Ward 2 City Council candidates Aram Ayra, Christen Montero, Gracie Torres and Mike Vahl answer questions at the Gazette's April 23 candidate forum. (Bob Sirotnik)
Three of the four candidates vying for the Ward 2 City Council seat weighed in this week on UCR's relationship with the city, wildfire risk in Canyon Crest, warehouse development near Sycamore Canyon and their vision for a first term — questions that ran out of time at the Raincross Gazette's April 23 candidate forum.
Aram Ayra, Christen Montero and Mike Vahl responded to the Gazette's follow-up questions. Torres had not responded by publication deadline.
Ward 2 covers neighborhoods including Eastside, Canyon Crest, Mission Grove, Sycamore Canyon and the University District.
UCR as a Civic Asset
UCR has 27,000 students and is one of the largest employers in the city. Name one thing the city should be doing with UCR that it is not doing very well now or not doing at all.
Ayra: "One of the most important things the City can do is partner closely with UC Riverside to ensure more students are housed on-campus, rather than pushing demand into surrounding residential neighborhoods. With the university on track to bring in 35,000 students by 2035, expanding on-campus housing is not optional. If we don't build for that growth on campus, our Riverside neighborhoods will continue to absorb the impact. The City should be an active partner in that effort and hold the university accountable to meeting its housing commitments.
As a UCR alum and a longtime University neighborhood resident, I've seen how the current gap plays out. Students face high rents and limited options when they go off-campus, while areas like the University neighborhood have to deal with illegal unit conversions and quality-of-life issues. The rollback of programs like UNET has also removed important tools that once helped manage these impacts. As a councilmember, I would push for stronger coordination with UCR, clear housing benchmarks, and enforcement of good-neighbor standards so growth benefits both students and residents."
Montero: "Currently UC systems are supposed to share the core city service costs…the police, the fire, all the first response…that goes to that campus and currently the city hasn't received any of that money back, which means that a lot of the taxpayer money from all our residents has been going to subsidizing that cost that you see, or hasn't [been] paid. So one thing that I would change immediately is really working with UCR to hold them accountable to the fact that the sharing course services for public safety on campus is more of a requirement not something that is avoidable. There just needs to be accountability and shared cost.
I [also] think there hasn't been enough built-in pipeline to companies that are right here in Riverside for our UC students, including CBU, and surrounding. I think there needs to be more support when it comes to students and the different careers that they're looking to get into. That way, they can stay right here at home along with supporting more entrepreneurship, larger co-working spaces, companies that are think tanks that really allow for the innovation that we want to see right here in Riverside."
Vahl: "I would say showcasing it. UCR is a great asset. They started approximately 20 years ago cleaning up the university so we would have a nice thoroughfare between downtown and UCR. They're about maybe halfway there. They still need to get more businesses going on University so that it's a nice gateway from downtown to UCR."
Wildfire Risk and Canyon Crest
Portions of Canyon Crest, Sycamore Highlands, and neighborhoods near Box Springs Mountain sit in high fire hazard zones. Across California, the number of homeowners forced to seek basic insurance from the state continues to climb. What can and will you do to help make these neighborhoods more fire safe? Should the city take a more active role in "vegetation management" on public land?
Ayra: "The City needs to lead, but also give residents the tools and support to protect their homes and neighborhoods. I would prioritize helping neighborhoods enroll in the Firewise USA program and organize local Firewise groups, similar to neighborhood watch programs but focused on fire safety. Many major insurance companies offer 5 to 10 percent discounts on insurance rates to homes that are in Firewise communities, which can provide some relief as costs continue to rise. I would also look to revamp Riverside's Municipal Volunteer Program to coordinate debris cleanups, expanding vegetation management on public land, and even using tools like targeted goat grazing where appropriate. I think the City should invest in home hardening as well, such as ember-resistant vents and fire filter upgrades, to make properties more resilient.
I would also support exploring a volunteer firefighter or community response program that trains residents to assist during emergencies and provides an added layer of protection when fires break out."
Montero: "One of the biggest ways we can avoid fires is doing weed abatement making sure that all of the Sycamore area really gets trimmed down. There are natural ways to do that too — cities have worked with small farmers to bring in sheep, goats or cows to clear vegetation, which also provides natural fertilizer.
We also just need to make sure that we can staff more fire stations…and find new places where we can grow our fire stations, and also increase our fire response unit."
Vahl: "The department is already working on that. They are in the high risk areas. They are putting out directives with instructions on how to clean out some of the brush around your house so that you're not subject to getting that stuff catching fire. And then they come out and inspect your house. So by doing that, especially whether it's just in Ward 2 or all, you know, down Van Buren over in Woodcrest, they're helping mitigate your fire risk.
I used to work for Canyon Lake and we used to do lot clearing. If you had a vacant lot in the winter, the grass grows three feet tall and then starts to dry out when you get to about April or May. And you had to clean it down to within two inches of the ground or they fine you. The city should be working on the same type of principle where if we have any places with long grass, that should be getting cut down to a couple inches. And [maybe] it's the city workers who would have to go cut the grass…once it turns brown, it doesn't grow very much. But they need to keep that stuff down to help do our part to mitigate fire."
