2020: A Year in Review

Traffic Safety

  • Crestmore Road Diet between Mission and Loring Ranch Rd (Awaiting Funding)

    • Will be reduced to one lane in each direction

    • Bike Lanes will be added

    • Street parking will be added

RTRP (Riverside Transmission Reliability Project)

  • This project, as proposed, would install 230kv overhead power lines along our 15fwy corridor between Limonite and Cantu Galleano

    • We have completed an urban study that shows we are currently losing $2 million plus a year in tax revenue and 100’s of jobs by not being able to develop in that area

    • The electricity that would run through these lines would only benefit Riverside and no-one else

  • Mayor Brian Berkson and myself held 4 town halls in Riverside to inform their residents of what was being proposed for their Hidden Valley Wildlife area.

  • Mayor Berkson and myself attended the hearings in front of the Administrative Law Judge in September 2019 and worked with our legal teams during the 3 day hearing to provide factual data and arguments.

  • I advocated heavily and received the support of Congressman Mark Takano, Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes, and General Richard Roth for undergrounding of the RTRP in Jurupa Valley

  • I secured a Tri-City resolution with all 15 councilmember’s signatures from the City of Norco, City of Eastvale, and the City of Jurupa Valley to support undergrounding in Jurupa Valley and Norco

  • Final decision from the Administrative Law Judge came in March 2020 in favor of undergrounding the RTRP in Jurupa Valley.

  • We are currently in the planning stages for the land between Limonite and Bellegrave including the lot north of Bellegrave along the 15 freeway.

Campaign Promises

  • Transparency & Accessibility

    • Continuing social media transparency by posting important updates regularly

    • Starting April 2021, will begin sending out a monthly newsletter via email

    • Remain very responsive to email and other mediums

  • Video Recording and Live Streaming

    • I led this initiative and am please to announce it did go live in February 2020

    • The recorded video will allow you to use the agenda and interactively choose an agenda item and the video will jump to that point in the discussion

Council Accomplishments

committees and commissions

  • Traffic Safety Committee

  • Community Development Advisory Committee

    • My appointment to this committee is Benito Valenzuela

  • Planning Commission

city manager and department heads

  • We have completed the process of hiring our first in-house Executive Team which consists of:

    • City Manager - Rod Butler

    • Assistant City Manager - Michael Flad

    • Community Development Director - Joe Perez

    • Economic Development Manager - Jose Bazua

    • City Engineer/Director of Public Works - Paul Toor

    • Chief Building Official - Keith Clarke

homelessness

  • We used additional CDBG funding to rent 3 homes in Jurupa Valley which are being used as temporary shelter for unhoused families who qualify. The program is being administered by Path of Life.

  • We have our Riverside Sheriff H.O.T (Homeless Outreach Team) who is very active in our community and the newly created P.O.P Team to address quality of life issues.

  • We contract with Path of Life for homelessness services such as beds, homelessness prevention, and various types of aid.

    • This past year, we increased the award to Path of Life a $170,000.00 contract for services

economic development

  • The Rubidoux Gateway Plaza consists of 28k square feet commercial retail on the corner of Mission and Crestmore. The intent is for a medium/large retail store such as a grocer and smaller retail/office units within the center. Expected start of construction is Summer 2022.

  • The Van Buren Marketplace consists of two phases on 16 acres and is located on the corner of Rutile and Van Buren. The first phase consists of a fueling station, car wash, convenience store, anchor retail building such as a grocer, and a full service restaurant. It also requires that all infrastructure be built including landscaping and roadway improvements. Phase 2 consists of a drive thru restaurant, and 4 other retail/office buildings. Expected start of construction is Fall 2021.

covid

  • Worked closely with our Sikh Community to coordinate multiple food distributions at the Sikh Temple and multiple sites across our city beginning in March 2020 and running through December 2020.

  • Worked closely with For the People Taskforce to provide meal distributions and mask distributions throughout the year.

  • Lead the initiative on creating our own Local Small Business Economic Assistance program that was eventually approved in the amount of $300k which would provide grants of up to $10k each to small businesses in Jurupa Valley who were impacted by Covid and qualified.

  • Lead the initiative and eventual approval of our own local rental and utility assistance grant program which provided a total of $200k of grants for our residents impacted by Covid.