RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — Transportation. Open Spaces. Green Buildings. Energy. Waste Reduction. Water. Those were just some of the topics residents discussed at a community forum and sustainability expo on Thursday evening. It was held at the Victoria Gardens Cultural Center Courtyard.
“My ideas had to do with making sure our city stays clean. Also, making sure the transit system is more efficient,” said Rancho Cucamonga resident Elisa Smith. “I am participating in a community garden. I have a garden at the house. I try to bike as much as possible and try not to use my cars.”
Another attendee, Christoper Calle, added: “I brought the recycling the water when using our sprinklers, making a cheaper utility bill so we can put in solar panels. Being more conservative maybe. There’s different maneuvers and ways we can conserve…you know, saving our water and electricity and what not.”
Farm Fresh to You was one more than 20 exhibits at the event. They deliver organic fruits and vegetables straight to your front door.
“Basically, we’re like an online farmer’s market,” said Jasmine of Farm Fresh To You. “Every Thursday we upload on our website everything we’re going to be harvesting for the next week. A lot of people in this area are concerned about their health, being able to have produce that’s organic and be able to support local farms.”
Deborah Allen from the city of Rancho Cucamonga said they received over 1,000 responses from a sustainability survey that was mailed out to residents over a three-month period.
“Over 94 percent of residents said having a clean, livable environment is very important to them,” Allen said. “We talk more about what types of things would that be? What types of programs and policies would they like to see to make it easy to live an environmentally-friendly life.”
Mica’s Peruvian Sandwiches was one of the first restaurants to join the Healthy RC Dining program. It highlights restaurants in the City of Rancho Cucamonga that offer and encourage healthy dining options for children and adults.
“We’re included in the program because some of the dishes we have,” said co-owner Teresa Hernani. “We have the Peruvian turkey wrap at the sandwich shop which is very healthy. We do everything in the store and it’s very good.”
They were one of seven restaurants that participated in the sustainability expo. Mica’s also brought its Ceviche for attendees to sample.
“It’s a fusion of Peruvian and a little bit of Mexican,” Hernani added. “It has more vegetables in it. The dressing is like Peruvian style. It’s very good.”
So what are the next steps?
“We appreciate all of the input we’ve got with the surveys as well as the input we got this evening,” Allen said. “The city will be drafting a sustainability action plan based on that input. That draft will be coming out in the fall of this year.”
For more information about the Healthy RC Dining program, visit https://www.cityofrc.us/websites/healthy_rc/healthy_rc_dining/about_the_program.asp.
