What’s at stake?
Two Fresno city councilmembers and a political newcomer are vying for incumbent Sal Quintero’s seat on the Fresno County Board of Supervisors. The winner will make key decisions on affordable housing, transportation, and other pivotal issues for the county if elected.
Three career politicians and a political newcomer sounded off Monday night on some of the biggest issues that one of them will face as Fresno County’s District 3 Supervisor next year.
Affordable housing, homelessness, road repairs, public transit, and social services were among the hot button issues of the night as incumbent Sal Quintero faced off against his opponents: Fresno Unified teacher EJ Hinojosa, who’s running for office for the first time, and two current Fresno city councilmembers, Miguel Arias and Luis Chavez.
Quintero largely defended the county’s work during his term while the three challengers took swings at the board for not doing enough on anything from keeping the Fresno area’s unhoused population safe from extreme temperatures to investing in affordable housing.
The forum was the third this election cycle hosted by Fresnoland, Valley Public Radio, the Community Media Access Collaborative, or CMAC, and the League of Women Voters of Fresno.
The previous two collaborations took place Feb. 6 and featured candidates in Fresno County Board of Supervisors’ District 3 race and Fresno City Council’s District 6 contest.
As with the Feb. 6 events, voters can play back a recording of Monday’s forum in its entirety by visiting CMAC’s Facebook page.
Here’s what the candidates had to say.
Disagreement over Fresno County’s role regarding affordable housing and homelessness
A clear line emerged between Quintero and his challengers over the county’s role in increasing the region’s stock of affordable housing.
Quintero maintained that it’s not the county’s primary responsibility to build affordable housing. He advocated for the board to continue turning to private developers – who he believes should also foot more of the bill for new development.
“There are developers out there that do build,” Quintero said. “They don’t need a large amount of acreage to make a profit.”
He declined to give a specific percentage of the county’s annual budget that should be allocated toward affordable housing, stating the “budget changes each year, and the money that you have to work with is what’s provided.”
Quintero’s three opponents, in contrast, each voiced support for the county allocating more resources toward affordable housing.
“I think the city and the county both have a fiduciary responsibility to invest city and county money towards affordable housing solutions,” Arias said. Specifically, he said he was in favor of the county allocating $300 million toward affordable housing each year.
Hinojosa and Chavez advocated for around 15% of the county’s budget to go toward affordable housing, with Hinojosa saying 10-15% and Chavez saying at least 15%. Going off of last year’s $4.8 billion county budget, 15% would have equated to roughly $720 million.
Chavez also stressed that not all that housing should be built in the southern part of the city.
“There’s no reason why we need to have all of these projects south of Olive, or south of McKinley,” Chavez said. “Those projects should be in north Fresno. They should be in (the) northeast, northwest.”
A similar line emerged between Quintero and his challengers when it came to the matter of operating warming and cooling centers for unhoused people.
Currently, the county doesn’t operate any warming or cooling centers. That responsibility instead falls on the city.
Quintero held the county line on the issue and proposed directing unhoused residents to Fresno County libraries. Despite that, he acknowledged those facilities don’t have overnight hours during which some of the most extreme cold temperatures in the Fresno area are common.
Arias, Chavez, and Hinojosa all pushed back, stating they’d like to see the county offer these emergency services themselves.
“I think that’s a policy failure. I think the county should step up,” Hinojosa said. “A budget of billions of dollars, I think, can find some funding for a homeless warming and cooling center.”
Arias said the county’s reluctance to get involved with warming and cooling centers shows some hypocrisy.
“When there were wildfires in the mountains, when there were rains, they opened emergency shelters for those residents,” he said. “But when people are freezing to death, or in the heat of the summer for urban residents, they refused to do the same thing.”
Where the Fresno County Board of Supervisors D3 candidates fall on the next version of Measure C
The winner of this election is bound to make key decisions on the county’s transportation sales tax spending plan, or Measure C, with the current version of it set to expire in 2027.
A version of the ballot measure failed to gain two-thirds of voter’s approval in 2022 and drew criticism for prioritizing road repairs over investing in public transit and bike trails.
The D3 candidates took different stances Monday night on what they’d have to see included in the next version in order to support it.
Hinojosa said he’s a proponent of “repairing, not expanding,” the county’s freeways.
“It’s about the environment,” he said, “but it’s also about the economic cost.”
Cars are “a massive financial liability” for individuals, he added. “We can alleviate that economic pressure for people by building efficient public transportation.”
Arias, who was part of 2022’s “No on Measure C” coalition, asserted that taxpayers’ shouldn’t be on the hook for freeway expansion sought out by the region’s powerful industries.
“Any new freeway interchanges that are needed for industry should be paid for by industry,” he said, “not by local taxpayers. Local taxpayers should be funding the improvements of existing roadways.”
Quintero meanwhile asserted he thinks freeways are “critical” to the county’s infrastructure.
Chavez, who was a supporter of the 2022 version of Measure C, advocated Monday for increasing investments in public transit in addition to road repairs. He added that he wants the county to invest in connecting rural areas to the city of Fresno.
“A lot of the folks that live in the surrounding communities come to our city for medical services – for badly-needed, crucial medical services,” he said. “We need to make sure that that next measure has that included in there, or I will not be supporting it.”
The candidates’ positions on how county workers should be paid
Fresno County employs thousands of workers.
It’s currently in negotiations with unionized healthcare workers who staff the county’s In-Home Supportive Services, or IHSS, program.
These workers provide assistance with daily tasks at home – from bathing to meal preparation, depending on a recipient’s needs – to the county’s aging population and people with disabilities.
The unionized workers are advocating for a raise from $16.60 an hour to $20 an hour. All four candidates said they would support a raise to at least a $20 hourly wage for these workers.
“I’ve met quite a few times with the in-home care, supportive service folks,” Quintero said. “My response has always been: ‘Yes, I’m on board. Find me two more votes.’”
Both Hinojosa and Chavez said they think $20 is too low.
“We’ve got to come to a point where we’re paying people that take care of the most vulnerable what they deserve,” Chavez said, “that we treat them with the respect and the dignity of the job that they have to do. It’s not easy to clean up after somebody that soiled themselves. It’s not easy to administer somebody medicine. It’s not easy to see people pass away.”
Arias said the workers’ low wages reveal the county’s longstanding priorities.
“This county has historically only valued correctional officers, sheriff’s (deputies) and district attorneys,” he said.
“This county continues to only value the folks that are in charge of bringing people away and keep(ing) them away instead of preventing and providing them support that they’re, by statute, required to (provide).”
How to vote in the Fresno County Board of Supervisors D3 election
For more information on how you can cast your ballot in this or other races on the March primary ballot, visit Fresnoland’s election guide.
