2019: A Year in Review

personal Accomplishments

Traffic Safety

• No Turn on Red Southbound on Collins at the Intersection with Limonite

• No Turn on Red Northbound on Peralta at the Intersection with Limonite

• Rumble Strips approved on Limonite between Ave Juan Bautista and Pacific Eastbound

  • Additional sites I have requested include:

    • Limonite Eastbound before Peralta

    • Sierra Eastbound before Armstrong

• Crestmore Road Diet between Mission and 46th

  • Will be reduced to one lane in each direction

  • Bike Lanes will be added

  • Street parking will be added

• New Diamond Grade Reflective Stop Signs installed on Jurupa Road and Galena among other sites

• Street striping in the community around Shaylor Park West of Patriot High School

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 this past September 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 expected early 2020

Campaign Promises

• Transparency & Accessibility

  • Through social media, I share everything I am legally able to regarding upcoming events, projects, and goals

  • I give weekly recaps on council business, meetings, and how votes went

  • I am responsive via email, social media, and make myself available at various events weekly

  • I held a few meet and greets and one coffee with your councilmember (I plan on holding more)

  • Currently in the process of planning town halls

• Video Recording and Live Streaming

  • We have approved the video recording and live streaming of all council and planning commission meetings and expect it to start in February

  • 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

• Public Safety

  • I was able to get a myriad of traffic safety items approved and ready for implementation (noted above)

  • We added an additional deputy during our budget process at an estimated cost of $300k+ a year and our motor officers have been fully trained and are active

  • I have requested staff analyze the potential cost/service gains of creating our own police department…more to come

Council Accomplishments

committees and commissions

• We increased the size of the Traffic Safety Committee to give Jurupa Valley residents a bigger voice on the committee that had a staff member majority

  • My appointment to this committee is Mayra Jackson

• We created the Community Development Advisory Committee that advises on items such as homelessness services, CDBG investments, and many other items

  • My appointment to this committee is Laura Schultz

• Planning Commission

  • My appointment to this commission is Penny Newman

city manager and department heads

• We have appointed our new City Manager, Rod Butler

  • We expect you will see him at events throughout the city over the next few months

• We approved the full time positions of City Engineer, Building Official, and Economic Development Manager

  • The Building Official position was filled by Keith Clarke who has been doing an outstanding job

• My goal is to continue converting contractors to city employees where it is financially beneficial or where the service to our residents and our city would significantly improve

homelessness

• We have created a new Homelessness Task Force/Committee

  • The meetings will be held as an open forum with everyone invited and will be agendized for all councilmembers to attend if they so wish

  • We would like all Jurupa Valley agencies to attend and participate as well as non-profits and advocates

  • I participate at our annual Point-in-Time (PIT) the past few years and have met with various homeless advocate groups in the past months to get a better understanding of the issues unsheltered persons face each day

    • I have also met with various business and land owners who are affected by this issue to get their perspective

  • The first meeting will be coming up soon, please visit our webpage jurupavalley.org or my social media accounts to stay up to date (links on the bottom of this page)

• We have our Riverside Sheriff H.O.T (Homeless Outreach Team) who is very active in our community

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

  • This past year, we awarded Path of Life a $130,000.00 contract for services

• I pushed for the creation of our Home Rehabilitation Program for low to moderate income households to help with needed home repairs.

  • There are still a few grants available so apply!

economic development

• As mentioned earlier, we have approved for the positions of Economic Development Manager to be converted from contractor to city staff and expect the posting to go up soon

• We had the following new businesses open (I’m sure I’ll miss a few)

  • Waba Grill (Bellegrave & Etiwanda)

  • Sultans (Bellegrave & Etiwanda)

  • Starbucks (Bellegrave & Etiwanda)

  • Western Dental (Bellegrave & Etiwanda)

  • Pilot Flying J Travel Center (Etiwanda & Riverside Dr)

  • Wendy’s (Etiwanda & Riverside Dr)

  • Cinnabon (Etiwanda & Riverside Dr)

  • La Parrilla Mission

  • Mission Marketplace

• We have a myriad of projects in the pipeline and can be viewed here: Development Projects

  • Note: some of the projects on the document are only proposed and some have already been built

Housing Developments

• We approved Emerald Ridge North and South and can be viewed here.

• We approved Highland 1 & 2 and can be viewed here.

  • I conditioned Highland 2 where homes cannot be built until the connection from Sierra to Pacific is complete to alleviate the traffic on Armstrong

• We approved Sequanota Housing Development and can be viewed here on page 38.

  • I conditioned this project to install sewer lines to the property line of the homes in the surrounding neighborhood which have been on septic for decades

• There are many more proposed housing developments in the works and will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

infrastructure

• The state of our roads:

• This year we have approved various streets to for repair based on the image above

  • Van Buren from Galena to Bellegrave

    • The stretch from Bellegrave to Etwiwanda is next

    • This has been completed

  • Granite Hill

    • This was placed on hold due to a JCSD project and is estimated at $1.5 million

  • Rubidoux Blvd from Mission to the 60 freeway

    • This has been completed and cost roughly $1 million

  • Various residential streets were approved for repair and will be reflected in the updated image above that we can expect in the next few months

  • Bain from Bellegrave to Limonite

    • This is currently in the design phase to ensure we have adequate drainage and other enhancements

    • This project will be well over $1 million

• Jurupa Grade Separation Project

  • This will create an underpass at the intersection of Van Buren and Jurupa Rd.

  • You can view conceptual drawings here.

  • This is scheduled to start in the next 12 months and must be complete by 2023

• A roundabout has been approved for construction at the our border with Fontana on Armstrong. This will prevent large trucks from passing through.

• We approved to make Etiwanda Ave and Country Village Rd a restricted truck route.

  • This only applies North of the 60 Freeway

  • A thorough study was conducted and this will result in trucks traveling through industrial areas to get to the freeways and away from our residential areas

    • This will significantly reduce the amount of pollution that our residents our currently exposed to on a daily basis

  • This change will divert thousands of trucks a day from traveling on these roads down Philadelphia and Jurupa Rd to access the freeways

• A few other projects to note:

  • Limonite widening between Bain and Downey

  • Mission Bridge rehabilitation (approved)

  • Market Bridge rehabilitation (approved)

  • Bellegrave Grade Separation Project

It has been a busy year and these are only some of the highlights I feel are important. No doubt, I missed some, but I hope this gives you a good picture of what we have done thus far. Thank you for allowing me to represent you on your City Council and look forward to 2020!