- Welcome to "Inland Edition", where we have community conversations with people who make decisions that affect our everyday lives.

My name is Joe Richardson.

I'm an attorney, a community member, and your host.

And today, we're gonna chat with the mayor of the Inland Empire's largest city by population.

A mayor of the city she graduated college in, Riverside; the second woman to hold her office in that city's 150-year history, [background music] and a champion advocate for the Santa Ana River, Patricia Lock Dawson was elected mayor of Riverside in 2020.

She's pragmatic, driven and confident, and it's time for us to meet her.

[gentle upbeat music] ♪ ♪ ♪ - [Joe] Okay!

And now, I'm here with Mayor, Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson.

Mayor Lock Dawson, thank you so much for being here with us.

- I am so happy to be here.

And, I think this is a fantastic series that you're launching so that folks can learn more about what their elected officials do.

I think it's a big mystery to a lot of people.

- Yes.

So, we're getting ready to uncover that mystery.

So, I want to ask you first, was there an ah-ha moment for you to get you on the path of public service?

Or was it just, you know, the convergence of many-- you know, your background is, you know, you have a business in land use, you're a school board person, business person, and I'm sure there's some intersection with city government.

I guess that's a way of asking, how'd you get here?

- Oh my gosh, Joe.

Wow!

I mean, I don't think we have enough time to go into all of it, but I will (he laughs) tell you-- I mean, you know?

I'm a wildlife biologist by training.

My background is in-- I was a former park ranger.

I was a park ranger.

- Fascinating.

Oh, wow.

- Bryce Canyon National Park and Mount Rainier National Park.

So, anyway.

And, I worked for the Bureau of Land Management as a wildlife biologist, and this was outta grad school.

And, I was a pretty good wildlife biologist, but I kept getting sucked into all this policymaking stuff.

And, I was getting asked to serve on committees where I was deciding things.

And, I figured out I was a much better policy person than I was a wildlife biologist.

So, I got on the city planning commission.

I served in two governor's administrations.

I served under Governor Schwarzenegger and Governor Brown on the Board of Behavioral Sciences.

I oversaw that mental health professionals in the state, and I was passionate about education.

And so, I ran for school board.

I was on that for nine years!

- Right.

- And then, I thought, I don't wanna be an elected person anymore.

And then, a former mayor sucker punched me and got me into it!

(Joe laughs) - You know what they say: if you want something done, ask somebody busy and qualified.

So, what would you say at the risk of asking another hugely broad question.

I get in trouble when I do this in court, so I don't get as much trouble here!

So, I'm just gonna go crazy!

I'm sorry.

So, what would you tell somebody if I said, if they asked you, "tell me about Riverside!"

- Oh, my hometown!

Born and raised there; youngest of five children.

Fabulous place to live, home to three universities and an award-winning community college.

Twelfth largest city in the state; larger than 99% of all cities in the United States.

Did you know that?

- Wow.

No, I didn't.

- We are the sixth largest metro area in the country.

We are-- the city of Riverside is the county seat.

So, we have everything going on there from the courts, to county administration, to the city.

So, county jail.

We have it all- - Right.

- in Riverside.

But, our population's fairly young.

It's younger than the national average.

So-?

And in 2020, it was a city that was the number one city young people moved to in all of the United States.

- Right, wow.

- Because of our quality of life.

It's a great place to live.

- Give us a one-on-one, on-- a "101" on city government.

Like, you know, you're the mayor.

What does it mean to be the mayor?

A lot of folks will look at you and see you and say, "Hey, that's the mayor."

But, not necessarily know what it means to be the mayor.

And, having a city council and the convergence of the agencies that you work with.

Tell us about being mayor, not only in having a city council and running a city, but actually being mayor of a city and how that interplay goes.

- You know, it's different for many cities.

There's lots of different models, right?

There's what they call a "council-manager" form of government to cities, and there's a strong mayor form of government.

And, in the council-manager form of government, you've got the city council is one leg.

The city manager is another, and the mayor is the third leg in that.

And, they have shared governance.

They work together.

So I am, in the city of Riverside, the only one who's elected at-large by the entire city.

