Welcome to the We Love Rancho Cucamonga Community Blog!

This is not just another blah, blah Blog; The conversation will not be what I want to talk about, but what you want to talk about. We’re taking the I-me-mine of the normal blog hierarchy and turning it into we-us-ours. We are giving every registrant on our community blog an on-going stake in our community.

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5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1

The timer counted down

I can’t believe it’s finally here. Friday, June 29th. After months of hype . . . endless promotional campaigns . . . lots of media exposure; the anticipation; the build up.

At 6 p.m today hundreds came to the Apple Store in Victoria Gardens and local AT&T retail outlets, with 3 things in their pockets and purses (an i Pod, a PDA, and a cell phone) hoping to leave with just one thing . . . the new Apple iPhone.

Everybody had the same goal in mind, to be among the first to lay their hands on Apple’s new I Phone before everyone else.

Does it live up to the hype? You be the judge!

Pros - The iPhone offers an amazing resolution, with a clear, bright screen, and organic-looking buttons and an interface with all kinds of visual cues to let you know what you can and can’t do. For example, when viewing photos, you scroll with a finger flick to the left and right. But what happens when you try to scroll up and down? If nothing happened, you’d think there was something wrong. So instead, Apple has made it so the image moves up a couple of centimeters but “bounces” quickly back down. In other words, it lets you know the phone recognized your action but also shows you the action cannot be done. Also, the “finger pinch” action for zooming in on things will make you smile the first few times you do it.

The iPhone offers a 3.5-inch screen that offers widescreen viewing that looks so good that you can put your laptop in the overhead bin on long flights and watch movies and TV shows on the iPhone.

Cons - AT&T’s EDGE network is as slow as everyone says it is—going to even the simplest Web page takes minutes. But if you are on a Wi-Fi network, things are relatively speedy. You’re not going to throw away your laptop in favor of browsing on the iPhone. But you will use the Net features for quick information hits while you’re in an airport, stuck on a bus, in class, and so forth.

The iPhone’s camera is only a 2-megapixel camera phone with all the limitations of any other camera phone—it has no flash, no zoom and, while the entire screen becomes the viewfinder, it does a poor job of capturing motion or images in low-light conditions.

I was also disappointed to learn that the iPhone will not wirelessly sync with your Mac but syncing is still fairly easy.

The iPhone is not the Perfect Device. But it’s a real cool piece of technology that does a lot of things surprisingly well – And we know the next generation will only get better!

Getting Safely Out Of ARMs Way

Here's another great way to protect yourself from the current meltdown in the housing market. If you own a home and have an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) set to adjust higher you need to:

• Know your credit score.
• Know the contents of your credit report.
• Clean up your credit report and remove inaccuracies to maximize your credit score.

With the recent changes to the housing market the lenders have made changes to underwriting guidelines. Underwriting guidelines are based on your credit. When underwriting guidelines get more stringent it is the people with the better credit that continue to qualify for good home loans.

READ MORE>>

Are We On The Rebound?

While the housing market continues to decline, there is a broad consensus among economists that a rebound will occur in 2008.

According to the ECONOMIC FOCUS, Volume 11, Issue 24 for the week of June 22nd, inorder for a rebound in 2008 the housing market must first bottom out. So, simple logic dictates that if we are a few months away from the rebound then we must be even fewer months away from the bottom.

"I still think we're not at the bottom in terms of housing construction," says Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wachovia Corp. "Sales have to bottom out first. …We haven’t seen that yet. And then construction starts will probably bottom out nine months after that."

If this holds true, a decline in new home construction should indicate that we are months closer to a bottoming out moving us closer to a recovery. Further, if there is a nine month lag in construction starts and if the industry will start its recovery in 2008 then simple math would place the bottom sometime prior to 2nd Quarter 08.

• May's numbers were mixed, but in line with expectations, and reflected weakness in the South and West, offsetting construction gains in the Northeast and Midwest. The positive message is that numbers are mixed and not down across the board.
• Construction of single-family homes dropped 3.3 percent in May while apartment construction rose by 3.1 percent, another mixed signal. Historically, a hot housing market draws buyers from the rental rolls and causes a decline in apartment starts. This reversal indicates market corrections at the beginning of the manufacturing process, and as new home inventories shrink, demand will build in the coming months.
• Finally, interest rates remain flat. The Fed has held their rates steady for nearly a year with no indication of sharp rises in the near future. The last thing the Fed wants to do is take the remaining breath out of housing with higher mortgage rates.

Perhaps the soothsayers are correct and we are nearing the bottom and a recovery in the housing market is near.

Seniors in Rancho Cucamonga - Catch a Fox!

Since February of 1999 seniors have had the blessing of transportation to the grocery store and to the James L. Brulte Senior Center for the many health, wellness and recreational offerings. This transportation has been provided by the City of Rancho Cucamonga and Rancho Cucamonga & Fontana Family YMCA and it's just getting better!

A door-to-door service, as of this summer it has been enhanced with added route services and dedicated Grocery Store and Medical Visit stops Monday – Friday. It's even been given a whole new name and look - Silver Fox Express!

Seniors ages 60+ can take advantage of this service for an annual fee of $25*. Quite a bargain when you think of all of the traffic, parking, and expensive trips to the gas station you can avoid! "Fox Funds" are available to assist those seniors that qualify. The Silver Fox Express operates within the City limits of the City of Rancho Cucamonga and, for routine medical visits, certain destinations in Upland and Fontana as well.

Contact the James L. Brulte Senior Center for more information (909) 477-2780, or you can go into the Center - 11200 Base Line Road - to complete an application. Once you you're signed up, call the Reservation Line (909) 987-0777 to schedule your pick-up! The Senior Center has an entire Resource Guide of additional transportation resources available, so make sure to get one next time you drop by.

4th of July Spectacular!

The City of Rancho Cucamonga Presents:

8th Annual Fireworks Spectacular

at the

Rancho Cucimonga Epicenter & Adult Sports Park

(8408 Rochester Avenue)

Featured Performers:

Surf City All Stars

Tickets on sale NOW!

Tickets $7* purchased BEFORE July 4th

Children age 2 and under are free (lap seating only)

ALL Tickets - $10* purchased ON july 4th (if available)

*Ticket surcharges apply

BUY TICKETS EARLY - show has SOLD OUT the last 3 years

Tickets available:

• Walk-up or via phone order at the Lewis Family Playhouse Box Office (909) 477-2752
• Or online here!

PARKING INFORMATION

Parking Lots Open at 5 pm * Stadium opens at 5:30 pm

For safety reasons, Rochester Ave.
(South of Foothill and North of Jack Benny Drive)
will CLOSE to PEDESTRIAN and VEHICLE traffic from 8:40 – 9:45 pm. If arriving AFTER 8:30 pm please use Arrow Route entrance (West of Rochester) to avoid delays due to Rochester closure.

Click HERE for area map and additional parking information.

Fireworks are illegal in the City of Rancho Cucamonga and the law will be strictly enforced. As an alternative, please visit our professional firework display.

Spider-Man Maguire Sells Hollywood Hills Home For 11.5 Million

Spiderman star Tobey Maguire sold his 3 bedroom Hollywood Hills home for an estimated 11.5 million dollars. The actor had previously purchased the 5,000 square foot home in Hollywood Hills in 2002 for 3.7 million.

Maguire, who was born in Santa Monica, Calif., spent a lot of time growing up in Oregon, and admits he'd like his daughter to spend her childhood well away from the madness of Hollywood. The little girl was born five months ago and the actor is already thinking about where he wants to school his child.