Bloomington

Soundscape: Bloomington, 2024

by Henry Apodaca and A People’s History of the I.E.

Narrators:

Ana Carlos, interview by Rocio Gomez. A People’s History of the I.E. Feb 14, 2022. Carlos has lived in Bloomington since 2011 and is a Concerned Neighbor of Bloomington. Her children attend Bloomington schools affected by warehouse expansion.

Kelly Johnson, interview by Audrey Maier. A People’s History of the I.E, May 13, 2024. Johnson teaches in Colton Unified School District which includes Bloomington schools.

Margaret Razo, interview by Anthony Victoria. A People’s History of the I.E. May 21 2024. Razo has been a resident since 1973 and her entire family attended Zimmerman elementary school, where she served on the PTA.

Kim Rocha, interview by Antony Victoria. A People’s History of the I.E. 2019. Rocha was a founder of Concerned Neighbors of Bloomington and was recognized as 2019 Woman of the year for her committed local activism. She ultimately left the area because of the warehouses built right behind their home.

Fernanda Durazo, interview by Anthony Victoria. A People’s History of the I.E. Jan 2024. Fernanda is a lifelong resident of Bloomington, a photographer who is documenting the transformation of her community.

Ana Carlos [00:00:10] Yeah, I love, Saturday mornings and Saturday evenings all week really. We have people going down the street on horseback because they, you know, go to the hills to ride where it's safe. And just, you know, beautiful green hills. And they just go out for an evening. Right. So it's, it's very common to see people on horseback any day of the week, really.

Kelly Johnson [00:00:37] So one of my friends was the principal at Zimmerman, and I can remember her calling me like the first day saying, you cannot believe this. People will ride up on their horses. So I was like, okay, Raquel, you're pulling my leg. And she says, "No, there is like a post so they can tie their horse up. They are tying their horse up and walking their kid and their big old cowboy hats and boots."

Margaret Razo [00:01:01] We'd play at Zimmerman. We'd play at Kessler. We just get if there wasn't enough family to come, we just get it, pick up games with whoever was out there. But my dad was really big on keeping us active and just getting us out. So we were friends with literally everyone in our neighborhood because we all play ball together.

Ana Carlos [00:01:20] Bloomington is a small rural community, and from 2007, that's what the community plan has stated that community members want. And in 2017, Bloomington expanded into industrial commercial zoning. And now we're seeing warehouses come up in the middle of residential neighborhoods next to schools. And we're fighting against that because the community is a equestrian community. We have horses. We have farm animals, and that's the lifestyle that we're fighting for. My children attend Bloomington High School, Ruth O. Harris Middle School, and part of the proposed project would build, you know, these 3,000,000ft² of warehouses, next to my children's school. It would literally be in my backyard. So right now, my view of hills and mountains and farm animals would be replaced with a wall of warehouses and trucks.

Margaret Razo [00:02:20] They've been chipping away at Bloomington. I mean, this whole time. And like, growing up, we had a Christmas tree farm right here up the hill, and I always assumed that was part of Bloomington. But I found out after the fact that it actually belonged to Fontana.

Kim Rocha [00:02:34] We didn't know how to organize, but we knew we had rights. You know, like I said, working at a union company. God, he's had his hand in this journey the whole way because he put us in contact with the right people to help us. And you remember our very first big community meeting? It had over 140 people. Oh my God. And standing room only. We bombarded the school board, you know, asked them, why won't they tell the parents that a warehouse is going in, right? Right by their school children where they attend school? You know, we found out all kinds of things. That really you do need leaders to speak out because you'll be run over, you know, which in the past Bloomington has they have made horrible land use decision. And we're not going to lay down for it anymore.

Ana Carlos [00:03:17] In the beginning, it was more of, you know, that first Amazon warehouse. And I was really concerned with that first warehouse because it was so close to Bloomington High School, and that's a high school that my kids would be attending. So I got involved with it that way because we were fighting that one, right next to the high school. And then we found out there was one at one of the other elementary schools. And we're really upset with that, too, because it's right across the street from the elementary school. So it's kind of like neighbors helping neighbors. Like, you know, first Thomas Rocha is like, "Hey, I'm getting a warehouse in my backyard. Let's, you know, let's stand up against this." And so we're helping him and then, you know, the other one. So we were kind of just helping each other. But just over the years, it kind of seems like everyone's been getting a warehouse in their backyard.

Fernanda Durazo [00:04:02] So I've been using my photography mostly to document, you know, Bloomington as it is currently. And I wish I had done it a lot sooner because ever since I started back in 2022, I noticed that a lot of homes have been obviously taken down.

Ana Carlos [00:04:20] Plans are in progress to rezone 213 acres of residential agricultural lots. Even if a neighbor isn't interested in selling, even if a neighbor does not want their home rezoned. If this project goes through, and if the Board of Supervisors votes to pass it, their home will be forcefully rezoned. So eventually their residential home would be rezone industrial commercial, and they would be living in an industrial zone.

Fernanda Durazo [00:04:47] And so I've been wanting to document like communities, obviously, because they're going to be gone and they're going to be taken over by warehouses. And so the future generation won't know what this looks like, even like kids, for now, they won't know that there was, you know, these huge plots of land for like, horses.