What's at stake?
Incumbent Sal Quintero is vying for a third term on the Fresno County Board of Supervisors. Challenger Luis Chavez is promising change on the county level if elected.
The runoff to decide who will represent central Fresno County is less than a month away.
The two options on the ballot? Incumbent Sal Quintero and challenger Luis Chavez.
Quintero has served as the District 3 supervisor since winning the seat in 2016, and going unchallenged in his 2020 reelection campaign.
Chavez has been a Fresno city councilmember since also winning his seat in 2016. For six years, Chavez worked under Quintero, who was once a Fresno city councilmember, too.
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Fresno County’s oddly shaped District 3 encompasses most south Fresno neighborhoods east of Freeway 99. It stretches from the Tower District to the Fresno-Yosemite International Airport and borders Clovis. The district also runs from the southern tip of Fresno State down to the northern end of the unincorporated community of Easton.
In an interview with Fresnoland, Quintero did not share any new policy goals for what he’d accomplish if reelected to another four-year term. He largely stuck to how he works “behind the scenes” and is known for picking up the phone.
“I would say experience is what really separates us,” Quintero said of how he sets himself apart from Chavez.
On the other hand, Chavez said Quintero hasn’t done much during his two terms as a county supervisor.
“He’s very laid back, hands off,” Chavez said. “I’m not like that. I’m very involved.”
Whoever emerges victorious will help shape the county’s role in addressing homelessness, housing, county workers’ pay and benefits, reforming the Department of Social Services, and allocating resources for unincorporated communities, including Calwa.
District 3 is also one of the more progressive seats on the otherwise conservative-leaning Board of Supervisors.
Sal Quintero
Quintero said his biggest accomplishment was collaborating with other public officials to fund improvements to county facilities, as well as two new libraries. He also pointed to getting federal dollars for Calwa, which came out of a collaboration with U.S. Representative Jim Costa.
On housing, Quintero has previously said that he thinks Fresno County is doing all it can to address the subject. He did not share any ideas on how Fresno County could be funding or encouraging the development of more affordable housing in the region.
On homelessness, Quintero acknowledged that there are not enough emergency shelter beds for all unhoused people in the Fresno region. He said it’s important for the county to continue funding nonprofit organizations that are addressing homelessness.
“As the economy changes and folks need more help, I think we’ll probably head that way to see which other creative ways we can be helpful within the county,” Quintero said. “I’m all for that.”
He did not have any specific proposals for increasing the number of emergency shelter beds funded by the county.
On the unincorporated community of Calwa, Quintero referred back to securing $7 million for Calwa’s sidewalks and roads. While $3 million was covered by the county, the remaining $4 million came from the federal government.
Quintero previously came under scrutiny for not obtaining Community Development Block Grant Program funds to revitalize Calwa’s infrastructure during his eight years in office on the county level. In February, he told Fresnoland that he hadn’t yet vetted whether those funds could benefit Calwa.
About eight months later, Quintero told Fresnoland that he still hadn’t vetted whether CDBG funds could benefit Calwa’s infrastructure and community development. He said he is currently occupied with figuring out a specific plan for how the $7 million will be used in Calwa.
However, if reelected, Quintero said he’d look into the CDBG program to see if funds could be used for Calwa.
When asked why he hadn’t vetted whether CDBG funds could help Calwa during his two terms in office, Quintero said that it wasn’t part of his most immediate priorities while in office.
“I had a plate of things that I felt needed to get improved,” Quintero said. “I broke them down in terms of immediate need.”
On the ongoing lawsuit over the county’s general plan, Quintero said that he is looking forward to it playing out in court. He said that while some community groups felt they didn’t have enough input, “that happens a lot with other issues that we have, both at city and county.”
However, Quintero did note that the most important matter in the lawsuit over the general plan has to do with housing, and where developments are greenlit.
The lawsuit against the county over its general plan has to do with everything from how it impacts air quality and agricultural land, climate emissions, and development along the Kings and San Joaquin rivers.
“General plans do change,” Quintero said. “That was the way it worked with the city of Fresno. You approve it, and then you make changes along the way.”
On working collaboratively, Quintero said he is known for getting along with fellow elected officials and picking up the phone.
He said that he isn’t known for setting up press conferences and making public appearances: “I just try to work behind the scenes to get the projects done,” Quintero said.
