Park and Recreation Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay, good afternoon and welcome to the August meeting of the Cultural Heritage Board. We are calling this meeting to order at 3.30 p.m. We're going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Do we have any volunteers to lead it? Not all do it. Okay, let's do the pledge because it's still on the agenda. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Sorry.

Okay. So now is item number one on our agenda, which is public comment. So, oh, I'm sorry. Can we please play the civility announcements?

Pursuant to the City Council rules of procedure and order of business resolution, the members of all Boards and Commissions and the public are reminded that they must preserve order and decorum throughout the meeting. In that regard, members of the Boards and Commissions and the public are advised that any delay or disruption in the proceedings or a refusal to obey the orders of the Board or Commission or the Presiding Officer constitutes a violation of these rules. The City of Riverside is committed to fostering a workplace that provides dignity, respect, and civility to our employees, customers, and the public they serve.

Thank you. Item one is public comment on matters of general interest within the jurisdiction of the Cultural Heritage Board. So if we could please have the public comment announcement.

public comment is now open for this item. Call 951-826-8688 and follow the prompts to access the meeting. To request to speak, press star 9. When called to speak, press star 6 to unmute. You can also join via Zoom. The meeting ID can be found on the agenda.

Thank you. While we're waiting to see if anybody calls in online, do we have anybody in chamber who would like to make a general public comment on matters pertaining to this board? Seeing none. If you'd like to make a comment now and hand in your card and you're done, you can do that. Okay, so we will. Well, if you're not going to do a verbal public comment, then we will continue with our meeting. Um, are there any pub callers online? Thank you. Um, that brings us to the consent calendar. We have items two, three, and four, which is the minutes of June and July. Um, the second quarter report on historic preservation activities and the record of absences. Um, do I hear, um, any questions? Anybody wants to pull these for discussion or we'll entertain a motion to approve. Anyone want to approve them?

I'll move approval.

Thank you. Mr. Brown moves to approve and?

I'll second the motion.

And Vice Chair Castellanos seconds. Let's vote to approve.

We'll do a roll call vote. Okay. Board Member Brown? Yes. Board Member Aiden-Nelson?

Yes.

Board Member Ramirez?

Yes.

Vice Chair Castellanos? Yes. And Chair McDonnell?

yes thank you the consent calendar passes with no um abstentions or no votes correct that brings us to the discussion calendar which is item number five discuss the absence of board member brown from june 17 2026 regular meeting um mr watson do you have any information on that

Yes, Board Member Brown did notify us that he was going to be sick, but it was after the 24-hour period, so therefore we have that discussion item for that.

I have a brief comment. Yes, sir. My apologies. I did not expect at this advanced stage of retirement to be subsumed with issues regarding the Mission Inn. And that was a particularly significant day in terms of addressing those issues. And I found myself, by the time I'd been out for six hours in the morning, relatively incapacitated. So I am sorry for having missed the meeting.

Okay. Thank you for that. Would anybody like to move to either to consider the absence either excused or unexcused?

I'll make a moment to excuse it.

Okay, Mr. Nelson moves to excuse. Does anybody second? I'll second. Ramirez seconds, and so we will vote on that.

Board Member Brown?

Yeah, we can still vote within the quorum. Okay.

Okay.

Board Member Aydin-Nelson? Board Member Ramirez?

Yes.

Vice Chair Castellanos? Yes. And Chair McDonnell? Yes. Motion carries. Four votes in favor and one abstention.

Thank you. That takes us to Item 6, which is our annual review of the Code of Ethics and Conduct. And it looks like our city clerk is here to present. Is that correct? Thank you.

