What’s at stake?
The Fresno City Council debated how the city’s unhoused population should stay warm in the winter and increased City Attorney Andrew Janz’s powers – as well as his salary – in key decisions at a Feb. 22 meeting.
A resolution to standardize the enforcement of city laws against open “warming fires” outdoors put Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias at odds with homeless advocates this week.
Arias brought forward a resolution to declare outdoor warming fires “a health and safety hazard and a public nuisance,” calling upon the relevant authorities to extinguish them.
He told Fresnoland in an interview Wednesday that the goal wasn’t to spur the council to action but “have a very public conversation” about discrepancies in enforcement of fire code in different parts of the city.
“It has been the practice of the city that warming fires in residential neighborhoods, open fires along embankments, canals, and freeways in the northern part of the city are automatically (put out),” he said, “but in the southern part of the city are allowed to burn.
“That discrepancy results in a lot of structural fires,” he added, “and a lot of toxins going into the homes of my neighbors.”
But several advocates for the city’s unhoused population said the resolution threatens to “criminalize the unhoused.”
“I’ve been asked to leave the place where I’m at – it’s a shelter,” Maria Gee told the council via Zoom on Thursday. “My concern is, what’s going to happen to me if I’m out there in a tent tomorrow and it’s getting cold? I’m not going to be able to start that fire.”
Councilmember Garry Bredefeld, on the other hand, said the resolution doesn’t go far enough.
“I think we should be really trying to force people to be responsible for their lives and move into more healthier ways, like getting shelters and finding jobs, and getting out of the homelessness cycle,” he said, “rather than the City of Fresno turning a blind eye and saying, ‘OK. Go ahead, light your fires, we just want you to be a little bit safer about it.’”
Arias previously co-sponsored legislation in September 2022 that extended hours and lowered temperature thresholds for the city’s warming and cooling centers.
After discussion with the fire chief, city manager, and fellow councilmembers, Arias motioned to table Thursday’s resolution on warming fires.
Fresno’s Fire Chief Billy Alcorn agreed to bring forward new policy language on what would qualify as an approved “cooking container” for outdoor fires at the next council meeting.
These “cooking fires” would be the only outdoor, open fires exempt from enforcement, according to the chief, and all others would be extinguished immediately.
New warming center gets approved
The Fresno City Council approved a new agreement with the nonprofit ACTS Foundation and Mint Thrift Store to serve as a warming center in fiscal year 2024, which runs through June. The site is located at 4798 N. Marty Ave in council District 1.
Some homeless advocates also took issue with this decision, however, questioning whether the organization is LGBTQ-friendly.
The organization came under fire last year, when the council voted down an affordable housing project in partnership with the ACTS Foundation.
That decision followed dozens of comments from the public, accusing the organization’s leadership of financial mismanagement and gender discrimination. Council President Annalisa Perea said then that the organization had a record of being “very anti-LGBTQ.”
New responsibilities and a raise for the Fresno City Attorney
The Fresno City Council also approved a 6.25% raise – from $240,000 to $255,000 – for City Attorney Andrew Janz after a little over a year on the job.
Arias said the city attorney has received “at least six” performance evaluations in that period.
“I don’t think any other public employee has been evaluated that often by their bosses,” he said to Janz from the dais, “and you’re still here, so clearly, most of us, if not all of us, are extremely happy with you.”
Janz’s office was also given expanded responsibility Thursday regarding graffiti abatement. The council passed an amendment to the city’s existing graffiti ordinance, allowing the City Attorney’s Office to prosecute graffiti-related offenses as misdemeanors.
The amendment also came with a provision imposing “civil liabilities to parents who aid and abet these acts,” Janz said Thursday.
The council also recently bestowed Janz’s office with expanded powers to prosecute wage theft.
Help coming from Britten Avenue neighborhood
After discovering potentially unsafe levels of uranium and nitrates in the drinking water of three homes in a rural neighborhood, the Fresno City Council sent help this week.
The City Council greenlighted a process that will eventually connect the tiny, unincorporated Britten Avenue neighborhood to the city’s water and sewer systems. The vote passed unanimously on Thursday without discussion.
City officials attributed the uranium and nitrates to “septic tanks and fertilizer runoff from neighboring agricultural areas.”
The resolution approved Thursday authorizes the city’s public utilities director to seek funding from the State Water Resources Control Board to finance “construction of water and sewer infrastructure to serve the Community of Britten Avenue.”
The city’s resolution offers no cost estimates for constructing or maintaining the new infrastructure but includes language excluding commitments from the city’s general fund.
In other Fresno City Council news
In another decision related to water infrastructure, the city council passed an agreement with Clovis Unified School District to provide water and sewer service outside city limits, deeming the school is still within the city’s “sphere-of-influence.”
The city will provide water and sewer service to Janet L. Young Elementary, a new school recently built to address overcrowding in the district.
The council also approved an agreement Thursday with Melton Design Group expected to cost $869,200 to offer design and construction support on a rehabilitation project for Quigley Park in Perea’s district.
In a press release after the council’s vote, Perea’s office shared that residents can expect several enhancements to the park, including a recreation center, multi-purpose courts, a softball and baseball field, a dog park, and shade structures, among other new amenities.