And, each one of my council members, of which I have seven, are elected by ward.

And then, we have a city manager.

And, he's really the CEO.

The council, I would say, is sort of like the board of directors.

And, the mayor is the chair of the board of directors.

So, that's kind of how that works in that type of city.

So, I have veto authority over the decisions that the council makes, but I do not have a vote on the council like they do.

- Oh, wow.

- So, that is the council-manager form of government.

It's different, right?

The strong mayor form of government, and there's only a handful in the state of California that have it.

San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego.

The mayor acts as the decision-maker for everything and is essentially president of the city, right?

Or, governor of the city.

So, it has that type of authority to make all kinds of decisions.

But, Riverside?

We're a little bit different.

We have shared governance, which means we have to work together.

And, I think that's a brilliant way to run your city.

- One of the things-- I guess I've always wanted to ask this to-- of Riverside's mayor or somebody that knows about Riverside.

I think that would be you!

(she chuckles) Riverside amazes me because you can get off the freeway in Riverside and drive for an hour and still be in Riverside.

- Mm hm.

- The geography!

Every time, you know, maybe it's because there's some kind of event or it's crowded on the freeway or something.

You know, most recently we've had some fires not far.

I get sent off sometimes and find out about new areas and I go, "is this still Riverside?"

"Yes, it's still Riverside."

Talk about the geography of Riverside.

You've got hills.

You've got mountains.

You've got just about every form of terrain.

There's a lot of square mileage here.

- 81 square miles.

- Right.

Wow.

- Is the city of Riverside.

So, we do.

We have-- and we have a population of about 320,000 now.

- Right.

- And, you're right.

We have a really interesting geography in Riverside.

We are ringed by mountains.

We're a valley.

And then, what do we have on the western portion?

Our name is Riverside-- - Riverside, right.

- For a reason!

- River.

Yes!

- We have the Santa Ana River that runs through there, which is the largest and the steepest watershed in all of Southern California.

So, in fact, it was one of the biggest flood risks west of the Mississippi, which is why they had to put in Seven Oaks Dam up above it.

But, it is made for lots of different interesting experiences in the city.

So, you're right.

And, I think before irrigation came to the city in the late 1800s, it was a fairly dry and just not a particularly arable and agricultural gem.

Irrigation came in.

We were able to start the groves and Riverside became the citrus capital of the world.

And, in fact, I think in 1900 it was the richest per capita city in all of the United States.

- Actually, that's a good segue into jobs, you know, and infrastructure and the types of things that make Riverside go.

So, when you talk about the engine of Riverside, what's driving it?

What kind of industries, what kinds of jobs and are there-- what are the next frontiers in terms of things that you're looking forward to seeing more of in Riverside?

- Well, our largest employer in the city of Riverside is government.

Which is not necessarily a good thing.

Honestly, I'd like to change that.

I think to have a more robust economy there, I think we need to have more and diverse businesses.

Our leading economic growth sectors and what is a huge employer in our region is health care.

- Right.

- Health care drives it.

You know, we have the UCR School of Medicine.

We also have an opportunity to become a clean and green tech center.

UCR has its emissions research there.

We've got the California Air Resources Board that's there.

And, for better or for worse, we have air quality issues in our city.

So, it is someplace you want to be if you're developing engines or you're developing EV or you're developing anything that addresses air quality issues or measures air quality issues.

Riverside's the place to be.

- One of the things that's interesting to me is the idea that you have-- there's several school districts that at least if they're not totally in Riverside, they touch Riverside.

And, I know that because my wife works in one of them.

And, you having been a school board elected, tell us about you guys' schools.

'Cause among other things, you've got a lot of kids.

Got a lot of folks to educate.

You've got a pretty good spread out area.

Tell us about the school district infrastructure there.

- So, we have two school districts that are actually within the city of Riverside, and Alvord, which your wife works for.

- Right.

- Which you know very well.

- Right.

Hi, honey!

(laughter) - Riverside Unified School District.

And, between the two of them there's about 60,000 students.

- Right.

- So, RUSD has around 40; Alvord has about 20, and they often work together.