Good afternoon, chair and board members. Denise Seagal is the city clerk. The matter before the board today is the annual review of the city's code of ethics and conduct as required by Riverside Municipal Code section 2.78.110. The purpose of this review is to evaluate whether the code continues to effectively promote ethical conduct, accountability, transparency, and public trust in local government. At the conclusion of this presentation, I will ask the members to discuss the code's effectiveness and determine whether any recommendations should be forwarded to the Board of Ethics for consideration. The code of ethics and conduct establishes the ethical standards expected of Riverside public officials. Its purpose is to promote fair, ethical, and accountable local government. The code is not simply about enforcement. It is intended to foster public trust and guide decision making. Public officials are expected not only to comply with the code, but also to aspire to the values that it promotes. The code applies broadly to elected and appointed officials. This includes the mayor, city council members and members of city boards, commissions and committees. As board members, each of you are subject to these provisions. The intent is to ensure consistent ethical standards across all decision making bodies. Upon appointment or reappointment, officials receive a copy of the code of ethics and acknowledge receipt. Ethics trainings is required within 90 days of taking office and the city attorney serves as a resource to help officials understand and comply with the code. Boards and commissions are required to incorporate these ethical standards into their procedures. In January 2026 the City Council expanded who may file complaints. Individuals who live work attend school or conduct business in Riverside may now file complaints. This change was intended to increase accessibility and public accountability. The code is built around several guiding principles and they're listed here building public trust in government making decisions that are fair unbiased and honest treating everyone with dignity and respect and valuing diversity and inclusion. Making decisions that are informed and in the best interest of Riverside maintaining nonpartisan look excuse me maintaining a nonpartisan local government. Ensuring officials are prepared to serve effectively encouraging attendance and participation in meetings. And then lastly in May of this year, the City Council added language regarding digital communications public officials are expected conduct themselves online in a matter that reflects impartiality fairness and integrity online activity should not create an M an appearance of a bias, particularly when matters come before the official in a quasi judicial capacity. The code identifies specific conduct that is prohibited, including using one's position for personal gain, misusing confidential information, using city resources for personal purposes, improperly advocating for personal interests, accepting compensation for endorsements, violating the conflict of interest laws and codes, certain political activities involving city resources, improper campaign-related activities involving city property, assisting others in violating the code, improper employment negotiations, ex parte communications in quasi-judicial matters, coercing others in the performance of official duties, violating local laws connected to the official duties, convictions of federal state laws affecting their office, And then lastly, the newly provisioned O, which is the digital misconduct as prohibited. Prohibitive conduct O recognizes that conduct occurring online can have the same impact on public trust as conduct occurring in person. Only the alleged violations identified in the code as a prohibited conduct may be the basis for to bring forth a complaint. It is also important to note that individuals who file a complaint in good faith are protected under the city's whistleblowers policies. The city prohibits retaliation against anyone who reports suspected fraud, waste or abuse or who participates in an investigation of a suspected violation. Complaints may be submitted in writing using a city form which can be found online. Complaints are filed with the city clerk. Complaints must be filed within one year of the alleged violation. The City Clerk reviews the complaints for completeness before we proceed. In some cases, the City Clerk may administratively reject the complaint with the concurrence of the Board of Ethics. For example, a complaint may be submitted against a public official serving the County of Riverside. In such a case, the individual is not a City of Riverside public official and therefore is not subject to the City's Code of Ethics and Conduct as set forth by the Municipal Code. BECAUSE OF THE BOARD OF ETHICS JURISDICTION IS LIMITED TO PUBLIC OFFICIALS COVERED BY THE CODE, THE BOARD WILL NOT HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO REVIEW OR ADJUDICATE THE MATTER AND THE COMPLAINT WILL BE DISMISSED FOR LACK OF JURISDICTION. THE PRECONFERENCE SERVES AS A SCREENING PROCESS BEFORE A FORMAL HEARING. THIS SLIDE IDENTIFIES THE TIMING CONSIDERATIONS FOR SCHEDULING THE PRECONFERENCE. During the pre-conference, the Board of Ethics role is to determine whether the complaint meets the procedural requirements, whether the complaint falls within the Board's jurisdiction, whether the complaint alleges prohibited conduct, and whether sufficient evidence exists to warrant a hearing. If the board determines that the complaint complies with the provisions of the cold, the chair will then facilitate settlement discussions. If no settlement is reached in the pre conference will continue. The Board will then review the evidence for relevance and then determine whether the evidence suggests a potential violation may have occurred. Language was recently added to clarify that evidence should be considered in its totality and that equal weight should be given to both parties during the pre-conference review. In years past, it was only the weight of the evidence was... was geared toward the person, the person who submitted their complaint. At this stage, the board of ethics determines whether the evidence presented demonstrates that it is more likely than not that a potential violation of the code may have occurred. If the board reaches that determination, a hearing panel consisting of five members and one alternate is selected by random draw. The city clerk schedules the formal hearing within 45 city business days. Conversely, If the board determines that the complainant has not met this threshold, the complaint does not proceed to a hearing. Instead, the board directs the city clerk to prepare a statement of findings documenting the basis for the decision. Once adopted by the Board of Ethics, that determination becomes the board's decision. It's the final decision on that matter. If a complainant advances beyond the pre-conference and hearing panel is selected, as I mentioned, both parties have an opportunity to present evidence and witnesses. The complainant bears the burden of proof. The hearing panel deliberates and adopts the findings. And findings are documented and provided to all parties. The process is intended to be fair, accessible, and less formal than a court proceeding. The next few slides provide an overview of the hearing procedures. Rather than walk you through each procedural detail, I'll move ahead to slide 25 where we'll talk about the next key topic. Decisions may be appealed by the City Council, and that's only decisions made during the hearing, not during the pre-conference hearing, but during the hearing itself, decisions may be appealed by the City Council. Appeals are limited primarily to procedural errors or abuses of discretion. The City Council reviews the record created during the hearing within 30 city business days from the date the Board of Ethics makes their determination. No evidence is accepted during an appeal. The City Council's determination is a final decision. If no appeal is submitted the hearing panels decision becomes final at that point if a violation was has been filed the City Council is responsible for determining whether sanctions are appropriate. And again if so what sanctions should be imposed. The next few slides detail the appeal procedures and rather than walk you through each of those procedures I will advance the slides so that we can continue to the next key topic that's OK. OK, now moving on to enforcement and sanctions. If a violation is found, the City Council may impose sanctions. The purpose of the sanctions is to promote accountability, uphold ethical standards, and maintain public trust in the process. Now the the the enforcement is sanctions vary between elected officials and public in appointed officials and I will detail those differences for elected officials sanctions may include public apology. Additional training removal from regional committees removal from the mayor protein rotation. A public censure are restrictions on certain travel. For appointed officials, sanctions may include a public apology, training recommendations, a public censure, removal from leadership positions, and removal from office as authorized by the Charter. The code requires an annual review process, which is why I'm here today. The review process begins with the boards and commissions, which includes your commission. The final review process follows a three-step cadence. Recommendations by the boards and commissions are first considered by the Board of Ethics, then it moves on to the Governmental Processes Committee for review, and ultimately will advance to the City Council for final consideration in December. This annual review helps ensure that the code remains effective and responsive to emerging issues. At this time, I recommend that the Board discuss the effectiveness of the Code of Ethics and Conduct, consider whether any provisions should be revised, clarified, added, or removed, and forward any recommendations to the Board of Ethics for consideration as part of an annual review process. In closing, I would like to open the discussion by asking the board, based on your experience serving the city, do you believe that the Code of Ethics and Conduct remains effective in promoting ethical conduct, transparency, accountability, and public trust? Or are there areas where you believe improvements should be considered? Madam Chair, this concludes my presentation and I am open to questions after public comment.

