When something isn’t working downtown, who owns the problem?

Philip Falcone

Ward 1 Councilmember

Riverside, California



“Leading a Downtown”

Downtown belongs to everyone.

Which can make it surprisingly difficult to answer a simple question:

When something isn’t working, who owns the problem?

The city? The county? Police? Property owners? Businesses? A downtown organization? The state?

I put that question to Philip Falcone, the Ward 1 Councilmember in Riverside, California, whose district includes the physical and economic heart of a city of more than 300,000 people.

And then we started pulling on the thread.

What does it take to champion downtown when six other councilmembers have neighborhoods and priorities of their own? How do you balance compassion for people experiencing homelessness with the legitimate needs of businesses and residents? What do you do when constituents expect you to fix something that your city may not actually have the authority to fix?

And perhaps most interestingly: How do you lead a place that no one is entirely in charge of?

Philip has some hard-earned answers, shaped in part by a personal experience I never expected when we began talking.

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