Good morning!
This week in Fresnoland, Danielle explained everything you should know about Measure C, Fresno County’s transportation sales tax, dedicated to funding new roads, freeways, sidewalks, trails, and public transportation. Danielle, Cassandra and Monica also wrote about the poor state of repair for county roads in rural, unincorporated communities. It’s part of a series of stories produced as a project for the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s 2021 California Fellowship.
Cassandra Garibay wrote about more rental and utility debt help for Fresno County residents and more guides for people facing homelessness: how to get into a shelter; a guide to shelter and resources and ttips from formerly homeless advocates.
(Last Friday was our colleague Monica Vaughan’s last day with Fresnoland and The Fresno Bee. We will miss her excellent reporting! You can continue to follow her adventures on Twitter at @monicaLvaughan.)
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It’s Danielle Bergstrom, executive director for Fresnoland, here.
Our goal at Fresnoland is to make policy public. For nearly two years, we’ve worked hard to produce public-service journalism that you can trust that’s for — not just about — the residents of the central San Joaquin Valley. We explain, we investigate, we answer your questions.
Fresnoland is an independent nonprofit. While we love sharing our stories with you in partnership with The Fresno Bee, our support comes from donors like you.
That’s why we’re excited to share that we have an opportunity to make your donation go even further this year through NewsMatch, an industry-wide movement to sustain journalism through matching gifts on the local and national level. Since 2016 NewsMatch has raised over $150 million to keep nonprofit journalism like ours going strong.
Here’s how it works.
Starting now — through December 31 — NewsMatch and the Rappaport Family Foundation will match your new monthly donation 12 times or double your one-time gift, all up to $1,000. That means that, through NewsMatch, we can earn up to $26,000.
Your support will help us continue to produce the kind of public-service journalism you won’t find anywhere else. If you value the critical work we do, will you give today?
Click here to donate directly to Fresnoland.
PS: If you are a Bee subscriber, that’s awesome! Your support for The Fresno Bee is critical. As an independent nonprofit, Fresnoland does not receive subscription revenue.
THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC MEETINGS
Be sure to catch live-tweeting of the Clovis City Council (Nov 1) and the Fresno City Planning Commission (Nov. 3) by Heather Halsey Martinez at @heatherhalsey as well as the Fresno City Council (Nov. 4) by Andy Hansen-Smith at @AndyHS.
At the Tulare County Board of Supervisors meeting on Oct. 25, Documenter Dani Huerta reported that the board reviewed four community maps — Equity Coalition Map, Wells Map, Verduzco Map and Kindschuh Map — for the redistricting that occurs every 10 years and requested a few changes to each map, which will be discussed further at the next meeting. Dec. 15, 2021 is the legal deadline to adopt new district boundaries. Many members of the public spoke in favor of a map during public comment, most in support of the Equity Coalition Map. Read here for more info.
At the Reedley City Council meeting on Oct. 26, Documenter Josef Sibala reported that Anthony Jewell, the new director of Airport Commission, stressed the drop of water elevation in the airport, which concerns commercial businesses. Community & Economic Development Director Robert Terry said that the manufacturer of the commercial grade 50 pedestrian lights which the city acquired had sent a revised quote with a discount under the $75,000 including tax, saving the City $6,000. The Police Department urged the city manager to waive the municipal code that bans feeding feral cats for a pilot project with Reedley Cares due to the increased population of unspayed and unneutered “community” cats. Read here for more info.
At the Fresno Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meeting on Oct. 26, Documenter Heather Halsey Martinez reported that the joint boards approved six items on the consent calendar, including applications for $2.39 million in 2022 Continuum of Care funding from HUD, a $1.14 million contract for architectural services for The Arthur at Blackstone and a $843,000 architectural services contract for Corazon del Valle. Chief Business Officer Emily De La Guerra presented a first draft of the agency’s 2022 operating budget of nearly $45.5 million. The budget includes $1.6 million for strategic resident empowerment investments ranging from youth education to a homeownership program. Commissioners requested that staff look into more grant opportunities, especially for youth education programs. Read here for more info.
At the Clovis Planning Commission meeting on Oct. 28, Documenter Heather Halsey Martinez reported that the Commission approved amendments to the General Plan, a rezone from the community commercial to the public facilities zone district and the site layout and design for Fire Station 2 located at 2300 Minnewawa Avenue. Construction is planned to begin in 2023 and completed in 2024. The commissioners found that the Athletic Performance project at its property on Clovis Avenue is not in compliance with all conditions of approval and will schedule a second review hearing on Jan. 27, 2022. Commissioners expressed safety concerns about balls flying over fencing or through netting and onto the adjacent business or traffic. At the recommendation of staff, the commission postponed a planned development permit for Gary McDonald Homes to allow deviations from the single-family residential medium density zone district for approximately .78 acres of land located in the northeast area of Gettysburg and Peach Avenues. Read here for more info.