Thank you very much. We do need to do public comment on this item, correct, Mr. Watson? Okay. So if we could have the recording for public comment, please.

Public comment is now open for this item. Call 951-826-8688 and follow the prompts to access the meeting. To request to speak, press star 9. When called to speak, press star 6 to unmute. You can also join via Zoom. The meeting ID can be found on the agenda.

Thank you. While we wait to see if anyone calls in, do we have anyone in chamber who wants to comment on this item six, the review of the code of ethics or conduct? Seeing none, do we have any callers online?

No callers online.

Thank you. So we are going to close public comment, which brings us back to our city clerk's questions for the board. Would you like to repeat them for us since it's been a minute?

Yes, the board is being asked to determine whether the provisions of the coach should be revised clarified anything should be added or removed. And do you believe that it is an effective co.

Thank you anyone have any comments or city clerk comments questions.

Thank you for the presentation. Always an important subject. So for digital misconduct that's being prohibited, obviously a new topic, getting larger by the day maybe because of the expansion of social media, VR, whatever. Do you have any examples that you might be able to give of what not to do online?

So, for example, you're online and you have an opinion about a matter that was before you today, whether you want to, whether you approve an issue, you're opposing an issue, you have an opinion on the matter, that will be prohibitive conduct because this is a process that should be open to the public during the public meeting, not on your public forum on social media. That's one example.

So that would be a topic that's going to be discussed, right? Like if it was yesterday and the topic comes up today, we couldn't have spoken about it last week. Correct. Let's just say a general topic that's going on in, say, the city of Riverside, say the issue with the mission and the portraits that are being discussed right now that were maybe taken. Can members talk about that or any other issue that is in the news, general news?

So I may ask the attorney to back me up on this because I know we don't want to infringe on your amendment or your free speech rights. However, I do believe it's more related to your capacity as a board member and whether you violate any of those other prohibitive conducts within your digital footprint so if i if i may defer to the city attorney to be a little more clear on that thank you madam clerk uh anthony beaumont senior deputy city attorney so typically where we see this violation would be

adjacent to either the brown act or conflicts of interest or other things having to do with due process so for the There's an old facility up in San Bernardino, the Arrowhead Club or something like that. You can discuss that all you want. You know why? Because it's not in your jurisdiction. So that's never going to compromise a decision that you make. If you were to start discussing a historic resource which could come before you, a member of the public might feel as though you're prejudiced, that you're not going to give them a fair hearing. And God forbid somebody should post something and somebody else should like it on Facebook. Is that a Brown Act violation? These are things which are totally unexpected and many times unintended, but they can come up to bite you. So that's why we're trying to not, I don't know if we're ahead of the curve, but we're trying to stay right in the middle of the curve with avoiding these kinds of issues. And given how much time people spend on electronic formats and how little we really think things through, right? I like this. This is something I want to share on my feed. We need to be careful of that. If it's something which is going to come before you, you need to be super careful. And if it's something which might come before you, you still want to be careful. Now, as our city clerk mentions, you, of course, still have First Amendment rights, right? We're not going to trample on your free speech. But when you accept this position, it comes with some responsibilities. And those responsibilities include giving people a fair hearing. And that means... Maybe you don't talk about everything before the vote. So you still have the First Amendment right, but you really just can't speak without any limitation whatsoever. Because that's for the benefit of the public.

