California Real Estate & Relocation Guide

Riverside, California

Population: 259,738

Located in Riverside County

Riverside, located in the heart of California’s Inland Empire, is located between Moreno Valley and San Bernardino. Springtime in Riverside brings the sweet smell of orange blossoms, which are set amongst an incredible view of the majestic San Bernardino mountain range. Riverside is best known for its popular Festival of Lights, which is held during the winter holidays in downtown, and showcases live entertainment. The Festival of Lights is the nation’s second largest lighting display and features an outdoor ice skating rink. This event has been featured on Good Morning America and People Magazine.

Riverside is a prime city for businesses looking to locate or expand. A high-quality workforce, booming retail market, and an average household disposable income greater than Los Angeles, San Diego, and Orange County in 2006 explains why Riverside consistently stays in the top 10 in all four national real estate markets and is ranked 3rd for ³Best Performing Cities² nationwide for overall job growth and retention, according to the Milken Institute, 2007. Riverside was also ranked #4 among America’s Most Digital Large Cities for 2007 by the Center for Digital Government and was the highest- ranking city in California on Forbes Top 100 best places for jobs for 2008.

With its proximity to ports, rail transportation and freeway access, Riverside is establishing itself as a leader in Southern California¹s international trade economy. Contributing to its emergence as a logistics hub is an expansive foreign trade zone (FTZ), and the March Global Port. By 2030, the greater Riverside region can expect a total increase of more than a million tons of air cargo coming into the area.

Riverside is a technology-friendly community with its own research park, more than 40 high technology companies and four internationally-recognized colleges and universities, including La Sierra University, California Baptist University, Riverside Community College, and University of California, Riverside. These institutions serve more than 47,000 students and offer degrees from Associate to PhDs in a variety of concentrations. The largest of the four, UC Riverside, is an acclaimed research institution and has received approval to establish California¹s next UC Medical School. The future includes working together to make these locations campuses of choice and leaders in innovation. Examples of such initiative are the University of California, Riverside’s Solar Innovation Center and California Baptists University’s new Schools of Engineering and Nursing. Riverside is also home to Harvest Christian Fellowship, a premier Bible-believing church attended by thousands each week. The senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship is Greg Laurie, host of "A New Beginning Radio" and author of more than 40 books on personal and spiritual development. HCF also hosts a private Christian School for grades Jr. Kinder-6.

In each major section of the city, housing ranges from affordable multi-family buildings to new executive housing and historic mansions. Together with enlightened community planning, this creates a healthy mix of land uses and property values. People who choose to move to Riverside find significant cost-of-living advantages over higher-priced coastal counties. There is a wide variety of homes here in styles to suit every personality and pocketbook. Whether you¹re looking for a starter home near the schools or a historic home on one of the city¹s oldest tree-lined streets; a young professional seeking an urban loft or high-level executive dreaming of an expansive estate, chances are you can find it here.

Business and residents alike enjoy some of the most progressive environmental programs around. Riverside is launching a new multi-family recycling campaign, and the city hosted one of the first pharmaceutical take-back events in California. In addition, Riverside Public Utilities has developed an award-winning Blue Riverside campaign to promote water conservation. For more information on this initiative, visit www.blueriverside.com.

The Riverside City Council recently undertook the $1.8 billion Riverside Renaissance initiative to improve traffic flow, replace aging infrastructure, expand and improve police, fire, library, parks, and other community facilities that enhance the quality of life for residents, businesses, and visitors. Riverside was recently selected as a Playful City because of its emphasis on playground improvements and skate park facilities for the youth in the community. Riverside currently has two acres of park space per thousand residents and is equipped with 52 parks, 14 community centers, seven community pools and numerous sports fields. Each amenity is used to its fullest, providing Riverside residents with programs and activities to suit their lifestyles. Online activity registration makes it easy to join the fun. Learning how to use a computer, take a dance or music class, get fit with kickboxing or jujitsu, take up a craft, train your dog, improve your math or be a volunteer ¬ Riverside’s park system awaits!

Riverside also has 72 miles of Class II bike paths with 18.5 miles of Class I bike trails. In the next five years, the city proposes to add 35 more miles of Class I bike lands. Riverside also partnered with Riverside Transit Authority and two of its larger, higher learning institutions to provide an incentive for students to use mass transit by offering free bus rides.

The City of Riverside’s commitment to the arts is evidenced by the many opportunities offered to residents, visitors, artists, and organizations where they express themselves through various art media. The City of Riverside has been instrumental in supporting and creating local, regional, and national partnerships with artist, arts organizations, and cultural institutions.

Partnerships are the cornerstone of Riverside Police Department¹s philosophy to reduce the incidence of crime and disorder, and for improving and maintaining quality of life. To advance community policing, the police department has adopted a decentralized policing strategy, which is a plan to create several distinctive policing centers at various locations throughout the city. Riverside is divided into four geographical areas with the goal of reducing response times, engendering greater public participation and reducing neighborhood problems. The newest neighborhood facility, the Magnolia Policing Center, opened for use in July 2006 and includes a 1,600-square-foot community room that is available for use by the public. RPD¹s Community Policing Team administers many neighborhood programs focused on training, communication and networking and, in 2006, developed the only Neighborhood Watch Academy in the state of California. A new generation of Neighborhood Watch leadership began with the department’s eight-week program and, to date, 265 citizens have registered for this program. Neighborhood Watch is a successful, comprehensive approach in striving to keep communities safe and improving the quality of life.

Business Watch programs gets business owners to band together and take an active role impacting the day-to-day occurrences that can have a negative impact on their businesses and surrounding properties. Businesses are encouraged to know their neighbors, share information and implement crime prevention techniques. A model example of this is the Canyon Crest Towne Center where a business community Web page was developed that facilitates communication between businesses and the apartment complexes that surround the shopping center. This interactive relationship via the Internet supplements regular community meetings. This pilot program has been so successful that it has been initiated in other areas of Riverside.

Riverside¹s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program trains volunteers to assist local emergency responders in the event of an emergency. Volunteers trained in CERT learn how to help themselves and others in an emergency, and provide a potential workforce for performing duties such as shelter support, crowd control and evacuation assistance.

Riverside leads in science, technology and sustainability as a Clean & Green city. In fact, Riverside is the first California city to be designated an Emerald City by the California Department of Conservation. This partnership will catapult Riverside¹s efforts by providing access to grants and other resources.

Riverside also happens to be the City of Arts and Culture in the Inland Empire. Communities that cultivate this emerging connection between the creative arts and economic success should have brighter prospects, even in tough economic times.