Neighbor of the Week: We The People...

Riverside is not one story. It is eleven relatives resting beneath Mt. Rubidoux, a carriage ride circling the Mission Inn on Christmas Eve, a pole vaulter clearing the bar at Martin Luther King High School, a classroom full of students still teaching their teacher something new. It is a city built by people who came from somewhere else and people whose families have never left, and somehow, we all call it home.

This week, in the spirit of the holiday that asks us to remember who "we" actually are, we set aside our usual single Neighbor of the Week and instead gathered the voices of nine Riversiders, different ages, different roots, different corners of the city, and asked them what Riverside means to them, who shaped them, and what they hope comes next. Their answers, together, are a small portrait of a big-little city.

Roots and Inheritance

For Rosy Aranda, mother, wife, RCC educator, basket weaver, and self-described life-long learner, Riverside is inheritance in the most literal sense. As a little girl, she would go to Evergreen Cemetery with her family, find the resting places of relatives, and sit with them to watch the fireworks. Eleven of her family members rest there now, below the mountain. "Riverside represents a solid foundation built on deep roots," she says, "an inheritance not of my choosing but one I hold close to the core of my being." Knowing her ancestors walked these hills, tended the land, and lived in reciprocity with nature, she says, is a connection she doesn't take for granted.

Surekha Acharya came to that same inheritance a different way. An immigrant who built her career and raised her family in Riverside, she calls it, without qualification, home, a place she connects with "emotionally." Along the way, she found kinship with people like Rose Mayes, with whom her husband, Lalit Acharya, helped create the Civil Rights Institute, and former Mayor Ron Loveridge, people she says embody the vision and dedication that make Riverside thrive.

Her daughter, Rohini Acharya, an interdisciplinary dance scholar, practitioner, and educator, inherited that same sense of purpose from her father. "When I think of Riverside, or what Riverside means to me, I think of my dad, Lalit Acharya," she says. "He showed me that Riverside is a community built on relationships, service, opportunity, and the belief that together we can create something extraordinary." Watching him find purpose in serving the city, she says, she's been lucky to see Riverside grow and flourish through his example.

The People Who Shape a City

Jonathan Tejeda shapes the city in a literal sense. To him, Riverside feels like home, a place, he says, "where people look out for one another and take pride in where they live." He works in construction, and says the people he's worked alongside have had the biggest impact on him. "Working in construction has taught me the value of hard work, teamwork, and helping build the community one project at a time," he says. "It's rewarding to know that my work helps improve the city for families and future generations."

Paul Knopf, a pole vaulter at Martin Luther King High School, says simply that Riverside means "friends and family, along with having good food." Asked what shaped him, he doesn't point to a landmark or an institution, he points to his school. "I have grown as a person because of all the people and teachers I have met at school, helping me to become the person I am today."

To the Reverend Canon Kelli Grace Kurtz, Riverside "epitomizes the feel of community," she says, a city that strives to bring people together and provide for the well-being of its residents, pointing to efforts like the Blue Zone initiative as an example. It's Riverside's interfaith community that has shaped her personally. "Riverside has a vibrant interfaith community, which I find refreshing and hopeful," she says, noting she's especially grateful for the "active and vibrant faithful living" she's found at All Saints Episcopal Church, where she has served as rector for nearly 16 years and been associated with the parish for nearly 28. She adds that she's thankful most anyone in Riverside can find a community of spirit to belong to.

To J Pash, of Passion Net Productions, Riverside means "a place of possibilities, progress and culture," he says, one he believes can only reach its potential when businesses, educators, government, and corporations work together. Asked what shaped him, he points to something broader than any one tradition or institution: the sheer range of what the city holds. "Riverside's variety of industries, cultures and traditions is what makes it so unique," he says. He's currently documenting some of that history through profiles of community leaders like Adrian Dell and Carmen Roberts. Through his work building a "PreCTE" pipeline, exposing students as young as fourth grade to creative career paths, he's served more than four hundred students in RUSD alone, working across seven districts and four colleges and universities.

Traditions That Bind Us

Mother Kelli Grace's family has always appreciated two major events in Riverside: Fourth of July fireworks watched from Mt. Rubidoux, best seen, she notes, from the All Saints parking lot, and Christmas downtown around the Mission Inn. Her Christmas Eve follows its own well-worn path: early Mass, dinner, and a carriage ride around the Mission Inn for her husband and children while she returns to church for Midnight Mass.

It's the same instinct that drew Rosy Aranda's family to Evergreen Cemetery as a girl, watching fireworks beside the resting places of relatives. Different traditions, same idea: some of Riverside's most meaningful moments happen in the same handful of places, year after year.

What They Hope Comes Next

Nearly everyone, asked what should carry forward, answered with some version of the same wish: don't let us lose each other.

Rosy hopes the next generation inherits a clean, safe, prosperous Riverside that never loses its "big-little city charm," and if anything must change, she hopes it's a shift toward valuing people over progress. Surekha already sees that hope taking shape in the young people she's met through her classroom and community, whose "spirit to build and carry on the values of inclusiveness, openness to innovation" she says defines the city's ethos. Rohini hopes to help build "a community where people know their neighbors, welcome newcomers, and embrace new ideas." Paul hopes his generation grows enough to admit its faults, and that Riverside makes real progress on homelessness. Mother Kelli Grace hopes for the same, in more pointed terms: better relationships between police and the community, and solutions for those experiencing homelessness "that respect dignity and provide healing," alongside a hope that Riverside can heal from the "rancor and toxic public discord" of recent years, without losing sight of caring for creation and neighbor alike. J Pash hopes the next generation inherits Riverside's professionalism and poise, while he does his own part now: "bringing the unity back to CommUnity. No gatekeeping, but being a resource to those who need it." And Jonathan hopes the next generation inherits Riverside's strong sense of community and respect, and keeps finding new ways to make the city "even better," with more opportunities for young people and a welcome that extends to everyone.

Neighbor of the Week is our way of celebrating the hidden heroes of Riverside—those who go above and beyond to make our community stronger, kinder, and more vibrant. We believe every remarkable Riversider deserves their story told. Know someone who’s making a difference? Nominate a Neighbor of the Week