For two years, they brought southwest Fresno together for fun and exercise. Then City Hall got involved

Dakari Cleveland could go on and on about the impact of a health and wellness program he and his friends have organized on Fresno’s westside since 2024. 

There’s no way to talk about it without explaining how Wellness to the West redefined the under-utilized and almost abandoned Kearney Triangle Park in southwest Fresno as a place to find community and to also get outside for exercise. 

The twice monthly program combines low-impact exercise and walking, light weight workouts, yoga and even massage therapy — something its organizers say southwest Fresno has never had before, especially not bottled up into a single morning. 

“This is a health and wellness space that is truly needed in a community that has hundreds of articles talking about the health disparities in the neighborhood and the lack of wellness and health facilities,” Cleveland told Fresnoland.

More than two years since its first session, Wellness to the West is at a crossroads today. 

In an interview with Fresnoland, PARCS Director Aaron Aguirre said he doesn’t want his department to be a barrier to community programs. However, he said massage therapy presents special liability concerns that other aspects of the community program — like yoga and light weight training — do not. 

“We just need to make sure we’re covered as a city and the PARCS Department, and really want to make sure that they’re covered as well,” Aguirre said. “I mean, there may be liabilities that they’re unaware of too.”

So far this summer, Cleveland has received two emails from the PARCS Department directing him to fill out a special events permit application for Wellness to the West, which on average draws 20 regulars at most.

Submitting the 15-page form to the city costs $378 in processing fees alone. 

Special events permits are typically required for big events, ones that close down an entire block like parades or farmers markets.

Cleveland doesn’t think Wellness to the West, a volunteer-led community program addressing disparities in community services in southwest Fresno, should have to pay the city to continue its work — whether it’s a park reservation or several hundred dollars to get a special events permit from the city. 

“I don’t think anything like a special events permit should be needed,” Cleveland told Fresnoland. 

On days with bigger turnouts, up to 60 people show up, although the program’s organizers typically expect 20 people at most. Attendance also skews older, which is why the program has massage therapy in the first place — to cater to the needs of aging residents who want to still go outside and exercise. 

Cleveland added that offering massage therapy is a type of luxury that people in southwest Fresno should be able to access in their own community. 

“We need access to all these things because wellness is not a privilege — it’s a necessity,” he said.

Is a twice-monthly program with 20 regular attendees a special event?

Kearney Triangle Park is a small patch of land with a smattering of trees, a children’s playground and a wide grass area. It’s located right next to the tall palm trees that line Kearney Boulevard in southwest Fresno. 

Known as west Fresno by the residents who live there, it’s a part of the city that has long been underserved. For decades it has dealt with the intersection of several disparities: Poor air quality. Limited tree canopy and shade. Few grocery stores. No major commercial banks. Parks there aren’t in great condition. Additionally, neighborhood residents face generally worse health outcomes than those in the rest of the city. 

Southwest Fresno was also among dozens of communities across the country redlined in the 1930s, as the federal government and local banks used racist housing policies to decide who could be entitled to low-interest home loans. They also mapped undesirable places to live based on the racial and ethnic backgrounds of residents at the time. 

A fact that’s more than a decade old: The lifespan of southwest Fresno residents is, on average, 20 years less than residents in wealthier parts of the city. 

Wellness to the West’s organizers said they are addressing southwest Fresno’s reality. They wish their efforts were better supported instead of being faced with having to pay up for the city’s approval of a now two-year-old grassroots community program. 

“We try to come in with a pick yourselves up by the bootstraps mentality and they’re like, ‘Alright give us your boots,’” Cleveland said. 

At Wellness Fest in late May, commemorating the two year anniversary of the program, its organizers were approached by a city employee from Fresno’s PARCS Department who had concerns to share. 

According to the organizers, the city employee pointed out a few issues: Adults can’t be exercising near the children’s playground, vendors and food trucks can’t be at the park, organizers can’t bring out portable toilets and having a massage therapist out there may be an issue. 

On the two-year anniversary of the program, organizers were also told they should consider moving Wellness to the West to a different park and start paying for reservations. The organizers told Fresnoland that while concerns were shared, no specific city code was cited as being violated. 

“It just makes us have to think 10 steps ahead,” said Kaja Wilson, one of the program’s organizers who also leads its yoga session. “Because we understand we are not only trying to serve the community, we have to go against the people who want to continue to leave our community underserved.”

After the annual Wellness Fest, the organizers typically switch back to just the usual four-part programming. Near the end of June, the city employee came back on another Saturday. According to the organizers, he repeated two concerns he shared from his last visit: a massage therapist can’t be at the park helping people and Wellness to the West should consider moving elsewhere and start paying to reserve a city facility. 

“They want their money, whatever way that may come in,” Cleveland told Fresnoland. “I hate to say it like that, but every time we’ve had the conversation, when it ends, it’s ‘reserve the parks, minimum two hours.’”

It was after those visits from the city employee that Cleveland received emails from the city directing him to fill out the $378 permit application for special events.

Looking at the ‘liability standpoint’

Fresnoland sought an interview with the city employee who shared concerns with Wellness to the West’s organizers, but was instead redirected to PARCS Director Aaron Aguirre, who clarified some of the city’s concerns. 

“I’m looking at it from a liability standpoint,” Aguirre told Fresnoland. “I don’t know the ins and outs of massage therapy, but definitely I think once you have those — that’s really what kind of raises some concerns on my end.”

Aguirre didn’t point to specific liability concerns, just that the city would need to determine whether there were any, including having insurance on file from Wellness to the West. 

