The City of Riverside has begun interpreting all its City Council and Council committee meetings into Spanish and translating the Council agenda and speaker cards.
The effort to ensure improved access to Riverside’s government to Spanish-speaking community members is a joint project between the Office of Communications, the City Clerk’s Office and RiversideTV, which broadcasts the meetings.
“Riverside is an inclusive community that puts a high value on transparency,” Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said. “These measures will ensure our Spanish-speaking community has full access to our City Council meetings where important decisions are made.”
Agendas for City Council and Council committee meetings in both English and Spanish can be found here. An example of a City Council meeting translated into Spanish with closed captioning in Spanish can be found here.
Community members who wish to hear the City Council deliberations live in Spanish while attending a meeting in person will also have translation available. Listening devices, with sanitizing wipes, are available on a table near the entrance of the City Council Chambers, 3900 Main St.
Speaker cards are available in English and Spanish for people who wish to speak during the public comment section of the City Council meeting or on a specific item of the discussion calendar.
“The Council encourages all residents to engage and participate in their local government process. Providing language interpretation helps towards that end,” Mayor Pro Tem Steve Hemenway said. “I applaud staff and the Clerk’s Office for making this available to our community.”
Interpreters at the meetings will assist Spanish-speaking attendees who wish to address the City Council, as well as people calling in by telephone in Spanish.
Spanish-speaking individuals will have six minutes of time during public comment with live interpretation. Spanish speakers who call in will receive the standard three minutes with interpreting performed simultaneously.
All City meetings, including boards and commissions, have the “accessible agenda” option, which takes advantage of a web browser’s built-in translate functions to translate to almost any language, a feature that was not previously available.