Tag Archives: Friends of Riverside’s Hills

Watkins Clean Up Love Riverside It Shows

Thanks to the University neighbors, Friends of Riverside’s Hills and students who took walk on Watkins Drive, for Love Riverside’s serve day Saturday, Oct. 12th.

Along the way, they picked up 32 large bags of trash, 2-5 gal. cans of  toxic waste, 1 tire tread, assorted construction waste, and several green cans worth of invasive green waste and other nasty junk that makes us glad we have public works to take it the last mile- to the landfill.

Trash Pick up Results 1 Trash Pickup Results 2 Volunteers picking trash along Watkins Dr West Side Watkins Dr clean up curb pin with now dumping storm drain message

This is why the UNA is the neighborhood of our dreams. Thank you neighbors.

 

Save the Date. Watkins Dr Included In Great American Clean Up

Save the date!  Saturday May 7, 2022.

After way too many months of neglect, Watkins Dr., gateway to the University Neighborhood is about to get some TLC.
Along with Keep Riverside Clean and Beautiful, the Friends of Riverside’s Hills, UNA neighbors and UCR students, we’re converging as part of a Citywide clean up event. Sign up here

Don’t forget to select your T-shirt size. Click Ward 2 and mention Watkins Dr in a box near the end of the form. Spread the word. It’s a big job. See you there.

EVENT DETAILS

MAY 7, 2022

9 – 11:30AM: Preassigned Citywide Cleanups

Prior to the event, all volunteers will receive site locations and instructions from KRCB.

11:30AM – 1PM: Report Form/Tool Return & Volunteer Lunch

Riverside City Hall – 3900 Main St. – Cross street: 9th St.

BECOME A TEAM LEADER!

Keep Riverside Clean and Beautiful is recruiting individuals

to lead volunteers for the GREAT AMERICAN CLEANUP!

Team Leader Duties:

Organize a team! Ask family, friends, and co-workers to volunteer with you

Register your group by

Wednesday, April 27th

Attend a Team Leader Meeting for

instructions, event t-shirts, and supplies

 

Team Leader Meetings:

Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce

3985 University Ave., Riverside, CA 92501

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2022

11:30AM – 1PM (lunch included)

or

Wednesday, May 4th, 2022

11:30AM – 1PM (lunch included)

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

PHOTOGRAPHERS WANTED

Keep Riverside Clean and Beautiful is recruiting individuals

to photograph the GREAT AMERICAN CLEANUP event!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

Questions? Contact Christina: 951.683.7100 Ext. 212 or celias@riverside-chamber.com

Keep Riverside Clean & Beautiful ● 3985 University Ave. ● Riverside, CA 92501

RTA Vine St Mobility Hub Survey

RTA Vine St Mobility Hub Survey

RTA is requesting community feedback on their conceptual mobility hub plan for Vine Street.

Mobility hubs consist of major transit stations and the surrounding area. They serve a critical function in the regional transportation system as the origin, destination, or transfer point for a significant portion of trips. They are places of connectivity where different modes of transportation – from walking to biking to riding transit – come together seamlessly and where there is an intensive concentration of working, living, shopping and/or playing.

A survey is being circulated about ideas around this new transit hub.
The survey is the latest community engagement process for this idea. Some years back there was a big concept charette requesting community participation.

One idea has been to link the hub and the Eastside Lincoln Park Neighborhood directly to downtown with a linear bike and pedestrian parkway over the 91 freeway. Not unlike the Highline in New York.

NYC Highline Walkway
Such a parkway would  open up access to some amazing Lincoln Park Neighborhood assets. I think this time around we should explore how we could use the mobility hub as a catalyst for connecting the EastSide directly to the Downtown without an added traffic burden.

As it stands right now, air quality impacts from the mobility hub traffic will affect their neighborhood the most. Any increase in density as a multi-use destination will also be felt. There must certainly be some creative ways we can use this new mobility hub as a catalyst to actually improve the neighborhood for the neighbors.

Eastside Alleyway

 

The Eastside Heal Zone Collaborative has been doing great work in the EastSide.  They have built a powerful, community based focus on health in their neighborhoods.

They hosting their 6th Annual Walk By Faith. There’s clearly some irony and disconnection here. Some unconventional mitigation to address the added air pollution burden that a successful mobility hub will necessarily bring, is certainly worth a look.

What would it be like if we planned for active transportation in a way that benefited the neighborhoods rather than accommodated more cars and traffic?