So just use a little bit of proof. We should all? If you don't discuss it at all.

Well, the safest way is not to discuss anything having to do with cultural resources on electronic media, right? But that's a bit overreaching. We don't want to be a complete... clamp down on your activities. So yeah, use your best discretion, judgment, and prudence. And if you have questions, that's what we're here for. We're always glad to help you. It's not unheard of for appointive board and commission members or even electeds to say, hey, this issue's coming up. Is this a minefield for me? And we can talk it out for you. Now, for conflicts of interest, you can always go to the state. And the state actually has a pretty good toll-free line for information on this stuff. You're welcome.

And I also put on the screen for you again so you can read the new language. This is verbatim right in the code that talks about digital communications.

Thank you. Thanks for that question and the answer. And it's important to remember it's not just things that we know are coming up, but things that could likely come up because we wouldn't want to save that discussion for the public forum.

board member Brown I think did you say did you looked like you wanted to say something um I had a I had a first of all if that was a very thorough presentation thank you very much thank you I thought the way you skipped portions that were incredibly boring was a particularly effective um I'm struck that um they're just just an overall observation There's a tremendous amount of material dealing with written complaint procedures, pre-conference procedures, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It reads like a handbook for the Superior Court of the State of California. And yet, I was a little left cold by Section 2.78.020 purpose. I understand it uses words like fair, ethical, and accountable local government, but I think it would be helpful if perhaps there was a broader discussion of just exactly what is the purpose of this. And that leads me to note that as I was coming over here, I was... listening on the radio to certain activity at the federal government involving the highest officials of the United States of America, which seems somewhat equivalent to fourth graders in a playground. And I was struck as I read one of the prohibitions, which is an attempt to coerce official duties prohibited. No public official, the city of Riverside should coerce attempt to course or any other public official in the performance of their official duties I'm almost inclined to highlight that and mail it off to the to the federal government because I think it would be a incredibly helpful thing if you can imagine saying to another city council person, well, you're not doing your job and you need to be more focused on this particular issue, that pales in comparison to what is going on in terms of back and forth from the executive branch to the Supreme Court and so on. That's sort of a general observation. And I had one more comment that relates to one of the penalties, which is the removal of folks from regional boards. And I think you highlighted that. That is a, believe it or not, it's an issue that comes up frequently all over the state of California when there is a disagreement arises about the conduct of a particular member of the city councils where it's typically encountered. and then there's a broad discussion about whether or not that person should be removed from one or another regional boards in terms of representing the city and in fact in a local jurisdiction that I don't need to mention on the eve of being threatened with removal from all boards and commissions a member of a city council simply resigned as a way to address the issue as he saw fit in an ethical way. I think it's a good thing that this particular code of ethics and conduct tries to address remedies that might be effective in achieving fair, ethical, and accountable local government. I mean it's amazing you can get a fully executed copy of a very lengthy document within a matter of days with a timeline and a clock winding down that tells you what's happening I it's extraordinary I've never seen anything like it so thank you very much thank you for the compliment I will share that with the team

Thank you.

Take care.

Okay. That takes us to item number seven, which is a presentation. Mr. Watson, are you introducing this?

We will have a member of the urban forestry team give that presentation.

Hello, I'm here in place for Robert Filliard, the urban forestry manager. My name is Louis Feman. I am the urban forestry and landscape supervisor. I work with Robert in managing the urban forestry. The 2024 Urban Forestry Policy Manual provides guidelines for preservation and protection of Riverside's tree heritage and urban forestry. It supersedes the 2015 policy, applies to planting, pruning, preservation, and removal of trees in the city right-of-ways. It identifies public works as responsible for daily urban forest management and oversight of contracted and permitted tree work. The city generally owns trees in parkways and right-of-way along residential streets, while many of the trees are privately owned and fall outside direct city tree control authority. The urban forestry policy is not a historic preservation ordinance, but several provisions that affect historic districts. The city emphasizes the preservation of existing trees, coordinated planning, and protection of herbicide tree heritage. The strategy is to preserve existing canopy, reduce developmental impacts, and promote proper tree care and service. The city recognizes that some trees may have historic or cultural value beyond routing of urban forestry. The City will remove hazardous trees, diseased or declining City-owned trees when removals meet policy criteria. A hazard tree or trees are defined as trees that are dying, dead, structurally weak, safety or welfare. The City documents significance evaluations alternatives and coordinates review for removal where a tree contributes to a recognized historic setting. Pruning. The street tree pruning is intended to preserve tree health, appearance, and public safety. Authorized work includes periodic and as needed pruning for utility conflicts, street light clearance, building interference, hazard branches, and pedestrian or vehicular safety. Mature trees often function as contributing landscape features and should be retained where feasible. In historic districts, pruning standards matter because the inappropriate pruning can alter canopy form, visual rhythm, and streetscape character. The urban forestry policy manual provides the city's operational framework for street tree planting, pruning, preservation and removal. The historic districts that are affected because street trees can contribute to the neighborhood setting, visual character and landscape integrity. The city supports the preservation, the proper pruning and review of historically sensitive trees and areas. Our recommendation is for staff recommends the Cultural Heritage Board to receive the file information on city urban forestry policy and historic districts. That concludes my presentation.

