Four candidates are running in the June 2 primary election to represent many of the city’s central neighborhoods, from Fresno High, Lafayette Park and the Blackstone corridor to McLane, Roosevelt and Sunnyside in the city’s District 7 Fresno City Council seat.
Incumbent Fresno City Councilmember Nelson Esparza has held the seat since 2018. He will reach his eight-year term limit at the end of 2026, making him ineligible for reelection. His next stop in his political career is a run for the California Board Of Equalization.
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District 7 is home to much of the Blackstone corridor, considered a commercial and geographic spine for the city. The district also houses local landmarks like Fresno City College and Manchester Mall.
It also houses a handful of historical communities, like the eastern part of Fresno High, McLane, Roosevelt and Sunnyside neighborhoods. Members from those neighborhoods will get to choose their next representative from a pool of four candidates, all political newcomers.
Barring a majority winner, the two candidates with the most votes after the June 2 primary election will head to a runoff election in November.
However, if one of the four candidates manages to get more than 50% of the vote in June— as Esparza did himself in the June 2022 primary election — then they would win outright, forgoing an election in November.
Read more about where the candidates — ordered alphabetically by last name — stand on these issues below.
What does a Fresno City Councilmember do?
There are seven seats on the Fresno City Council representing distinct geographical areas.
The council makes decisions on the scope, direction and financing of city services, such as water, sewer, police and fire protection. They’re also in charge of approving the city’s four-billion annual budget that the Mayor prepares every spring.
The council also establishes policy that is administered and implemented by city staff, as well as land-use policies through the General Plan and zoning regulations.
Councilmembers serve four-year terms and have a two-term limit.
As of January 2025, councilmembers receive yearly compensation of $111,320. The council president is compensated at a rate 12.5% above that, or about $125,235.
Who is running in the District 1 Fresno City Council primary election?
Job: Labor/employment attorney and political consultant for Five River Strategies
Age: 26
Residency: Born in New Jersey, landed in Fresno County in 4th grade, moved to Fresno after college
Notable Endorsements: Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, Central Labor Council, Fresno City Firefighters’ Association
Gurm was born in New Jersey, the son of a gas station attendant in the Garden State’s blue-collar, full-service industry. When his family decided to buy their own gas station, he said the only place they could afford to do so was in Wisconsin.
His family eventually landed in Fresno County when he was in the fourth grade, “bouncing around various parts” he said. His family also owns a convenience store in Selma.
He graduated from high school in Caruthers, before attending UCLA during the pandemic years. He worked for Fresno City Councilmember Nelson Esparza’s office — an opportunity that came about after an internship in the nation’s capital was axed due to COVID-19 quarantines.
Gurm also started Five River Strategies after graduating, a Central Valley-based public affairs consultancy firm specializing in political campaigns. Gurm got his law degree from UC Davis and works on private labor and employment cases in Fresno County.
Since hitting the campaign trail, Gurm said, he has paused many of his projects and other efforts to focus full time on his City Council bid.
What’s his strategy for increasing housing in the city?
Gurm said he’d like to see the city pursue building more market-rate and affordable housing units through what he calls an “all-of-the-above strategy.”
“How can we make it easier to build infill?,” Gurm said. “How can we make it easier to look at vacant lots in our neighborhoods, and make sure somebody can come in and put a multi-family housing development in our interior neighborhoods where it fits?”
He said he’s especially interested in helping build more housing throughout Blackstone Avenue — a major corridor for both the city and District 7.
Gurm said a way the city can do that has been through its recently approved ministerial approval policy, that could see it easier for developers to build in vacant office buildings and areas. He also wants to continue to pursue helping Manchester Mall be converted one day into a housing development.
Many large and affordable housing projects have stalled or died on the vine after facing neighborhood opposition.
Gurm said he plans to pursue a proactive approach with community members and developers, meeting early in the process in an effort to have both parties’ concerns addressed well before any vote makes its way to a City Hall hearing.
“I’m thinking specifically of the project in Councilmember (Mike) Karbassi’s district,” Gurm said, “where the developer checked off all the boxes, neighbors were upset, the council opposed it, they got sued, and the project is going to be built anyway.”
Gurm is referring to a northwest Fresno high-density apartment proposal that the city tried and failed to stop following a lawsuit from the developer.
“If more conversations just happened two years ago, they probably wouldn’t be in that place,” Gurm said. “And that’s kind of the attitude I want to take.”