It’s the same for the desperately needed pedestrian/bike walkways from UCR along University Avenue under the freeway.

We should be looking at separating the pedestrians, bikes, boards, and scooters from the University Avenue traffic at the 215/60 ramps.  Long approach ramps emanating from the now stalled, on-campus mobility hub, made from structural steel would be a safe, inexpensive, immediate solution.


With some integrated lighting and artwork, it could become the start of a workable, alternative transportation corridor all the way to downtown.


Now that CARB is nearing completion and Iowa Ave is scheduled to become four lanes from University to Martin Luther King Drive, maybe it’s worth considering.  We’re sure  making it easier for cars to get around. How about everyone else?

Don’t get me started on the  negotiated  trail access along the entire Perris Valley MetroLink Line. Metrolink even has trail specs already on the books. Other communities have trails along Metrolink lines.

What would it be like if we could bike and/or hike along the entire route?

Sunset Box Springs Mountains
The Friends Of Riverside’s Hills has donated nearly 900 acres of open space to the Box Springs Mountain Preserve.

Most critically, it includes the parcels necessary to build a tunnel and a bridge for safe trail access.

That’s the only safe option that thousands of residents and students have to regain their access to our neighborhoods’ best natural resource:  Our trails.

The Friends commissioned a Master Trails Plan for the Box Springs Mountain Preserve, including a trail head at Islander Park.

The trail plan ringed the mountains at the base and at the top connecting dozens of Riverside and Moreno Valley neighborhoods with a variety of trail loop options.

The plan needs updating, but could be used to leverage transportation grant funding to develop alternative transportation networks. That’s taking mobility to a whole new level.

Northside Visioning Session

The Northside has been clear and vocal about preserving and restoring their Springbrook Wash trail.

That’s a key trail link to Fairmont Park and the Santa Ana River Trail.


What can we learn from a mega dense urban population like NYC?  What can we apply in Riverside?

Aren’t we already feeling the impacts of increasing density? More traffic, longer delays, degrading roadways, boring vistas are all part of the daily commute we’re being forced to live with.


We’ve sold our soul and best natural assets to warehousing and we didn’t even have a designated truck route planned for the city. Go figure.

What would it be like if getting around was fun, easy, exciting … and promoted good health?

SB 1000 requires the each legislative body – city or county, to have safety and an environmental justice element integrated into their general plans.

What would it be like if we had a coordinated transportation agency response that leveraged  resources for immediate community equity?

Just some thoughts…. Would love to hear about yours.

Watkins Dr Neighborhood Gateway Clean Up Event April 13, 2019

Thanks to all our neighbors and students for the successful clean up. UCR Day of Service students plus high schoolers from Moreno Valley joined neighbors for a Spring clean up along the hillside and arroyo portion of  Watkins Dr.

We collected over 20 bags of trash, 3 tires, 5 gallons of used motor oil and a couple of auto body parts.

Watkins Dr. is the Gateway to the University Neighborhood and is our wilderness version of Victoria Avenue with amazing vistas.

Watkins Dr Gateway Clean Up April 13 2019

Earth Day 2018 Watkins Dr Trash Clean Up

Thanks to the army of UCR student volunteers and neighbors that made our Earth Day efforts a huge success.

The Interfraternity Council  (IFC) helped recruit and organize students with an appreciation for place and willingness to contribute some sweat equity to the neighborhood.

Early arrivals getting caffeinated.

 

Keep Riverside Clean and Beautiful supplied the tools, bags, gloves and safety vests.

 

 

Thanks to Jimmy Rodriguez from Riverside Public Works who loaned us a “Road Work Ahead” sign to help slow traffic on Watkins.

Thanks to Jimmy Rodriguez from Riverside Public Works for the safety sign to slow Watkins Dr traffic.

 

And last but perhaps most important, thanks to Jamie from Starbucks at UCR’s Glenmoor Market for providing some highly caffeinated fuel to get us started for the day.

UCR sherpa going the distance to clean up the hillsides

 

We filled over 50 trash bags including 4 Brown cans we had to borrow from neighbors because we ran out of bags.

Trailer load of trash

We pulled out 7 tires, 3 mattress and box springs, a car bumper, one refrigerator and a small mountain of dumped construction demo wood and one needle.

Long shot of a long morning’s work. Plus 4 borrowed brown cans. We were short bags.

 

Hats off to the student sherpas who climbed the hills and navigated the arroyos to recover the  illegal dumping and massive amounts of trash tossed from car windows.