Thank you. Could you say your name for me again one more time?

Louis Femot.

Thank you. Is your title Forester?

Urban Forestry and Landscape Supervisor.

That's a very cool title. Mr. Watson, do we need to do public comment for this item?

As a presentation, no.

Okay. Thank you. I have to check because I get it wrong every time. I'm glad you brought this because I actually have some questions about that. One, if you could, I know that we have some trees in the city that are historic landmarks. Is that correct? And are those treated differently than streetscape trees?

Yes, correct. We do have some historic trees. The same kind of pruning standards and tree care applies to them. It helps limit any kind of damage or, you know, structure damage to them. So it prevents any trees from being improperly pruned, such as topping or excessively pruned where it thins it out too much. And by that, it also protects the historic tree's health.

Before I ask another question, does anyone else have any comments or questions? Yes.

Yeah, so one of them's on La Paz, which is located behind Fairmont Park. It's a large sycamore tree that's, you know, about 200 plus years. It's large. It's an amazing tree. If you should, you know, have time, you should check it out. It's off La Paz, again, behind Fairmont Park. Several historic trees are located on Victoria Avenue. We have large eucalyptus trees, horse chestnuts, you know, we have the historical Roosevelt palm. And along Magnolia, we also have several historical trees that are centennial, such as like our silk oaks, palm trees, and there's several coast live oaks as well. Our team's currently working on kind of contributing or creating a new list of trees that we feel that might meet the criteria. There's another tree that has not been listed yet, but it's off of Enterprise's 1804 Enterprise. It's a very large camphor tree. When you date back to the GIS system, and I believe the year is 1935, it was already established as a mature tree. There's been some protective measures such as, you know, a change of the public right-of-way sidewalk has kind of been extended further out to prevent any kind of damage to the root system. And again, there's a few historical trees off of Maud behind or in front of the School of Deaf, which is some large eucalyptus trees that were used before the school was built. They're like a windbreaker for all the orange groves.

Does that answer your question?

Yes, that was very good. Thank you.

Anyone else?

I have a comment.

Yes, please.

And the staff report very correctly notes that the city generally owns trees located in parkways. And it seems to me that the complication that that presents for urban forestry now is that So many people have stopped watering their parkways and the city does not water the parkways. And I suspect that we're not soon going to see a city contracted water truck coming down Houghton Avenue, 4385, to water the trees next door to me. And I think that that creates an issue that needs to be addressed in the years to come, whether it's addressed by pulling out certain kinds of trees that take a tremendous amount of water and replacing them with a more water-efficient tree that people might have an easier time to keep alive. But it really results, especially in the oldest neighborhoods. My neighborhood downtown was subdivided in the 1890s. So as you might imagine, there are palm trees that were planted over 100 years ago. and are doing quite well. On the other hand, the crape myrtles, because of the difficulty of watering them in the parkway, are just really having a tough time in some parts of the city. I don't know what the solution is, but Riverside's remarkable for its tree stock, its tree coverage, and the effects that that has on market value. I have a 200-year-old oak tree in my yard, and I love my tree, and I think it, even though it's on my property, I think it clearly enhances the neighborhoods.

Yeah, so for any kind of future plantings, there is considerations where we choose the right tree for the right locations. Now we are choosing trees that are more drought tolerant and, you know, we'll be ready for any kind of future changes in the climate. So it's kind of to prevent those issues of planting a tree that a resident or a location might not water as often. We just want to prevent that decline. We are investing funding into planting the trees and replacing any of them that are removed, and we just don't want them to die a month after or so. So like I said, there is a lot of thought that goes into replacing them and planting a well-suited tree.

That's good to hear. How does your office relate to the city's free tree program administered by the Arbor Day Foundation?

So the free tree program that's under the utilities, we don't have any oversight on what trees they give out or what they choose. Interesting.

Thank you.

