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 Then came last week's deadly rampage by two heavily armed
shooters, which took the lives of 14 people and brought the city an
even less welcome distinction: site of the United States' latest
"terrorist attack," according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and its worst gun violence in three years.
"It's like kicking someone when you're down," said resident Joko
Manullang.
He noted the contrast between San Bernardino and Paris, site of
deadly attacks last month that mobilized an outpouring of support
across the world, could not be more stark.
"When you think of Paris, you think of the Eiffel Tower ... When
it's San Bernardino, it's crackheads, foreclosures," Manullang said.
"There's nothing memorable here, really – except now this tragedy."
Sitting at the base of the San Bernardino mountains, this
working-class community lies just 65 miles (100 km) east of Los
Angeles, a pass-through point for tourists heading to ski resorts in
nearby Big Bear or to the golf courses of Palm Springs.
In bankruptcy since August 2012, the city of 215,000 people still
carries the scars of an economic doldrums from which most of the
nation has managed to recover.
Check-cashing stores in rundown strip malls, billboards hawking
lawyers who specialize in evictions, pawnshops, chain-link fences
surrounding homes with dried-up lawns - all are visible signs of the
one-third of city residents living below the poverty line.
"You don't hear a lot of positive things coming from San Bernardino,
and we didn't want this kind of publicity," said Kenneth Wells, a
Christian pastor.
But, he added, solace could be taken from the fact that the country,
including President Barack Obama, was for the first time turning its
attention to the city.
"That's important to us, that San Bernardino is being spoken of all
over the country," Wells said.
At a candlelight vigil the day after the attacks, resident Anthony
Quayle said he loved his city and wanted to be part of bringing it
back together.
"People talk crap about San Bernardino," Quayle said. "But there are
great hearts here. There's great love here."
The mayor was not immediately available to comment, but City
Attorney Gary Saenz said the recent shooting was bringing people
together.
"Whether it's the fight against terrorism or our city coming through
bankruptcy, it has brought about the attitude that we all need to
lend support, confront our hardships, and find resolutions to our
city's many problems," Saenz said.
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Still, residents have little hope that the current wave of attention
may do little to allay the rampant dysfunction plaguing their area.
As corruption probes ensnared several ex-officials at the county
level in recent years, the city has not been immune. Two city
councilmembers were charged in 2013 in separate cases involving
illegal campaign fund use, and identity theft and stalking. Both
councilmen took plea deals.
A city worker who did not want to be named paused to speak as he was
clearing a park of underbrush to discourage homeless encampments.
"It's hard to care about your city when you don't see your
government doing anything," said the man.
Despite his work, more than a dozen tents and makeshift shelters
scattered the city park under the shadow of a gleaming $340 million
courthouse, approved before the financial crisis hit.
"Discover Downtown" say signs leading to the city center, but
residents say why bother - there is nothing there.
The city's mall is up for sale and empty of most stores, the
convention center is closed and dining options are a smattering of
Mexican taquerias or chain restaurants in strip malls.
"No one wants to bring any business here. At four o'clock, no one
wants to be downtown," said pastor Wells. "There's no vision for the
city."
Former resident Ernest Romero, who still lives in the area, said he
had always assumed that one advantage of living in the so-called
"Inland Empire" was that no one would see such a troubled place as a
good target for terrorism.
"I had been thinking, 'It could happen in Paris, New York, London,
but we're OK here. The last place they'd do anything,'" he said.
"Two weeks later – BAM!"
(Additional reporting by Rory Carroll, Dan Whitcomb and Yasmeen
Abutaleb; Editing by Sue Horton and Lisa Shumaker)
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