He added that in his first 100 days in office, he wants to create a project review committee for his district. He said that there is a way to get more local residents involved in these projects earlier in the process.
Gurm said he favors the city building more housing through infill development as opposed to sprawl.
He added that this perspective matches that of the state, which saw its lawmakers last year pass sweeping reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act — a decades-old policy that housing advocates and politicians alike have said has been misused to stall, and even kill, the building of new housing developments.
Gurm said he would also like to pursue creative, affordable ways of increasing the city’s housing stock. He said he’s open to pursuing more modular home developments, which tend to be cheaper than traditionally developed homes.
“I look at the way homes are built as an evolving industry,” Gurm said. “I want to make sure that we’re talking to those that are on the front end of the cutting edge technologies of home development…and asking them how we can have them play a role in shaping Fresno’s future.”
Gurm said he’s aware housing funding pots at the state and federal level are beginning to dry up, and hopes that current plans for new infrastructure in places like downtown can help bring development costs down for new homes in the area.
Gurm also signaled that we would be skeptical of introducing a rent cap in the city, instead preferring introducing new housing stock as a way to help temper rapidly rising rental costs across the city.
He said he’s heard from constituents and property owners that the state’s rent cap — generally 10% maximum annually — has brought some “unintended consequences” for renters.
“There’s a lot of good actors that were not increasing their rent at all,” Gurm said. “They would only increase rents when a new tenant came in and one moved out. But now, like, there’s just no incentive not to increase your rent costs annually to the state’s maximum.”
Which transportation tax plan does he support?
Gurm said that, currently, he sees the “Better Roads, Safe Streets” plan as the only transportation measure that will get on the ballot in November.
“If that is the one measure, that’s the one I will support,” Gurm said.
If the county has a transportation tax post-Measure C, Gurm said he’d like to see funding going toward road repairs. He said his district in particular is prime for road maintenance, especially in the neighborhoods around Blackstone and Mayfair.
Gurm said he also wants to pursue repairs for sidewalks in the district. As he’s shown in his campaign’s advertisements, Gurm said many of the sidewalks in his district have been in disarray due to trees uprooting foundations.
“That’s a quality-of-life issue,” Gurm said. “It’s a safety issue, it’s an ADA issue.”
How does he think the city can grow high-wage jobs?
Gurm said that he wants to make sure that District 7 residents can shop and spend their money in their own neighborhoods.
Residents in the eastern part of the district, he said, will sometimes shop at grocery stores in Clovis due to their closer proximity.
“I can’t think of any resident that told me they go grocery shopping in Fresno,” Gurm said.
“Not only is the city losing out on property tax revenue,” he later added, “but also the sales tax revenue for its lack of those types of retail spaces in east Fresno.”
Gurm said he hopes gains in these spaces can help entice younger, career-oriented Fresnans to stay or return to the city. He said many young people remain convinced they need to move out of the city to gain access toward higher paying jobs and opportunities.
“A lot of people I went to UCLA with that were from the Central Valley never came back,” Gurm said. “There were six of us at UC Davis Law School that had Fresno County ties, and I’m the only one who returned.”
Gurm said he’d like to see the city prime itself for the economic opportunities that could come to the city, like Fresno State University joining the NCAA’s PAC-12 football conference, the potential introduction of a soccer stadium in downtown Fresno, and — maybe even a high-speed rail station.
“All great cities have great downtowns,” he said, echoing a common mantra from Mayor Jerry Dyer. “But really, Fresno should be no exception.”
Gurm also said he’d be hesitant with trying to court large companies to bring jobs to the city through subsidies, instead believing Fresno could position itself better through already established benefits.
“What better city out on the west coast is located to be such a central logistics hub?,” Gurm said. “I think we have the conditions where companies should want to be here.”
Gurm also said he’d try to be receptive to community concerns when it comes to expanding industrial zoning in the city, especially in his district.
“What is the middle ground? Where can we find that win, win?”
What are his priorities for tackling homelessness?
Gurm said he’s open to the city having permanent, short-term homeless shelters. However, he added that he would like to see expanded participation from the county when it comes to the operation and management of these new spaces.
“I think that work fits much better as a county responsibility,” Gurm said. “They are in charge of the social services. They’re better equipped to deal with people with mental health issues…substance abuse issues. I would like to see an expanded partnership with the county.”
Gurm said he’s “very vocally opposed” to the city introducing safe spaces for homeless people. He said he viewed the solution as more of a stop-gap that takes money away from being invested toward addressing the root causes of homelessness.