Vice Chair.

Just a quick question, I suppose. Do you have any insight on the, well, just the general usage of planting more trees in a city? I've heard stories where it can lower down the temperature, the ground temperature in some cities four degrees or so. And this is done purposely in some cities, Mexico City, for example, to lower down, well, to try to prevent or at least lower the cost of global warming in the area. I know that obviously it's going to cost more resources, but perhaps you have some knowledge of what could take place here in the city of Riverside and maybe try to pitch this to the city council.

So currently, we are planting. We have a separate budget just for planting. So every year, we try to use it all up, which we've been doing pretty good. We want to increase our urban forestry and tree coverage. We are aware of the biggest impact that it would have on climate. So we currently, like I said, we constantly work on improving our tree count and foliage coverage. We have a pretty good canopy coverage. We have a rating that's pretty good. And like I said, we're constantly working on it and improving it. Part of that is preservation of our current urban forestry that is mature. We try to retain as many as we could.

I'd like to talk for a minute about historic districts. There are historic districts and neighborhood conservation areas in town that have been in existence for over 100 years. And some of them in their statement of, you know, their description of the district or their statement of significance, it mentions specific planting patterns. The wood streets, for example, there were several streets that you can look and see the streets, the trees that were planted originally are very specifically laid out and that's in the historic designation. So is there consideration when those trees that are now dying because they're blowing over the wind because they're over 100 years old, when they're replaced, are they replaced in kind to match that planting pattern?

Yeah, so when they start being replaced, we choose a tree that's very similar to the previous one or what's planted there on their street. We want to keep the same appearance. So we do choose a species that's very similar and same kind of characteristics.

Okay, so one of those huge Italian cypress, or actually I think it's a different type of cypress, wouldn't be replaced with like a crepe myrtle or a palo verde or something?

No, so a few of them have been replaced with California incense cedar, which it's a little bit more suited to drought and has the same kind of characteristics as well.

Okay, thank you. That's very helpful. Any other questions? Comments? All right. Well, thank you for coming and educating us about your area, and we appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. So we're moving along. Now we are on to our workshop, which is item number eight about points of cultural heritage, and we get to hear from Mr. Watson.

I'm lucky you don't get to hear from me much today. So we're going to move to a workshop on points of cultural interest. To give a little bit of background, this program was originally started in 2016. This was originally developed because we had a group of students that were involved in the Korean Studies program at UCR that were wanting to recognize Pachapa Camp. As there was no original structures that were remaining, it couldn't be landmark designated because there was no historic resources present. So we developed the Points of Cultural Interest program in order to recognize these sites that had no physical resources. We used the term recognize rather than designate to create a distinction between them. Anthony was actually the one that wrote the ordinance for this one. They are not subject to certificates of appropriateness and they're only for information. This is the criteria for the recognition. As you see at the bottom two, the original physical features no longer exist. It is found to not qualify as a recognized cultural resource. So these would include anything from, for example, the Pachapa Camp or even a location where a certain event happened that was not tied to a physical structure. So for example, the bus stop in which the Japanese were loaded on the buses for internment would be an example of this. So the purpose of this workshop, and there's an example of the sign that we put, since the program started 10 years ago, we have only had recognition of one, the Pachapa Camp. So we wanted to have a discussion to discuss a few topics. How do we increase public awareness? Are there any potential partners that we can partner with to identify these? And are there any potential sites that you can think of? so with that we'll go ahead and go into the workshop we do need to do public comment on this one and then we just open discussion because it is a workshop thank you so if we could play the public comment recording

Public comment is now open for this item. Call 951-826-8688 and follow the prompts to access the meeting. To request to speak, press star nine. When called to speak, press star six to unmute. You can also join via Zoom. The meeting ID can be found on the agenda.

Thank you for that. Do we have anybody in chamber who wants to comment on item number eight, our workshop on points of cultural interest?

There's nobody online.

Okay. So seeing no one in chamber, no one online, we are closing public comment. Thank you. Which takes us back to discussion.

So I will turn it back to this and lead it to the chair. Is there any comments, questions, concerns, anybody want to raise anything?

I have a question. So you're asking for potential partnerships. What partnerships do you currently have?

None at this point. So what we were thinking is, like, for example, should we partner with the Riverside Historic Society? Maybe they have some things identified. I did fail to mention that anybody in the public, even the board, can nominate these resources. One thing that I do want to also mention, we have worked with Public Works regarding the signs. Unfortunately, if the signs are produced on a one-off state, they become more expensive. So if they are produced like one at a time, they're more like $700. If we're producing lots of like 20, it brings it down to like $300. So it would be a good idea to like get a chunk of these before we actually move forward. If it's generally brought by an organization like, for example, the Young Oak Kim Center is the one that brought the Pachapa Camp, they paid for the sign. If it's something that is brought by the city, we would have to find the funding to be able to pay for those signs as well. So any potential partnerships could be the, I'm drawing a blank on their name right now, but the Latino Historic Society down in Casablanca, as well as the African American Historic Society. Anybody that has some sort of information of a location in the city that we want to recognize its history.

