Monday Gazette: April 20, 2026
Hello Riverside, and Happy Monday! The first of the Raincross Gazette's candidate forums is this Thursday. The Ward 2 forum is just days away, and if you haven't reserved your seat yet, now is the time. Come ready to hear directly from the candidates who want to represent your neighborhood and be part of the conversation before June's election.
All forums are free and open to every Riverside resident. Reserve your spot today.
See you tomorrow!
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GOVERNMENT
This Week in City Hall: April 20, 2026
A busy week at City Hall includes housing proposals, substance bans, and the search for a new City Attorney.
Welcome to our weekly digest of public meetings and agenda items worth your attention for this coming week. This guide is part of our mission to provide everyday Riversiders like you with the information to speak up on the issues you care about.
City Council
City Council will meet in a special meeting Monday, April 20 at 8 a.m. (agenda), and closed and open sessions on Tuesday, April 21, in an afternoon session at 3 p.m. and an evening session at 6 p.m. (agenda).
The agenda for Monday’s special meeting includes:
- Considering the recruitment of a new City Attorney during a closed-door session authorized under California state law, a position that serves as the City's chief legal adviser.
The agenda for Tuesday’s meeting includes:
- Considering a proposal to rezone and redesignate approximately 2.72 acres on Hedrick and Jones Avenues from single-family to multi-family residential to allow construction of a 117-unit apartment complex.
- Considering a pilot program that would allow housing density to be redistributed among City-owned surplus properties and designated housing sites along University Avenue to encourage residential development in that corridor.
- Considering an ordinance that would increase City fines for any violation of the city’s municipal code to $100 for a first offense, $500 for a second, and $1,000 for each subsequent offense of the same type.
- Adopting updated airport rules covering animal control on the airfield, unauthorized access to aircraft movement areas, tenant events, and restrictions on off-airport commercial vendors.
- Adopting an ordinance reducing the membership of the City's Budget Engagement Commission to 10 members.
- Considering loan agreements totaling approximately $3 million to support construction of 25 affordable senior housing units and 9 affordable family housing units on Mulberry Street.
- Considering a resolution supporting a local nonprofit's application for up to $3 million in state grant funding to study and advance factory-built housing options for small lots in Riverside.
- Considering a contract worth up to $1.85 million with a North Carolina vendor to provide specialty equipment for police vehicles through 2029, funded by Measure Z.
- Adopting an ordinance prohibiting the sale and distribution of kratom products within Riverside city limits.
- Adopting an ordinance prohibiting the sale and distribution of nitrous oxide within Riverside city limits.
Community Police Review Commission
The Community Police Review Commission meets on Wednesday, April 22, at 5:30 p.m. (agenda) to review a policy recommendation on racial and identity profiling data collected during police stops and consider the CPRC's draft 2025 Annual Report on police oversight activity.
Planning Commission
The Planning Commission meets on Thursday, April 23, at 9:00 a.m. (agenda) to review its 2026 procedural rules while postponing — at the applicant's request — a public hearing on a proposed Arlington Avenue gas station and convenience store that would require rezoning residential land in Ward 3.
Economic Development Committee
The Economic Development Committee (Councilmembers Robillard, Cervantes, and Hemenway) meets on Thursday, April 23, at 3:00 p.m. (agenda) to review presentations on local technology partnerships, workforce apprenticeship programs and economic development initiatives.
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GARDNER GAUGE
Opinion: 2026 is Shaping Up to Be a Mixed Bag in the Water World
Full reservoirs and a drought-free California offer short-term relief, but a vanished snowpack and unresolved Colorado River negotiations signal rougher water ahead.
As our climate continues to warm and shifts to longer dry periods and shorter, more intense, wet periods with more precipitation in the form of rain and less snow, water providers are concerned about longer term supply if 2026 turns out to be a dry year. On the plus side, California and the Colorado River Basin both had a pretty good year in terms of overall precipitation, but warmer storms with rain rather than snow and a historically warm March destroyed the snowpack that would normally provide capturable runoff throughout the spring. The graphic below shows April snowpack for the last four years. As you can see, we didn't have any this year.
The rapidly melting snowpack and rain runoff did a great job of filling California's reservoirs, but there was far more runoff than there was room to store it and a great deal simply flowed out the Golden Gate into the Pacific Ocean. On the Colorado River, little water was lost and storage in Lake Mead significantly increased although both Lake Mead and Lake Powell remain far below full capacity.
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This Week in Riverside
Today
- Volunteer Interest Hour at Riverside Meals on Wheels
- Goeske Bingo at Janet Goeske Center ($20- $100)
- Monday Carillon Recitals at UCR Bell Tower
Tomorrow
- Earth Day Storytime at Marcy Library
- Karaoke Tuesday Competition at The Hideaway
- National Library Week Scavenger Hunt at Marcy Library
- ScotSurplus Public Sale at ScotSurplus, UCR Corporation Yard
Save the Date
- April 23-25: Frozen: The Broadway Musical at Woodcrest Christian School Royals Pavilion ($15- $20)
- April 18: Blue Zones Project Riverside: Moai Launch Party at North Park
- April 18: Fant-A-She’s at Riverside Municipal Auditorium ($37- $97)
- April 18: Frozen: The Broadway Musical at Woodcrest Christian School Royals Pavilion ($15- $20)
- April 18: MAGIC UNDERGROUND at Back To The Grind ($30- $45)
- April 23: Raincross Gazette: Ward 2 Community Forum at UCR Alumni & Visitors Center
- April 25: 78th Annual Riverside Flower Show and Garden Tour at Riverside Elks Lodge (free - $10)
- April 29: Raincross Gazette: Ward 4 Community Forum at Riverside Citrus State Park - Sunkist Center
- April 30: Raincross Gazette: Ward 6 Community Forum at Altura Credit Union (10725 Magnolia Ave.)
- May 1: Riverside Sunrise Rotary Club Meeting at Zacatecas Café
- May 3: "The Sound of Riverside" - The 2026 Riverside Arts Academy Gala at UCR University Theatre ($150- $325)
- May 6: Senior Conference at Janet Goeske Center
- May 13: Level Up Your Network: The Pick Group 2026 Membership Summit at Killer Queens Social House
- May 17: Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Social at Riverside's Heritage House
- June 1: REEF's 27th Annual Golf Tournament at Canyon Crest Country Club ($140- $175)
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