But, they-- you know, school districts, just the way they're set up, they are also very autonomous from each other.

- Sure.

- They have separate school boards and, but lots of schools.

And then, you know, not just that, but our postsecondary education, right?

I mentioned we have three universities in the city of Riverside.

- Right.

- So, and our community college.

So, we have about 60,000 college students- - Wow.

- in Riverside, as well.

We've got La Sierra University.

We have Cal Baptist, and we have UC Riverside, and RCC.

So, we have a very educated population there.

So, and I think our school districts have something for everyone, I think.

I know Riverside Pathways for 43 different career, technical education and also articulation agreements with RCC and UCR.

So, if kids wanna go into RCC, they can get right into UCR.

So, we are an educated place.

- Right.

That's good.

So, one of the things that I would think is that as the mayor of Riverside, you are an ambassador for your city and ambassadors travel.

So, talk a little bit about the opportunities that you've had to go different places, some of the things that are related to your city in general, and even your personal development in leadership, et cetera.

Tell us about some of the things that have happened that way.

- Being able to get out of Riverside.

One of my frustrations being a Riverside native was that I just feel like Riverside isn't seen.

People don't see us.

And, when I tell them, and I go other places and I say, "yeah!

You know, we're bigger than 99% of the cities in the United States", "What?

Riverside?"

They've not heard of it.

So, it's been one of my goals!

One of my priorities as mayor is to get out there and make people "see" Riverside, right?

So, last year I participated in this program at Harvard through the Bloomberg Philanthropies called the Bloomberg Harvard Institute for Mayors.

I was able to bring back some of those resources there to help us on this project we're doing on the river.

And, this last week I just spent a week in Kansas City at the Mayors' Institute for City Design.

That's through the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Only six cities in the U.S. were- - Wow.

- picked to participate, and we were one of 'em.

- Right.

- And in the Bloomberg program, 38 cities participated from around the world and Riverside was one of 'em.

So, any way I can elevate- - Sure.

- Riverside and our profile and let people know, because once they find out about it, they're like, "oh, wow.

This is, like, the coolest place ever."

I'm like, "I know!"

(Joe laughs) - Tell us about, if there is such a thing, tell us about a typical day- - Mm!

- as Mayor Lock Dawson.

What does that look like?

- [Patricia] A typical day?

Oh, there is-- there is no typical, Joe!

- I figured there might not be one!

- Yeah, but I mean-?

You know, On a, like a Monday, I come in and I have a ton of meetings with people.

You meet with constituents.

You go out in the community.

You might do a ribbon cutting.

You know, on a Tuesday, it's council day.

So, we run the council meeting and we get to hear from the public.

We make decisions about all things in the city.

A big part of what I do, because this is something I did in my former life, is bring money and resources back to the city.

- Sure.

- So, I'll meet with our lobbyists.

I will often go to Washington DC or Sacramento so we can talk about bringing back funding for the different projects we have in the city.

And, we've been very successful actually.

We've had I think a record amount of money coming into the city just in this past year alone for infrastructure projects and all sorts of good things.

- Right.

So, I don't think you were mayor quite yet when COVID happened, but you were an elected.

Is that right?

Am I right about that?

- Mm hm.

- So, doing what you do now, you know, you have the perspective dealing with COVID from a business owner standpoint, from an elected standpoint, and I know you're an advocate for mental health.

And so- - True.

- tell us about the things that are going on now in Riverside related to the things that maybe COVID reminded you of.

The things that the existence of COVID and the effect of COVID made you prioritize all the more as mayor and as a city.

- Well, I'll tell ya!

Something COVID made us all realize is that the outdoors is important.

It's important to our mental health.

It's important to our physical health.

And, it's a place where not only can we get out there and exercise and, you know, take in what's wonderful about the natural world is a place where we can come together to connect as well.

Right?

So, that's super important to me as a former park ranger.

But, because one of my big passion projects within the city is "putting the river back in Riverside."

Okay, Joe.

Do you know what river's in Riverside?

- Um?

I do, but it might be because I cheated!

So, I mean-?

Just being honest?

- Yeah!

Is it Santa Ana?

- It is the Santa Ana River.

