Tell me about: Riverside, Cali

[cashflyer]

My boss is looking at an aviation related business acquisition in that area.

There is concern that the business climate is unfriendly, with heavy taxation, heavy regulation, and some sort of new bill that could force flight instructors out of business (see below).

Comments?

AB48 mandates that anyone providing flight instruction, be it a Part 61 part-time flight instructor, a small FBO or a Part 141 operation, must pay an initial $5,000 fee, followed by a $1,000 annual fee, and 0.75% of yearly revenue to the state. Minimum operational standards, including that all instructors must have at least three years of education or experience in the field they teach or the a demonstration of equivalency, must be adhered to.

[tabs]

Riverside is mostly an old Bedroom Community. Lots of the homes date from the 20's and 30's. It is hOT and Smoggy there in the summer. It has UCR...and a real nice Gang Banger community...

[Zeke]

tabs is about right, but there is something about downtown that can be attractive. Otherwise, just another Inland Empire city that is struggling with the economy.

[nostatic]

has all of the bad parts of CA with few of the good

[vash]

my good friend lived there. he describe is as.."if his body was a map, Riverside would be that zit on his ass"...

he ran from there, first chance he got.

[Don Plumley]

The Inland Empire economy is in the tank and will take decades to dig out. Anyone with enough spare change to take flight lessons won't be coming from that area for a long time, they will be flying out of KSNA and won't be swayed by a few bucks less per flight hour. Run Forrest, Run.

[Jim Bremner]

Momma sid if you can't say anything nice................

[nostatic]

....then PPOT would cease to exist. Especially PARF...

[daepp]

Wow - what a thread to read as I start my day here in beautiful Riversiberia. Having worked near the beach most of my adult life, this change 7 years ago was tough.

The bad: bad economy, mostly lower class bedroom communities, poor zoning, hot
The good: lots of good people, great history and downtown, lots of great hiking and biking; beautiful craftsman homes, a great university.

The airport here is, to my eye, very large and very underutilized. There is at least one fixed wing and one helo school. That airport has huge unused capacity - I assume it remains open only through subsidies because there are very few takeoffs and landings.

[daepp]

Airplane House (hey - he recycled...)




Hybrid









Mt. Rubidoux

[red-beard]

You gotta love the lawn chair, but notice the BET wired connections...and they are hanging off the side of the "vehicle".



The Sign is the best part, showing would be Police that the "vehicle" is exempt from registration laws...

[vash]

DA, that last picture..the wide view?..looks NICE!!

looks like a regular town in NM. not bad.

[daepp]

I have come to be able to enjoy the place, and even find some beauty here, but you gotta look hard!

[nostatic]

To be fair, Riverside is very close to a lot of beautiful open spaces and if you're into outdoor activites, is an excellent jumping off point. I lived in Claremont for 5 years, and had friends in Riverside. But the summers are a hot smogfest, the economy has tanked harder than most of the rest of the state (driven hard by the housing market), and it has the rep as being one of the meth capitals of the country.

[DARISC]

Classmate of ex-wife joined the UCR faculty there years ago, rented a 2nd floor, motel style studio apt. Lived there for several months before one morning he opened his door to leave for work and BAM! The San Bernardino Mountains wuz right there in his face, 'bout knocked him back a step. It was the first clear, sunny day w/o heavy smog that had kept them obliterated since he'd moved there.

Don't know if it's still that bad; I steer clear of the place.

The old Mission Inn, downtown, is pretty cool. An old girlfriend stayed there a few years back.

[carreradpt]

I flew my first solo at Riverside. It was tough to understand radio comm due to all the japanese student helicopter pilots at the time. It seemed to be a busy airport at the time, 80's. I lived in Riverside for 12 years, first near UCR then bought a house in Canyon Crest up near the top of Alessandro. Left in 1992. It is hot and smoggy. Mostly a bedroom community. Home of the original parent Navel Orange tree. Mostly a bedroom comunity as all of the citrus industry is gone. The area around UCR had gone to a Central American third world area. University Ave used to have good restaurants and a couple of hotels. No longer good retaurants. No gringos now. The Mission Inn is cool and a very small downtown around the Inn is OK. Riverside is in a very good area to go places from. The mountains are close, can be on the slopes in an hour. San Diego is 1.5hrs. The beaches are an hour. LV is 3.5hrs. Mammoth is 5. I have been thru there on occasion over the years. Has not gotten better, in fact I think it has really gone to ....... Moreno Valley to the east is worse.

[daepp]

In my opinion it is counter intuitive, but I agree the area around the university had really gone down hill - and fast.

[daepp]

As for the OP's question, I don't know if any of this helps. Need a photo of the airport or flight school?

[McLovin]

It's the Appalachia of California.

[McLovin]

it's also known as "The 909"

See here for graphic description:

Urban Dictionary: 909