And you asked for increased public awareness. So what currently have you done for more outreach and more media?

So to date, we haven't done much because we have focused primarily on designations. And so this is part of the reason why we want to have this discussion because what would you suggest that we do? We've talked about it during... Workshops that I've held regarding designations, we also have this. Could social media, do we think that social media would be a good way to bring public awareness to the program? Unfortunately, this has been a program that's just kind of sat on the burner, and so it's more of like we're looking to revive it type situation. Got it.

Thank you.

if the board thinks we should revive it.

Are you aware of any of the UCR classes, like the ones that designated the Pachapa Camp? Or there's a walking tour of Asian-American sites of interest. Do you know if anybody is working on designating those?

Not that I'm aware of, yeah.

And could you go over the process for a nomination?

So a nomination would be similar to a designation. It would be a form that would be filled out, and then that would be submitted to the city. We would review it. The criteria, like I said, is very open and broad. So unlike designation criteria where it's very specific, criteria number one could be applied to almost anything, really. um and so then staff would review it it come to the cultural heritage board and city council ultimately so it is the same similar designation are similar to the designation process uh but it's probably um a little bit more flexible uh than than the designation process and like doing a group of them at a time would be would be would be acceptable yeah

And there's a form for that?

Yeah.

There's always a form for that.

I'm working on updating the form, so give me a few more weeks. But we do have one that's kind of outdated, basically. We use the designation form and then just have people write points of cultural interest.

Anyone else have questions? Can you give an example? I'm reading the different types of things. Can you give an example of an experimental value?

Um, so this could be something, a location where there was a new type of crossbreeding in citrus or, you know, something of that nature where something occurred there that ended up creating a long part of history or an impact on history, I should say. But maybe the resource isn't there anymore. So let's just, for example, say that the parent navel orange tree was gone. This might be something of that idea.

Thank you.

just a yeah um i recently found out that uh downtown riverside was a host of a lot of bands uh the famous bands from back in the 80s 70s 60s perhaps that might be something you might want to look into okay um we have a huge cultural yeah music uh bands that can roll through here and uh might be of interest to you guys I can't really think of anything else on the top of my head, but maybe just putting up some polls, general questions, open questions online to spark an interest with people, and then taking a general poll, top five, ten, and seeing what hits.

That is a good idea. We do something similar with our – I'm trying to blank on the term. Sort context statements. We'll do a web page where it's a form submission where people online can just submit it and then fill it out and hit submit. It gets emailed to me. So that's a good idea that we can do a web page for it.

Maybe just Facebook. Instagram, it opens there. Quick, easy. Yeah.

Did you just tell me that the 80s is historic? I did. I didn't mean to. Okay. Moving on. Go ahead.

Sorry. We'll forgive you eventually. Eventually. I do have a suggestion. I know that if you, a lot of the American Legion halls in the area and some VFWs in the area will have some historical context even within their facility that you might want to reach out to them to see if they would be able to expand on some of their historical items that are in their facility that will reach out to the larger community.

I have a couple of suggestions also. I think those are great suggestions. For many, many years, the Press Enterprise at its heyday had a very famous historical columnist, Tom Patterson, I believe his name was. And if you go back through there, some of his columns are amazing. Riverside had one of the earliest velodromes that went around North Hill. and had grandstands erected for more than 15 years to watch the bicyclists and all of them were riding those big huge wheels, those four or five foot high wheels. In addition, North Hill was Riverside's original quarry, and, you know, I define it in a way that I'm sure the sign would not, but I just tell people to go down and get a drink at Lake Alice, and if you look at the curbs in front of Lake Alice, they are all granite from North Hill. It's one of the few remaining parts of downtown Riverside that still has the... the granite curbs. And the processing plant is at Second Street, still exists. There's a nice historic home in front, but the barn where they hauled all the granite down to and then processed it is still very much there, converted into an apartment complex. And one of the most famous college football games ever occurred at the corner of Locust and Houghton Avenue. hard to explain why Stanford and the University of Southern California were playing a football game at the corner of Locust and Houghton Avenue, but they were, and that was a part of Fairmont Park at that time. It's now an undeveloped portion of the park. Madam Chair, I thought your suggestion about, you mentioned that people in many of the historic districts have a great keen awareness of things like historic trees and that kind of thing. I think you ought to lay out a schedule for the next year or two and just convene a meeting of the residents and invite them to come in and tell you what they know about historic sites in their historic districts. I think you'd be great at that.