“I think what I’ve seen in other cities is that the safe lot proposal can ultimately lead to Skid Row-esque conditions,” Gurm said.
Gurm said that he sees room to amend the city’s current anti-encampment ordinance, adding that “maybe the city’s rollout hasn’t been perfect with the law and the way they’re executing it.”
“I will say, I support that concept,” Gurm added.
Gurm said that he ultimately agrees with the “tough love” idea that there should be penalties for homeless individuals who reject services, if they are available and offered to them.
“A woman said they had a raised garden bed in front of her home and she said someone was asleep there all night, and then they came back the next day, and now she feels like her kids can’t go outside and play anymore,” Gurm said.
“I don’t like the idea that we’re arresting them,” he later added. “I’d like to see some reform at the state level when it comes to Care Courts.” He said he feels the work done at the state and county level can help alleviate homelessness issues in the city.
What’s his position on SEDA?
Gurm said he’s been “by and large opposed to SEDA.”
“I can’t see myself ever supporting anything that takes away general fund dollars, infrastructure dollars from existing neighborhoods to expand the city,” Gurm said.
Gurm said he’d only begin to entertain SEDA, or the South East Development Area, if “there is a plan that…has guardrails in place that absolutely ensure that general fund dollars and infrastructure dollars aren’t going to be subsidizing that growth.”
“I could see myself supporting a very phased, responsible, high-density, jobs-first model of growth in the southeast area,” Gurm said.
On possibly supporting a phased approach to SEDA, Gurm said it’d depend on “what the price tag looks like for each phase.”
“But like I said,” Gurm later added, “I haven’t seen a plan that satisfies my lines of the sand, and that’s the reason I’m very much opposing (SEDA).”
What’s his approach to improving public safety?
Gurm said a way he’d like to improve public safety for his constituents is through the city’s neighborhood watch system. He’d like to see neighborhood watch programs active in every neighborhood in his district in his first year in office.
He said he sees a core part of public safety policy as having as many opportunities for neighbors to get to know and communicate with one another, “whether that’s through GroupMe…utilizing NextDoor or one of those services.”
Gurm also attributed a recently reported historic low in the city’s homicide rate to the increase in police officers in Fresno. He’d like to keep things that way, if elected.
“I want to make sure as we grow our city’s population that our number of patrol officers, but also the number of 911 dispatchers, is keeping pace,” Gurm said.
Gurm acknowledged that this could be tough in the coming years. He said the council has seen declining revenues in recent history, adding that he’d likely inherit that fiscal climate, if elected.
Gurm did not take a position on any future public safety taxes, saying he’d want to look at the city’s finances before committing.
How would he improve transparency at City Hall?
Gurm said he’d try and help the city’s local economy by looking for ways to “increase government efficiency.”
He said he’d like to “decrease the amount of consultancy contracts,” particularly for contractors from outside the city.
“Because that money,” Gurm said, “city revenue, paid for by local residents, is paying for someone’s services out in LA or San Francisco. So that money never reenters our economy here at home.”
He added, “But if we’re hiring locals, at least those are the people that are also spending their money, reinvesting their money here. I want to see more localization of our city’s procurement of services.”
Gurm said he is supportive of more public access in the city’s budget-making process, including making subcommittee meetings available for public access.
“I think we’ve got to do as much as we possibly can to have more people participate in the government,” Gurm said.
Gurm said he’d like to see the budget process mirror those of larger cities and the state legislature, where “policies die in committees.”
“But that’s also where you end up being able to really evaluate policy,” Gurm said. “When you have hearings on policy, hear from experts in a public light and have those thoughtful conversations.”
Gurm said he’d also like to see the city have an independent redistricting process, “if the state doesn’t force us to do so by 2028.”
He also referenced a Fresnoland investigation from 2023 that drew scrutiny over the city’s budget process, specifically whether it violated the state’s public meeting laws. The city is currently facing ongoing litigation from the ACLU following that story.
The city changed its budget process after that, though the process provides fewer avenues for public participation, something Gurm laments.
“So that’s something I think we got to take a real look at,” Gurm said, “how we craft a process that actually increases transparency, actually increases participation, actually increases efficiency.”
What endorsements has he received?
