Another setback for Fresno’s multi-million dollar downtown revitalization plan

Gov. Gavin Newsom has delayed for another year $200 million of funding for Fresno infrastructure, posing the latest obstacle to Mayor Jerry Dyer’s plans to revitalize the city’s downtown.

It was previously delayed for only one year, but at Dyer’s annual State of the City address Thursday, he said he got the bad news last week from Newsom’s office — that state funds for Fresno’s downtown infrastructure improvements may be deferred again next year. 

“I’m calling on our governor and the legislature to prioritize this funding for Fresno,” Dyer said. “Is that too much to ask for a region that feeds the world and a valley that was excluded from the California economy when Interstate 5 was built from Los Angeles to San Francisco? I think not.”

Dyer said that prolonged street closures due to high speed rail construction and the delay in state funding directly impacts downtown and Chinatown, adding that those neighborhoods have been left behind for far too long. 

On Thursday, Dyer also made another major announcement: Fresno’s projected budget deficit for the 2025 fiscal year has now grown to $47 million, which is $10 million more than his administration’s earlier projection at a March City Council meeting. 

Back then, Dyer also said that his budget strategy included meeting with unions representing the city’s police officers and firefighters to negotiate cost cutting, as contract-negotiated raises have been partly blamed for the looming budget deficit. 

The police and fire departments both had budget expansions upwards of $50 million since Dyer took office in 2021. He said the city adding 88 police officers and 70 firefighters brought down violent crime in Fresno. However, downward crime trends are being seen across the nation and Fresno is not an outlier. 

Dyer said he will still put forth a balanced budget to the Fresno City Council as early as next week. On Thursday, he did not mention anything about ramping up property taxes, although that came up as a possibility during the public discussion in March. 

It’s unclear how Dyer intends to make cuts in his proposed budget. However, he announced a goal to include funding in the city budget for weekly trash removal on the 41, 99, 168 and 180 freeways. 

Dyer also spoke about Fresno’s economy and the need to bring more jobs to the city — which he said would help end generational poverty in Fresno. In the same breath, he called on environmental groups to work better with the city and business community on finding middle ground over environmental issues. 

“Fresno is a preferred choice for manufacturers,” Dyer said. “However, environmental roadblocks have caused many of them to shy away from Fresno.”

He praised corporations including Coca Cola, Starbucks, Costco and Scannell for overcoming “environmental challenges” to their commercial development. He also tipped his hat to other elected officials who greenlit corporate expansions in Fresno.

“Let me pause for a moment and thank our city council members for supporting these efforts,” Dyer said, “because they are often the ones who have faced criticism from residents within those neighborhoods when these developments are approved.”

The audience clapped in response to Dyer complimenting other elected leaders and Dyer quipped at the positive energy from those in attendance. 

“You better clap, you’ve got free Coca Cola out there today.”

Dyer touched on many other subjects in his address Thursday including rent, crime, homelessness and utilities. Dyer said rents have “stabilized” in Fresno, although a recent Forbes report ranked the Central Valley city among the top ten hardest places to find an apartment across the nation. 

Dyer also said “overall homelessness” went down by 5.8% last year in Fresno. It’s not clear what is included in that specific category and Dyer did not say the specific time period used to make that statistical comparison. 

According to Dyer, violent crime was down by 10% last year, murders were down by 42% and shootings were down by 18%. Again, the specific time periods used for these statistics were unclear. 

Dyer also took electric company PG&E to task, calling on its executives to tighten their belts as others — including the city — prepare to do just that in the coming months. 

“This is a corporation that reported a $2.24 billion profit last year,” Dyer said. “PG&E has increased rates 14 times since 2020, resulting in a 71% increase in PG&E bills. This is no longer sustainable. Enough is enough.”