Crossing the 100-Day Line

July 18, 2024 marks one hundred days in office as the councilmember for Riverside’s first ward. During my April 9, 2024 swearing-in ceremony I pledged to hit the ground running on day one as a tireless, full-time councilmember and that’s exactly what I have done.

In these first hundred days, my team and I have been laser-focused on doing the work we were elected to do—focus on the critical responsibilities of local government. To provide details on how these one hundred days have positively impacted your quality of life in Riverside, here is a snapshot of what has occurred in this time.

Infrastructure Investments: Roads, Roads, Roads

It is no secret that I am an infrastructure and facilities councilmember—our roads, parks, libraries, community centers are our communal assets, and the City Council and City of Riverside team are the stewards of these assets. To that end, in these few months in office we have repaved Sedgwick Ave, Glenwood Dr, currently repaving Virginia Pl, Tower Rd, Palm Ave, and Market St with over two dozen other Ward 1 streets greenlit for repaving since April 9, 2024. Ensuirng equal treatment of all Ward 1’s four neighborhoods is important and I am proud to say that we have major infrastructure projects happening in every neighborhood. During the race for this seat, I pledged to allocate more dollars for road repaving than we have before and that is exactly what has occurred. An extra $5 million was allocated for road repaving in the recently adopted 2024/2025 budget bringing this year’s road repaving investment to a historic $27 million.

Park Improvements: Our Front Yards

Our fifty-five city parks are our front yards and we are starting to see the return on investment with monies previously allocated for deferred maintenance. Ward 1 has a dozen parks—more than any other ward—and I have spent hours surveying each of these twelve parks with our parks director identifying immediate needs, mid-term and long-term improvements to some of our city’s most iconic locations like Fairmount Park and Mt. Rubidoux. Since April 9, 2024, the Bordwell Park parking lot has been repaved, new rubberized flooring installed at Reid Park playground—with funding approved for the same work at four other Ward 1 parks—and agreements executed for repaving Reid Park parking lot, swimming pool heater at Reid Park, new monument and wayfinding signage at Fairmount Park along with the highly-anticipated Fairmount Lake dredging project to return pedal boats to the lake, the construction of a gymnasium at Bordwell Park, and a $25 million dollar renovation for the Cesar Chavez Center at Bobby Bonds Park. This is just an abbreviated list as there are many more green-lit park improvement projects happening in Ward 1.

Public Safety: Hearing from our First Responders

Public safety has also been top of mind. In these first one hundred days, I have met with firefighters at all fourteen of our fire stations, asking them how the City Council can help make a safer Riverside. Similarly, I spent time with Riverside Police Department officers and police support staff at all four police stations. Meeting face to face with over one hundred public safety professionals has provided me with valuable insight on how they serve Riverside—and what we need to do to improve. The recent Supreme Court decision on the Grants Pass, OR case re-affirms the City’s ability to enforce local ordinances designed to deter illegal activity by homeless people—something that occupies 80% of our public safety professionals’ time.

Special Projects: Preservation, Beautification, & More

Multiple Ward 1 special projects and campaigns were also launched in the last one hundred days. The projects include overhauls to our city sign code and noise ordinance to ensure a more attractive and livable Riverside, the cataloging and rehabilitation of historical plaques and markers to protect and promote our local history, beautification projects bringing more public art around the ward, a Wood Streets signal box  beautification campaign to deter graffiti, and a Riverside County first responder memorial park are just a handful of the more than a dozen special projects I have launched in the last three months.

It is my hope that this gives you a taste of the   happenings in Ward 1—proving to you the level   of dedication and sense of urgency I take to this   role each day.  As always, much remains to do, so let’s get to it.

NOTE: Please do not respond to this GovDelivery email as it will not be received. To respond, please email the Ward 1 Office directly at Ward1@riversideca.gov.