- Fresno Central Labor Council
- Fresno Building Trades Council if Fresno, Madera, Kings and Tulare Counties
- Fresno Teachers Association
- Operating Engineers Local 3
- Fresno City Firefighters Association
- Fresno Chamber of Commerce
- Iron Workers Local 155
- Fresno County Assessor/Recorder Paul Dictos
- Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez
- Former Fresno County Supervisor Henry R. Perea.
- Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer
- Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza
- Fresno City Councilmember Annalisa Perea
- Fresno City Council Vice President Tyler Maxwell
- State Center Community College Trustee Destiny Rodriguez
- Fresno County Board of Education Trustee Itzi Robles
- US Senator Adam Schiff
- State Controller Malia Cohen
- Former Stockton Mayor and Lt. Governor Candidate Michael Tubbs
- Fresno City Employees Association
Who are some of his top donors?
Gurm has raised well over $130,000 through late-April, making him the fundraising front-runner for the race. He’s received large donations from labor unions and businesses.
Donations to his campaign at or above $5,000 include:
- $10,000 from the Fresno Firefighters PAC
- $5,900 from the Fresno City Employees Association PAC
- $5,601 from Pawanpreet Dhaliwal
- $5,000 from Handi Stop Market
- $5,000 from California Real Estate Political Action Committee
Jason J. Keomanee
Jason J. Keomanee could not be reached for comment for this guide. The county’s election office had no contact information to share, and Fresnoland received no response after multiple visits to a residence tied to Keomanee.
Keomanee last ran for political office in 2022, also for the District 7 seat.
Candidate: Ariana Martinez Lott
Job: Community organizer and small business owner, former staff to Councilmember Miguel Arias
Age: 39
Residency: Grew up in Madera, moved to Fresno for college and never left
Key Endorsements: Dolores Huerta, Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias, Central Labor Council
Martinez Lott’s organizing experience includes working with groups like Cultiva La Salud, Youth Leadership Institute, and with the Education Leadership Foundation to help organize the Latinx graduation for Fresno Unified. However, she said she’s told all her partner organizations that her work has to be paused to focus on her campaign.
She said her organizing experience started 15 years ago in 2011, when she and her husband lived in Fresno’s downtown area.” Lott grew up in Madera.
What’s her strategy for increasing housing in the city?
Lott said the city should pursue increasing housing stock in its existing neighborhoods, adding that she’s opposed to sprawling policies that would see the city expand its boundaries.
She said that it’s about “having the political will” to pursue investment in established neighborhoods, adding that there are areas like west of highway 99 that would benefit from the addition of affordable and market-rate housing added to their neighborhoods.
Lott said that she understands political will may not be enough to expand housing in the city. She said she’s receptive to frustrations from housing developers, especially those who specialize in building affordable homes, that regulations can make it hard for new homes to “pencil out” financially.
While the city and state continue to do what it can to remedy those issues, Lott said there’s still opportunity to get creative within the existing regulatory boundaries.
“We’ve got organizations like Lowell CDC who have purchased small apartment complexes and turned them into rent stabilized units,” Lott said, referring to work done by the downtown-area community development corporation.
She would also like to see an expanded use of the city’s Local Housing Trust Fund to help developers be more competitive to begin building new developments.
Overall, she said she sees housing as a critical issue that can help keep families in Fresno, instead of flocking away to other higher-opportunity areas.
“They’re thinking about what kind of neighborhood they want to raise their family in, right? And unfortunately, when you’re really looking at the continued disinvestment within our city, it leaves a lot of families with very little options,” Lott said.
How does she think the city can grow high-wage jobs?
Lott said she sees increased partnerships with local school systems as a way to help introduce and retain jobs in the city, especially among younger entry-level workers.
“We’ve got a historic rate of students being accepted into UC systems from Fresno Unified. In the midst of that, we’re having low test scores in Fresno Unified,” Lott said.
Lott said she’d pursue policies that answer the question, “How do we get those people to come back?”
Lott said she doesn’t see herself supporting offering subsidies to attract big companies like Amazon — and other organizations with similar distribution centers/warehouses — to move into Fresno and potentially bring with them new jobs.
“Oftentimes, what happens with these big companies is, yeah, they get a lot of subsidies, but then they’re not paying their fair share…or having a more aggressive local hire criteria,” Lott said.
Lott said she also sees the revitalization of downtown Fresno as a potential boon for the city’s economic sector. If elected, she said she’d look forward to partnering with the new downtown councilmember to see how she could help with revitalization efforts, but that she’s currently more focused on issues with her district.
