Good morning! It’s Tuesday, Oct. 13. This is Rob.
Cryptid crime? A Fresno Nightcrawler figure was stolen from the Fresno Fright Nights gift shop. KMPH
Closed: The AXIS coffee bar in the Tesoro Viejo community in Madera County has closed after eight years in business. Instagram
STEAM: The Fresno Discovery Center is expanding access to science. ABC30
1. Yes-In-My-Backyard
The Yes-In-My-Backyard movement, or YIMBY, has picked up momentum amid California’s never-ending housing crisis as an effort to cut bureaucratic red tape and make it easier to build more homes, faster, especially in walkable neighborhoods.
Fresnoland’s Danielle Bergstrom spoke with Drew Phelps with the fledgling Central Valley YIMBY movement about the group’s goals to get more “missing middle” housing — that’s industry parlance for the duplexes, townhomes, and smaller infill projects — that can help bring affordable housing to more neighborhoods.
Cutting regulations and making it easier to build homes in Fresno, Madera, Tulare, and Kings counties has emerged as a key theme for the new group.
Phelps: “I would see YIMBY’s role being holding the city to account for the density they’ve committed to and really helping bridge the gap between okay, how can we bring in some standards that help meet that density, and try to be the catalyst for those projects moving forward.”
Read the full Fresnoland story here.
2. ‘Waiting for the bus’
A recent KVPR analysis found the availability, affordability and convenience of transit depends in large part on where one lives in Fresno County.
In more affluent communities, like Clovis, residents have access to free bus service six days a week but in rural towns, like Mendota, options are limited and more expensive, the NPR affiliate reports.
One two buses operate between Mendota and downtown daily, and residents relying on the bus to get to a medical appointment in the county seat have only a narrow window to time their picks up and a doctor’s office that runs behind can force a rider to rely on friends and luck when they miss their bus home.
Beefing up transportation routes and options in rural towns has been one of the major talking points for supporters of Measure S, the countywide half-cent sales tax proposal that would replace the county’s Measure C transportation funding source.
If Measure S fails and transportation dollars begin drying up next summer, the city would likely shut down bus service earlier, Mayor Jerry Dyer has acknowledged.
Read Fresnoland’s full breakdown of Measure S here.
3. On the move in downtown Fresno
One of downtown Fresno’s most popular lunch spots is heading for new digs early next year and rehabbing a once-beloved karaoke venue to make it all happen.
Libelula, home of breakfast fried rice, Thai mac n’ cheese and those cinnamon rolls, plans to take its talents across downtown and reopen early next year, possibly as soon as February, into the old Tokyo Gardens spot in the 1700 block of Fulton Street.
Fresnoland’s Vince Mancini sat down Libelula co-owner Ian Cookson for a quick Q&A on the kitchen’s future plans (less breakfast, more dinner; also, yes, karaoke is expected to make a comeback; but also, no, the beloved cinnamon rolls aren’t likely to become a permanent menu fixture, likely remaining an “intermittent” special).
Cookson also discussed the irony of being forced from his restaurant’s popular spot next to the Crest Theater on Broadway Plaza.
Cookson: “Unfortunately, for many years now, city officials have been too concerned with north Fresno. The whole reason downtown Fresno has a bad rap is because of city officials making the wrong decisions.”
Read the full Fresnoland story here.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Danielle Bergstrom.
