Palm trees line Victoria Avenue as dusk settles over Riverside. (James Rowland) Have a photo that captures the spirit of Riverside? Share it with us and help celebrate the beauty of our community!
Sunday Gazette: April 12, 2026
Hello Riverside, and Happy Sunday! On Thursday we announced 50 additional spots for the Ward 2 and Ward 4 candidate forums, and the response has been strong. Ward 6 still has room. If you've been on the fence, this is your sign: these forums exist so you can sit across from the people who want to represent your neighborhood, ask the questions that matter to you, and walk into the June election feeling informed. Your voice deserves to be in that room.
If spots fill up, you can still join the waitlist, and we're hoping to accommodate standing room at the back of the Ward 2 and Ward 4 venues as well.
All three forums are free and open to every Riverside resident. Register today before seats are gone.
See you tomorrow!
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Thank you to the Subscribers who became paid supporters this week: Keith Alex, Linda Armstrong, Natalie Brown, Mary Bryant, Pam Cuthbertson, Maureen Audsley Kane, Mike Mensel, Richard Moslenko, Stephanie Redmond, and Sara Truitt. Your ongoing financial support is vital to our success in serving Riverside with the news it deserves!
From the Kitchen Garden: April, Spring Planting Begins
Tips on what to plant, when to pick, and what to watch out for in your home garden.
A productive April garden in full swing — raised beds bursting with strawberries, nasturtiums, and cool-season greens before the summer heat arrives. (Kim Malstrom)
April is when the garden really starts to take off. Everything looks greener, fuller, and you can finally feel that shift into spring.
And every year, I get the same question: "Can I plant my tomatoes yet?"
Normally, I'd say wait a couple more weeks. But this year? With how warm our winter has been, I'm stepping out of the norm — go ahead and plant them. I already have over 30 tomato plants in the ground in my own kitchen garden!
Just know there's a little risk. April nights can still dip into the 40s, and tomatoes don't love that. If you plant now, be ready to cover them on colder nights — an old sheet, blanket, or painter's cloth works just fine. If you'd rather skip that step, waiting until mid to late April makes things a lot easier.
Because of the early heat, most cool-season crops are already on their way out. If your lettuce, cilantro, or celery is bolting, go ahead and pull it. It's done. If you've still got some hanging on, enjoy it now — this is your last window before the heat takes over.
Also, remember to check your March utility bill. Riverside Public Utilities gives out free trees every year, and April is a great time to get yours planted before summer hits. The Tree Program runs through the end of June.
Neighbor of the Week is a series profiling the hidden heroes of Riverside, doing incredible works of service throughout our different neighborhoods.
Debbie Hodson at Arts Bar & Grill in Downtown, where she has worked since 1985 and where, regulars will tell you, she knows your order before you sit down. (Brenda Flowers)
If Arts Bar & Grill is a Riverside institution, Debbie Hodson is the soul of it. A server at Arts for four decades, Debbie has become as much a part of the restaurant as the menu itself. She started her Riverside career at Howard Johnson on University Avenue back in the race track days, where she crossed paths with more than a few NASCAR drivers, before finding her home at Arts in 1985. She never left. Over the years, Gazette contributors have mentioned her by name more than once, including in a recent piece about Downtown life, where a regular noted that Debbie always knows her order before she sits down. That kind of presence is hard to put into words, but her regulars have tried.
"Debbie is far more than a great waitress at Arts," say two regulars. "She's the kind of person who makes you feel genuinely seen. On packed Taco Tuesdays she somehow spots us from across the room and delivers our regular drink order without missing a beat, and after a stretch away, her warm welcome home is the first thing that greets us at the door. If you're having an off day, she'll be at your side before you've said a word, asking the only question that matters: 'you good?'"
A Taco Tuesday group of regulars agrees: "When you walk into Arts, Debbie makes you feel like you're walking into her dining room for dinner. She knows your name, where you like to sit, what you like to drink, and brings it to you before you can order it. Even though there are often six of us, she knows what we order and our tacos magically appear. Debbie has a wicked sense of humor and welcomes our ongoing banter — to say she gives as good as she gets is an understatement. When we're unable to make our Tuesday visit, we certainly miss the delicious tacos, but we miss seeing Debbie even more."
Debbie has called Riverside home for more than three decades, raising her family here before eventually moving to Temecula after remarrying. But her heart, as she'll tell you, never really left. She still shows up for her customers every shift the same way she always has: like family.
This week, we’re opening ourselves up creatively with a nudge that has a little more heft: a used paint can. Half full, fully forgotten. When you shake them, they can sometimes sounds like your belly if you try to run after downing a half days worth of water in one sitting. Sometimes they feel empty even though you swear there was some paint left when you finished the spare room remodel. When they are completely dried out, they feel empty; the surface inside hardens into a strange topography of color mixed with a sprinkling of entropy.
You probably have a few around…I definitely do. Right now they are organized in a neat, upright pile in a corner of my backyard, like colorful time capsules and peeling labels: “Eggshell Beige, 2017,” “Kitchen Cobalt” “Don’t Open This One.” I keep mine after art or home improvement projects, partly because they still feel useful, partly because I’m never quite sure what to do with them. There are recycling programs, but they come with rules, limited access, labeling standards. Just enough friction to make procrastination feel like a reasonable solution.
See something? Say something. Your tips and ideas are what fuel The Raincross Gazette. If you know of something newsworthy happening in our city, please share it with us.
Fant-A-She’s at Riverside Municipal Auditorium ($37- $97)
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Correction: In Friday's Earth Month Guide, the location for the Moai Launch Party was listed incorrectly — the event will be held at North Park, 3200 Mission Inn Ave. For more information, visit riversideca.gov.
