Moreno Valley mayor touts $60M in road work, $6M in parks upgrades and $184M behavioral-health investment at 2025 State of the City

Mayor Ulysses Cabrera opened Moreno Valley’s 2025 State of the City luncheon on Aug. 21 with a theme he described as "community built, destiny driven," and presented a series of financial and programmatic highlights intended to frame the city’s priorities for the coming year.

Cabrera and council members emphasized infrastructure and public safety as top priorities. The mayor said the city has completed phase 3 of its pavement rehabilitation program, bringing the total local roads investment to "over $60,000,000," and announced a $10,000,000 phase 4 to begin this fall. The city also described a nearly complete $6,000,000 Parks Rehabilitation and Refurbishment Program to upgrade parks across Moreno Valley.

Councilmember Ed Delgado, who led the public‑safety segment of the address, said Measure U — a local ballot measure approved by voters — will fund additional staffing and equipment for public safety. "Measure U funds will add up to an additional 18 deputies, six motorcycles, six community service officers, four fire patrols, and 24 firefighters," Delgado said, and he added that funding will also support traffic engineers, crossing guards, animal‑services vehicles and homeless‑outreach staff. The council reported the city currently invests $95,000,000 annually in police and fire services.

On behavioral health, Delgado said Riverside University Health System is developing a Moreno Valley Behavioral Health Wellness Center backed by a $184,000,000 state investment. The project was described as an inpatient facility intended to provide new local options for adults and adolescents and, for the first time in the county, care for children 12 years old.

Housing and social‑services updates included the recent completion of phase 2 of the Courtyards at Cottonwood affordable housing project and city grant work that, according to staff, supported more than 3,400 households through fair‑housing services, completed home‑improvement work on 26 homes, and delivered programs serving more than 58,000 residents. Representatives from Path of Life Ministries said their outreach connected with 1,134 people regionally and that grant funding helped house several named examples of people experiencing homelessness.

The city also promoted technology and resident services: officials said Moreno Valley has the largest electric‑vehicle municipal fleet in the Inland Empire, expanded the WiFi Gardens program to provide free park Wi‑Fi, launched Wordly translation in the council chamber to support multilingual access, introduced two AI virtual assistants on the city website ("Moe" and "Val") and highlighted an advanced clean‑fleet award and recognition from the American Public Power Association for the municipal utility's reliability.

The city presented public‑safety and emergency‑notification initiatives including Alert Moval, a free resident notification system; staff encouraged residents to register and noted complementary county and statewide alert tools. Council members also announced a city flag‑redesign contest open to Moreno Valley residents and students, with submissions due Oct. 13, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. The contest guidelines (simple designs, limited colors, avoid trademarked or political imagery) were read aloud during the program.

The luncheon included a series of Community Leadership Awards recognizing local nonprofits, businesses and institutions (Path of Life Ministries; Power Speaks Louder; Inland Empire Health Plan; Moreno Valley College iMake Innovation Center; Cardinal Glass Industries; Altura Credit Union; Los Zapatas) and several speakers described ongoing partnership work between the city, nonprofits and regional agencies.

Mayor Cabrera closed by restating the theme: "community built, destiny driven," and said fiscal discipline and investment would continue to guide the city's work.

No formal votes were held during the State of the City program; the event was a ceremonial address and awards program rather than a legislative session.