Submitting the special events permit application would be the formal way to begin that process, Aguirre said, which would be reviewed by the city’s Risk Management Department, and potentially the Fresno City Attorney’s Office.

He added that the city employee recommended that Wellness to the West relocate to a different park since another location may have more facilities than Kearney Triangle Park, like more parking and restrooms. Aguirre said the PARCS Department does not want to be a barrier to community programs. 

When asked about the cost to apply for permits or reservations, and whether an all-volunteer grassroots community program addressing disparities should have to pay for them, Aguirre pointed to the city’s Measure P grants program for local organizations as a potential solution. 

Those competitive public grants haven’t stayed out of controversy, especially after an embezzlement scandal, followed by city leaders approving changes to funding guidelines — without any public discussion — that community advocates criticized for reducing the number of grants and funding available.

“Gathering as a community and having yoga classes — perfectly fine,” Aguirre said. “It’s anything kind of you know above and beyond that. You know, where we’re impacting other elements of the park with some of those other issues that could create liabilities in a city and/or you know maybe themselves.”

Miguel Arias, the Fresno city councilmember who represents southwest Fresno, took issue with the idea that massage therapy could present novel liability concerns that require the city to examine them through the special events permitting process.

“Special events permits were designed for events that attract thousands of people at once and then by definition require additional security, policing, building permits, fire inspections,” Arias told Fresnoland. “It’s your FresYes Festival. It wasn’t meant for small events taking place at city parks.”

Considering Wellness to the West’s turnout, which stays under 100 people, Arias said that’s all the more reason why it shouldn’t be subject to the special events permit.

“What concerns me overall is this potential trend that anytime there is some level of activity that occurs at our city parks that may generate minimal revenue, the city wants to insert itself and require special events permits that make the cost 10 times higher,” Arias said.

Arias said back in the 1960s and 1970s, the PARCS Department operated several soccer and baseball leagues across the city. In Arias’ eyes, the department today operates more like a property manager and landlord of green space instead of first and foremost focusing on activating park space with programming. 

“In this case, when the community has stepped up to do what traditionally would be done by the PARCS Department, we should be getting out of the way, celebrating them and supporting them, instead of trying to control every aspect through, in my view, the argument of liability,” Arias said. 

He added that if the city is concerned about reducing liability, it should be focused on the city’s police, fire and transportation departments. 

“They are the largest liability to the city of Fresno when it comes to insurance claims, settlements and injuries,” Arias said. 

‘Never in my wildest dreams’

Before Wellness to the West, Wilson, one of the program’s organizers, recalled unhoused people frequenting the park’s playground. That’s one of the reasons she and Cleveland were surprised to hear that there could be an issue with adults utilizing the space near the playground for exercise. 

“They said adults can’t be on the playground because sometimes we’ll do our workouts near the playground area,” Wilson told Fresnoland. “That never really seemed to be a problem when there was a lot of homeless over there.”

Aguirre confirmed to Fresnoland that there is no issue with adults being or exercising near the playground at Kearney Triangle Park. 

“Messaging maybe got miscommunicated, and you know, unfortunately, they may have taken it a certain way,” Aguirre said, adding that he wants to address any concerns and answer questions in a meeting with the program’s organizers.

Cleveland told Fresnoland he’s open to meeting with the city, but said he hadn’t received any request so far — just two emails about the city’s special events permit application and how to reserve a park in Fresno. He added that he wants to ensure the community program follows all rules.

But for Wellness to the West, having a massage therapy component has been a core part of the program since it first launched in May 2024. Now, the prospect of having to change the program after the city belatedly found out about it just two months ago doesn’t sit right with him.

“I just don’t think it’s fair,” Cleveland told Fresnoland. “I can’t really see the experience without it (massage therapy). That’s something that a lot of the participants really do enjoy.”

Cleveland said he doesn’t know exactly what will happen next. But there’s no way Wellness to the West is going away. 

“It’s up in the air up until I can have some conversations hopefully with some individuals with the city, or just with the PARCS department,” Cleveland said.

In the last two years, Cleveland has personally seen Wellness to the West go beyond just community exercise. It has managed to bring residents together in unique ways, from organizing walks for identifying public infrastructure in need of fixing to even helping some of the community’s most vulnerable residents. 

Last summer, Wellness to the West organized walk audits where residents started at Kearney Triangle Park and walked throughout their community, taking note of where “public infrastructure supports or undermines safety, health, and dignity.”

The audits had dozens of findings in southwest Fresno, as well as downtown and Chinatown — identifying everything from factory odors and limited shade near bus stops to broken sidewalks and the need for local grocery stores within walking distance. 

On top of mobilizing participants to think about how their community could be better, Wellness to the West has also become a rare space for some to improve their lives. 

Both Cleveland and Wilson said they drew inspiration from a gentleman in his 60s who has been showing up to Wellness to the West for the past couple months. 

When they first met the man, they learned he was formerly paralyzed but currently on a path to rehabilitating his body. At first when the man first showed up, he was using two walking sticks. Since then, they’ve seen him progress to only using a cane, and now he’s even doing some of the workouts without any help or support from others. 

“He’s with community and he loves it,” Wilson said. “He makes sure to come out every week, and he brings his friends now. It’s just so beautiful to really witness that.”

When asked if he could’ve ever imagined more than two years ago that Wellness to the West could one day help people through their physical therapy journey, Cleveland took a moment to answer. 

“Never in my wildest dreams.”