Lott said she’d be receptive to complaints from constituents stemming from proposed industrial expansion in her district. She said she’d like to see those kinds of developments scattered across the city instead of continuing to be concentrated along the city’s southern districts.
“If there is going to be more industrial development, (businesses) also need to be ensuring that they are mitigating the health issues.”
Which transportation tax plan does she support?
Lott supports the “Better Roads, Safe Streets” plan — a proposed county-wide transportation that would supplant Measure C after it expires next year.
The Better Roads, Safe Streets transportation measure will be on the ballot in November.
Lott said she’s also volunteered her own time to support the measure as it made its way on to the ballot. She said part of the support is from personal preference, but also from concerns she’s heard from constituents.
“One of the things we’ve often heard from families over the past 15 years is that even though they live within walking distance of their elementary school, they don’t feel safe walking their kid to school,” Lott said, recalling comments she had heard on the campaign trail and through her work as an organizer.
Lott said those families’ fears tend to stem from broken sidewalks, and a lack of traffic calming measures like traffic or crosswalk signals throughout the district.
“I’ve heard from parents in my neighborhood that on rainy days, they actually will miss school because they don’t have a car, and the closest route to get to school requires them to cross Clinton, in an area where there are no traffic calming measures,” Lott said.
She said she’s aware the truancies can exacerbate daily attendance at Fresno the Fresno Unified School District — which like many districts across the country rely on attendance to get funding.
Lott said she also believes the Better Roads, Safe Streets plan offers the best path forward to introducing amenities that will make aging in Fresno easier for everyone, especially, she added, as the cost of living continues to grow.
She also volunteered her own time in getting that measure on the ballot, saying that she helped “ shape what the measure was going to look like” and in collecting signatures.
Lott said that if the county does have a transportation measure post-Measure C, she’d like to see the street conditions improved in her district, and the creation of bike lanes where feasible. Beyond that, she said she’s interested in pursuing infrastructure projects that make “Fresno more attractive.”
What are her priorities on homelessness?
Lott said she wants to find resources to help turn the city’s shelters into long-term housing.
Many of the city’s shelters were purchased with state funds that commit Fresno to eventually turning the shelters into housing developments, pending fundraising efforts.
She said she’s also open to finding a way for the city to open a few shelter spaces that could be open permanently, as a way to help mitigate the local count of unhoused homelessness while those fundraising efforts are ongoing.
Lott added that she would like to help the city partner with some local organizations to help find other interim housing options. She said she’d like to see more partnerships with churches, following alleviated state restrictions on the faith-based groups.
She did add that she’d be “really hesitant” with creating so-called “safe zones” for the homeless, citing a desire to gauge community interest on that idea, especially if it’d be in her district.
“I haven’t made a decision on that,” Lott said. “To be very upfront, I would have to explore other models and see what kinds of investment those cities put into them to ensure that it isn’t something that is going to be adding to our problems here in Fresno.”
Lott also said she’s not supportive of the city’s anti-encampment ordinance, as it is currently written. She said she’s receptive to concerns that the law could criminalize the homeless, and wants to pursue research that could see the law add buffer zones or areas where the homeless could be safe from legal penalties.
“I’d be supportive of a policy that creates buffer zones within, maybe like residential areas or within businesses,” Lott said. “But I’m not supportive of an outright sweep.”
What’s her position on the Southeast Development Area, or SEDA?
Lott said she is opposed to the South East Development Area, a plan proposed by Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer that could see thousands of new housing units built through sprawl-like expansion of the city’s southeast border.
Lott said she’s opposed to any policies that pursue sprawl-like development, reiterating that she would prefer to see the city invest in its established neighborhoods and business corridors, especially in places like District 7 that she says have seen disinvestment over time.
“I am really opposed to this because, at the end of the day, we’re still left with the same situation,” Lott said, “investments going out of the city to build new and expensive homes, to try and lure people in from outside of California, while our families here are struggling to pay rent, and the conditions of our neighborhoods are continuing to deteriorate. ”
She added that on the campaign trail, she’s noticed a division between political insiders and everyday people.
“They might not know what SEDA is,” Lott said. “But they know that their neighborhood has been left behind. They say that they know that their neighborhoods do not look the same as the newer ones up north.”
How would she improve public safety?
Lott said she is supportive of the local police department, but believes the city could be doing more to help alleviate their workload.
She said the city could do this by continuing to invest in public safety programs that proactively try to stop crime well before they happen, like Advance Peace Fresno.
