Press Enterprise: Perris gets $10 million for railway connection, expanding senior center

By MONSERRAT SOLIS 

Perris will receive $10 million to connect the Perris-Downtown Metrolink to the Southern California Railway Museum in town and to expand its senior center.

The money comes from the 2023-24 state budget that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last month. The spending plan allocates $8 million to connect the Perris Metrolink station to the museum, which displays historical locomotives, railcars, trolleys and model trains. It has $2 million to expand the Perris Senior Center.

In a news release, Perris officials said state Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside, and Assemblymember Corey Jackson, D-Perris, secured the money for the city.

The railway connection is part of the Destination Perris project, which also includes improving the tracks and landscaping at the museum. The new link will allow residents and visitors to take the museum’s historic red trolley from the museum to the city’s Metrolink station, and back, a news release from Roth’s office states.

Darcy Burke, spokesperson for the museum, said the work will not only connect visitors to the museum, but also to other recreation opportunities in the city.

“It really changes things for Perris residents,” Burke said.

The track will extend from the Perris-Downtown Metrolink station, at 121 South C St., to south of Mapes Street, a city plan shows. A new track will be constructed for the trolley to loop back to the Perris line.

It’s not clear when construction for the trolley connection will begin, but it’s estimated to take 24 months, the city plan states.

The Perris Senior Center also will see changes.

The facility, which provides activities for those 50 and older such as exercise classes, a daily lunch program and bingo, will see renovations that include expanding the multipurpose and nutrition room and adding 2,250-square feet.

Improvements at the center, built in 1989, will also allow the city to use the venue as a warming or cooling center, Roth said in the release.

“We are extremely grateful to have the support of Sen. Roth’s office and for his assistance in securing funding for these community programs,” Perris Mayor Michael Vargas said Thursday, July 20.

Initially, the city received $7 million for the railway project from the state budget. An additional $1 million, to bring the grand total to $8 million, was also allocated to the city from the budget, a Perris news release states.

Jackson, who represents parts of Perris, San Jacinto and Moreno Valley, helped Perris get the addition $1 million, the release states.