- I tell ya!

A lot of us would not know that.

- A hundred miles long from the headwaters up in the San Bernardino Mountains to the Pacific at Huntington Beach at the coast.

So, and we have about 10 miles of it that runs through Riverside.

- Right.

- And, you know, over the years the river has really-- folks have turned their back on it.

And, it's not been an asset.

We haven't seen it as a beautiful place where we can come and recreate and take our families and ride our bikes and hike and explore.

And, I wanna change that.

I wanna make the river a destination for recreation.

I want people to go there.

And so, we have just finished something designing something called the Gateway Project, which is eight sites along the river.

And, we're in the middle of some environmental analysis for that.

But, that has identified projects that we're getting funding for now to develop access, trailheads, places to go, bathrooms.

All those kinds of neat places you can have, so you can get down to the river.

And then, on the northern part of it, we have Fairmount Park and we have this place called the Armory, which I'm trying to redo!

(chuckles) And, getting funding for that as well.

So, we can have an exciting, cool amenity right up there in the northern part of the town that connects you to the river, but connects you to downtown, as well.

- So, I want you to take what you love about your job- - Mm!

- and what you love about your city, and I want you to have them converge and meet up!

(she laughs) And so, that's a softball actually, once you get around it.

Where does that put you?

What does that have you talking about?

- Mmm!

- What you love about your city and what you love about your job?

How does that come together?

- I love the people in Riverside.

- Yeah.

- Honestly, you better not be in this job if you don't like people, honestly.

I think people are what make the job interesting.

And so-?

And, most of us go into this job because we wanna help people, right?

So, it's the most wonderful thing when you can solve someone's problem.

And, sometimes it's just as easy as picking up a phone and calling somebody over in Public Works, you know?

"Hey, the water's not on in this neighborhood", or "the street lights are out."

So, those are easy fixes.

Right?

But then, you've also got very broken lives and people that need more help than that.

And, those are the things that you have to dive in and find the resources to help get people connected with what they need to thrive and survive and have jobs and places to live and wonderful places to recreate.

So, all of that is very important to me.

- The existence of Riverside as the largest city in the Inland Empire, part of this large metropolitan area, talk about some of the maybe privileges and or responsibilities that comes with your unique situation, with you being Riverside.

- Well, it's funny.

The mayor is often seen as responsible for everything, right?

So, regardless of what authority I have, people look to me to solve all sorts of problems.

So, I take that charge very seriously, actually.

I do.

And, I'm very conscientious of-- my staff and I work on a lot of different projects.

Let's talk about homelessness, right?

- Sure.

- Homelessness is an issue throughout the state.

Every city's struggling with this issue.

So, when I got into as mayor, I realized that it wasn't just one-size-fits-all to address the issue.

And, Riverside, as the county seat has its fair share from-- of unhoused individuals.

One of the things we did was sat down and said, "well, we gotta get a program for each one of these populations", right?

- Sure.

- So, this morning we just did a press conference for a project we call Project Connect.

It's a jail in-reach to help formerly incarcerated people connect with them before they get outta jail so they don't become homeless.

We have a program for foster youth so that they don't become homeless.

They're at high risk.

We have CARE Court which I worked with the governor's office to get that passed.

And, that is for folks suffering from severe mental illness.

We have HOME court in the county with the county that addresses folks that have addiction issues.

So, all of those populations require something a little bit different.

So, I think something we've done in my office is just kind of figure out an overall strategy and develop a plan to do that.

So, we've launched that.

So, I don't know if I answered your question, Joe!

- Actually, you did.

- It was just an example.

- [Joe] No, that's fantastic.

- Yeah.

- Give us your wish list.

You know, fill in the blank: "If I have my druthers"- - Mm hm!

- "10 years from now, "here's what Riverside will be doing "that we're not doing a lot of, "that now we're that we're not doing any of, here are areas of jobs or employment that will exist."

Where will Riverside be 10 years from now, if you get your way?

If you get the way on behalf of the people!

I know you're working for the people now.

But, what does that look like for you?

- So, to me, I see a Riverside where we have clean streets, clean air, beautiful parks.

