What’s at stake?
The Better Roads, Safe Streets transportation coalition is facing one last hurdle to land their replacement for Measure C on the November ballot before the longtime transportation sales tax expires in 2027 — and proponents say it’s democracy that’s ultimately at stake.
On the eve of a pivotal Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting, the local Better Roads, Safe Streets coalition made one final plea to the county board — home to some of the transportation sales tax campaign’s most vocal detractors — to respect the will of thousands of voters.
The coalition learned last week that the Fresno County Clerk’s Office validated enough of the voter signatures they’d collected — just over 22,000 — for their proposed replacement of Measure C to qualify for the November ballot.
Now, the question of when exactly the county will get to vote on the measure is in the hands of the county supervisors as they decide on Tuesday to either take a ministerial vote to place it on the November ballot, or delay the vote by requesting staff conduct a study of the impact of the measure.
Any delay runs the risk that voters won’t have the opportunity to vote on a Measure C replacement before the 40-year tax expires in 2027, and that critical funding for the county’s struggling roads, sidewalks and public transit systems could lapse.
Several prominent local Republicans in the political-spectrum-spanning Better Roads coalition made direct addresses to the conversative-majority, five-member county board at a news conference Monday, framing Tuesday’s decision as a matter of respecting democracy.
“We are either a government by the people and for the people,” said Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, “or not.
“I want to encourage the board of supervisors tomorrow: set aside the personality conflicts,” Fresno’s Republican mayor later added. “Set aside the political rhetoric. Set aside who might be right or who might be wrong, and let’s do what’s right for the people in Fresno County.”
At least one county supervisor, Board Chair Garry Bredefeld, has suggested he may want to request a study of the measure’s impact, a process that the county would have until Aug. 13 to complete — well past the Aug. 7 deadline to qualify for the November ballot.
The Better Roads campaign has already provided the board, however, with an analysis of the proposed measure’s economic impacts, conducted independently by the firm PerberaParis, LLC. The study projects the creation of more than 68,000 jobs and a total of roughly $13.5 billion in economic output if voters approve the measure.
It’s also unclear whether Bredefeld will have enough support from his colleagues to move that forward, as his fellow board members haven’t clearly signaled how they plan to vote on Tuesday.
That includes fellow conservative Nathan Magsig. In an interview on July 10, the supervisor said he needs some additional questions answered by proponents of the Better Roads measure before he can make up his mind — and that he hopes they’ll be addressed on Tuesday.
Magsig said he’ll be seeking clarification on county-specific provisions written into the Better Roads measure, including on what their responsibilities are when it comes to private roadways and prioritizing spending for disadvantaged communities first.
“There are a lot of requirements that are specific to the county, which puts a tremendous burden and may even make it impossible for the county to fully utilize the the revenues from the (Better Roads) measure,” he said, “so I need to get some answers to some questions before I determine if a study is needed, or if it can just go straight onto the ballot.
“My hope is that there will be individuals who helped craft this — the language to it — at the meeting,” he added. “The proponents of the initiative need to be there, so I can ask questions of them — some clarifying questions — and I think that will go a long ways.”
What else did the proponents of Better Roads say on Monday?
Other local Republicans took the mic on Monday to urge the Fresno County Board of Supervisors to clear the path for Better Roads to land on the November ballot, including longtime coalition member, Mendota Mayor Victor Martinez.
“For the first time in a long time,” said Martinez, whose city is home to some of the worst pavement conditions in the county, “we can see a better future for our roads and our community.”
Fresno City Councilmember Nick Richardson, another local Republican who voted alongside his council colleagues to formally support Better Roads last month, also urged detractors not to let perfection “be the enemy of progress” when evaluating this tax plan.
“Now, if I know my constituents in northeast Fresno, when they look and they see things like 75 million dollars annually in infrastructure (funds) coming to the City of Fresno to fix roads, to fix potholes, to fix curbs, gutters (and) sidewalks, to increase ADA accessibility, to make sure that our veterans and active duty military alike are going to have free transportation around this city that they call home,” the U.S. Marine Corps reserve officer said, “I think I have a pretty good idea of where my constituents are going to fall on this.”
In his remarks on Monday, Clovis Mayor Vong Mouanoutoua — also a Republican — took swings at a rival group of local transportation and political consultants called “Fix Our Roads” that had announced intentions to gather signatures for its own Measure C successor plan in February.
“I’ve heard people describe this coalition and this process as ‘radical’ to scare you, to scare others. I want you to know that there was a second measure … They had no coalition,” Mouanoutoua said, “and they paid no attention to process.
“Let all of us know what is more ‘radical.’ Is it radical to invite thousands of residents from more than 70 ZIP codes? Is it radical to listen to them? Is it radical to have gathered legally necessary signatures and to earn the right to have this measure in front of all the voters in Fresno County?”
In an email July 8, Fresno County Clerk James Kus confirmed his office hadn’t received any updates from the Fix Our Roads campaign on the status of their signature-gathering.
Mouanoutoua has announced a bid for Magsig’s seat on the Fresno County Board of Supervisors as the current supervisor seeks office as a state senator. But Mouanoutoua is facing off against other hopefuls including a peer at Clovis City Hall. Clovis Mayor Pro Tem Diane Pearce has also announced her candidacy — and was among the local elected officials to publicly back Fix Our Roads.
In an op-ed piece for GV Wire on Monday, Pearce called for the supervisors to force more study and delay the Better Roads ballot vote for two years while allowing Measure C to expire without a replacement in sight.
“The sky won’t fall in the next two years,” she wrote, “and maybe some much needed (common sense) will prevail in the interim.”
Better Roads forecast the measure will create 68,000 jobs in 30 years
While the supervisors weigh whether to request an additional study, the Better Roads campaign submitted an independent economic analysis of their proposed measure to the county on July 8.
The analysis was prepared by PenberaParis, the firm of local economist and former Senior Fulbright Scholar Joseph Penbera.
In a brief media availability before Monday’s news conference, Penbera confirmed he’s prepared economic analyses for hundreds of clients, including the biggest companies in the world and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Penbera has also prepared past analyses of Measure E, the proposed tax measure to benefit Fresno State that has failed twice at the ballot box, that went before the board of supervisors.
“I was the guy that did that one as well, and nobody had any problem with it,” he said. “It went right through the supervisors.”
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors meets at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday at the Fresno County Hall of Records (2281 Tulare St.). You can also review the meeting agenda online and tune into the meeting remotely with YouTube.
