fire Department). Fontana has continued with its previous fire protection provider (now as a contract city) with the San Bernardino County Fire Department. American Medical Response provides patient transportation via EMT/Paramedic staffed ambulances.
Fontana also maintains its own police department, but for the unincorporated areas (like the nearby town of Bloomington), the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department is used (mainly from the Fontana satellite station, or backup deputies from the West Valley/Rancho Cucamonga Regional Station).

POLITICS

In the state legislature Fontana is located in the 32nd Senate District, represented by Democrat Gloria Negrete McLeod, and in the 62nd and 63rd Assembly Districts, represented by Democrat Wilmer Carter and Republican Mike Morrell respectively. Federally, Fontana is located in California's 43rd congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of D +10 and is represented by Democrat Joe Baca.

TRANSPORTATION

The Metrolink rail service to the greater Los Angeles area runs through the center of town. The City of Fontana is ten minutes away from Ontario International Airport.
The city is also served by Omnitrans bus service.
Category: File - :FontanaOrange.jpg|thumb|Bono's Historic Orange on Route 66 is one of the last surviving examples of giant orange-shaped fruit stands which were once common to the region. This stand was built in 1936 and moved to its present location in 1997.

Category: File - :I-10 (CA).svg|20px San Bernardino Freeway

• Category: File - :I-15 (CA).svg|20px Ontario Freeway
• Category: File - :California 66.svg|20px Foothill Boulevard (Historic U.S. Route 66)
• Category: File - :California 210.svg|20px Foothill Freeway

UTILITIES

Fontana receives electrical power through the Southern California Edison Company. Gas service is provided by the Southern California Gas Company. Telephone and DSL Internet service are through AT&T and Verizon, though Verizon serves a smaller portion of the city. Time Warner Cable also provides cable television and cable Internet access. Burrtec Waste provides rubbish and trash collection throughout the city. Burrtec offers both regular waste and green waste recycling programs. Fontana is served by five different water companies, but none of their service areas overlap. These companies are: Fontana Water; the Cucamonga Valley Water District; Marygold Mutual Water; and West Valley Water District, and the City of Rialto. Sewage service in the city is provided by the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, but is billed out by the City of Fontana itself.

Interwiki: cite web » url=http://www.fontana.org/index.aspx?nid=687 |title=Residents Frequently Asked Questions |publisher=Fontana.org |date= |accessdate=2010-12-22

HEALTHCARE

Fontana is home to the Kaiser Permanente-Fontana Hospital. Located on Sierra Avenue, and occupying most of the block between Sierra, Marygold, and Palmetto Avenues, and Valley Boulevard, The campus forms one of the largest healthcare facilities in the Inland Empire Region. On more of a side note, the various facilities are also among the tallest and largest buildings in the city (other than industrial distribution centers).
The hospital is home to sixty different specialized departments, plus emergency care.

Interwiki: cite web » url=https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/health/care/!ut/p/c5/dY9LboMwFADPkgNUNpTyWdqFCl7DJ4GEzwaZNKEmYIOKMOT0TQ_Qme1sBlXoqWALb9nMpWA9KlBl1h-QxpRqBGMKBg5CEh3fADDGGgJUtb1snmWelcpyZag8ck6MFfT0GI7FTV5I3NkHzYJ1rszWTubwrE9g66HPN0XB304TV3PG0pQlUXr1lrXB0x7Wr8ixTl73sNzuc98JvYYxmAeRTz-0nEtGne3h3nhZ1K9YazjPhBFwp79s4tB3oDL1nUlbrHHyWFp6H8T7hvK_O7PG_0Awinw5XNF4b_AL2e1-Add2q6k!/dl3/d3/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/ |title=Kaiser Permanente. About this facility |publisher=Health.kaiserpermanente.org |date= |accessdate=2010-12-22

Also, located in the north end of the city, along the "Miracle Mile" of Sierra Lakes Parkway and the 210 freeway, is the Sierra San Antonio Medical Plaza, a Interwiki: convert » 60000|sqft|m2|adj=on outpatient center and medical office building supported by San Antonio Community Hospital. Services currently available from SSAMP are urgent care, diagnostic radiology, physician offices, and a pharmacy.
The facility also boasts a Interwiki: convert » 3000|sqft|m2|adj=on educational suite where community lectures, health screenings, awareness campaigns, maternity and CPR classes are held.

Interwiki: cite web » url=http://www.sach.org/asp/Site/AboutSach/OurHospital/index.asp |title=About SACH Home |publisher=SACH |date= |accessdate=2011-11-19

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