The Riverside City Council held a special meeting Tuesday to swear in Luis Hernandez as the new Ward 6 council member, a role he will fill for the next four years.
“I’m happy that the first Latino city council member here in Ward 6 is a [working-class] resident, someone who’s lived in the area for a long period of time [and] who knows the culture,” Hernandez said. “I take pride in that, and I’m happy, and I’m sure a lot of the residents are as well.”
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Residents, city staff and relatives filled the council chambers at Riverside City Hall to watch Hernandez recite the oath, clapping and chanting “Sí se puede,” as he shook hands with the other council members and took his seat at the dais.
Hernandez is the first to fill one of three Riverside City Council seats up for grabs this election cycle, replacing former Councilmember Jim Perry who recently retired after roughly 13 years of service.
“It really was a grassroots effort, and I’m just very proud to have supported him and to see him be successful,” Riverside County Supervisor Jose Medina said in an interview with The Riverside Record after the ceremony. “I look forward, as the county supervisor, to work[ing] with him as now he starts as a city council member.”
Hours before the ceremony, Hernandez said he looked forward to fulfilling his campaign promises throughout the next four years while also focusing on introducing himself to residents over the coming weeks.
“I’m planning on utilizing both the full time and part time assistant to be able to be responsive to the residents and their concerns,” Hernandez said. “It’s going to take time to achieve some of these goals, but we are going to work tirelessly to address the homelessness in the area, trying to support our local businesses, trying to bring more cultural events to the area and obviously addressing affordable housing.”
Throughout his campaign, Hernandez said he would work on helping small businesses, tackling homelessness, ensuring consistent city services and addressing the rising cost of living. That messaging resonated with many of his constituents, he said, with others requesting he also continue to focus on fixing infrastructure and increasing community engagement.
“I’m going to consistently be walking around, talking, doing outreach to our local businesses [and] to our residents so that they know who their local council member is,” he said. “We’re already trying to get the ball rolling on certain projects.”
He plans, in part, to foster that connection with residents by hosting cultural events in the future. His hope is that the events would allow his team to increase engagement with the community, creating additional opportunities to share updates about the city, while also increasing foot traffic to local businesses.
To address homelessness, and the challenges it can bring on local businesses, Hernandez said he and his team would prioritize partnerships with non-governmental organizations that specialize in providing wrap-around services. Together, he said, they could offer help to people experiencing homelessness while also reporting “any serious issues” to city agencies on a consistent basis.
He said he would also advocate for affordable housing projects in the ward as a way to both prevent homelessness and combat the rising cost of living. The city could accomplish this, he said, by working with nonprofits and motivating residents to speak up in support of those partnerships during council meetings.
“Developers want to make money, [and] they don’t want to pour a bunch of money into a project that’s not going to have a lot of return, and I understand that,” Hernandez said. “I’m not talking about making all housing affordable housing, but obviously that hasn’t been our focus as a city, and it needs to be.”
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Last night new Ward 6 Riverside City Councilmember Luis Hernandez was sworn in by State Senator Sabrina Cervantes to sit on the dias with Ward City Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes. It was a night of celebration.
For Riversiders, it is the beginning of a new era of transparency, openness, ethical leadership and fiscal responsibility. Luis is a true public servant “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
He will be listening and responding to Riversiders when they testify before the Council not buried in their phones. He will champion the interests of regular, salt of the earth, working class Riversiders creating affordable housing, ensuring essential services and investing in our public works infrastructure. Accountability will be the norm.
No longer will the moneyed interests of Riversiders call the shots behind the scenes with campaign donations and messages behind the scenes to City Councilmembers and the wishes of Riversiders be ignored on burying power lines, turning down an opportunity to compassionately and effectively house our most vunerable homeless seniors and veterans, or trying to pawn off tax increases due to unrestrained spending and decision-making.
Our work is not done. Luis needs reinforcements. We have a wonderful opportunity in November to elect two more public servants with similar commitments to improving the lives of Riversiders. Please join me in supporting and electing Aram Ayra for Riverside City Council and Rich Vandenberg for Riverside City Council.