Community Corner

'No Way Gateway' Committee Takes Cause to Cherry Festival

Community activists opposed to a local warehousing plan have set up shop this weekend at Beaumont's Cherry Festival.

The No Way Gateway committee has a booth at the event, and organizers tell Patch that they've seen a lot of positive response to their cause.

"We had booths on either side of us and our traffic was easily three times what theirs was," Committee Chairwoman Nancy Carroll told Patch in an email. "We probably had about 200 people stop by from 5-10 p.m. on Thursday."

The committee stands in opposition to the I-10 Gateway project, which is a proposed 2.5 million square foot industrial complex along Cherry Valley Boulevard.

"Most people are very sympathetic," Carroll said of overall reaction booth workers have seen at the Cherry Festival.  "Of everyone that stopped by our booth only two people did not want to sign the petition [to stop the rezoning of Cherry Valley to allow the industrial warehouse in a residential area] and of course there were many who walked by and did not want to engage. "

And though it's costing the committee about $375 for the booth and supplies for the weekend, Carroll said it's well worth it:

"But I think it is going to be well worth it because our mission when I recommended this was 1. educate the pass about the risks and benefits of allowing spot zoning of Cherry Valley 2. knit together the community and not allow it to be fragmented into Banning, Beaumont, Cherry Valley etc. So we could be one spirit in this.  3. Get petitions signed.  

"Wait till we are done!  We are going to knock it out of the park."



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