“I think ultimately we’re in a position where we expect our police officers to be able to solve everything, to be the answer for everything,” Lott said. “And the reality is that we can’t cultivate local public safety by just responding to crises.”
On programs like Advance Peace, “why not invest in those kinds of programs, where we are cultivating the kind of community safety that is going to be sustainable in the long-term?”
She also said she would like to see if the city could pursue similar crime mitigation tactics through increased funding of after-school programs, as a means to get kids off the street. She said she has heard some elementary schools have had wait lists to join after school programs, which to her illustrates room for opportunity.
She said she’s visited community centers before and seen “less than 10 kids” usually who are taking advantage of their local amenity.
“We already have a lot of the infrastructure in place,” Lott said, adding that Measure P could also be an asset toward these goals.
How would she make the city more transparent?
Lott said she is supportive of more public access in the city’s budget-making process, including making subcommittee meetings available for public access.
Lott said a lot of trust-building in her district relies on her constituents having ease of access toward their representatives, even beyond the budget making process.
If elected, she said she’d have seven community town halls throughout her district in her first 100 days in office.
Beyond that, she added that she’d look into installing an “office hours” from her district department, to have constituents be able to reach her when it’s most convenient.
What endorsements has she received?
- District 7 neighbors, including but not limited to:
- Atzel Lugo Valdez
- Christian Gonzalez
- M. Gloria Hernandez
- Lourdes ‘Lulu’ Medina
- Pa Houa Lee
- Rhonda Dueck
- Rosa Rodriguez
- Katelyn Kenny
- See Xiong Heu
- Dolores Huerta
- Assemblymember Dr. Joaquin Arambula
- Fresno Unified Trustee Veva Islas
- Trustee Nasreen Johnson
- Fresno Unified Trustee Andy Levine
- Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias
- Dolores Huerta Action Fund
- CA Working Families Party
- FMTK Central Labor Council
- Nor Cal Carpenters Union 701
- Operating Engineers Local 3
- Fresno City Employees Association
- Fresno Teachers Association
- Central Valley Progressive PAC
- National Women’s Political Caucus
- Stonewall Democratic Club
- Valley Voters
- Power California Action
- San Joaquin Valley Democratic Club
- Fresno County Democratic Women’s Club
- Planned Parenthood Miramonte
- Latinas Lead
Who are some of her top donors?
Martinez Lott has raised nearly $70,000 as of late April. Most of her support comes from individuals, although she has received some larger donations from labor unions and candidate PACs. She has not received any funding from developers.
Donations to her campaign at or above $5,000 include:
- $5,900 from the Fresno City Employees Association PAC
- $5,500 from Dr. Joaquin Arambula for Assembly 2024 PAC
Candidate: AJ Rassamni
Job: Businessman and founder of the Blackstone Merchants Association
Age: 62
Residency: Born in Liberia, moved to US in 1985, has lived in Fresno since 2010
Notable Endorsements: Former Fresno Mayor Alan Autry, Fresno Unified Trustee Valerie Davis, Comedian/Actor Rob Schneider
Rassamni said he initially had no aspirations for political office, but, like with the creation of the Blackstone Merchants Association, he feels his candidacy is another step toward correcting mistakes from the city. He said he’d like the city to be run more like a business than a government, citing a distrust in Fresno’s status quo.
“I’ve always loved the saying, the nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help’,” Rassamni said, referencing a quote made famous by President Ronald Reagan.
Rassamni said he identifies as politically independent, having no party preference.
What are his priorities for tackling homelessness?
Rassamni identified homelessness solutions as a core part of his policy plans, citing it as the remedy for many of the city’s issues.
“That’s the root cause of every (problem) we have in Fresno,” Rassamni said.
Rassamni said he’d like for the city to pursue the creation of safe lots for the local homeless population.
“To keep them on the streets is inhumane,” Rassamni said. “Let’s put them in a place where we can treat their addictions and give them proper medical treatment.”
He said the safe spaces could be used as a means to provide medical treatment, and connect the homeless with job recruiters to help them become independent.
Safe lots have been tried in cities across the country. Fresno had a safe lot not too long ago in its downtown area.
The City of San Jose opened a safe lot last year, and similar spaces have sprung up or been proposed around California’s Bay Area. Some of those lots, as have many that have opened across the country, were met with swift opposition from neighboring residents, who did not want the lot near their neighborhood.
When asked how he would respond to similar pressure that would almost certainly come about if he proposed the plan as a councilmember, Rassamni said he’s make sure that safe lot policies have guardrails to address those concerns.