And then we can hand out the forms and make them do the work, right?

Well, I mean, the city can automatically pull up the owners of record and send out a form letter saying, I don't know whether you do it remotely or whether you convene in a parking lot. I don't know. Some of the groups get together, though, don't they, in the historic neighborhoods?

Yes, several.

They actually have picnics and potlucks and that kind of thing. My neighborhood's too gentrified to have anything like that. We'd have to have caviar and champagne.

Would it be overwhelming if we were to have, like, a contest between the historical societies to see who can come up with some in the next year?

I think that's a great idea.

You know, get the, like you mentioned, the Historic Society. There's the African American Historic Society, the Old Riverside Foundation, the neighborhood groups, JACL. NAACP all of the affinity groups might want to see how many places they can name and then these nominations um in the process they come here correct and then to city council

Correct. Yeah. So staff would review it to make sure that it fits within the criteria, which I said are very broad. Mainly that there is some sort of history that occurred at that location. And it's a location that we can like pinpoint. We don't want to necessarily say, you know, I broadly somewhere over in this area, this, you know, may have happened, you know, type thing. and then so staff would review that present that to the cultural heritage board and then it would go to City Council for the ultimate adoption I'd like to know what my colleagues think of the sign could you pull the sign up again please

So that's a little sparse. And in the absence of any text or a reference to a website, please go to www.soandso to hear more about Pachaca Camp. That kind of leaves me cold. Maybe there's something really detailed on the back. And I know you didn't design this sign.

So it doesn't show up very well in the photo, but under where it says number one, there is a text talking about it. So there is a full paragraph-ish of text. This particular sign, and there would be more room to do this, but this particular sign, because it was acknowledging the Koreatown, the promoters of it wanted it both in English and Korean. So that's why it doesn't seem as much because the text is very small in order to fit that in. As far as the shapes and the look about it, the reason for going for those shapes is because they are standard lengths. And anytime we go for something more custom, the cost goes up. So you have, for example, if you've seen... Well, it would be the... State route sign, so state route 60, that's the acorn sign, and it's actually just turned upside down in comparison to the round, which is just the standard round street sign. So those were some of the things that we did to bring that cost down as much as we could. so there is opportunity um i think could even be a great opportunity to add a qr code maybe at the bottom that you know take somebody to a page that has you know even more information about it board member brown mentioned um owner of record so a lot of these like this one is it's on a street corner it's not recognizing the

what's behind the sign at all. It's just the location. Correct. So if this were in front of someone's house, maybe about the house, is there an owner consent or participation required?

As long as it is in the public right-of-way, we do not need it. If it is on private property, that's when we are going to need the consent regarding it.

Got it.

And that would be mainly the consent to install the sign because the recognition holds no weight as far as like a certificate of appropriateness. So it doesn't cause anything else to occur.

And it's public information.

Correct. This particular site is actually the gas company. behind so the socal gas over on commerce and um 14th 14th yes thank you yeah so you can go over drive over and see the sign if you want hit up 14th before you turn for the metro link station it's on the right by carlos liquors not that i know where carlos liquors is it was built in the 80s

before that. Any other questions, comments?

I'm just gonna put on my K-12 hat right now. I know a lot of the elementary sites in the area, Riverside Unified, Alvord Unified, They do a lot of project-based learning now, and so that might be a good way of maybe a competition or something where the students are doing the research in the city of Riverside for these historical landmarks or points of interest. And I think it also allows them to learn more about the city they live in.

Anyone else? Now, maybe I missed the boring. The boring part would be the money, right? The paying for the signs. Correct. Which will be probably the more difficult part. Correct, yeah. Drumming up the $700 to $300, $300 to $700. Yeah.

If we can get a batch of 20, we're talking about $300 based off of what Public Works. But you're still talking, you know, that right there is $6,000. Yeah.

Is there an opportunity here for people to have some sort of recognition on the sign for donating the? I think that's definitely possible.

Yeah.

Great idea. Anyone else? All right, so your homework is to come up with 20 sites by the next meeting. And $6,000 each. All right, well, if there's nothing else, thank you for that. That was an interesting discussion, and you're right. I think we can all do our own part about talking that up and sharing with our communities about it.

Yeah, and staff will look at this and kind of come up with a plan and an action plan moving forward.

Thank you. All right. Anything else on that? Okay. That'll take us to last item, which is communications.

What have you got? So if you want to spend the next several weeks coming up with 20 items, you actually have two months to do so because our next meeting is going to be canceled. We will not have a meeting on September 16th. At this point, it looks like we'll have one item for the October Cultural Heritage Board meeting. Okay. That's it for me, unless Scott has anything else?

Nothing for me.

Anyone else with anything for the good of the order? All right. Well, thank you all for coming. Good work today, and we will adjourn this meeting at 436.