Illegal Dumping

 

7 tires, construction demo, refrigerator and more

 

Sometimes it takes more than a village.

We could name all the establishments who probably don’t realize their good name is being literally trashed, but that’s for another time.

A herculean effort by UCR students and neighbors.

Right now, we’re all beat, happy and proud of the community spirit behind making the University Neighborhood the neighborhood of our dreams.

Watkins Dr Trash No Match For UCR Students

In a massive show of force, UCR students scoured hillsides and arroyos to collect a trailer load of trash. Over seventy five participants from numerous fraternities.collaborated with the University Neighborhood and Friends Of Riverside’s Hills to reinvigorate Watkins Drive, Gateway to the University Neighborhood.

The morning’s haul included a well used triple recliner couch minus remote, nine tires, a bumper with plate plus thirty five bags of assorted trash. These guys climbed hills and scampered down into arroyos to retrieve the bounty.

In a straw poll at the end, students indicated an interest in a potential collaboration to help build the new C Trail in the Box Springs Mountains. It seems like a perfect legacy project for students, alumnae association and the UCR Foundation.

This batch of trash can be appreciated for a short time only. City crews will find this easily accessible at this location.

A second pile of bags of green waste and assorted construction debris is at the top of Watkins Drive at Gernert Rd. It’s up the hill.

Thanks to Keep Riverside Clean and Beautiful for the tools, gloves and safety vests. There weren’t close to enough, but some of these guys worked bare handed.

Bags of green waste and assorted trash.
Bags of green waste and assorted trash.

Thanks again to Starbuck’s Canyon Crest, and Friends Of Riverside’s Hills.for the donuts.

The area is transformed because of your generosity and support.  

Watkins Dr Clean Up Nov 21 2015 (4)
Seventy five UCR Inter Fraternity Students Make A Big Trash Haul with Friends Of Riverside’s Hills and the University Neighborhood Assn.
UCR Students Picking Up Trash On Watkins Drive
UCR Students working the weeds along Watkins Drive, Gateway to the University Neighborhood
Trash Trailer
A Trailer of Trash for the Friends Of Riverside’s Hills Adopt A Street – Watkins Drive
Watkins Dr Clean Up Nov 21 2015 (2)
UCR Inter- Fraternity Council President Wade Harris and Treasurer Ben Davis and Friends Of Riverside’s Hills Kevin Dawson discussing what we can accomplish together next. Maybe a legacy project rebuilding the C Trail?

Metrolink Safety Concerns Raised At UNA Meeting

Several University neighbors raised concerns over the start of Metrolink commuter rail service running through the neighborhood in the next months. Here’s a recap of the concerns form a letter sent to Anne Mayer, Director of RCTC.

​​​​​Hi Anne,

I wanted to update you on several issues that neighborhood residents have raised.

First on the list: UCR is hosting a student group orientation on Tuesday the 22nd. Sargent Seth Morrison wanted to invite Metrolink Safety Program Manager, Martha (Marty) Jimenez from Operation Lifesaver. Could you please make the introduction?

Operation Life SaverMartha made her presentation along with her UCR Grad trainee Ariel Alcon Tapia. Her message would be best suited to the student population climbing the “C” Trail each day.

I asked Ariel, her UCR grad and trainee if he ever hiked the “C” Trail. Of course he had to admit that he had. The presentation fell flat for the neighborhood.

The key issue is a safe crossing. It’s not going to be solved by contracting with LA County Sheriffs for trespassing enforcement. The safety programming necessary as it is, is occurring as inauthentic.

The persistence in resisting tunnels or bridges, is putting RCTC in the unenviable position of appearing callous and guilty of misfeasance when the inevitable student fatality occurs.

Sorority Photo Op On Metrolink TracksI am forwarding a number of photos for you. One of them is a sorority group photo staged on the tracks.

Others point out an issue we’re having with cars driving into Islander Park entering from the Mt.Vernon/Linden crossing.

This is an open invitation to partying and dumping. It’s also an attractive nuisance which will no doubt result in additional drivers getting stuck on the tracks.

Islander Park Drive In Access 2

Drive In Access To Islander Park 3

Dennis McCulloch wants to know what is being contemplated to address his issue.

The seven properties identified in the EIR as requiring sound mitigation have asked when that is going to happen. Other residents have already used the mitigation money offered. These seven are due and want to know if there’s a timeline, a process or someone they should contact. Christopher and Debra Sanchez at 2282 Kentwood
have asked. Please advise.

