Montezuma bald cypress trees and billowing clouds mirror across a glassy Lake Evans at Fairmount Park last Wednesday. (Cindi Reynolds) Have a photo that captures the spirit of Riverside? Share it with us and help celebrate the beauty of our community!
Tuesday Gazette: May 5, 2026
Hello Riverside, and Happy Tuesday! Over the last two weeks, the Gazette hosted our first-ever candidate forums. Three nights, three wards, nearly 300 of you in the room with us. For a civics nerd like me, it was heaven!
I also know there are thousands of Riversiders who couldn't be there, and we want to provide as much value out of these forums as possible. So starting today, we're publishing a multi-part series built directly out of the conversations on stage, organized around the five biggest issues forum registrants asked us to put to the candidates.
We begin with homelessness. When we put this question to the candidates, we deliberately did not ask for a plan or a five-point program. We asked for a philosophy. What does the city owe someone living on the street? Where does that obligation end? And what do Riverside residents deserve in return? The answers (often unscripted, sometimes uncomfortable) are exactly the kind of thinking-on-their-feet engagement we hoped for.
Here's what to expect from the rest of the series:
We did record video of all three forums; it was our first attempt at producing video and I’m a little behind on the production and are working to have them online in our 2026 voter guide by tomorrow morning.
Thank you to everyone who showed up, to the candidates who said yes, and especially to Dan Bernstein for moderating with the kind of care this city deserves. More to come.
–Justin
P.S. Another thank you to everyone who reached out with encouraging notes about my Mission Inn sale story yesterday. It was very encouraging to hear kind words from so many of you.
The Mission Inn Heads to New Ownership: Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation
A 33-year era ends as Riverside's most iconic property heads to one of the Inland Empire's most prominent tribal nations.
The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, a 238-room National Historic Landmark occupying a full city block in downtown Riverside, framed in the distance by the San Bernardino Mountains, homeland of the Yuhaaviatam. (Titus Pardee)
The Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation will acquire Riverside's landmark Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, ending the Roberts family's 33-year stewardship of the Downtown anchor.
Why it matters: The deal transfers stewardship of Riverside's most prominent historic property — and the engine behind the Festival of Lights — to an Inland Empire tribal nation with deep roots in the region. The Festival of Lights will continue under the new ownership.
Driving the news: The Tribe's San Manuel Investment Authority and Kelly Roberts reached an agreement expected to close as early as the end of May. Pyramid Global Hospitality will manage daily operations.
The big picture: The acquisition adds the Mission Inn to a non-gaming hospitality portfolio that includes Yaamava' Resort & Casino in Highland, the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, and the Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club in Dana Point.
It will be the Tribe's first major property in Riverside — which the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation describes as its ancestral homeland "since time immemorial."
The backstory: Duane Roberts purchased the Mission Inn in 1992 for $15.6 million and launched the Festival of Lights that same year. He died Nov. 1, 2025, at age 88. The festival now draws an estimated 700,000 visitors annually and generates an estimated $154 million for the regional economy.
What's next: Conversations with the Mission Inn Foundation, current staff, and community stakeholders are expected during the monthlong closing period.
Where Do Candidates Stand on Homelessness? Ward 2, 4 and 6 Hopefuls Weigh In
From housing first to stricter enforcement, Ward 2, 4 and 6 candidates outlined their approaches to the city's homelessness challenge.
Bedding and personal belongings left on a mattress in a Riverside parking lot — the kind of scene that prompted Raincross Gazette-hosted candidate forums in Wards 2, 4 and 6 to open with the same question: what is the city's most basic obligation to someone living on the street? (File photo)
The Raincross Gazette hosted city council candidate forums for Wards 2, 4 and 6 last month, asking each candidate the same opening question: what is the city's fundamental obligation to someone living on the street?
Moderator Dan Bernstein, a former Press-Enterprise columnist and longtime Riversider, posed this question to candidates at all three forums:
What is your philosophy – not your plan, not your five-point program – about homelessness. What is the city's most basic, fundamental obligation to someone living on the street? Where does that obligation end? Assuming that obligation is met, what do Riverside residents deserve in return?
Here are each candidates' answers on homelessness and housing in the city.
Two Ward 6 Candidates Square Off on Homelessness, RTRP and the Galleria's Future
With Norma Berrellez absent, Oz Puerta and Luis Hernandez faced questions on the Magnolia Corridor, RTRP construction and the future of the Galleria at Tyler.
Raincross Gazette founder and publisher Justin Pardee, left, and moderator Dan Bernstein address attendees as Ward 6 candidates Luis Hernandez and Oz Puerta look on at the Gazette's candidate forum Thursday evening. (Bob Sirotnik)
Two of the three candidates for Ward 6 faced off at the Raincross Gazette's third candidate forum on Thursday evening.
Oz Puerta, executive director of the Arlington Business Partnership, Board of Ethics Vice Chair Luis Hernandez and Alvord Unified School District Board of Education Trustee Norma Berrellez are vying for the seat vacated by Councilmember Jim Perry, who announced last year that he is not running for reelection.
Berrellez, however, was not in attendance on Thursday evening.
Ward 6 covers neighborhoods including Arlanza, La Sierra, La Sierra Hills, La Sierra South, and portions of Arlington.
The forum was moderated by former Press-Enterprise columnist and longtime Riversider Dan Bernstein, who introduced discussion questions on both citywide issues as well as Ward 6-specific questions.
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