After months of discussion and revisions, Riverside now has a new city council wards boundary map.
Each ward saw changes to its boundaries, though Wards 6 and 7 saw smaller changes than the others.
The Riverside City Council on Tuesday, March 28, voted 6-1 to approve the map. Councilmember Chuck Conder was opposed.
The new map will determine ward boundaries for the 2024 city council elections in Wards 1, 3, 5 and 7.
Riverside’s city charter requires that ward boundaries be reviewed “at least every ten years” so that each ward continues to have about the same number of residents. The new map also had to comply with the state Fair Maps Act. Other considerations included the number of majority-minority wards, the geographical shape of wards and the number of neighborhoods that would be split into two or more wards.
“This process has been comprehensive, with extensive community input,” Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said in a news release issued Wednesday, March 29. “In the end, we came up with a map that does the best job possible in balancing the community’s needs and desires.”
The effort began in August. After months of meetings and map adjustments, councilmembers were presented with several maps by a consultant.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Cindy Mendoza-Collins, chair of the Casa Blanca Community Action Group, said her group was happy that its neighborhood was being kept together, though it didn’t want the community to be moved from Ward 4 to Ward 5 — which was one change on the approved map.
“All we ask is that whatever is chosen and whatever ward we get put in, whatever happens, that our representative really listens to us,” Mendoza-Collins said.
Of those who spoke to the council Tuesday who mentioned a specific proposed map, a majority supported the boundaries that were later approved.
“It’s hard, because we can’t keep everybody happy,” Councilmember Gaby Plascencia said. “We’re trying to do right by everyone.”
Conder spoke against the map that was ultimately selected and said constituents had been calling him to express concerns about their neighborhood being split between wards.
“It’s against everything you’re talking about, of keeping neighborhoods together,” he said.
He suggested a version of the map that would move less of the Canyon Crest and Mission Grove neighborhoods into Ward 2.
Councilmember Jim Perry said: “I think we need to keep in mind that we’re not breaking this city into seven other cities.”
“We’re still representing the entire city of Riverside,” Perry said, “And however these lines get drawn, it’s going to be the responsibility of the individuals sitting on this dais to represent those individuals to the best of their ability.”
Councilmember Erin Edwards asked for one more change to the approved map, which will be reflected in the final version. The adjustment moves a census block that was in Ward 3 back to Ward 1 to avoid splitting up the downtown neighborhood.
Now that a map is approved, an ordinance to formalize the changes will go to the council for approval, the release states. The map will go into effect 30 days after its adoption.