A suggestion was made about addressing the safety issues of trail crossings by hikers. Dave Roddy is a neighbor and his suggestion was to slow the speed through the neighborhood from Linden to Manfield to 15 mph, about the same as the
current freight train speeds through the neighborhood.

I realize this will immediately bring up a number of reasons why that can’t work. However, in light of no other significant measure in place to successfully address the gaping public safety issue we’re facing, it might be worth considering.

Adding a few extra minutes to the route until we get this resolved is actually the one idea with the greatest chance of making an actual impact on public safety. I doubt the beginning ridership numbers will be significant enough to warrant being overly inconvenienced versus the possibility of a potentially fatal one.

At the very least, it buys us time to continue discussions about a tunnel or bridge. The cost to install either is far under RCTC’s estimates to the Friends Of Riverside’s Hills. To solve this crossing issue, we’re in the low six figures, not the millions as proposed.

In the project plan the crossing at Morton Road was to be gated and closed being accessible only to emergency vehicles. If this is so, what was the reason behind installing full crossing infrastructure? People want to know.

The last item relates to Quiet Zones. We know the City has to apply. What is the process or timeline for this? Do we wait until RCTC signs off as complete? Please tell us how the process works. We know it goes to the PUC. When is the key question in the neighborhood.

As always, I share this in the possibility of shared community benefit.

A vibrant, Badly Eroded C Trail Riverside CAsafe regional trails network starts with Islander Park. The C Trail is the second most popular trail after Mt. Rubidoux. The wear is obvious.

Imagining more crossings not less or none as RCTC insists, is where the majority of community stakeholders are focused..

The Riverside Stem Academy for one, is cut off from accessing the Box Springs Mountains Preserve because they can’t cross the tracks either. Same as the C Trail.

Healthy Riverside County General PlanThe draw to these natural resources has always been present. That was evident from the very first scoping sessions. Now we have significantly larger numbers of the community accessing these resources.

The County’s Healthy Cities Initiative is based on healthy food access and walkable communities.

We’re at a loss at RCTC’s position denying a community access to fulfill a stated health implementation goal.

These issues have already been solved in other Metrolink communities. We are the only residential area on the new Perris Valley line. We feel we should have gotten at least as good a project as in other Metrolink communities.

It is unreasonable to think we can’t come up with a plan to develop the trail heads in Islander Park to function as safe, environmentally sound and effective.

The Metrolink project will alter the fabric of our neighborhood forever. The looming safety and access issues were always key points for us. They are not going away. We think it’s well past time for RCTC to mitigate them in the best interest of the community and the taxpayers.

As always yours for a neighborhood of our dreams,

Gurumantra Khalsa

Chair University Neighborhood Association.

Watkins Drive Clean Up Set For Saturday, July 27th

Friends of Riverside's Hills pulled 15 bags of trash off of Watkins Dr.The Friends of Riverside’s Hills are sponsoring a Watkins Dr. Clean Up Saturday, July 27th.

Tools, bags, gloves, safety vests at your service courtesy of Keep Riverside Clean and BeautifulWear sturdy shoes, a hat.

Meet on Watkins Dr. just South of Piccacho Dr.

We’re starting at 7:30 a.m. and finishing around 11:30 a.m. Sign in and pick up your gear.

Cold beverages courtesy of our friends at  Starbuck’s Canyon Crest.

Lend a hand and join the neighborhood sherpas who climb hills and arroyos to keep the “Gateway to the University Neighborhood”  looking great.  Call 951-640-3868 for details.

Pursue Local Resolution To Rail Project Wrangling

Metrolink Train

The Press Enterprise Editorial, May 28, 2013

HE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
May 28, 2013; 04:03 PM

Expedience does not justify carving another special loophole in the state’s environmental law. Riverside County transportation officials should dump an effort to get state legislators to bypass an adverse local court ruling, and focus instead on resolving the issues raised in the court decision.

Members of the Riverside County Transportation Commission last week urged legislators to help the commission circumvent a court decision that has delayed a commuter rail project. But a local solution that ends the case and allows the rail plans to move ahead would be a far more effective — and practical — approach. The commission wants to add a $232.7 million expansion to the Metrolink system, which would extend the rail line 24 miles from Riverside to Perris.

