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History of Chino Hills

Research Paper on Chino Hills Chino Hills saw its first use back in 1771 as land used for grazing cattle that belonged to the San Gabriel Mission until being sold to Richard Gird in 1848 after Mexico ceded it to the United States. The city began to see a population growth in the early 1920’s when both a mineral springs and a country club were both built in the city. The mineral springs were built in an area of the city known as sleep hollow otherwise known as carbon canyon. The springs became a getaway from the big city and soon saw small dwellings being built around it.

In the 1960’s the springs became a constant hang out for hippies and many permanent houses were built during that time to accommodate those that would hang out there. Unfortunately today they springs are no longer open but many of the houses still remain. The Los Serranos country club was opened in 1925 which allowed members to buy small lots of land around the club on which many members would build cabanas or casitas for weekend getaways which led to future more permanent housing.

The town remained relatively rural up until the 1970’s due to its topography of rolling hills which made it quiet expensive to develop so it was mostly used for dairies or equestrian use. In 1979, the County of San Bernardino initiated the development of the Chino Hills Specific Plan which laid out a plan for future development of over 18,000 acres. This plan was to become the first of its kind in California to be used on an unincorporated area due to the overwhelming pressures of people wanting to move there.

By 1982 the plan was approved and extensive housing developments followed throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, only slowing down in recent years. The city was eventually incorporated on December 1st 1991 as has grown from a population of 42,000 before incorporation to over 78,000 today. The city is now considered a sub-urban community in the upper middle class with an average household income of $106,825 and family sizes around 3 or 4 on average. The average new house in Chino Hills goes for just a little over 1 million while an older house goes for around $600,000.

The education level for most people is completed college which seems about right since the average income is so high. The primary ethnicity of the city consists of about half White, 27% Asian, and 6% African American with Hispanic taking up 28% of which some belong to other ethnicities. The average age of people is 32 with about 1/3 of the population being under the age of 18 and about 4% being over 65. Recent endeavors by the city include the newly built shoppes in 2008 and the Vellano country club in 2005. The Shoppes are an outdoor shopping center with over 65 upscale stores and restaurants.

Some of the stores and restaurants include Borders Bookstore, Forever 21, Yardhouse Bar and Grill, PF Changs, and California Pizza Kitcthen. It was designed to become the new main street of Chino Hills including not only stores but the government center, library, and police station. Vellano country club is a private golf course and housing development with housing reaching over the 2 million mark which makes it the most expensive housing in the inland empire. The city of Chino Hills uses a city council type of government. The council establishes all city ordinances, approves plans, and adopts budgets.

The council also chooses a city manager who enforces laws and, basically runs the city’s day-to-day activities. Members of the city council are elected by the residents and then within the council the mayoral seat is rotated among the five people on the council who each serve four year terms upon being elected. The council meets every second and fourth Tuesday of the month with an open forum for current residents to voice their opinions. These meeting are actually broadcast on the local television in town and are also streamed on the city website for all to view. The current office holders of Chino Hills are Peter Rogers as mayor, W.

C. Kruger as mayor pro term, and council members Art Bennet, Ed Graham, and Gwenn Norton-Perry. Peter Rogers received his degree in communications from Cal Poly Pomona and studied further at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He has worked for his own self business Peter Rogers Photography for over 25 years. He has been served on several committees for the city before being elected mayor back in 2006. W. C. Kruger received his bachelor of science in electrical engineering from Cal State San Diego and then went on to earn his masters in business administration from National University.

He worked for Kodak until his retirement in 1998 and now teaches engineering and management classes part time at several colleges. He was first elected to the city council in 2000 and served as mayor for the 2005 year before being elected mayor pro term in 2006. Art Bennet received his degree in business/real estate and has been working as a consultant in property taxes. He served on several committees before winning a council seat in 2008 due to the fact that he didn’t have enough opponents.

Gwenn Norton-Perry received her degree in journalism from Humboldt state and works as vice president of a land developing firm. She has served four terms as the mayor and has held numerous positions on several committees before winning a seat on council in 2008 due to not enough people running. Ed Graham received his degree in physical education at Cal State Fullerton and is currently the vice principal at pioneer junior high. He served four terms as mayor before being reelected to the city council in 2006. The city doesn’t have its own police department or a fire department but rather contracts them out.

The city is contracted out to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s and to the Chino Valley Independent Fire District. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s have one station in the city situated next to the new Shoppes. Growing up I hated the Sheriff because they were everywhere. Whenever there was a party or anything happening in the youth community they always somehow knew and would be there. Looking back now it seems that they were just doing a good job. The Fire department has three stations situated throughout the city two near the shoppes and another one out by the 91 freeway.

I personally was born in Chino Hills back in 1987 and have lived there my entire life. I can remember when the only things around were an Albertsons, a gas station and a few tiny stores surrounding the Albertson’s. If you needed something else than you either had to drive to Chino or Diamond Bar. I can remember when several of the roads weren’t even fully paved but instead were just dirt roads and when you woke up in the morning all you could smell was cows. Now the city is booming with several restaurants and big name stores to shop at.

Just about all the land is now incorporated and the day’s urban lifestyle is now replaced with a sub-urban lifestyle. The only problem I ran into with the city growing up was that there was nothing to do there. All there was in town was a few parks and a library. The first movie theatre wasn’t even built nearby until the late 90’s, prior to which the closest one was in downtown Chino which was at least 10 to 15 minutes away driving. Now they have an 18 screen all stadium seating theatre which is amazing and reasonably priced after a student discount but it still isn’t enough.

The city needs more to do for the teenagers. Some possible hang outs where they can all go to, to have safe fun. Possibly a bowling alley where they can bowl or play video games would be a great choice. All in all Chino Hills is a great city to grow up in. Its safe, has good schools, and is clean. It will continue to grow and will hopefully continue to be a great city to raise a family. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a place to live not just because I live there but because I believe that it is great city and will continue to be one for a very long time.

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