10 Hopefuls Running For 3 Riverside City Council Seats

Gracie Torres (Declined to participate)

Christen Montero

“Yeah, so Measure Z is a really tricky situation. I definitely don’t agree with the tax being an infinite tax. 

What it really helps with is the infrastructure for firefighters. And right now we’ve grown so much in Riverside, but public safety does need to be a priority, but also accountability when it comes to having the funds and going to a general plan and to eventually be used in whatever it is that people feel appropriate. 

So I would say, I do support the tax, but I don’t support it forever. Infrastructure is really important, and if we don’t have the right number of folks for our increase in housing when it comes to firefighter response, police response, that means that’s one possibility of someone not really being safe in our city, and we want everybody to be able to thrive.”

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Aram Ayra

“I do think we have critical needs in our fire infrastructure and our need for hiring more firefighters. I support that completely. However, in going out and knocking on thousands of doors across the community, residents have said time and time again that, in this time of economic uncertainty, in this time of cost being sky high across every sector, housing, rent, food, child care, they cannot afford to add another tax to that mix, no matter how small or big. This is something that they cannot afford. This is something that families on fixed incomes cannot stomach at this point in time. 

I do think, unfortunately, that Measure Z will not pass this election cycle. I think it would be prudent for us to bring it back as a special tax in the next election cycle, which requires a higher voter threshold, which actually specifies that the money be spent for very specific reasons, and doesn’t go into the general fund. I think this would be much better for residents. I think there would be a lot more trust and a lot more accountability.”

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Mike Vahl

“If you make it a special use tax, it’s dedicated to police, fire and emergency services. So I could support that. 

Having it go forever right now at this point is ridiculous, because why would we put a tax that never ends. They go, ‘Well, you can vote it out at any time.’ Well, what they’ll immediately trot out is, ‘We’re gonna have to cut police and fire first,’ which no one is going to do.

It’s 10 years till the tax ends. [If] they need to extend it in eight years, then you have a campaign and a discussion. I think with proper budgeting, you can make that thing work better. So what I would do is go back into the budget, find some things that they don’t really need right now.”

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Jessica Qattawi

“I was one of the individuals that signed the document, the opposition statement, which has gone to court to ensure that the city makes sure that the wording on that ballot, when it goes out to the residents on May 5, that it actually says exactly what it means, because it was very misleading originally.

It made it seem like all the money from Measure Z was going to go towards public safety, fire and police. However, that is not the case. So I want you to know if you vote yes for Measure Z, that means, first, the Measure Z tax is going to be extended and it’s going to increase by [.25%].

Now, for me, I’m all about public safety. I’m all about making sure that we are safe and happy in our communities. But when the money goes into a general fund, where is that money going? That means it could be spent anywhere. It could be spent on catering for fun events, or it could be going towards the police and fire. We don’t know where it’s going, and obviously fire and police is going to be more important than using the money towards catering, right? 

So my point of view is, I want to vote no on Measure Z, and after we vote no on Measure Z, if the police and fire do need more funding, then let’s create a new ballot measure that is going to actually focus on fire and safety.”

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Chuck Conder

“So as an elected official, I am prohibited in both advocating for or against a measure. What I can talk about is the impact on services. 

So we do need fire protection in the city. It’s been ignored for a very long time. We have the lowest per capita firefighters per person of any city in Southern California. We need to hire 84 new firefighters. 

I asked the [fire] chief if that was enough, and he said, “Yes, I can get it done with 84,” so that’s what we’re going to have to hire. We also need to build two new fire stations and they both are in Ward 4. I have fought for these for years, and they are now coming. 

I have a deal with the fire chief that we will put fire services up there in temporary housing as soon as we can. It takes four years plus to build a fire station, we’re going to get you fire protection in that area, because we have response times that are exceeding twice the city average. So this Measure Z will go to help the fire department, hire and build the stations that we need.”

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Rich Vandenberg

“I serve on the Budget Engagement Commission, I’m the vice chair of that now and I’ve been there for about three years. I do not support the extension or the increase to Measure Z. 

I do want to see the fire department get the funds they need. However, I would be more supportive of a special tax that went directly to the fire department. When it becomes part of the general tax, it gets absorbed into other things, and I don’t think there’s much of an appetite for that right now. 