Friends of Riverside’s Hills in 2011 sued the commission under the California Environmental Quality Act, charging that the environmental report for the rail project was inadequate. A Riverside County Superior Court judge this month said the document failed to properly address a series of issues, including construction noise and “wheel squeal” from commuter rail operations. The judge gave the commission 90 days to come up with fixes for the flaws in the environmental report.

The commission should use that time to address the concerns the judge listed, and try to end the legal wrangle. Instead, commissioners — elected officials from Riverside County and its cities — want legislators to grant the project a special exemption from the rules.

But frustration at a legal setback does not warrant more mindless tinkering with the environmental law. The California Environmental Quality Act requires public agencies to study the environmental effects of development plans, and take steps to avoid or remedy any damage. The law’s provisions can be frustratingly ambiguous, leading to confusion, inconsistency and conflict. And the law’s vague wording can invite abusive lawsuits that tie up projects over minor technicalities.

However, the state will not clarify the law or end abuses of it by cutting yet another loophole for a pet project. Legislators skirted the environmental law to aid NFL stadium proposals in 2009 and 2011. Another bill in 2011 allowed the governor to protect some projects, on a case-by-case basis, from legal challenges under the environmental act. Such changes subvert the law instead of improving it, by focusing on political favors rather than environmental protection. And giving a pass to projects with enough clout and money behind them is unfair to everyone else.

The transportation commission worries that the legal delays will add to the cost of the project and threaten $75 million in federal tax funding for the rail line. But the most realistic approach available is to resolve the legal issues so the project can proceed. The commission’s appeal to the Legislature is an unlikely gambit, as well as an unsavory special-interest tactic that seeks political advantage regardless of the public policy consequences.

A local resolution of the Metrolink expansion issues would be a far better solution. The environmental law needs clarification and streamlining, not more single-project exemptions.

– See more at: http://www.pe.com/opinion/editorials-headlines/20130528-editorial-pursue-local-resolution-to-rail-project-wrangling.ece#sthash.f3Uyt0YB.dpuf

Local Lawmakers Push To Circumvent Judge’s Ruling

Metrolink Trains

BY JEFF HORSEMAN AND PETER SUROWSKI STAFF WRITERS May 23, 2013; 05:23 PM

Local officials are urging lawmakers to help them counter a judge’s decision that has put a planned Metrolink extension on an indefinite hiatus.

Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley said he flew to Sacramento on Thursday, May 23, with Riverside County Transportation Commission Chairwoman Karen Spiegel and Perris Mayor Daryl Busch to meet with two Democratic lawmakers from Riverside County, State Senator Richard Roth and State Assemblyman Jose Medina.

Their goal is to revive the $232.7 million Perris Valley Line project that would build 24 miles of track and four stations from Riverside to the southern edge of Perris.

Judge Sharon J. Waters ruled the project’s environmental impact report violates the California Environmental Quality Act. In a judgment released last week, she said all approvals for the report, which is vital to the project, must be rescinded.

The decision was renounced by several local officials, including Ashley, who is the vice-chair of transportation commission’s board of directors.

“We’re just flabbergasted (by the ruling). Outraged is a good word,” he said. “It’s just awfully hard to understand if you’re a normal human being.”

Ashley said the ruling underscores the need to reform CEQA, which regulates the impacts a project can have on the environment. He said one option available to Roth and Medina is trying to make the project exempt from the provisions of the act.

Members of Friends of Riverside’s Hills, an environmental group that filed the suit, said what the officials are doing shows disregard for the rule of law.

“I think it is a source of serious concern when public agencies view themselves as being above the law, which is what this effort suggests,” said Len Nunney, the secretary for Friends.

What the trio of officials is asking of the lawmakers is no easy thing to accomplish, said Chuck Dalldorf, a spokesperson for Roth.

“It’s certainly possible, but it’s highly complicated,” Dalldorf said.

Generally, legislators introduce bills in January or February. This late in the year, the lawmakers would have two choices: they could get a waiver for the already-broken deadlines, which is “challenging to get,” or they would need to amend an already-existing bill to include the Perris Valley Line’s CEQA exemption, Dalldorf said.

The commuter rail project, when started, is expected to take 18 months to complete and see about 4,000 boardings daily, according to John Standiford, the deputy executive director of the Riverside County Transportation Commission, the lead agency on the project.

– See more at: http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/perris/perris-headlines-index/20130523-perris-valley-line-local-lawmakers-push-to-circumvent-judges-ruling.ece#sthash.o8kd8KiY.dpuf