Riverside County’s New Initiative for East Valley Communities, Improve Infrastructure

Lack of infrastructure and poor quality of life.

That is what many east valley communities have been facing every day for decades.

But now, the county is trying something new called ECV Próspera.

“This is the first time the county has initiated an effort like this in the eastern Coachella Valley to date,” Riverside County Executive Office Management Analyst Scott Bruckner explained. “The Enhanced Infrastructure Finance District is a component of that. What we hope to do through the district is to bring this needed infrastructure, which the community has let us know in various ways through various need assessments. We hope that this funding mechanism will help us to bring that infrastructure.”

The program would work in partnership with local non-profit Alianza Coachella Valley.

Together, the two groups plan to gather feedback from the community to address the east valley’s needs.

But for some communities, they’ve heard improvements were coming many times and because of that, they’re hesitant to be hopeful.

“People don’t have electricity, they don’t have water, they don’t have roads, they don’t have sidewalks,” Mecca Resident Irascma Guzman shared. “To me, that should be a priority if they really want to do this fair.”

“I’m just hoping that all of these different things that they’re talking about with the infrastructure will come to be,” Cindi Anderson, whose family owns property in North Shore, said. “Personally, in my lifetime, I don’t see it happening. I hate to be negative but of course, I’m not a youngster either.”

Despite this, they will continue to fight for their community.

“The people here love the city and they love their little community,” Guzman continued. “I don’t want to be negative, but it’s so hard to be positive. So, my hope is that they do the right thing. They do the right thing for what the proposal is proposed to be and what the funding is for”

“I think they need to really have people listen to the community, to the people that live here and really structure things based on what their real needs are,” Anderson shared.

And the county is trying its best to help.

“We genuinely hope that this is going to bring that infrastructure and at least be a catalyst to bring that change and bring that infrastructure to help enhance safety and economic development,” Bruckner said. “Be patient and in the meantime, we will listen to everything that you all have to tell us because it’s very important. Your thoughts, concerns and questions, we want to be here to address all of it.”

For more information on this new initiative, click here.