In terms of making it permanent, I like the current sunset date on this. It’s going to sunset in about 10 years, and then we can come back to the taxpayers and say, ‘Have we used this money wisely? Did we earn the right to keep this tax and continue funding things we funded through Measure Z?’

When you make it permanent, we kind of lose that accountability there.”

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Oz Puerta

“As far as Measure Z is concerned, I don’t think that we will tax our way out of our problems.

I understand that there is a need for two fire stations and 84 firefighters. I have a personal history with the fire department. My dad has been sick for the last 20 years and the fire department has saved his life more times than I can count. So when I think about public safety, that’s where I’m torn, because I don’t compromise on public safety. 

So I think, because the need has been stated as an emergency need to update our fire infrastructure, we’ll leave it up to the voters. That’s what [the Riverside City Council] has decided and I’ll respect that decision. 

I don’t have any plans, if this measure gets turned down, to introduce any tax increasing measures.”

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Luis Hernandez

“I think it’s important for people to do their own research into what Measure Z is and what it funds. 

I understand that it’s important for these taxes to be able to pay for city services. But at the same time, I understand there are individuals who ask questions as to, ‘Why wasn’t existing Measure Z funds used to help support the firefighters?’ And of course I’m a big supporter of the firefighters, especially with what’s going on with our climate and all the fires that are going on. 

So me, personally, I will vote yes for Measure Z, because in the end, it’s only like 25 cents for every $100 but that 25 cents can make a real difference as far as providing more services for our city, and obviously our firefighters.”

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Norma Berrellez (Declined to participate)

Gracie Torres (Declined to participate)

Christen Montero

“So when it comes to Ward 2 and economic development, I would like to see a lot more small businesses assisted to be able to thrive right here in Riverside. I think that’s a big community that we’ve really left behind focusing on huge corporations to come and invest into the city franchise. 

I’d also say when it comes to the water park, it does bring a hub of entertainment. So there is the innovation district, and then there’s also a lot of new projects that you’ve just mentioned that are to bring that side of entertainment. 

I think it’s another way to bring revenue into the city, but where we place these projects to be done, really getting community input, especially because not everyone’s going to be happy with every project that happens, but it’s crucial to take in the feedback, be able to take that critique, turn it around, be a little bit more fluid when it comes to project planning, that way, we can really serve what our residents want and also find new ways to develop the economy.”

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Aram Ayra

“I think a strong downtown is critical for any city, but unfortunately, what I’ve seen in the city of Riverside is that downtown gets prioritized over every other part of the city. 

Every city wants to have a vibrant and diverse and well built downtown. However, we have a lot of other community centers across the city of Riverside, places like Canyon Crest Town Centre, like the University Village [Riverside] in Ward 2, for instance. Or on the western part of the city, which feels like completely left out of the process; our La Sierra, Arlington and our Arlanza folks that feel like none of the resources and none of the attention get directed there. That is not something that I think is acceptable, and I think we need to have a better equity and a better distribution of resources. 

So I would say that couple of the projects that I mentioned, building up some of our cultural centers in Ward 2, getting a community center for Ward 2 — we’re now, after redistricting, the only ward in the city that doesn’t have a developed community center — in addition to bringing other businesses and retail spaces and other things into Canyon Crest Town Centre, University Village [Riverside] and some of the other locations in the ward.”

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Mike Vahl

“Currently we don’t have any of those types of projects in Ward 2 coming up, in my understanding. I think that the soccer thing is kind of a boondoggle. I’m not really a big fan of the water park. I don’t think that those are going to generate much of anything, but they’re going to spend a lot of money. 

The downtown revitalization, what we need to do is revitalize more of back what’s down here on the other side of [Riverside] City Hall. 

And if you had more businesses over there, it makes downtown bigger. And it’s a simple walk, from 12th [Street] to Mission Inn [Avenue] is four blocks, so it’s not like it’s a huge deal. 

So, I would concentrate more stuff on the downtown, and especially on the end between 10th [Street] and 14th [Street].”

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Jessica Qattawi

“From my understanding, we’re looking at spending over $700 million to revitalize downtown Riverside, which downtown Riverside has definitely changed. I’ve been here for 39 years, and it has grown so much, it’s so beautiful. 

However, we have more issues that we really need to focus on rather than building more complexes. Let’s talk about parking in downtown Riverside. My business is here in downtown Riverside, and so one of the things that we deal with every day is parking. 