People know their neighbors.

They can come out; they can have unlimited opportunities in all sorts of different job areas.

One I mentioned clean and green tech, which I think is very important, but all sorts of different things that we do there in health care and professional services and government.

Everybody has an opportunity there.

No matter where you started and what your circumstances were, you have an opportunity in Riverside.

And, what's more important is that, that gives you a sense of hope.

And, I want my city to be hopeful.

- Yeah.

What's the hardest thing about your job?

- Hmm.

I tell ya!

One of the hardest things about being mayor is two things, really.

One is not being able to solve people's problems.

And, you want to so desperately.

- Yeah.

- Fix what's happening.

I feel personally responsible for just about every problem that walks in that door.

And, secondly, is just (pauses) the meanness of people.

- Yeah.

- Honestly, and we see-- have seen a really uptick in that, and particularly since COVID on social media.

And, it's often misinformed and it's often just out of frustration.

And, I think as you come to it with that frame of mind, it's easier to take.

But, I think we're at a divisive time in our nation's history.

And, what I'd really like to do is to not have those types of divisive issues in our city.

We can show the rest of the world how you can come together.

- Yeah.

- And, be a loving and supportive community.

And, I think that's something that's really, really important for me to do as mayor.

- Connected to that, what would you say to encourage someone that is looking at you and they're just drawing inspiration from what it is that you do on a day-to-day basis?

You know, having this public role, which is not easy, but you do with a lot of grace and class.

How would you encourage somebody that's maybe in a moment?

Maybe they haven't gotten to spend a lot of time dealing with government or understanding government because they just been doin' life.

- Mm hm.

- You know what I mean?

- But, how would you encourage them just in general and then maybe connecting the dots in particular with what the city of Riverside does for them and the services that it offers and how it can be a benefit to them?

- I would tell 'em to get in touch with me!

- Ah!

- Or I'd tell 'em to get in touch with their city council person.

- Right.

- And, sit down; find out what it is that if there's something that is bothering you or you're having trouble with something, find out if there's something that we can do and we can help.

But, also, knowing that it's our job to make sure your roads are paved, that the sewers are working, that the water turns on, that the lights are turning on, that we create opportunities for people.

So, all those different kinds of things that we do, we'd love to talk to people about that and let them know wherever their particular issue falls into, we'd love to help.

- So, social media.

Is it-?

Give us our homework!

How do we follow up?

Is it email?

How do they do it?

How can they get in touch with the city?

- All sorts of different ways.

You can email.

It's 2Mayor@RiversideCA.gov We're also on Instagram at Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson.

And, I'm on Facebook at the same, I think.

- You look at me like you aren't sure!

- Yeah.

- Sounds like the story of my life, too!

- I know!

I was trying to get the right address for it, but I think it's "Mayor Lock Dawson."

- Right!

And then, also, every one of your council members, they're on the website.

You can go look and see where your ward is.

You can enter your zip code.

You can see where you fall in there, and you'll see who's in charge of your ward.

I'd also encourage people if they are interested in getting involved, see what it's like, right?

I think often like everything, right?

It's armchair quarterbacking, right?

You think, "oh, I could do that better.

I could"-- Well?

Get involved!

See how you could do it better, right?

We have lots of boards and commissions that you can serve on.

I started on the planning commission.

So, if you have an interest in land use, if you have an interest in parks and recreation, if you have an interest in transportation, if you're interested in creating opportunities for our aging population or a disabled population, we have a board and commission for you.

So, we are constantly looking for good people to serve and help us come up with solutions and make the city the best it can be.

- Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson, I thank you so much and thank you for your service.

- Oh, thanks.

I appreciate being here today and happy to talk about it.

I could talk about it all day long.

- Okay.

Well?

We'll be back soon.

You take your time leavin', but you hurry back!

- Alright!

- Okay!

(laughs) - Thanks.

- I want to thank you for joining us on "Inland Edition" and keep joining us as we walk down the road to providing information on civic involvement and government service one conversation at a time.

Till then, take care.

♪ [singers vocalizing/ bold drums] [uplifting music and vocals] ♪ ♪ [softer music] ♪ [music fades]