Aram has lived in Ward 2 for over ten years and has been serving our community the whole time. He worked with FEMA during COVID to help local families get food and money. He’s a City Budget Commissioner, a UC Riverside grad, and the director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Inland Empire. He’s running because Ward 2 deserves someone who already knows the neighborhood, and has been doing the work. Inland Empire United is proud to back Aram Ayra for Riverside City Council.
Aram is a UC Riverside graduate who has lived in the University neighborhood for over ten years — he is not a newcomer to this community. He founded the Riverside Mutual Aid Network, which raised over $30,000 to deliver food, hygiene supplies, and meals to veterans, people with disabilities, and families hit hard by COVID right here in Ward 2. He has also fought to make sure UCR’s growth — the university is on track for 35,000 students by 2035 — does not come at the expense of renters and homeowners in surrounding neighborhoods. We support Aram because his values were built here, and his record proves it.
Aram gets it, families are getting priced out of Ward 2. His plan is to expand housing options that are affordable, sustainable, and accessible for working families, protect renters from being priced out, and address the root causes of homelessness. He’s not just talking about it , he’s been watching the city budget and knows where the money needs to go. The Inland Empire’s housing crisis isn’t just about rising rents, it’s also about landlords who buy up properties and let them fall apart while charging families more every year. California’s Attorney General has already filed a lawsuit against one of the largest landlord networks operating in Riverside and San Bernardino counties for exactly this kind of neglect, and we need city leaders who will use every tool available to hold bad landlords accountable.
Safety is one of Aram’s top priorities. He wants to improve 911 response times so help gets to you faster, strengthen emergency preparedness and wildfire prevention in Ward 2’s higher-risk areas, and make sure existing resources are used effectively to support first responders. He’s also focused on making sure firefighters and police have what they need to do their jobs. We back Aram in part because he has a real plan to help Canyon Crest and Sycamore Highlands homeowners protect their properties, including helping neighborhoods get certified in fire safety programs that can actually lower insurance premiums at a time when coverage in high-risk areas is becoming impossible to afford.
He has also already fought for wildlife safety in ward, securing burro crossing signs and a new traffic light along a local corridor to protect the wild burrows that roam the area, before the recent attacks even made the news.
Yes — lowering costs for families is a big part of why Aram is running. He wants to expand access to affordable childcare, fight utility rate increases that hit working families the hardest, and support small businesses so people can keep their jobs and stay in Riverside. He’s watched how the city budget works and knows which levers to pull.
Aram is against letting warehouses and pollution take over our neighborhoods. He will fight to protect neighborhoods from warehouses, pollution, and truck traffic — that’s a direct promise from his platform. He also wants to invest in parks and fix local roads and infrastructure so Ward 2 actually looks and feels like a place people are proud to live in.
He has a real track record. During COVID, Aram worked with FEMA on the front lines helping hundreds of local families and small businesses get the help they needed. He served as President of the Riverside Neighborhood Partnership, where he worked with people across the whole city on neighborhood projects. Right now he sits on the City Budget Commission, so he already knows how city money works. This isn’t his first rodeo.
Aram has strong backing from local leaders who know the community. Riverside County Supervisor Jose Medina endorsed him, along with outgoing Ward 2 Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes, who is passing the torch to Aram. He’s also backed by Moreno Valley Mayor Ulises Cabrera and Inland Empire United Action Fund. These are people who have seen his work up close.
Learn about other candidates like Aram by visiting our Endorsements page here:
2026 Primary Election Endorsements