So I think that there’s other places we should be spending over $700 million right when it comes to these new complexes. 

Guys, let’s be real, a water complex? Do we not see Raging Waters [Los Angeles] gets closed down for half of the year? Does that make sense for us here in Riverside? And is that space ready to hold that many people? Are those streets ready to hold that many people? I don’t think so. 

So from just that, we need to build more lanes, more places for people to park. And in my ward, you know what we need? We need a senior center. Ward 4 deserves a senior center. So if I were to use some of the funds towards something else in my ward, I want to build a senior center for our seniors.”

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Chuck Conder

“Well, let’s talk about Riverside Alive. If Riverside Alive comes to fruition, it will fundamentally change the downtown of Riverside. And I am in support of Riverside Alive. I don’t want to see it partially built. It needs to either be built fully as planned or not at all. And I support it being built fully as planned. As far as the sports park and the water park, I think they would be great additions to the city, but the staff is working on that. 

As far as Ward 4, Ward 4 is pretty much built out right now. We are doing some homes up there and finishing that. But what benefits the city benefits all the city. It benefits Ward 4. It brings people here, and our own members have the ability to go to the Riverside Alive and see the great performances that would happen down there in the open spaces, to go to the water park, to go to the sports park. So I’m in full support of those, but I want to make sure that it is done properly and that we are not committing taxpayer money to fund these. This should be more on the public private partnership.”

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Rich Vandenberg

“What the city has done is fantastic. 

My wife and I bought a house on Eleventh and Pine [Street] in 1999 [or] 2000 and lived there for about two years. We never came downtown for anything. It was not a good place to be, it wasn’t safe. There was nothing to do, and so we avoided it all together. 

And now we come here, and it’s alive, it’s vibrant; you see families, kids [and] strollers. We love coming downtown. This is my birthday destination when I want to get out. So I love what the city’s done so far. 

I think the businesses are thriving. There are still challenges, but I see those challenges as opportunities, not as deterrence. I love the three projects you mentioned coming up. I’m a big fan of all of them. I’d love to see the soccer stadium, the adventure park, [and] Riverside Alive. I’m a proponent of all those things. 

I would like to see more happen in Ward 4. We [don’t have] much happening there. We haven’t seen anything in a very long time. We have car washes and warehouses. We don’t have restaurants, we don’t have coffee shops [or] bagel shops. I would love to see more development in Ward 4.”

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Oz Puerta

“I want to make sure that we support the things that keep our city running and entice other people to invest in our city. Downtown [Riverside] definitely plays a role in that. 

I also think that we need a little bit more equity across the other wards. Ward 6, for example, we have the [Galleria at Tyler]. There’s a lot of opportunities there. I’ve talked about how we can revitalize that: We can bring in new experiences, we can bring in name-brand retailers and we can bring in family activities and entertainment. 

We can start with the foundation of downtown and then set the tone for the rest of the city and not kick away any investment from the city that would be good for our residents.”

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Luis Hernandez

“I do like the idea of the revitalization projects and some of the projects that they’re bringing into the city. I think it’s helpful to bring in more revenue, more tax, more local businesses. But at the same time, I think there’s some forethought that needs to be put into how it will affect traffic, given all the individuals that will attract to these local areas. 

I’m not opposed to any of that. I love the idea, but I would like some projects put forth in our area as well, not just in the downtown area, but also in the other wards, specifically Ward 6, to try and bring in more foot traffic to our local businesses as well.”

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Norma Berrellez (Declined to participate)

Gracie Torres (Declined to participate)

Christen Montero

“We’re definitely deficient in the budget to be able to take care of all the potholes in a timely manner. 

Right now, I’d say, we do have our 311 [Riverside app, website and call center] which has been really helpful. I think the response time has been okay for some communities, maybe not so much for others. So I’d like that to be something that every pothole is dealt with with urgency, and especially when it comes to the traffic in our streets because right now, there’s a lot of trucks that are going around Canyon Crest [Drive], coming from the warehouse all the way down into places that they’re not supposed to be in. 

Right now, our only option is to call 311, and just report it. But really nothing can be done if there’s no police witness. So I think it would be good to have something where citizens are a little bit more empowered, so when they’re reporting something, it’s not just something that’s noted and to be forgotten about.” 

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Aram Ayra

“Most importantly, we have to understand the main cause of potholes, which is the incredible amount of truck traffic we have in Ward 2.

