Quote of the Week

“West Fresno is a phoenix rising out of the ashes because we can fundamentally zero out a lot of the systemic issues that we’re experiencing if we center the voices of young people in our community. And what better place than a college campus?” 

– Eric Payne, executive director of the nonprofit Central Valley Urban Institute. The new West Fresno Center is the latest community college to be built in Fresno, and advocates hope that it can provide much needed support to a historically underserved area. 

This Week in Fresnoland

Can this new deal save Madera’s bankrupt hospital?

The Madera Community Hospital Board selected a proposal for “temporary management services” with a Modesto-based company to “reopen and operate” the city’s shuttered hospital, Fresnoland reports.

In a news release late Tuesday, officials with the Madera hospital and the selected company, American Advanced Management, said they would begin work on a “transitional plan that will lead to an acquisition” of the 106-bed hospital, pending bankruptcy court approval.

Madera County’s 160,000 residents have been without a general acute care hospital since late 2022 when the hospital abruptly shuttered and filed for bankruptcy a few months later.

While officials have remained tight-lipped regarding negotiations, some conflicts emerged publicly earlier this year when Paolinelli claimed AAMI offered her a $150,000 check, which she called inappropriate. AAMI attorneys said the offer was not a bribe.

And while AAMI had been in talks with the Madera hospital before the closure in 2022, the hospital board preferred other proposals on at least three occasions, court records show.

Latest Assemi lawsuit pits father against son in generational fight for control of farming empire

Just days after winning more than $38 million in a lawsuit against America’s wealthiest farmer, Fresno’s Assemi family finds itself back in the headlines with another major court fight.

This time the suit comes from within the Assemi family itself as the younger generation appears poised to fight the older generation for control of the family’s agricultural empire in Fresno County.

On Wednesday, Fresnoland reported that Kevin Assemi, son of Assemi Group CEO Farid Assemi, is suing his father and two uncles – Darius and Farshid – accusing them of fraud, mismanagement and “a pattern of racketeering activity.”

In the lawsuit filed Dec. 15, Kevin Assemi claims that the older generation of Assemi businessmen were “desperate” to obtain additional loans “to prop up the brothers’ financial house of cards.”

In a news release Tuesday night, Stan Blyth, the Fresno attorney representing Kevin Assemi, said the legal battle has been brewing since at least 2019 when Kevin Assemi was forced out of the family’s primary agriculture company, Maricopa Orchards.

“The roots of this ouster came as Farid Assemi, the chief executive of Assemi Group, Inc., began exhibiting unusual, irrational behavior that was affecting his ability to manage the firm,” Blyth said in the statement. “As this behavior persisted, Kevin Assemi desperately sought to care for his father, eventually leading to a diagnosis of a brain tumor and cerebral degenerative ataxia.”

The suit comes just days after the Assemi family won about $38.7 million in a lawsuit against Ag giant Stewart Resnick, Gregory Weaver (Fresnoland) reports. Resnick’s countersuit for $170 million and the Assemi family’s primary counter claim of $30 million were both tossed out. Resnick gained $11.3 million in damages for the Assemi’s holding up his 2019 nut crop.

Topline readers will remember the oddly juicy nut saga that Weaver has been reporting on this year. It has everything: corporate intrigue, clones, betrayal, besties-to-beef, baffling complexity, considerable litigation and more. A Resnick spokesperson told Fresnoland that they intend to appeal the decision.

Fresno cops are getting even more money to do even more things: Retail theft edition

So for years we’ve been hearing about organized retail theft, which Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama defines as two or more individuals running into a store, grabbing numerous items, and then fleeing. This story by Julianna Morano for Fresnoland tells us how police are planning to spend $23.6 million in grant funds: 25 new officers and dozens of new license plate readers – a controversial technology. 

Fresno PD’s grant application claimed that ORT has increased by 752% between 2020 and 2022. In 2020, there were 23 incidents, then 95 the next year and 196 the year after that. The idea that these incidents are happening because there are too few officers strikes me as strange. Has Fresno seen its police waning? Not recently. The Dyer Administration was just bragging about all the officers they’ve hired – 900 by the end of this year.  

