For months leading up to the June 2 primary election, Riverside City Council candidates have attended community forums, answered reporters’ questions and regularly reached out to constituents to try to earn their votes — except for Ward 6 candidate Norma Berrellez.
“People have called Norma, texted Norma, emailed her and don’t get a response, and that’s while she’s running,” said Sharon Mateja, the founder of Residents for Responsible Representation, a La Sierra neighborhood group. “She has been an absentee candidate, except for spending money for banners and yard signs.”
Berrellez, a trustee for the Alvord Unified School District, did not immediately respond to The Riverside Record’s request for an interview for this story.
She is one of three candidates vying for the Ward 6 seat after longtime Councilmember Jim Perry announced his retirement last year.
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Since declaring her candidacy in early January, several large white election banners with her name and face have been hung up on fences across the ward. She also launched a website, received key endorsements from the police and sheriff’s associations and has raised almost $18,000 in monetary donations, according to campaign finance filings.
In her candidate statement submitted to the city, she promised to prioritize road maintenance, increase youth programs in the area and host regular public forums if elected.
However, for the last six months, she has missed a number of chances to meet face-to-face with residents. Her absence has raised concerns about whether she would be able to adequately fill Perry’s shoes if elected.
“I hold people up to the gold standard of Councilmember Perry and of how he treated his constituents,” Mateja said. “I’m afraid we are not going to have that with [Berrellez], and that’s the concern of most people.”
In the early months of the campaign, she did not attend any of the three candidate forums co-hosted by community groups Mission Grove Neighborhood Alliance and Residents for Responsible Representation.
Brian Kerr, the Mission Grove Neighborhood Alliance co-founder, said Berrellez didn’t respond to his first invitation, then said she was unavailable for the following two events.
“[Residents] were disappointed, because they wanted to hear from all the candidates,” Kerr said. “People in Ward 6 are a little upset that she hasn’t shown up.”
Berrellez was also notably absent from the Greater Riverside Chamber of Commerce’s forum in March and the Raincross Gazette’s forum in late April.
She did, however, attend a Riverside Republican Women Federated event in March that hosted over 100 people. Marcelle Williams, the group’s president, said she enjoyed Berrellez’s speech, the vision she had for Ward 6 and felt that she would make a good council member.
“We do have our livelihoods, for working or personal, so I don’t want to ding her for that,” Williams said. “It would have been nice for her somehow to really get to share more about who she is to a larger audience.”
Ward 6 candidates Oz Puerta and Luis Hernandez, who have both attended a majority of local candidate events, said in phone calls with The Record they have each only met Berrellez once or twice over the past six months.
Puerta said he has tried to contact her, but never received a response and felt residents needed a representative who is as accessible as the outgoing councilmember. Hernandez added her lack of involvement has made it difficult for residents to learn about her platform.
Berrellez has also largely avoided local press coverage. Two days before a scheduled video interview for The Record’s voter guide, she emailed saying she would have to “decline the interview” due to a family emergency. She also failed to respond to an interview request by the Gazette.
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