At the same time, we’re seeing a reality where the city has not updated its development impact fees in over a decade, which would offset some of those costs. Instead, we’ve passed those costs off to taxpayers, especially as we talked about earlier, through the form of Measure Z, which is then used to pay for these pothole damage.

I would love for us to revisit our development impact fees [to] make sure that warehouses and large companies are paying their fair share to offset the cost of the damage they cause to our streets, and at the same time, be laser focused on on-time maintenance, so that we’re not paying the deferred maintenance costs, which cost sometimes two to three times as much as if we had fixed it in the moment. 

I’m also big on expanding our 311 [Riverside] services app and making sure that more people are submitting it, getting the app refreshed and updated, getting the user interface more easy to use, so that people can submit these requests, and that we can get them fixed within a very short window of time.”

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Mike Vahl

“Currently, this year, they are bragging about doing 50 miles of street paving. [The city of] Moreno Valley last year did 199 [miles].

So, fixing potholes is definitely something that needs to take priority. But what we need to do is put a little more money into repaving all the streets.

You call your city [council member] and let them know that you’ve got some problems on whatever street it is, and it’s that city [council member’s] responsibility to get it to the Public Works [Department] and get that resolved for you as quickly as possible.”

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Jessica Qattawi

“When it comes to our roads, that’s actually one of the top priorities that I have, is fixing our roads, because we have many areas in Ward 4 that the potholes are damaging the constituents’ — the residents’ — cars and vehicles. 

I also want to talk about, which a lot of people don’t talk about, are the [Requests For Proposals] (RFP), right? When the city needs a job done, they put an RFP request out, so these companies can come and they can present to the city how they can help with this project, how much it’s going to cost. But I don’t think anybody’s really looking at what the building materials that these organizations or these companies are using when they’re fixing our roads, because to be quite honest, I’ll see a road fixed, and within a few months, that same pothole is creeping back. 

So that would be definitely something that I would work on, is making sure that the building materials are long-lasting material that is going to protect us.”

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Chuck Conder

“Well, I happen to be the chair of the subcommittee on mobility and infrastructure. 

We have spent more money and paved more miles of roads in the last two years than ever before in the city’s history. My field director and I are always taking calls on potholes. When we get them, we call Public Works and they are usually fixed that day. 

As far as infrastructure goes, we need to fix the aging infrastructure of this 100-plus-year-old city. And I am fully committed to putting taxpayer money where the taxpayers need it: for roads, for potholes, to trim trees, to fix sidewalks and make sure the services that you pay for — I’ll say it again — the services that you pay for, you receive. 

We don’t sell services. We provide services. And I’ve always made sure, since I’ve been in this building, that we make sure you receive what you pay for.”

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Rich Vandenberg

“My plan is to prioritize those things. What we prioritize is what gets done. 

I would make the roads a priority. I’ve knocked on roughly 9,000 doors since January, and that is the number one, or two, concern I get. Outside of warehouses, people want to know why the roads are in terrible shape. We pay some of the highest taxes in the entire state, and we have some of the worst roads. I would make those a priority. That’s what the residents want, that’s what we need. 

Planning ahead for the repairs that need to be done, it’s kind of an ounce of prevention type of thing. When you don’t take care of the roads you have, you end up with more costly repairs down the road. 

I would do more prevention work on our roads, and certainly just prioritizing that.”

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Oz Puerta

“By building on our business community, we increase our sales tax revenue, which means we bring in more money to the city that wouldn’t have to be brought in by raising taxes. 

If we focus on the regional economy standpoint — the people who work here, the people who live here, and the people who travel here — and when we give them every reason to spend their dollars locally … we’ll increase revenue enough to keep working on our roads and making sure that our roads, our infrastructure, can handle all this new development. 

That’s the other thing I’ve also heard from residents: concerns on, when a big project comes in, do we have the infrastructure to support it? I like to be proactive, not reactive. 

I’ve said this in a couple forums: When there are infrastructure needs that are going to come up in the future, we need to address them earlier than later. That way, we can be more responsible with taxpayer dollars so we can maximize the value of getting more roads paved.

We can do better, as long as we can make the city more attractive to its own residents and to outside visitors.”

