Riverbank City Council shakeup is coming
With a 3-2 split vote, leaders on Tuesday divided the city into four voting districts, creating one predominantly Latino district with no incumbent in east Riverbank and forcing council members Cal Campbell and Leanne Jones Cruz to face each other if they choose to run in the future.
The council also approved stringent outside watering rules that ban timed sprinklers and even hose sprinklers through April 30, and restrict watering by hand to one day a week before 9 a.m. and after 9 p.m.
Riverbank’s mayor will continue to be elected citywide, with the next vote set for next year. The November 2016 election also will feature races for newly created Districts 3 and 4, respectively, in the downtown-central area and southwest-Crossroads area.
Councilwoman Jeanine Tucker lives in District 3 and Councilwoman Darlene Barber-Martinez in District 4. They joined with Mayor Richard O’Brien in approving the divisions, outvoting Campbell and Jones Cruz, who both live in the northwest District 2; that seat will be filled with the November 2018 election, along with District 1, spanning much of east Riverbank’s states streets.
The move from at-large to district elections is supposed to give minority candidates a better chance.
Latinos make up 52 percent of the city population but about 42 percent of registered voters. No current council member is Latino, although Jones Cruz, Campbell and Barber-Martinez all are married to Latinos.
Riverbank water customers have not cut back 32 percent from 2013 levels, requiring leaders to adopt harsh outside water rules to avoid drought-prompted state penalties.
People and businesses with even-numbered addresses, currently allowed to water on Tuesday and Saturday, will go to Tuesdays only, and odd-numbered addresses will water only on Fridays instead of Monday and Friday. Also, people must skip a watering day if it falls less than two days after it rains.
Penalties will sharply increase, from a warning for a first violation to a $100 fine; from $20 to $200 for a second violation; from $50 to $300 for a third; from $100 to $400 for a fourth; and from $200 to $500 for a fifth.
This story was originally published November 25, 2015 at 2:12 PM with the headline "Riverbank City Council shakeup is coming."