A passionate, pissed off, well informed and articulate contingent of University Neighborhood residents occupied the majority of Tuesday’s (June 19th) City Council Meeting to express their frustration and their commitment to reclaim the neighborhood of their dreams and quality of life that’s always been part of it.

 

Taking up the majority of  Tuesday’s public comment period, Mayor Rusty Bailey stated that he had 10 plus speaker cards, 3 E Comments and one email. For video coverage of a community at the end of it’s rope and not afraid to express  it eloquently and graphically, see video.  Start at the 3 hour, 2 minute 25 second mark (3 : 02 : 25)

 

Some of the words you’ll hear include: Riverside Neighborhood Partnership,  mini-dorms, moratorium, first step, process, impact study, university town, educational opportunities, knowledge based economy, obvious benefits, not obvious impacts, intolerable, dangerous, spectacular neighborhoods, stabilize situation, commitment, neighborhood of our dreams.

 

Nineteen years, immediate help, public meetings, 2005 UCR Long Range Development Plan, housing element, fall out, pledge to bring resources, first neighborhood specific plan, active dialog, City-UCR working on issues, code enforcement, imagine my surprise, see signs, trash, number of cars in driveways, city ordinances, four unrelated, nose ordinance, tools the city uses, city planning, over counter permits, seal fire places, divide living rooms, advertised as six unit income properties, never to be converted back, destroying neighborhood,  study, plan set rules, no mini-dorms, needs to be stopped, upset, betrayed.

Call Code Enforcement, nothing done, trash can’t get picked up, once desirable, 42% absentee landlords, don’t care, blatant, rents 7 bed rooms,  ordinance says four unrelated, parties, drunk, trash, alcohol consumption, speeding, accidents.

 

Raise my children, student ghetto, integrity of neighborhood, 22 renters, party central, noise, drunken parties, trash cans overflow, beer, alcohol, foul language, city aware for years, violate ordinances, ongoing, disturbing, parties start at 11 pm, police won’t come out, 311, moratorium, traffic, work very hard to keep our house looking nice, direct development to restrict mini dorms.

 

Toilet paper hanging from trees, Orange County investor, permit for partition walls in living room, landlords telling city they’re going to exceed and it still gets passed by the City, retirement house, refuge, grandparents, professors, traffic, students chronologically immature, self centered, self absorbed, don’t care about our neighborhood, 4:15 Complaint, police say ‘how can you live with that?” thinking of leaving,

18 years, renters do as they please, fed up, sell to investors, 8-9 cars parked in front, yard not kept up, turn off water to keep cars from getting wet, 10 owner occupied and 7 rentals on my street, parties, trash street racing, 5 yr old, rude, disrespectful, can do what they please, moratorium, love my house and neighbors, my dream home is in jeopardy, one big party house, call it in.

 

Riverside native. 26 years in neighborhood, take back Nisbet Way, 18 homes, 6 rentals, one third, 33 plus renters, ordinance for 24, city permitted, 5-6 bedrooms, problem parties, not 20, swarms of 100-200 spilling out, yo bro, doors slamming, condoms, trash, vomit, moratorium, study impacts, why are we: city, UCR, neighbors managing landlords assets?, why are our resources being spent to manage rentals?

Six homes 2 rentals on my street, modified, extra bedrooms, park and block driveways, tow truck, each year we have to potty train a whole new batch and teach them the right way to to live in a neighborhood, one landlord has 13 homes, knows there’s no one to stop him, kids turn lawn water off, call police, wait two hours, need more people to enforce, 2 to 4 am parties, passed out on sidewalk.

 

Born again voter, since UCR 1954, 39,000 City population, one high school, family area, 27 children walked to Highland Elementary, built school, populated it,  First voluntarily desegregated grade school in nation,  built Highland Park,  family atmosphere, 700 students walked to schools, now can’t go 4 blocks on Spruce in the dark, safety, please.

 

Went house to house, degraded quality of life, meet your neighbors event, 75 concerned neighbors showed up, ongoing events leading to August-September, invitations, students, landlords, code enforcement, City Council, UCR, Police, residents willing to put in the time it takes, moratorium, stay in place until livability is restored in UCR neighborhood.

 

 

Headlines: record graduates, record graduate parties, direct building and safety tomorrow, moratorium, my street seven rentals, cut up, no longer viable single family residences, UCR’s growth over 10-15 years, UCR Police not kept pace, upcoming budget considerations, request additional officers, UNET two shifts, off at one a.m., immediate administrative changes, Riverside Police Department has bigger fish to fry.

 

These are the words of frustration and of resistance. This is the neighborhood that traditionally bands together when what they love about their neighborhood is threatened or attacked. These are words of commitment and of persistence.

These are the public actions of the first twelve residents to come out on record that this will not stand. The flood gates have finally broken. Stay tuned.