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Luis Hernandez

“As I walk through my ward, I can see the areas that need more repair, as far as streets, potholes, the lack of sidewalks, things like that. Obviously, going through the area and seeing what areas have been ignored or haven’t had those streets or sidewalks fixed in a while, and prioritizing those areas which have gone without for a long period of time. 

So it’s important to me that all the residents in our ward feel like their tax dollars are going to something.”

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Norma Berrellez (Declined to participate)

Gracie Torres (Declined to participate)

Christen Montero

“So we need housing. Right now, we don’t have enough in our plan to meet our mandates, and most recently, we ended up not taking in the money from the state that we all worked so hard to vote into just to get the support of [Riverside] City Council to even want that project. 

It is unfortunate that seeing a project like that to not go and move forward into its development, because there’s a lot of homeless on the street that need housing. There’s also a lot of people that need housing, in general, when it comes to the middle class students not being able to afford buying their new home. Maybe it’s not even available because it’s getting leased as an Airbnb, or it’s owned by a corporation or some investment group. 

So housing is crucial here in Riverside to really focus on.”

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Aram Ayra

“Well, let me start off by saying that I deeply disagreed with the [Riverside City] Council’s vote to turn down $20 million from the state of California. I think it was a major misstep to apply for that grant and then to turn it down.

Now, in addition to supporting projects like that in the future — which I would do as a council member and I believe I’ve been one of the few candidates in this race to be very public about — the other thing that I would really prioritize is making sure that we are stopping the influx of homeless dumping into the city of Riverside [and] making sure that we’re holding places like Los Angeles and Orange County accountable for dropping off their homeless populations here in Riverside.

I would also prioritize us rapidly building more temporary shelter for homeless people, especially flipping some of our existing vacant warehouses into actual shelter space that could house 100, 200 people at a time, and make sure that we’re getting them off of the street and connected to resources and started on that continuum of care, which we talk about so much.”

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Mike Vahl

“Affordable housing is going to start at [Riverside] City Hall. 

It costs you $100 a square foot in material, and you build a 2,000 square foot house, that’s a couple $100,000 plus the land, plus the fees from the city. By the time you get everything put together, you’re talking a half a million dollars or maybe $300,000 – $400,000 which really isn’t that affordable. 

As far as the homelessness piece, I had an interesting meeting on Monday night with a guy named Michael Gates, who’s running for [California] Attorney General. He was the city attorney in Huntington Beach. He was elected, so I would probably move to have our city attorney elected and give them the power that they have in Huntington Beach, [where] they prosecute low-level crimes. 

And he says their homelessness is down almost 50% because they’re enforcing the rules. And they’re putting people, if you have substance problems and you are habitual [drug user], they put you in a forced rehab for however many days it is. And the same thing with people with mental problems, they put them in the facilities.”

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Jessica Qattawi

“Yes, this is a huge issue, affordable housing, homelessness, but this is an issue that is really expanding across our nation. But when it comes to our local government, obviously we recently had the situation with the Quality Inn and our city council is potentially going to get sued because they were ready to accept a grant from the state and then backed off. When it came down to it, the votes didn’t work out in the way that it needed to help build that project. Now, that project could have been the start of something really great for our community, because it could have been an example of how we can flip the issue of homelessness. 

So we need to prevent. Prevention is key. Let’s figure out ways that we can prevent the homelessness before it happens. 

A lot of the money that we have going out to these nonprofits that have shelters, I think we need to revalue that, because most of these homeless people do not want to go to the shelters. I personally interviewed many homeless individuals in the Riverside streets, and I can personally tell you, they don’t want to go to the shelters. 

So if you go to a shelter, you see they’re empty. So we need to utilize that money wisely.”

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Chuck Conder

“I am the creator of the Inland Empire Homeless Forum. We bring together up to 23 cities to find solutions that are regional. The city of Riverside cannot solve it itself. 

We have had good success with this. We have built good relationships with other cities. 

As far as affordable housing goes, it’s a difficult issue. We cannot force a builder to build affordable housing, and we are always working in Sacramento to try to find funds to supplement and allow a developer to build those and do it economically so that they don’t lose money.

And it’s not a perceived increase, it is an increase. And we work daily on this between the human place and our outreach teams. We are working daily to find homes, to find residents that will come in and help these people. And I think our homeless outreach team is doing a fabulous job. It’s just that they’re coming into Riverside because we have the services where others don’t, and it’s stretching us, but we are working hard and we are getting it done.”

