​University, Mission Grove, Sycamore Canyon, Canyon Springs, Canyon Crest, and Hunter Park are all distinct neighborhoods that all require different approaches to addressing their specific needs.

 

However, what all the communities in Ward 2 can agree upon is that we all want to walk safely in our neighborhoods. We all want to walk around our businesses and neighborhoods in a clean environment absent vandalized buildings and homeless sleeping on our streets. Once people feel safe, all other community activities become comfortable and easy for people to enjoy regularly. 

​

Riverside Fire

The Riverside Fire Chief and his team will have my full support on the department’s request for 84 additional firefighters and two new stations in the city.  The Chief stated that the current firefighter-to-resident ratio is 0.69 firefighters per 1000 residents. That is too low of a ratio. At a minimum, the standard should be much closer to 1 per 1000. 

 

I will push to ensure Riverside Fire has all that they need to be prepared for all emergencies such as large-scale fires or earthquakes. The Riverside Fire Department will not suffer a similar shortfall of needed equipment and personnel as the Los Angeles Fire Department experienced and as homeowners of Pacific Palisades experienced during the Palisades Eaton Fire.

​​

Riverside Police

The Riverside Police Department will have my full support to provide them with the necessary tools to protect our community effectively and efficiently. Proactive Community Oriented Policing teams, arresting criminals, traffic safety enforcement, and reducing homelessness around our neighborhoods and businesses is a minimum that we should expect from our law enforcement. 

​

A well-trained and equipped Police and Fire Department translates into a higher quality of service with increased effectiveness and efficiency. This, in turn, improves the quality of life for everyone in Riverside by protecting us from fire and decreasing criminal behavior in our neighborhoods and businesses.

​

Traffic​

I suggest that the city’s Traffic Engineering Division of the Public Works Department conduct a Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA) to assess the increased traffic congestion during peak commuting hours, particularly in Ward 2, along Sycamore Canyon Boulevard and other surface streets. This congestion hampers timely public safety access to the surrounding neighborhoods and businesses, and it also negatively impacts the quality of life for residents living near Sycamore Canyon Boulevard, as they experience increased noise and pollution in their residential apartments and homes. 
​​​

Homelessness:

The addressing of homelessness in California has been a horrible disaster, wasting $24 billion and causing harm to many cities’ neighborhoods and businesses, as well as to the homeless community. How many world-class mental health and drug treatment facilities could have been created with that $24 billion? How many lives could have been saved? This issue needs a new approach.

​

In my experience, the current approach of solely housing people without addressing mental health and drug addiction issues is creating the same mistakes that wasted $24 billion taxpayer dollars. The homelessness problem is not just a housing problem but primarily a drug and mental health issue for a majority of the homeless population.

 

As an example, the recent Quality Inn Homeless Project on University Avenue did not have adequate safeguards to remove dangerous or disruptive people, nor provide mental health or drug treatment, nor did it have safeguards to protect women with children at the facility. The Quality Inn Homeless Project would have only increased the homeless population and the problems that come with it. 

 

State and federal funds, properly used, are required to address the larger problem of mental health and drug treatment, staffed by trained professionals and therapists.

 

What can the city do? First, we need to conduct a census of all homeless to evaluate their circumstances, their mental health and/or drug issues, and their desire to actually receive assistance to get off the street. Many homeless refuse consent for help due to their mental health and drug problems. A census would allow police and social services to identify those that want immediate assistance from those that don't.

 

Priority must be given to women with children first. Providing them assistance for proper short-term housing so they have a mailing address for job opportunities, a safe place to eat and sleep, and a sense of hope. Secondly, the Veterans Administration will help all homeless veterans with housing and treatment, but they must consent to help and want to get off the street. Once they consent, we can assist them and remove them from the streets.

 

Once the homeless population has been identified and their circumstances understood, county and city social services can be brought in to assist with resources. An action plan with goals and timeline benchmarks should be created to track the accomplishments and failures of the program, then look for ways to modify and improve upon it. Another option for which there is a great deal of hesitancy by government entities is to bring in faith-based organizations.  Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous have been incorporating the faith-based or “higher power” methods with success for decades. We can't exclude any available resource because some people find it politically incorrect.