Visions & Strategies

Riverside is a community that values education, celebrates the arts and provides businesses and employees diverse opportunities across the economic spectrum. With its affordable property rates and reduced utility costs, thanks to a municipally owned service, ample water supply, position at a transportation crossroads, and an extensive fiber optic network, Riverside will continue to be a magnet for businesses.

Yet Riverside is also a city of strong neighborhoods where people know their neighbors, shop at nearby businesses and participate in their children's schools. While economic opportunities, community demographics and development approaches have changed over the years, the fundamental strengths of this community have not. To ensure that these fundamentals remain strong and are improved upon as Riverside embraces the future, the City of Riverside has produced a number of interlocking visioning and strategy documents to ensure that the building blocks of its community continue to endure. Below are some examples:

Visioning Riverside: A Report from the Community
This report is the culmination of a seven-month community visioning effort, articulating the community's desired future for the City of Riverside around the following themes: How We Work, How We Live, How We Get Around, How We Play, and How We Learn.

The Mayor's Three Directions
Economic development, quality of life and inclusive community form a triad of directions the Mayor has tasked the city government.

Citywide Strategic Plan
Developed in partnership with the Mayor and City Council, the Community, and city management, the Strategic Plan sets forth short-term goals that enable the City to incrementally, yet decisively, achieve its long-range Community Vision.

Economic Development Strategy
Authored by the widely published regional economist, John Husing, this Strategy yields 43 action steps for easing Riverside's transformation into the economic and cultural epicenter of the region.

Downtown Specific Plan
Part of the forthcoming General Plan Update, the Downtown Specific Plan has won awards by its peers and has already produced concrete results in transforming the City's beautiful historic downtown into a vibrant center for arts, cultural, entertainment, and retail opportunities.

The Mayor's Homeownership Task Force Report
A citizen and staff-based Task Force recommends 39 action steps to increase homeownership and pride in the community.

Make Riverside a Model Clean Air City
The City was designated a Clean City by the Department of Energy and has set forth an aggressive vision to proactively fight for cleaner air throughout the region.

Santa Ana River Task Force Report
A Mayoral-appointed committee to develop a vision for recreational and other uses along the Santa Ana River within the City of Riverside.

Riverside is busy positioning itself in relation to the future-and the City involves its residents in every step of this process. These visions and strategies are currently under implementation. But most importantly, they were made possible by vigorous collaborative leadership found in the city government, universities, local schools, Chambers of Commerce, community-based organizations, faith based community, neighborhood groups, and many others, who are called upon daily to identify proactive solutions to a wide range of issues, from establishing an Arts and Culture District to solving the problem of youth violence.