The grant funding will go towards developing a better method of tracking these incidents. We know from the story I just linked that crime statistics can sometimes be misleading. For instance, 23 instances jumping to 196 seems alarming, though those three years do coincide with the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated economic turmoil. For the grant, analysts had to hand count the incidents, as the National Incident Based Reporting System doesn’t distinguish ORT from any other kind of burglary. 

As for the license plate readers – dozens of stationary cameras installed strategically across the city – they’re controversial with the civil and privacy rights crowds.

California regulators have delayed enforcement of the state’s groundwater law.

As Jesse Vad reports for SJV Water, the State Water Resources Control Board staff revealed Tuesday that they’re not going to finish holding public hearings to intervene in local groundwater management until 2025.

Six valley groundwater sub-basins – Tulare Lake, Delta-Mendota, Chowchilla, Kaweah, Tule, and Kern all failed to meet the state’s requirements, and are subject to probationary hearings.

“While we understand the need to balance thoughtful stakeholder engagement with setting timelines, we continue to ask the board to set provisionary hearings as soon as possible,” said Nataly Escobedo Garcia, policy coordinator for nonprofit Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, at Tuesday’s meeting. 

But local water district managers pleaded with the board for more time to fix plans. 

The Fresno City Council ceded management of the warming centers to the Poverello House. 

We’re also getting a new center for north Fresno, Pablo Orihuela (Fresnoland) writes. The warming centers are shelters designed to protect vulnerable residents from excessive weather, including temperatures exceeding 105 degrees, or 35 degrees and below.

The city will pay the Poverello House – a local nonprofit that already manages two homeless shelters in addition to providing food and social services – $356,600 to operate the facilities. 

Additionally, a new center was approved during the Dec. 14 city council meeting and will be maintained by the ACTS Foundation, a local nonprofit that aims to provide, “food, supplies and education to the underserved.” The facility will be located at 4798 N. Marty Ave.

A Fresno City Councilmember is under investigation for a conflict of interest with the Fair Political Practices Commission. Councilmember Miguel Arias allegedly accepted a private flight from Joseph Kalpakoff, the president of commercial trash contracting company Mid Valley Disposal, which does business with the city, Tim Sheehan reports for The Fresno Bee. Arias says that he paid for the flight.

Fresnoland has an explainer on signifiant road work projects throughout Fresno.

Block Beat

DOWNTOWN FRESNO: The baristas at Fulton Street Coffee, who have been in talks with their employers to transition the coffee shop into a worker-owned cooperative, are striking. Workers complain of unprofessionalism, favoritism, bullying and unacceptable working conditions. Instagram

TOWER DISTRICT: Anyways, speaking of cafes, there’s a new Latin coffee spot called Mi Cafesito in the Tower District. It offers lattes made with Mexican candies which honestly, I don’t need to write anymore, that’s intriguing enough. Fresno Bee

DEL MAR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: The District Four team surprised 160 elementary school students with gifts from their third annual toy drive. Instagram

TOWER DISTRICT: Fab – my first gay bar, known for its pink outer wall and unfortunately small dance floor – is closing for good come Jan. 1. Fresno Bee  

SOUTHEAST FRESNO: The Dyer Administration announced a new play area located in the neighborhood near the Armstrong and Hamilton Avenues neighborhood. The tot lot will be ADA compliant.  

Department of New Construction

CHINATOWN: A development permit is under review to construct a new 911 call center at 1325 El Dorado St. in Fresno. Plans for the proposed single-story building include office space for managers and supervisors, a conference room, two training rooms, breakrooms, restrooms, exercise/fitness rooms, a server room, an electrical room, and outdoor courtyard. A parking lot for 85 vehicles will be developed including 59 spaces within a secured area.

Around Town

Consider Hanford’s Winter Wonderland: a place to eat, skate and play games. It’s about a 20 minute ride on Amtrak and a 10 minute walk from the station. Instagram 

The Fresno EOC LGBTQ+ resource center is hosting a board game night ahead of the holidays, Dec. 20 at 6 p.m. Downtown Fresno

Next Week in Public Meetings

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Tommy is the author of Toplines, the Fresnoland newsletter curating the top stories in the Central Valley. He thinks he's very funny.