Beauty | Youth | Arts & Culture | Neighborhoods | Technology Investments | Public Utilities

Riverside invests in the long-term well being and success of the community-from neighborhoods to the environment, youth to seniors, arts and culture to a downtown wireless mall, just to name a few. Just look at some of these key investments:

Beauty
Riverside has a natural beauty unparalleled in Southern California and it invests annually in the promotion, upkeep, and general enjoyment of its natural and manmade beauty. The City offers over 51 parks totaling 2,500 acres, including the Olmstead-designed Fairmount Park and with an average temperature ranging between 50 and 78 degrees, residents enjoy year round recreation

Youth
One of the City's strategic goals is to"Increase Investment in Our Youth and Children." Riverside is a Community of Promise so named because of its affiliation with the national America's Promise. The City also boasts a Mayor's Youth Advisory Council, which recently proposed to the City Council the formation of a Youth Commission, following the model of the City's boards and Commissions, in order to a have an even more direct say in the decision-making processes of their community.

Arts and Culture
Riverside has a proud history as a center for arts, culture, entertainment and related education programs. Downtown Riverside's concentration of unique, eclectic architecture and distinguished cultural institutions is unmatched in the Inland Empire and renowned in California. The City is currently identifying potential sites for a new museum and is expanding its library facilities throughout the City.

Neighborhoods
The City of Riverside considers its neighborhoods a primary community investment. The City's Office of Neighborhoods provides outreach programs for residents of Riverside's 26 neighborhoods providing them with an opportunity to partner with City Hall to improve local neighborhoods.

Technological Investments
SmartRiverside, a non-profit organization comprised of public and private organizations, aims to improve the quality of life in Riverside through innovative, targeted technology projects and related economic development initiatives. Recently, the organization launched the Downtown Wireless Mall where residents, visitors, workers, jurors, merchants, diners, conventioneers and students can access free high-speed wireless Internet on the Main Street Pedestrian Mall. Users with notebook computers or hand-held devices (PDAs) that have wireless capabilities, simply need to click onto their Web browser, as they would from home or work, and they will get high-speed access.

The wireless network is a strong sign that Riverside is a progressive, innovative city that fosters high technology and leverages its uses for the benefit of all. It is a special attraction for Riverside. Only one other city in Southern California offers a similar free service. The Wireless Mall runs along the Main Street pedestrian mall between the Riverside Convention Center on Third Avenue and the Riverside County Superior Court near Eleventh Street. The jury assembly room in the County Courthouse will also have wireless coverage as part of this first phase.

Public Utilities
An excellent example of how the city of Riverside invests in the community is the City of Riverside Public Utilities Department (RPU), which has provided both families and businesses located in Riverside with high quality water and reliable electric service at low rates for more than one hundred years. The community volunteers who serve on the Board of Public Utilities and the Mayor and City Council have established proactive goals and an implementation plan to keep pace with Riverside's growth and meet the City's needs in the new millennium including:

• Increase the use of renewable Green Power sources.
• Improve and protect the excellent financial base of the Utility.
• Build a high quality, modernized infrastructure.
• Increase alternate energy delivery sources.
• Safeguard Riverside's supply of quality water for the next 100 years.

Riverside's 49 local wells supply the community with 99% of its drinking water unlike many areas of Southern California that rely on large amounts of expensive imported water. Residential electric rates charged by the two giant, investor-owned Southern California utilities - Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric - are 6% higher and 23% higher, respectively, than Riverside's residential electric rates. Commercial electric rates charged by Southern California Edison are 18% higher for small business; 24% higher for large business; and 20% higher for industrial users than Riverside's commercial electric rates.

Because the utility company is customer-owned, it can charge lower rates and retain enough from annual revenues and reserves to transfer significant income to the City of Riverside General Fund which is used to support libraries, parks, roads and other vital services. The RPU provides savings to its customers in the form of incentives and rewards for saving money and energy, which helps the consumer and the environment. To ensure that the RPU can meet Riverside's growing needs and provide a secure source of power in case of emergency, the Utility built a 49 megawatt peaker plant in 2002/2003 and is planning to build an additional plant in 2005.