Mutual aid, redistricting, Cafecitos, youth leadership, and free libraries.
The organization and its stewards
About A Better Banning.
A Better Banning began as a neighbor-led effort in 2020. Today it publishes public-record research, community resources, a governing plan, and tools residents can use.
What A Better Banning is
A community platform beyond Election Day.
A Better Banning started in 2020 as a neighbor-led effort. Since then, the work has taken different forms as community needs changed, from mutual aid and redistricting to Cafecitos, youth projects, and Little Free Libraries. Fellows, advisers, volunteers, collaborators, and neighbors built that record. Marco and Chris steward the current chapter; they don’t claim sole authorship.
A governing plan residents can read, question, and track.
Research, organizing, and public tracking continue, whatever the result.
Who publishes this work
Clear responsibility. Open sources.
Marco Santana and Chris Castorena select topics, review summaries, and publish corrections for the current chapter. Fellows, advisers, volunteers, collaborators, and neighbors who built the earlier work keep their credit.
ABB isn’t a City website. Marco and Chris are candidates, and the committees paying for this site are listed in the footer. Proposals are labeled separately from official records.
Material corrections are dated and explained. Send the source and page number so we can review them.
Send a correction ↗Banning through time
A few views of Banning’s past.
These archival images keep their original color and grain. Credits use the strongest source we could verify. When a photographer isn’t named, we say so.
WHY WE ARE DOING THIS
It starts with what people here keep dealing with: utility bills that don’t make sense, blocks missing basic infrastructure, families fighting to save public programs, and years of warnings City Hall didn’t act on.
Marco Santana
Marco is a lifelong Banning resident and public servant whose work has focused on housing, workforce development, education, and connecting residents to opportunity. He helps administer workforce programs serving low-income residents, young adults, justice-impacted individuals, and workers pursuing careers in skilled trades and apprenticeships. He has also led supportive housing programs, helped secure millions in local and state grant funding, and serves in local nonprofit and civic leadership roles. Marco understands how jobs, housing, childcare, utilities, and strong public services shape whether families can build a stable future in Banning.
Visit Marco’s campaign ↗
Chris Castorena
Chris grew up on Banning’s Eastside, attended Banning Unified schools, and graduated from Banning High School. A first-generation college graduate, he earned two bachelor’s degrees and a Master of Public Policy from UC Riverside. His work has focused on inclusive economic development, housing, public policy, and connecting Inland Empire residents to better jobs and opportunity. As Chair of the Banning Planning Commission, he has pushed for responsible growth, stronger public benefits, and clearer answers from City Hall. Chris also teaches civics, serves in local nonprofit leadership, and cares for his father, a Vietnam veteran. He’s running to make Banning more affordable, bring good jobs closer to home, and ensure new development improves the neighborhoods and lives of the people already here.
Visit Chris’s campaign ↗Neighbor to neighbor
A better Banning takes more than two people.
Read the plan, ask hard questions, and share it with someone on your block.