He said, as an example, that he’d try and get them placed at least 1,000 feet away from schools.
“We need to create a win-win,” Rassamni said. “Residents want the homeless away from their neighborhoods. Schools and businesses want them off their property. We have to put them somewhere.”
Rassamni said he’d also like to partner with the county to find spaces where lots could open up.
Rassamni said that such a policy would make him more comfortable with the city getting aggressive with enforcing its anti-encampment ordinance and prosecutions from Proposition 36 — both of which he supports.
He said he has sympathy for the homeless population, but that they, too, “must face consequences.”
He said he’s heard from fire and police department workers who are frustrated with having to respond to a large number of calls in response to homeless-related incidents, especially since homeless people account for a small percentage of the city’s population.
“How can we all suffer,” Rassamni said, in reference to parents, businesses and schools, “because of 1% of the population? We have to have the courage to make the right decisions for the people. ”
Which transportation tax plan does he support?
Rassamni said he’d be supportive of the “Fix Our Roads” transportation measure, should it make it on the ballot. He said he prefers that measure since it promises 85% of funding toward road repair.
He also prefers the measure because it has a shorter time commitment than the rival “Better Roads, Safe Streets” plan.
If there is a transportation measure post-Measure C, Rassamni said he’d like to see two of the city’s corridors — Blackstone and Fulton Street in downtown — as a more walkable commercial district. He said, in the perfect world, both areas would resemble Brand Avenue in Glendale— a famous shopping district that is anchored by The Americana, a shopping center owned and operated by Rick Caruso, a local billionaire and businessman.
He said Fulton Street should have already mirrored The Americana, given the millions of dollars the city has invested in downtown revitalization, like through the addition of bike lanes. He said part of the reason the city hasn’t met its goals for downtown revitalization is because of the local homeless population, which he said disincentivizes locals from spending too much time in the heart of the city.
“Would you feel comfortable eating at a restaurant and then there’s a tent right next door?,” Rassamni said.
Rassamni said he’d like to see an expansion of FAX bus services, but only if he could take care of, what he said, is the presence of homeless people on the buses.
“I’ve talked to the bus union, I’ve talked to drivers,” Rassamni said. “They are so frustrated because they’re saying the homeless are getting on a bus. They damage the bus stations. They damage and destroy the buses. The buses smell dirty. They disrupt all the customers, and that’s why people don’t want to take the bus.”
He said he’d like to give bus drivers the power to refuse entry to homeless people to help boost bus ridership.
Notably, the Fix Our Roads plan proposes cutting funding for transit agencies countywide, and also funding a study to consolidate FAX with the Clovis and Fresno County’s rural transportation agencies.
How does he think the city should make housing more affordable?
Rassamni said he wants to see more by-right policies that would have the city approve housing on a ministerial basis. He said that’s the best way to build housing rapidly, which he said would help solve the affordability crisis many renters face.
He said having more ministerial approval would take power away from the council and give it to department staff, who he believes have more expertise on land use than councilmembers.
“When we go to councilmembers now,” Rassamni said, “they start having exceptions for housing developments because of NIMBYism, because of special interests. We (council) shouldn’t be getting involved.”
He added that he is in support of the city increasing housing stock through infill policies as opposed to sprawl-like policies. He said he understands that developers sometimes struggle to have those developments be financially feasible, but he said there’s room for councilmembers to get creative.
“Lets’ remove impact fees. Let’s give developers tax credits,” Rassamni said. “Because then it becomes a win-win. The city doesn’t understand that you cannot neglect infill.”
After that’s done, “let the system work,” Rassamni said, referring to the idea that affordable housing would be built to address local demand, if such developments were more economically feasible.
“It becomes a supply-and-demand issue,” Rassamni said.
Rassamni added that he’s not completely against sprawl-like policies, given that the city’s population continues to grow. He said such measures could be considered down the line when appropriate, but not before the city invests in the infrastructure of its existing neighborhoods.
Does he support the city’s Eviction Protection Program?
Rassamni said that the city’s Eviction Protection Program is an example of Fresno “becoming a fascist city.” He said the program, which he believes assumes landlords are guilty in all filed cases, misrepresents issues renters face in the city.
“Are all tenants good people? No. Are all landlords good people? No,” Rassamni said. “But most likely, most bad people are tenants, because there are more tenants than there are landlords.”
