City Manager's Updates 

Taking It to the Streets—City Tours with Public Works and Building/Code Enforcement

One of my favorite songs from the 1970’s and 1980’s is the Doobie Brothers classic “Taking It to the Streets.” Now on two days of each month I am hitting the streets of Jurupa Valley with our Public Works/Engineering and Building/Code Enforcement staff to learn more about the development projects that are underway, view code enforcement concerns in the field, look at problem areas that may become future capital improvement projects, etc.  On Monday, May 4, Keith Clarke, Irwin Salas, Jose Ibarra, Bart Reis and I took our first Building/Code Enforcement tour, and on Monday, May 11, Steve Loriso, Mike Waltz, and I took our inaugural Public Works/Engineering tour.  Some of the highlights included:

• The portions of Granite Hill Road that will soon be rehabilitated.
• The new Vista Cielo Homes construction site in Indian Hills
• The areas where the RTRP Underground alignment will be located
• The recently completed slurry seal project in the Riverview area
• The site of the recently approved Viridian Partners project
• The portions of Philadelphia Street that will soon be rehabilitated
• The new Lennar Shadow Rock development
• Riverside County Flood Control improvements on Agate Street
• The new JARPD Skyview Events Center construction site
• Various code enforcement priority cases (e.g. unpermitted truck yards)

 
It will be helpful for me to get out from behind my desk each month and get a better understanding of what’s going on in the field.  I look forward to next month’s tours.

Small Business Assistance and CDBG-CV Funding

The City received a $702,928.00 allocation of “CDBG-CV” funding as part of the CARES Act.  At the May 7, 2020 meeting of the City Council, the Council directed City staff to proceed with establishing a small business grant program.  The program will be funded with a portion of the City’s recent CDBG-CV allocation. 

Sample Program Framework:

• $300,000 in total grant funds available
• Third-party assistance from the City’s current CDBG consultant (or similar firm)
• Maximum grant of $7,000-$10,000 per applicant
• Business applicants must be in good standing with the City (business registration, code enforcement cases, etc.)
• Specific emphasis on local micro-enterprises (commercial entities with five or fewer employees)

Over the next month, City staff will begin the CDBG-CV budgeting process, which will include the publication of a second round of public service grant opportunities.  For this special round of public service grants, social service and non-profit agencies must submit funding proposals that help the community respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.  We expect to bring the full funding plan back to the City Council for approval in June of this year.

 Point-in-Time Count Data Released

The results for the 2020 Point-in-Time (PIT) count are now available.  The PIT count recorded 103 people experiencing homelessness in Jurupa Valley.  This marks at least the third consecutive year that the City’s PIT numbers have dropped (2018: 148, 2019: 139, 2020: 103).  Practically all of the homeless persons counted were living outside in the river bottom, wooded areas, under bridges, etc.  While we’re encouraged by the progress that we’ve made as demonstrated by the PIT data, we remain focused on strengthening our efforts to compassionately address this problem and see more progress.

COVID-19 Updates

• As of Friday afternoon Riverside County is at 5,618 confirmed cases, with 242  deaths, 3,430 recoveries and 184 currently hospitalized.
• Jurupa Valley has 233 confirmed cases and 11 deaths
• Great Plates Feeding Program is established and there are many restaurants supporting this program.  A video will be forthcoming in the next day or so and we also are working with local restaurants in JV to establish partnerships via the JV Chamber of Commerce.
• County is currently (as of Monday, 5.11) looking for four new (additional) sites for COVID-19 testing (we do not have details on where these sites may be located yet). 
• The County plans on enhancing testing opportunities for youth and young adults to capture datasets on the Coronavirus and impacts on youth.
• Peter has updated our “Declaration of Emergency” resolution based on the feedback from the City Council on Thursday night and based on the Board of Supervisors action on Friday night.  He is receiving regular updates from the County Counsel on all of the changes at the County level.

Engineering Department Updates

Catch basin cleanup performed along Valley Way
and the 60 Freeway overpass

There is a homeless individual who has been stuffing trash gathered from businesses in the area down the storm drains. The individual has been doing this for approximately four years throughout Rubidoux and now along Armstrong Road. Public Works performs an annual catch basin cleaning in which all catch basins throughout the City are cleaned as part of our MS4 permit requirements. This cleaning is being done additionally due to the individual refilling the basins that have already been cleaned out.

Engineering and Public Works are currently working on a solution to minimize the amount of trash entering the catch basins by installing full capture systems into these storm drains. These full capture systems will create a screen barrier at the outlet pipe and allow water to flow out of the catch basin while holding the trash and litter back. We are looking to start installing a small number of these full capture devices  in the near future to see how they perform and eventually install them citywide.

Code Enforcement Updates

Sheriff's Department Updates

Jurupa Valley Weekly Report April 26-May 2, 2020

Fire Department Updates

• Station 18 will soon begin their drought tolerant Landscape project. Both Medic Patrol 18 and Engine 3164 are now staffed at Station 18. 
  
  

• The new gate project and ADA ramp is near completion at Fire Station 16. 
  
  
• A new flagpole has been installed and the monument sign is almost complete at Station 38. The previous flagpole and monument sign were destroyed when a motorist collided with them.