Quote of the Week
“We’ve done everything we can to live within our means and we have drained the bank dry.”
–Brock D. Buche, director of the Department of Public Utilities, speaking at a June 8 budget hearing on the solid waste division’s $12 million budget deficit.
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This Week in Fresnoland
Trash rate could climb by $20 over the next five years in Fresno
Fresno’s trash rates haven’t gone up since 2009 but that could soon change, Fresnoland’s Diego Vargas and Danielle Bergstrom reported.
City officials say a rate hike is necessary to plug holes in a reported $12 million budget deficit, fueled by increases in labor costs, landfill tipping fees, and a new planned headquarters for the public utilities department.
“We’ve done everything we can to live within our means and we have drained the bank dry,” said Brock D. Buche, director of the Department of Public Utilities, during a June 8 budget hearing.
Under California’s Proposition 218 law, the city cannot move forward to raise rates without the consent of ratepayers first.
If the city council approves the process to increase rates on Thursday, customers will receive a notice and a protest ballot in the mail no later than March 18, 2024.
Afterwards, a public hearing will be held May 2, which is also the final protest deadline. If customers approve the rate increase, the new rates would go into effect July 1. If a majority of the city’s 119,000 residential customers send in protest ballots, the rates will not increase.
The Fresno city council is trying to stop a mobile home park from closing.
Astute Topliens readers will recall the story of La Hacienda Mobile Home Park, which has been facing closure for more than 18 months. Harmony Communities, the company that owns the park, has been steadily raising the rent, evicting tenants, and attempting to close the park entirely – with significant pushback from the ever-dwindling tenants and their legal representation. They recently scored two back-to-back wins when the city council unanimously rejected Harmony Community’s closure proposal and the Mobilehome Park Rent Review and Stabilization Commission only allowed a rent increase around $25, rather than the $350 that park owners had asked for. Still, Harmony says that the city council doesn’t have the authority to stop them, and the city council said: try me.
Pablo Orihuela reports for Fresnoland that the council voted unanimously (with one absence) to seek an injunction to prevent the closure. To hear Sherrie Johnston, their operations manager, tell it: Harmony Communities thinks the city is just blowing smoke and grasping at straws. “If they were truly serious about finding a solution they would come to the table and have a real discussion, as has been offered, ” she said, “instead of filing frivolous lawsuits.”
Councilmember Miguel Arias seems to regret forking the park over to Harmony Communities in the first place, and the city’s recent actions suggest that they’re prepared to fight it out in the courts.
The Palestinian flag was raised in downtown Fresno.
The flag raising at Eaton Park, attended by hundreds, was organized by the Palestine Freedom Project in collaboration with community leaders, Diego Vargas reports for Fresnoland. The ceremony was meant to call for peace and to show solidarity with Palestinians abroad and with the significant Palestinian American community in Fresno. At time of writing, more than 18,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began bombing the Gaza strip after the Oct. 7 terror attacks.
Layla Darwish, a Palestine Freedom Project member, said that she felt validated. “Before, people wouldn’t even know what Palestine was when asking about my ethnicity. Today, everyone will know what Palestine is,” she said.
Miguel Arias was among the attendees. He said that the city of Fresno makes no distinction between the loss of Jewish or Palestinian life, and called for unity, stressing that Fresno is a city for everyone.
Mayor Jerry Dyer, who spearheaded the raising of the Israeli flag in the same plaza in October, was noticeably absent.
A little bit about Christmas Tree Lane.
The classic holiday landmark represents a tradition stretching all the way back to the 1920s, Holly Clinard (Fresnoland) writes, when a cedar tree was decorated to commemorate a young man’s tragic death.
The story captures the history of the Lane and five of its iconic landmarks, including that very first cedar tree. The tree, which memorialized William “Billy” Hobart Winning, is starting to succumb to the heat and wind. However, the current owners have invested in cloning the tree with the help of AgroNatural sciences. About 100 of the trees’ descendants are growing up in the Belmont nursery.
