San Bernardino Archives - Our Towns

Local Institutions

Inside Our Towns: Project Fighting Chance

Evan Sanford and James Fallows
August 8, 2022

Evan Sanford and James Fallows talk with Ian Franklin and Terry Boykins about Project Fighting Chance -- a boxing gym that is more than a boxing gym in San Bernardino. They discuss how it got started, how it has grown, and an immediate challenge it faces today.

N435SR parked at its new home at the San Bernardino Airport in California (Deborah Fallows)

Travel

The End of the Journey

Deborah Fallows
January 18, 2017

Arriving in Tucson, we felt the inklings of coming full circle with our American Futures project. Only one more leg of our journey, about 400 miles, before we reached our destination of…

Barn at the Deerwood Ranch wild horse refugee, outside Laramie, Wyoming. (Deborah Fallows)

Economic Development

All Progress Is Local: New Year’s Notes From Around the Country

James Fallows
January 1, 2017

New Year's Notes from Around the Country

Members of San Bernardino’s “Generation Now" Matthew Greenleaf, Saniyyah Thomas, Jennica Billins, Michael Segura, Jorge Heredia, and Fabian Torres: the young people who think they can save a bankrupt, low-hope city (Deborah Fallows)

Economic Development

Talking About a Second Gilded Age, With ‘On Point’ Listeners

James Fallows
February 23, 2016

Two updates today: 1) On Point. I spoke today with Tom Ashbrook of WBUR and his On Point audience, about my contention (in the current cover story) that even in this time of wage…

Illustration by Adam Voorhes and Robin Finlay.

Civic Life

How America Is Putting Itself Back Together

James Fallows
February 22, 2016

Most people in the U.S. believe their country is going to hell. But they’re wrong. What a three-year journey by single-engine plane reveals about reinvention and renewal.

The Norman F. Feldheym Central Library in San Bernardino, California (Amerique at Wikimedia Commons)

Libraries

Pitching in to Save a Library

Deborah Fallows
February 16, 2016

In San Bernardino, one way to help save the city is to save its library.

Scene from Mojave Trails National Monument, one of three new protected areas President Obama created today (Jack Thompson for the Wildlands Conservancy)

Travel

Welcome Our Newest National Monuments!

James Fallows
February 12, 2016

Often it seems that modern presidents can't do anything â€” except wage war. Here's a heartening exception.

In its heyday San Bernardino was a city of well-tended, modest family homes. One of today's nice neighborhoods on the north side of town. (James Fallows)

Civic Life

The San Bernardino Story: Fire Fighters Weigh In

James Fallows
June 23, 2015

Who is to blame when a struggling city runs out of money? A public-safety worker says it's unfair to point the finger at him and his colleagues. Plus, a young resident of the city discovers reasons to hope.

San Bernardino's Dr. Bill Clarke (right), presenting 14-year-old Frank Le of Indian Springs High School with a certificate of proficiency in operating an advanced Computerized Numerical Control (CNC) milling machine like the one behind them. This is part of a new skills-for-all emphasis in the city's schools. (James Fallows)

Education

Building for the Future, In California’s Famously Failed City

James Fallows
June 14, 2015

The Los Angeles Times has a big, new demonstration of how bad things have gotten in the city of San Bernardino. Here’s a look at people doing their best, despite those odds.

Cajon High School, San Bernardino, California (Deborah Fallows)

K-12

A High School That Changes Lives, One at a Time

Deborah Fallows
May 27, 2015

Teachers and students in a bankrupt California city, determined to make progress

"Keeping America Great in Manufacturing," one training project at a time. (Mobile Lab outside main site of Technical Employment Training in San Bernardino, California) (James Fallows)

Economic Development

Post-Memorial Day Note: Another Kind of Service, San Bernardino

James Fallows
May 26, 2015

"I don't just sit around. I don't sleep much. That's what I do. I do stuff." The story of a man determined to do something for his town.

Sun over mountains.

Governance

Today a Bankrupt City Votes on Its Next Steps

James Fallows
May 18, 2015

"We've gotten used to gridlock and stalemate at the national level. This is what it looks like for a city." What civic dysfunction has in common with excessive CEO pay, and why it matters.

View toward San Bernardino, along the usually dry bed of the Santa Ana River, from the hills to the north. The mountain in the left-center distance is Mount San Jacinto, 50 miles away en route to Palm Springs. (James Fallows)

Economic Development

What It’s Like When Your City Goes Broke

James Fallows
May 14, 2015

San Bernardino, California, is poor, and has a high unemployment rate, and is affected by drought, and is in bankruptcy court. But its real problem is something else.

Members of San Bernardino’s “Generation Now" Matthew Greenleaf, Saniyyah Thomas, Jennica Billins, Michael Segura, Jorge Heredia, and Fabian Torres: the young people who think they can save a bankrupt, low-hope city (Deborah Fallows)

Citizen Engagement

‘Generation Now’—What People Do, When There Seems to Be Nothing to Do

James Fallows
April 28, 2015

In the next few installments I will be talking about two cities in inland Southern California that have some things in common but have headed in very different directions, and…

The Darth Vader-looking aircraft, in flight (Brian Lockett for Air-and-Space.com)

Aviation

Ask and Ye Shall Be Told, Mystery Airplane Edition

James Fallows
February 4, 2015

Sometimes crowdsourcing pays off.

The flight line this afternoon at KSBD, San Bernardino International Airport (James Fallows)

Aviation

When I Grow Up …

James Fallows
February 3, 2015

Darth Vader vs. Casper the Friendly Ghost, on an airport tarmac

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