What's at stake:
The City of Fresno will only put $50,000 toward establishing a Fresno County library in the Tower District if Mayor Jerry Dyer finds a funding source for it in a revised budget proposal he’s expected to bring forward in a week on June 23.
More than three years ago, Brooke Payton began a grassroots effort to establish a library in the Tower District.
On Tuesday, the work gained momentum when a city councilmember backed the effort, and also put money toward it. During the final day of budget hearings, Councilmember Annalisa Perea issued a budget request to put $50,000 toward establishing a library in the Tower District.
Perea noted that this can’t be done without collaborating with Fresno County officials. She said that although there’s a lot more work to be done, and logistics to figure out, she’s eager to work with Fresno County officials, including Supervisor Luis Chavez, to make it happen.
“This will be a heavy lift for Fresno County as well, so we’re hoping that they will continue to work with us and collaborate,” Perea said. “We know we will get this done.”
Payton, who has lived in the Tower District for more than a decade, has led the neighborhood effort to establish a library in the Tower District since May 2023. Payton was inside Fresno’s council chambers during a Tuesday morning budget hearing when Perea made her announcement.
“Annalisa Perea called me last Thursday to say that she had put forth the (budget) motion,” Payton told Fresnoland, “and told me that she had been talking to Luis Chavez, who is our Fresno County Board Supervisor for District 3, and that she’d also been speaking with the Fresno County Public Library.”
Payton added that she felt incredibly encouraged after Tuesday’s news, but there’s a long road ahead, and she knows it.
Perea’s action on Tuesday was a budget motion, one of dozens made by councilmembers during the first half of June — which Mayor Jerry Dyer’s administration will examine before selecting the ones that will end up in a revised budget proposal next week.
Dyer will once again negotiate the budget’s reconciliation in private with councilmembers. He’s expected to bring forward a revised budget proposal on June 23. City dollars would only go toward the Tower District library effort if Dyer and his administration identify a funding source for $50,000 to be set aside for it.
“I would hope that they would be able to find the $50,000 out of $500 million,” Payton said, referring to the city’s discretionary general fund. “It doesn’t seem like a huge ask when you look at that.”
Payton stressed that a library in the Tower District must be accomplished on the county level, not the city level. That’s because the Fresno County public library is part of the San Joaquin Valley Library System.
Payton explained that a standalone city library is not the answer since it would be disconnected from the larger library ecosystem that already exists in the San Joaquin Valley.
Payton said this was a great development among others during her several years of advocacy. Payton said her efforts have gained legitimacy, from obtaining fiscal sponsorship through the South Tower Community Land Trust to a library being included in the Tower District Specific Plan.
With Perea publicly supporting the effort, Payton said she’s hopeful a library will materialize in the Tower District. As a member of Friends of the Fresno County Public Library’s board, Payton said she knows it won’t happen overnight.
“They broke ground last year on rebuilding a new Clovis Public Library that took over 15 years just to get to the groundbreaking,” Payton said. She added that it took many years for other library branches to finally open up officially, including the libraries in Reedley, Highway City and central Fresno.
Will city leaders actually listen to residents?
Perea’s budget motion will be competing with dozens of others submitted by councilmembers, including one aiming to fully fund Advance Peace for a full year, so that it can accomplish its mission and properly fund its staff.
Over the last week of budget hearings, members of the public have also lined up at Fresno City Hall raising questions about the police budget as well as the Fresno Police Department’s HART team.
Every year for the last several years, the HART team has consistently been criticized by members of the public who bring up concerns about how it treats unhoused people, throws away their belongings and hasn’t so far led to a reduction in homelessness.
Over the last week, members of the public have criticized Dyer’s administration for seeking to expand the HART team — which costs hundreds of thousands from the city’s discretionary general fund.
Those concerns were raised again Tuesday.
“The costs of the second HART team are listed at $290,000 for a year, which doesn’t appear to even clear salaries without benefits for a whole year,” one community member said at the Tuesday hearing. “So there’s some clarity needed around that. Transparency and trust are huge issues here today and have been the last several years.”
Other Fresno community members noted that Fresno’s budget hearings remain out of reach for residents with a day job and unable to drive down to Fresno City Hall to share their thoughts on the budget.
“I would like to mention these meetings at 9 a.m. on Tuesdays are structurally inaccessible, making those busy working most impacted,” another community member said during public comment.
Members of the public also criticized what they referred to as a lack of transparency in the city budget process.
Luke Pretz, who is part of a group of local residents called Fresnans for a People’s Budget, attended some of last week’s budget hearings and shared feedback with city officials about Dyer’s proposal.
Fresnans for a People’s Budget has been around for just over a year, and Pretz said much of that time has been spent understanding the city budget and how city leaders use taxpayer dollars.
“It’s been invigorating to me because people are interested, people are engaged, and people have a ton of questions about how the budget works,” Pretz told Fresnoland. “I think that’s exciting and it shows people aren’t averse to having these kinds of, what feel like, intellectually challenging conversations.”
Pretz added that he hopes city leaders listen, especially to the people taking time out of the work week to come down to Fresno City Hall and speak directly to them.
“I hope they do take us seriously,” Pretz said. “I hope they do take our concerns about transparency seriously.”
