Wednesday Gazette: March 25, 2026

Hello Riverside, and Happy Wednesday! We announced something new last week, and the response has been encouraging. For the first time, the Gazette is hosting a candidate forum series ahead of the June City Council election — three evenings, three wards, free and open to the public. Ward 2 meets April 23 at the UCR Alumni and Visitors Center, Ward 4 gathers April 29 at California Citrus State Historic Park, and Ward 6 comes together April 30 at the Altura Credit Union Magnolia Branch. Each forum is built around questions from neighbors, moderated by longtime Riverside journalist Dan Bernstein.

If you're in Ward 2, take note: more than half the seats are already reserved. All three forums are capped at 100 seats, so if yours is on the ballot this June, now is the time to claim yours. Your voice and your vote matter.

See you tomorrow!

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GOVERNMENT

City Council Modernizes Billboard Rules, Opens Door to Relocations

For the first time, advertising companies can request to move or modernize existing billboards under a framework giving the City Council sole discretion over each deal.

Riverside can now negotiate with advertising companies to relocate, replace or modernize existing billboards — including digital displays banned since 2005.

Why it matters: If you live or commute near an older billboard, it could move, grow or go digital. The city could also gain public art, street improvements or ad revenue in exchange.

Driving the news: Lamar Advertising sent the city an unsolicited relocation request, exposing a gap in the rules — only the city could initiate billboard moves under the old framework. Council voted unanimously Tuesday to fix that.

The backstory: Riverside banned new billboards in 2005. Existing ones could be updated, but not relocated by advertisers and not converted to digital.

What's new: Advertising companies can now propose relocations or upgrades; the City Council has sole discretion over every deal's terms.

• The city can require companies to remove existing billboards in exchange for permission to install new ones.
• Negotiated community benefits may include public art, street repairs, city ad time or revenue sharing.

What they're saying: "This is more about giving us more control and modernizing the old billboards," Councilmember Sean Mill said. Councilmember Chuck Condor called it a "win-win."

What's next: No timeline has been set. Each billboard agreement will come before the full Council for approval.

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BUSINESS

Nacho Ann's Is Riverside's New Fabric and Creative Reuse Shop

Teresa Buelna's shop on 12th Street grew from thrifted tubs of fabric into a creative hub for the community.

A creative reuse fabric store built on thrift, activism, and community workshops has opened on 12th Street — and its name says it all.

Why it matters: Affordable, locally owned craft supplies are rare in Riverside. Nacho Ann's sells thrifted fabric, tools, and patterns at accessible prices — and hosts workshops starting at $15.

What they're saying: "Nacho Ann's is basically a diss track to the expensive price of Jo-Ann's," owner Teresa Buelna said.

Driving the news: Nacho Ann's Fabrics opened Feb. 7 at 3760 12th St., transitioning from an online shop owner Teresa Buelna launched in early 2024 after acquiring 10 tubs of vintage fabric from a 1970s tailor's estate.

Catch up quick: Buelna built her following through social-media-driven "Dirty Art Brigade" workshops — low-cost, in-person sewing events she hosted across Riverside starting in August 2024.

• "I want the people who could barely afford the $15 workshop," she said. "That's who I'm trying to reach."

What's next: The store now hosts artist-led workshops open to the public. Find details at nachoanns.com or on Instagram at @nachoannsfabrics.

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ART

Frozen in the Frame: Divola's Brandstater Show Made a Case for Riverside's Arts Scene

UCR artist John Divola turned century-old archival negatives into a meditation on control and stillness. The Brandstater Gallery brought it home to Riverside.

Linen-printed birds and a rabbit — pulled from 19th-century stereo negatives — make up a quiet but pointed exhibition by Riverside artist John Divola.

Why it matters: Divola teaches at UCR and draws on archives housed at the California Museum of Photography on campus, making this work rooted in Riverside's own cultural institutions.

Catch up quick: "Seven Songbirds and a Rabbit" ran Feb. 16–March 19 at La Sierra University's Brandstater Gallery. Divola appropriated stereographic images from the Keystone Mast Archive — a format popular from the 1850s to 1920s — and isolated the animals onto framed linen prints.

Between the lines: The show critiques the human impulse to organize and control the natural world. The animals, once living subjects, are frozen in archival stillness — their stillness the point.

• Divola chose subjects that appear "accidental" in the original glass-plate negatives, details easily overlooked in a vast archive.

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Noteworthy

A UCR bioengineering professor has developed a fake drug detector that could be manufactured for under $30, using a repurposed toy robot sensor to identify counterfeit medications by their unique dissolution "fingerprints," correctly identifying 90% of pills tested.

What's Happening in Riverside

Today

• Riverside East Rotary Club at Civil Rights Institute of Inland Southern
• Stretch & Dance Class at Janet Goeske Senior Center
• Bordwell Park Advisory Committee at Stratton Community Center
• History on the Rocks - Round Two! Presented by The Mission Inn Foundation at Mission Inn Foundation ($60)
• Reading Assistance Program at My Learning Studio
• Riverside Mission Belles at Victoria Presbyterian Church
• Riverside Open Mic Music Series at Back to the Grind
• Sealed in Spring: Letters and Memory Necklaces at Marcy Library
• SSgt Salvador J. Lara Casa Blanca Library | Riverside Reads Book Discussion at SSgt Salvador J. Lara Casa Blanca Library

Tomorrow

• She Built This City: Women and the Making of Riverside at Riverside Main Library
• History on the Rocks! Presented by The Mission Inn Foundation at Mission Inn Foundation Store ($60)

Save the Date

• March 28: The 4th Annual Citrus Festival at California Citrus State Historic Park
• March 28: Goeske Spring Festival at Janet Goeske Center
• April 2: Hays Press-Enterprise Lecture at University Theatre
• April 5: Easter Celebration at First Congregational Church of Riverside
• April 11: Olivewood Cemetery Tour at Olivewood Cemetery ($21.20)
• April 12: The Expeditions of Juan Bautista de Anza through Riverside County at Riverside Medical Clinic Basement Meeting Room
• April 17: Frozen: The Broadway Musical at Woodcrest Christian School Royals Pavilion ($15- $20)
• April 18: Fant-A-She’s at Riverside Municipal Auditorium ($37- $97)
• May 17: Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Social at Riverside's Heritage House

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