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Rich Vandenberg

“That concern and the interest, I think, stems from the vote on the University [Avenue] project where we rejected $20 million from the state. It has kind of brought that to light. I would have supported that project.

I spoke with the seniors at our low-income facility on Adams Street. They are month to month. They are concerned about where they’re going to live. Many of them are there that [have] lost a spouse. When you lose a spouse, you lose half your Social Security income. The expenses aren’t going down, the expenses are getting more. 

We need more affordable housing. From low to moderate income, we need more. The median price here is $650,000 right now [and] we have young families who can’t afford to live here and stay here. They grew up here. They wanted to stay here. They can’t. They can’t afford it. We need more moderate and low income housing here. 

I would support the development of it, attracting developers, streamlining the process, whatever I could do to encourage that to happen in Riverside.”

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Oz Puerta

“I don’t believe homelessness will be solved at a local level. It’s a much bigger issue. 

I do think there are standards and expectations we can set so, that way, our residents feel safe and make sure that they feel comfortable and take pride in their community, while at the same time showing compassion for individuals who truly want to get help. 

We have the [Regional Housing Needs Allocation] that we’ve fallen behind on, so I plan to be very proactive with meeting those numbers. I’ve already been talking to people that have an opinion on this to try to get the perspective from everyone on how we can meet that housing mandate. 

We also have a need for services in Riverside. Part of the perceived notion that we have an increase in homelessness is we are the backbone for the county services here. So, because we have so many county services in Ward 6 on the Magnolia Corridor, we get a lot of other cities also bringing people here and they don’t necessarily get redirected back to their home of origin. 

So that’s another issue that we need to advocate on a county-wide level to make sure the county is very aware of these issues and has a plan to address them.”

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Luis Hernandez

“They, kind of, both go hand-in-hand. We have a lot of individuals, unfortunately in our city, who are on the brink of homelessness. And obviously there’s an increase in our homeless population as well. That, unfortunately, includes a lot of our senior population. 

So, bringing in [and] trying to work with the Riverside Housing Development Corporation and nonprofits like Family Promise [of Riverside] to try and address the homelessness crisis, but also bring in more affordable housing in a shorter period of time. 

Rather than breaking ground on projects, looking at different ideas to renovate certain buildings, to bring in more affordable housing. 

Wrap around services and tie that to transitional housing or permanent supportive housing, that would be great to help a lot of those individuals who are on the street so that we can help them.”

Read Hernandez’s full responses | Watch Hernandez’s full interview

Norma Berrellez (Declined to participate)

Gracie Torres (Declined to participate)

Christen Montero

“There’s a reason why there’s a lot of funding coming from top down to local cities. Chino Hills, their area, they built it all above ground, and eventually got rid of it and built it underground for many of the reasons and that’s one of our sister cities. 

I would say, with the RTRP, it’s quite unfortunate that a project like that has continued for 20-something years with no changes to its plan, considering how much innovation has happened in our economy. I would say, at the same time, it’s a double-edged sword, because if we do nothing about our electrical infrastructure right now, we’re going to see the most blackout outages in all of our history in Riverside. We’re going to be seeing some of the most extreme heat. So there’s going to be families where there’s not available air conditioning, and that also poses a safety risk, right? So I think now more than ever, it’s something that has to get done, unfortunately, with its current condition. But that’s not to say that we can also change it. 

I know some people talk about costs, and it is a lot more costly, but cost shouldn’t come at the expense of safety.”

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Aram Ayra

“At this point, I do believe the project has moved forward at a point where it would be very difficult to stop it. Recently [it] was announced that they started actually building and implementing the RTRP infrastructure in Jurupa Valley and slowly moving closer to Riverside. 

If there would be opportunities for this discussion to come up in the future, I certainly would welcome any resident input. As I mentioned, I spent almost a year and a half being involved directly with that issue, but at this point in time, I think we need to laser focus on the things that we can definitely fix, especially around our affordability, around lowering the cost of living, around addressing some of the lack of accountability and trust that we have currently in [Riverside] City Hall.”

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Mike Vahl

“That’ll be a top priority. Above ground is ridiculous. 

By actively voting to go above-ground, the city has now accepted a 50% responsibility with [Southern California] Edison. So if they burn down a neighborhood, and it’s $200 million, the city of Riverside will be on the hook for $100 million which is ridiculous. 