Luis Chavez
On housing, Chavez said that new development should break ground all over the Fresno region, not just in south Fresno. However, back in July, Chavez notably voted against a market-rate housing development in northwest Fresno.
Chavez was one of four councilmembers to vote down the proposed housing development near West Herndon and North Prospect Avenues. Chavez said that he didn’t think the developer did enough to mitigate its impacts to vehicle traffic in the area.
He added that if the development was affordable housing, he would’ve voted differently.
“If that project had been affordable, and it had also been towards a niche demographic that we know is struggling, for example, seniors — 100% it would have been approved,” Chavez said. “If you’re a private sector project, you should at least be mitigating some of the traffic concerns that they have, right?”
He also voted against an affordable housing proposal in northeast Fresno that would have provided housing for individuals at risk of homelessness in December of 2023.
On homelessness, Chavez said that within his first 100 days in office, he would add 1,000 emergency shelter beds on the county level. He pointed to how cots were rolled out at city-run warming and cooling centers, and envisioned a similar set up at county facilities.
He also pointed to how the city acquired motels and converted them into temporary housing for unhoused people. Chavez said the county should be doing the same.
“The county needs to start operating those,” Chavez said. “They are the entity that’s primarily responsible for addressing the homeless crisis.”
Chavez also said Fresno County could be better utilizing its properties, which came under scrutiny in a May grand jury report.
“We have so many abandoned warehouses in the county that we could use,” Chavez said. “Having those old abandoned warehouses be used as emergency shelter to get people out of the elements, out of the heat, out of the cold, or out of the rain — open those up, right? Nobody at the county has been interested in doing that.”
Chavez also clarified that although the city’s new anti-camping ordinance had broad language, it was intended to target unhoused people with mental health conditions who are not able to help themselves and climb out of homelessness.
“I 100% believe we’re going to have to modify that and be more specific,” Chavez said. “It is not practical or or even humane to have our police department arrest or cite anybody that’s just lying, sitting or sleeping in a public place.”
Those changes are likely to be approved before the end of the year, Chavez said.
“It’s not illegal to be homeless,” Chavez said.
On the unincorporated community of Calwa, Chavez said that it deserves resources from the federal Community Development Block Grant Program, and he would secure those funds.
He added that Quintero should’ve done more for Calwa during his two terms as supervisor.
“I haven’t seen anything proactive from him in probably the last eight years,” Chavez said.
On the ongoing lawsuit over the county’s general plan, Chavez said the county needs to stop approving urban sprawl developments. He said he was the deciding vote to greenlight the city’s lawsuit against the county’s general plan.
“This whole wild, wild west, you can develop wherever you want with no accountability, is done,” Chavez said. “We’re done with that. That’s not going to happen.”
On working collaboratively, Chavez said that the county and city do not work with each other enough. He said that, if elected, Chavez would look for opportunities to collaborate with Fresno’s mayor and city council.
But can Chavez, as one prospective member of the county’s board of supervisors, usher in a new attitude and approach to working with city officials?
“I’m very good at leveraging my relationships and my position in making sure that I get what I need to get for my constituents,” Chavez said.
On top of that, the board of supervisors has a conservative majority that has voted to fight the Yokuts Valley renaming, create a review committee on children’s books and locked horns with state officials over law enforcement elections.
Chavez said he would still be able to work with all of them, and find ways to negotiate their support for his policy aims.
“I’m very familiar with gauging what my colleagues support,” Chavez said. “There’s always room for negotiation, because if I’m going to support something that’s important to them, I need them to support something that’s important to me.”
Who is endorsing the candidates?
Sal Quintero
- Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni
- Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp
- Former Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims
- Former Fresno County Sheriff Steven Magarian
- Fresno County Deputy Sheriffs Association
- Assemblymember Jim Patterson
- Former City Councilmember Paul Caprioglio
- Former City Councilmember Clint Olivier
Luis Chavez
- Central Labor Council
- Amalgamated Transit Union
- Fresno City Employees Association
- Building and Construction Trades Council of Fresno and Tulare County
- City of Fresno Professional Employees Association
- SEIU 521
- SEIU 2015
- City Councilmember Annalisa Perea
- City Councilmember Tyler Maxwell
- City Councilmember Miguel Arias
- Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer
Who is funding the candidates’ campaigns?
Chavez holds a significant fundraising lead, with the majority of his funding coming from local labor unions, from the building trades to service employees.