Rassamni said it’s unfair for the city to pursue litigation against landlords, many of whom, he said, are “hard working people.”
“They just bought the property for retirement, for their family, for the next generation,” Rassamni said. “They don’t have the money to spend in court battles. Why not instead opt for mediation between the two parties?
“But it’s the same with employers and employees, too,” Rassamni said. “We just assume employers are guilty, but most likely from the numbers, you have more bad, corrupted employees than you have employers.”
What’s his position on the Southeast Area Plan, or SEDA?
Rassamni said he is against SEDA. He said he could possibly have the appetite for a phased roll out of the plan, pending constituent approval and pre-built infrastructure.
He added that he is against eminent domain and the “annexation of land from people. That’s absolutely wrong.” (There are not any current plans to use eminent domain to take over private property in SEDA.)
How does he think the city can grow higher-wage jobs?
He sees downtown revitalization as a way to boost the city’s economy. He added that there’s no road toward revitalization that doesn’t involve cleaning downtown of its homeless population.
“People don’t want to go there for that reason,” Rassamni said.
Rassamni also said a way to help residents face ever-worsening economic conditions is by establishing public utilities managed and operated by the city – similar to other cities like Los Angeles.
Historically, plans like this have been hard to advance politically in Fresno since the cost to create that infrastructure has been described as too high. His proposed solution to this is to court investment from foreign governments, specifically from the middle east.
“So you get Qatar to be willing to do it,” Rassamni said. “Qatar, they just want good PR and reputation. They don’t care about losing money, but they need to build something. We can say, look, we have the land. We have customers. You build it, you’re going to operate (the public utilities) for 20 years. In those 20 years, we’re partners, and then after 20 years, you’re going to transfer control of the utilities back to the city.
“So, there’s a lot of ways to build so we don’t depend on PG&E,” Rassamni later said, referring to local’s reliance on the public utility company.
Rassamni said he’d be open to providing large companies like Amazon with subsidies to build warehouses in the area, as a means of introducing more local jobs.
“If we have competition, then we need to create incentives to make sure those companies open here,” Rassamni said. “…If that’s something that’s going to bring in more businesses, then we should do it.”
Rassamni said he believed the amount of money the city stands to lose through subsidies is covered through the company’s payroll tax contributions, and the money employees have to spend in the city.
Rassamni also added that he sees gains in local education as a means to boost the economy.
He is the founder and president of Success From Within, a local nonprofit organization with mentorship programs for young students. The organization has previously received support from Mayor Dyer.
He said part of the program also includes granting scholarships to students who demonstrate gains in math and english.
He touted the success of his program, and said the city should consider investing in similar programs to help fuel educational success in the city.
How does he think the city can improve transparency?
Rassamni said he’d make himself available to constituents constantly if elected. He referred to his campaign flyers, which include his personal cell phone number, as proof.
He also referred to his work with the Blackstone Merchants Association as an example of the kind of coalition building he’d be able to create with residents in his district.
He added that he’d like to see a budget making process that is both private and public. (This already exists in some form at the city.)
He said some discussions require only “key people” or “the smartest people” in the room for budget negotiations.
He also said he’d like to introduce more public transparency throughout the council calendar. If elected, he said he’d like to have as a standard, public comment and unscheduled communication at the top of every Fresno City Council meeting.
What endorsements has he received?
- Former Mayor of Fresno Alan Autry
- Fresno Unified School District Trustee Valerie Davis
- Actor & Comedian Rob Schneider
- Radio Host Trevor Carey
- California Gubernatorial Candidate Leo Zacky
- Fresno CIty Council District 3 Candidate Jalen Swank
- Blackstone Chevrolet
- Own A Car, Fresno
- Einstein Bagels, Fresno
- La Enchilada
- El Pescador
- Fresno Marble & Granite
- Garden View Inn
Who are some of his top funders?
Rassamni has raised about $80,000 as of late April, with the majority of his support coming from business owners along the Blackstone corridor, although he’s received maximum donations from some local developers, too.
Donations to his campaign at or above $5,000 include:
- $5,900 from Alhalemi 1 Inc.
- $5,900 from Blackstone Chevrolet Cadillac
- $5,900 from Holiday Management, Inc.
- $5,900 from Mohamed Alhalemi
- $5,900 from Steve Cornelius, owner of car dealerships on Blackstone
- $5,900 from Karen Spencer, wife of developer Richard Spencer
- $5,900 from Richard Spencer, owner of Harris Construction