Ayra: "I think Riverside has already built more than its fair share of warehouses. Many of them have been built with a focus on short-term profit instead of long-term environmental health and economic sustainability. As we have seen from recent studies, our reliance on logistics and warehousing leaves the city really vulnerable as we face rising fuel costs, supply chain disruptions and the rapid growth of automation, which will displace a large share of jobs in this industry. We need to double down on our efforts to shift toward sectors like education, healthcare, and clean technology that offer more durable, higher-quality jobs.
I'm certainly open to exploring a citywide moratorium on warehousing, but the bigger issue is holding developers and logistics companies accountable for the impacts their industry causes. Warehouse developers should be paying their fair share for road damage, infrastructure strain, and pollution impacts. Many of Riverside's development impact fees are outdated, and the costs have been pushed onto taxpayers. As Council Member, I would prioritize updating the fee structure and holding developers accountable to robust community benefit agreements that will reinvest back into our communities."
Montero: "Our prior City Council saw as an opportunity with creating jobs. That's something that I don't support, I really believe that warehouses end up creating a lot of transportation issues for us residents in the community. They contribute to a lot of carbon footprint as well. So I do think that it does need to be limited and the spaces that we're using for them is definitely – especially out up here in the Canyon Crest area – huge problem.
Right now we've cut down a lot of park area that some of our fellow neighbors would take hiking trails to. At the same time when it comes to this encroachment, having the hundred feet away rule is one way to reduce it. But I think also we need to be creative and how we're filling that space. We can check the box and say okay, let's get a bunch of plants that are pretty cheap, but look great or we can get plants that actually filter the air and help contribute in a positive impact to help equal out some of the prior decisions that we've made to have these warehouses. I think definitely when it comes to warehousing it doesn't have to be just logistics – [it could be] having advanced manufacturing, even biofacilities, come in and build as a new way to provide jobs that have more career forward movement, salaries and pay that one could eventually buy a home with versus living paycheck to paycheck."
Vahl: "I do not support warehouse projects at the current time. We have so much empty warehouse space. There's no reason to be building anymore. That project on Sycamore Canyon off of Alessandro is still empty, so we have plenty of warehouse space. There's probably a couple million square feet at least empty. We have enough warehouse space and enough traffic on Alessandro and enough traffic on Van Buren and enough traffic on the 215 and the 60. We don't need a bunch more semis running around."
Vision for Your First Term
Look ahead. Imagine four years from now you are running for re-election. Tell voters, concretely, what you expect to have accomplished during your first term as the Ward 2 council member.
Ayra: "By the end of my first term, I want voters to be able to point to real, measurable progress in their daily lives. First, we will have expanded access to childcare and started bringing costs down for working families. That means more available slots, stronger partnerships with providers, and real investment in making childcare affordable so parents can work and kids can thrive. If we're serious about economic opportunity in Riverside, we have to be serious about childcare. Second, we will have made clear progress on long-overdue infrastructure. I expect to have secured the majority of funding and approvals to move forward on the Spruce Street rail grade separation, a project that will improve safety, reduce traffic delays, and better connect our neighborhoods. We will also make real progress on basic street repairs, fixing potholes, and paving roads that residents rely on every day. At the same time, we will have advanced plans to physically connect Islander Park to the Box Springs Mountain reserve, expanding access to open space and improving quality of life in Ward 2.
Third, we will have taken meaningful steps to address the housing crisis. That includes updating the University Avenue Specific Plan with strong community input to unlock new affordable housing opportunities, while also strengthening renter protections to prevent displacement and keep families housed. I will work to track private equity ownership of local housing and establish an impact fee that reinvests into our Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Fourth, we will have brought more accountability to City Hall. I will push to establish campaign contribution limits for City Council races so residents can have more trust in who their elected officials are answering to. I will also work to restore and protect public participation by defending virtual comment options, pushing back on efforts to limit public input, and ensuring major decisions are fully discussed, not buried on consent calendars. And I will stand firm against unnecessary rate increases from Riverside Public Utilities, because families are already stretched thin. My goal is to have meaningfully lowered costs, strengthened infrastructure, improved access to housing and restored trust at City Hall."
Montero: "One thing is, I'd like to see what has changed in some of the planning and development. And getting rid of some of the projects that residents aren't really fond of or maybe aren't economically viable for our community. At the same time I would like to see the University Corridor a lot more renovated and cleaned up, [and become] a place that's more active. I'd like to see housing for the homeless, having Housing First as a priority, but also having a scattered site model approach, providing services to the individuals that are in need, and making sure that we really have a revitalized pathway from University all the way down to Downtown Mission Inn. [I'd like to see] it as a place where people are walking and biking down that whole strip and there's not a part of it that people are afraid to walk through anymore."
Vahl: "I will have worked very hard on maintaining fiscal discipline, having improved accountability for people that we're giving money to to help the city so that we're getting our money's worth, and making sure that our public safety has been fully funded so that we have the best public safety in Riverside County."
Civic Engagement Reporter who calls the Inland Empire home. Five years covering SoCal. APU journalism grad. Good conversations over coffee and stories that matter.
