About

Denise Davis was elected in 2018, and is proudly the first openly LGBTQ Council Member in the City of Redlands. She served as Mayor Pro Tem from 2018-2020, running meetings in the Mayor’s absence, and sitting on a number of subcommittees including the budget subcommittee, the COVID-19 subcommittee, the City Manager Recruitment subcommittee, and has been a liaison to the Cultural Arts Commission, the Traffic and Parking Commission, the Historic and Scenic Preservation Commission, OmniTrans, SBCTA, and the Santa Ana River Conservancy Commission. Denise has also served as the City of Redlands voting delegate each year for the League of California Cities Annual Conference. 

Denise has worked hard to push for significant positive change in her time on the Council. Her accomplishments include starting the Redlands Youth Council, an 8 month program that gives local high school students a platform to learn about local government, civic engagement, and to serve as an advisory council to Denise. She has presented a number of proclamations, many of which were the first ever presented in Redlands, including proclamations recognizing Pride Month, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, International Non-Binary Day, and Transgender Day of Remembrance.  She has also introduced proclamations to celebrate Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Clean Air Day, and to recognize the Redlands Restorative Pathways Community Group. Denise has been instrumental in working with community groups such as The Artlands to help them partner with the City on projects such as the first ever crosswalk mural in the City of Redlands, and Music Changing Lives for their first-ever basketball court murals at Texonia and Israel Beal parks. 

During the start of the pandemic when PPE was in short supply, Denise worked with community members and the University of Redlands to coordinate a 3-D printed PPE program that delivered supplies to local hospitals. She also worked with the Orange County & Inland Empire Small Business Development Center to host webinars for local businesses to learn about grant and loan opportunities.

Denise has worked across the region to make connections and bring ideas and best practices to Redlands. She brought the Redlands Mayor and the City Manager to Riverside to study their transitional housing model, which informed the significant vote that the Redlands City Council took in September of 2021 to move forward with the first-ever City sponsored supportive permanent housing for the unhoused community in Redlands. After the Council vote, Redlands was selected in a competitive process to be awarded a $30 million dollar Project Homekey state-wide grant for a motel conversion. The conversion of the Good Nite Inn is currently in progress, with residents moving in later this year. This will offer 98 units with wrap-around services.