Check the story for the other four landmarks and then see them in person at Christmas Tree Lane, which runs until Dec. 25, Sunday – Thursday, 6 to 10 p.m. It’s totally free, though they do accept donations via Venmo @FresnoChristmasTreeLane.
Madera Community Hospital has been closed for nearly a year
As a reminder, Madera County residents have had to choose between no in-person healthcare, or a 30 mile drive to the nearest hospital, Omar Shaikh Rashad (Fresnoland) reports. In the story, a resident spends about 40 minutes on the road at least four times a week, every week to reach a hospital in Fresno. That patient is one of 160,000 residents in Madera County. None of them have an acute care hospital.
Emergency vehicles must also make the 40 minute trek, and lives might have been lost as a result. A cardiologist named Mohammad Ashraf told Fresnoland, “I have patients dying all the time.” He has lost touch with most of his former patients, but sometimes sees their names in the newspaper when they pass away.
Medical staff lost not only their jobs but also their healthcare when the Madera hospital closed. One nurse interviewed for the story was forced to cancel her post-cancer surgery appointment. She worked for the hospital for ten years, and in the space of a month her life had been turned upside down.
Even though that nurse found employment at St. Agnes, and patients might be able to drive 40 minutes to Fresno or Merced, the gap left behind by the hospital closure is still majorly felt.
Outside the Lines
Remember those cops and their awful group chat? The one that a sergeant complained about? And then she was fired? You can read some of their messages in this video from The Bee.
The National Retail Federation claimed that organized theft accounted for $94.5 billion in missing merchandise – turns out it was closer to 5%. I wouldn’t mention it except that Fresno received a multi million dollar grant to help address the “problem” just this year.
Migrant farm workers get a raw housing deal in California. Twenty-four migrant housing centers stretch from the Oregon border to Kern County, containing rent-subsidized apartments to provide what I can only describe as seasonal housing for the 900,000 farm workers. This Sacramento Bee article by Lindsey Holden and Matthew Miranda describes their housing situation: tenuous, temporary, and unsustainable.
Block Beat
NORTH FRESNO: The Station, Fresno’s third cannabis dispensary, recently opened its doors. The dispensary promises to be less corporate than the competition. While it features the whole Stiiizy line, mom-and-pop farms and manufacturers are also on the shelves. Fresno Bee
NORTH FRESNO: Kaiser broke ground on their new Orchard Plaza Medical Office. Four stories and 146,000 square feet, the new facility promises to expand services in Fresno. The Business Journal
LEMOORE: West Hills College Lemoore could be renamed “Lemoore College” to cut down on confusion among students and government bodies, as two colleges, the one in Lemoore and the other in Coalinga, bear the name West Hills. ABC30
Department of New Construction
HOOVER: A conditional use permit under review for Smash Bros Bistro to operate a restaurant at 424 E. Bullard Ave focusing on smash-style burgers, chicken sandwiches, French fries, ice cream and beer and wine.
Around Town
The Warnors Center for the Performing Arts on Fulton street is hosting a Winter Jamm, featuring Ginuwine. The night promises R&B – which is to say, 90s and 2000s nostalgia. Downtown Fresno
Fresno PARCS’ “Let’s Cause a Scene” Holiday Party will have Santa hat decoration, ornament crafting and snacks. It’s from 4 to 6 p.m. at Quigley Playground on 808 W. Dakota Ave. Facebook
Next Week in Public Meetings
- Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 at 9 a.m. | Fresno City Council
- Monday, Dec 18, 2023 at 7 p.m. | Visalia City Council
- Tuesday, Dec 19, 2023 at 9 a.m. | Tulare County Board of Supervisors
- Tuesday, Dec 19, 2023 at 9 a.m. | Kings County Board of Supervisors
Tuesday, Dec 19, 2023 at 7 p.m. | Reedley City Council
