City boards and commissions take up pallet yard zoning, parks budget cuts, housing conversions, and historic preservation at a busy week of civic meetings.
A reader's Orange Blossom Blonde Ale growler from Riverside Brewing Co. rests on rain-dampened pavement, a small relic from the house where their family grew up. Have a photo that captures the spirit of Riverside? Share it with us and help celebrate the beauty of our community!
Monday Gazette: May 18, 2026
Hello Riverside, and Happy Monday! Still thinking about yesterday's ask: we want your old photos.
Not just the photos, though. We want the story that goes with them. A birthday at Castle Park when you were a kid. A Saturday at the bowling alley with your league. A parade route you lined up for every single year. Whatever memory you've got sitting in a drawer or a shoebox, we want to hear it.
City boards and commissions take up pallet yard zoning, parks budget cuts, housing conversions, and historic preservation at a busy week of civic meetings.
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 closed and open sessions on Tuesday, May 19, at 12 p.m. at Hunter Hobby Park for a luncheon and tour by Riverside Live Steamers, and in afternoon sessions at 3 p.m. and an evening session at 6:15 p.m. (agenda). The agenda includes:
Consider an urgency ordinance that would immediately halt new or expanded wooden pallet storage yards in Riverside for 45 days while the city develops permanent zoning rules for such businesses. (item 7)
Scheduling a public hearing on June 23 to consider proposed City service fee increases for 2026-27 and a City rule change that would allow future fees to rise automatically each year tied to inflation. (item 8)
Scheduling a public hearing on June 23 to discuss the City's proposed two-year budget for 2026-28, which includes measures described as addressing a projected deficit, alongside a spending plan for Measure Z sales tax funds. (item 9)
Discussing the recruitment of a city attorney (item 17a)
Evaluating the city manager’s performance in a closed session (item 17b)
Considering a new City rule requiring reporting when people experiencing homelessness are transported. (item 31)
Approving the final subdivision map for a 49-home development at Victoria and La Sierra Avenues, including three units designated affordable for very low-income households. (item 35)
Considering an agreement with Lamar Central Outdoor, LLC to relocate 10 billboards in exchange for $2.5 million and a share of future advertising revenue paid to the City. (item 39)
Commission on Aging
The Commission on Aging meets on Monday, May 18 at 4:00 p.m. (agenda) to receive a presentation from the Riverside Police Department on the Blue Envelope Program — a voluntary tool that allows drivers with developmental disabilities or other cognitive conditions to communicate their needs to officers during traffic stops by presenting a specially marked envelope containing their documents and medical information. (item 2)
Park and Recreation Commission
The Park and Recreation Commission meets on Monday, May 18 at 6:30 p.m. (agenda) to review two-year departmental budget that includes roughly $2.7 million in cuts affecting recreation programs, arts events, security at community centers and park maintenance. (item 4)
Safety, Wellness, and Youth Committee
The Safety, Wellness, and Youth Committee (Councilmembers Perry, Conder, and Mill) meets on Wednesday, May 20, at 1:00 p.m. (agenda) to review updates on two public safety items: a phased plan to add 84 firefighters and seven frontline units to increase fire response capacity, (item 4) and a shift in commercial truck enforcement toward joint patrols with the California Highway Patrol that issue state citations carrying license record points rather than city fines. (item 3)
Cultural Heritage Board
The Cultural Heritage Board meets on Wednesday, May 20, at 3:30 p.m. (agenda) to review rehabilitation plans for two historic Riverside properties — the Harada House National Historic Landmark on Lemon Street (item 6) and the 1891 Barley Mills Building on Commerce Street (item 5) — as part of separate Certificate of Appropriateness requests before the board.
The Economic Development Committee (Councilmembers Robillard, Cervantes, and Hemenway) meets on Thursday, May 21, at 3:00 p.m. (agenda) to review staff funding recommendations for the City's Arts and Cultural Affairs Sponsorship Program, which proposes distributing $158,214 among applicants for the July-December 2026 period (item 2) and receive a report on City-sponsored activities during National Small Business Week — including workshops on business funding, a local business spotlight, and a Riverside Rewards shopping promotion at participating businesses. (item 6)
Opinion: Colorado River Supply, The Continuing Saga
Reservoirs are falling, deadlines have passed, and the clock is running out on a deal to keep the Colorado River alive.
2026 has been another bad year for runoff in the Colorado River basin. Already depleted reservoirs are losing water rather than filling from spring runoff. Flow into Lake Powell is running less than half of average. The water level in Lake Powell has fallen to about 20 feet above dead pool, the level at which water can no longer reach the hydroelectric generators. To help counter this the US Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the Colorado River, recently ordered release of up to a million acre feet of water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Utah-Wyoming border into Lake Powell. The Bureau also ordered a reduction in water release from Lake Powell to Lake Mead of almost half a million acre feet. The hope is that the electricity generators at Lake Powell can continue to operate until next season's runoff begins.
For several years the various Colorado River parties have been trying to reach agreement on a reduction of Colorado River diversions. The states of Arizona, California, and Nevada (the lower basin states), Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming (the upper basin states) along with the Country of Mexico and twenty some Native American Tribal Nations continue to meet and discuss a potential agreement to reduce annual diversion of up to four million acre feet of Colorado River water because flow in the river has declined from earlier predictions and there is simply not enough water for everyone to take as much as they believe they have rights to.
These negotiations have been ongoing, but two deadlines for submitting a proposed agreement to the US Bureau of Reclamation have passed. The most recent of these was this past Valentine's Day. The Bureau of Reclamation has the authority to mandate allocations. Earlier this year the Bureau released a draft environmental impact statement with a preferred alternative that would require California, Arizona and Nevada to reduce up to 3 million acre feet annually, and potentially no specific cuts to the upper basin states. There are reports the Bureau intends to mandate these cuts very soon to replace a 20-year agreement among the parties that expires September 30 of this year. However the Bureau itself has not released a proposed plan and indicates it is continuing to work with the parties.
City Council Approves $2.28M City Hall Lobby Overhaul, Moving Clerk's Office to Main Floor
The 301-day design-build project will relocate the City Clerk's Office to the ground floor and add a grab-and-go food area, funded partly through Measure Z reserves.
Riverside City Council approved a $2.28 million renovation of the City Hall lobby Tuesday — its first overhaul since 2008 — bringing the City Clerk's Office to the main floor and adding a grab-and-go food area.
Why it matters: If you visit City Hall for elections, passport services, or other clerk business, you'll find those services on the ground floor instead of deeper in the building — and construction begins under a 301-day contract.
What's included:
City Clerk's Office relocated to main floor
Grab-and-go food service area
Concierge desk moved closer to elevators
New furniture and lighting
A planned multi-purpose room is deferred due to funding limits
By the numbers: The $1.98 million construction contract goes to Cal-City Construction Inc. of Cerritos, with $297,414 in change-order authority. The city draws $1.73 million from General Fund infrastructure reserves, plus $550,000 shifted from other accounts — including $250,000 from Measure Z.
Yes, but: The Measure Z funding draw comes as voters face a June 2 ballot measure asking whether to raise the tax from 1% to 1.25% and extend it indefinitely. Some critics say Measure Z revenue has already gone beyond its original public safety mandate. Ward 4 candidate Jessica Qattawi questioned the renovation's priority over road repairs at the Gazette's April 29 forum; incumbent Chuck Conder countered that core services remain funded.
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