There’s a state board that all of the utilities belong to, and when [the city of] Jurupa Valley made a big stink about going underground, they covered it. They didn’t have to pay for it because it goes out to the grid. Riverside Public Utilities customers all pay into this fund. And so we’re paying for stuff that happens up in Northern California, Central California, wherever, they take it out of this fund, which is billions of dollars. It’s our turn to put this underground and take it from there. 

I say we just go underground immediately and make our city safe, not have the fire risk and everybody will be happier.”

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Jessica Qattawi

“All of us need to be aware of the RTRP project. 

I actually just came from filming on site in Jurupa Valley, where they are putting the power lines underground and I personally spoke to one of the contractors that’s working on the project. And I asked him, “What is going to be the best and the safest way to get these power lines into Riverside?” And he said, underground. And this is a professional with over 32 years experience telling us this. 

Southern California Edison decided to do this 20 years ago with the city of Riverside. In 20 years, technology has changed. We’ve evolved, let’s make sure our strategies with our city are evolving as well, that we’re not staying committed to certain deals, because maybe some money is involved. Yes, it’s going to cost us a little bit more money to do this, but it will prevent us from being the next Altadena or Pacific Palisades.”

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Chuck Conder

“RTRP needs to be undergrounded. In 2024, I was able to get the council to give us some time to find the funding to pay for the additional costs of the undergrounding. I put together a team that included our U.S. Senator [Alex] Padilla’s office, Congressman [Ken] Calvert, Congressman [Mark] Takano, then-State Senator Richard Roth and Kelly Sayarto, then-[State Assemblymember] Sabrina Cervantes and Bill Essayli. We put together the team. We found the money. The money is there. 

But Southern California Edison refuses to tell us how much money that needs to be, so there’s no line item for it. But I was in Washington [D.C.] just this last week, and I spoke with the congressman, the senator’s offices, and they are with us. They want to see it undergrounded, because it is more fire danger than ever. 

And as we saw with the Palisades fire and the Eaton fire, it is not only a possibility, it is a probability when the high winds come. And right now, Southern California Edison can turn off your power on a windy day without telling you, but if those lines are undergrounded, we would not suffer that damage that causes our businesses and our homes.”

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Rich Vandenberg

“So I share those concerns. I’ve heard several reports over the last several years on this, and I would have voted for that to be underground. 

I’ve heard the pros and cons, and to be honest, the only strong case I’ve heard to be made for above-ground is the price. 

I think that the risk outweighs the reward there for the cost and I think this is something we’re going to look at down the road and say, “We should have went underground,” because I think eventually it’s going to end up underground anyway. 

The money we’re investing today for above-ground could all be for nothing if we end up reinvesting to go underground. So I would have voted for below ground, I think, for all kinds of reasons you mentioned, for environmental reasons, for fire risk reasons, this should have been underground.”

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Oz Puerta

“My understanding is this project costs about in the $500 to $650 million range, and that’s the hybrid model. Going fully underground would add another $350, to $450 million which I believe is higher than the general fund exceeds right now. 

So the question is — my campaign has been focused on fiscal responsibility and I want to be responsible with people’s taxpayer dollars — do I want to put them in danger of fires or anything like that? Of course not. 

We want to mitigate all those concerns. I’ve seen it where other council members have said that the money is there and the opportunity to go underground is there. If that’s true, I want to work with them to figure out how we can make this model something that works for everyone, but I don’t want to do it at the expense of just making the public pay more in taxpayer dollars for an issue that wasn’t addressed properly 20 years ago. 

This hybrid model is a compromise model, so I’m okay with it if we cannot find the money or the resources to find an alternative way to get this done in a safer way that the constituents care about. If that can’t be done, we still need a second connection to the grid.”

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Luis Hernandez

“So after pretty extensive research, the fire severity maps and just what the project looks like, I’m with those residents that see it as a fire hazard and a huge concern. 

Those towers will be nearly 200 feet tall. Aside from being an eyesore, there’s all the fire hazards that it can cause. 

If I get elected, that’s one of the things that I aim to address, is looking for alternatives, finding the funds and trying to find alternatives to those towers that may be a fire hazard in the future. And obviously, trying to protect those residents in those surrounding areas, and including near my ward as well.”

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Norma Berrellez (Declined to participate)