Quote of the Week

“It’s an unfortunate position that we’re in, which is that we do not trust our employer to follow the law. And with good reason, because they were told in 1984 to follow the law, and not only did they not follow the law, they doubled down over time on their support for Faculty Senate.”

– Kristin Heimerdinger, spokesperson for the Association of Clovis Educators

This Week in Fresnoland

Fresno Housing Authority takes over point-in-time count

Fresno’s point-in-time count this year will be conducted by the Fresno Housing Authority instead of the Fresno Madera Continuum of Care and will only count people in shelters, instead of attempting to count the area’s entire homeless population, Fresnoland’s Pablo Orihuela reported.

The number of homeless people in Fresno and Madera counties has increased each year since 2015, when the recorded number was 1,722.

The FMCoC has managed the regional process for several years, calling for volunteers to help count unhoused residents for one night during the last 10 days of January.

However, this year’s count pivoted to just taking stock of people in shelters due to a lack of resources, according to Laura Moreno, director of the Fresno Madera Continuum of Care.

The change still follows the mandate from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which requires a count be done “at least biannually.”

It was unclear whether the Fresno Housing Authority plans to survey Madera County and its shelters. It also wasn’t clear how much this year’s count will cost.
The Fresno Housing Authority did not answer Fresnoland’s repeated requests for an interview. Fresno’s local HUD office in San Francisco also did not respond to a request for comment.

Some Madera County homeowners have to live with contaminated water

The drinking water in the Hidden Lakes Estates community is poisonous, Erik Galica writes for The Fresno Bee. Madera County put a moratorium on any new buildings, but about 50 households holding 150 people live in the area and suffer the consequences of inadequate water treatment, a problem that has been exacerbated in recent years by catastrophes like the Creek Fire, which further contaminated Millerton Lake (the primary water source). One estimate has the cost of fixing the water system at $12 million.

Hidden Lake is one of 29 failing water systems in Madera County. There are 380 similarly fraught water systems throughout California. In Hidden Lakes’ case, the system needs a complete overhaul. The treatment plant is old and out of date, and it cannot remove enough of the surface contaminants pumped from the bottom of Millerton Lake. 

The Association of Clovis Educators (ACE) thinks that a district-sanctioned group of teachers should be disbanded. 

A recent ruling from the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) said that Clovis Unified and the Faculty Senate – designated by the district to represent its teachers interests – were breaking the law. ACE thinks it should have gone even further, Julianna Morano reports for Fresnoland. ACE points to the Faculty Senate as a sort of false, placating measure; a way for educators to feel like they have a voice, when really they don’t. ACE also says that the Faculty Senate is illegal. Notably, the Faculty Senate does not collectively bargain or negotiate with the district.

Clovis Unified does not have a teachers union, but ACE was able to unionize psychologist and mental health service providers last year, and their union contract was the first-ever approved in that district. 

On Dec. 7, PERB ruled that the district was unlawfully financially supporting the Faculty Senate while not equally supporting ACE. In 1984, PERB similarly ruled that the Faculty Senate was in violation of the Educational Employment Relations Act. Nevertheless, the Faculty Senate has persisted until today. Kelly Avants, spokesperson for the district, said that due to the more recent Dec 7 PERB ruling, the district would stop financially supporting the Faculty Senate but that it would continue to coexist with ACE.

Hmong New Year celebration draws big crowds to Fresno

Hmong New Year, a four-day celebration that draws thousands, is split into two halves: a ritual phase followed by a public celebration. Ntsa lab Vang’s article for Fresnoland details Noj Peb Caug’s – the true name of Hmong New Year, pronounced naw-pay-chow, and translates to “eating on 30,” which notes the number of days at year’s end where traditional meals are prepared – rituals. Lwm sub (lou-shoe) is an opening ceremony to ward evil spirits, then inhouse traditions are lead by a shaman, relative, or head of household to summon ancestral spirits and offerings are made to those ancestors in the form of food and representations of spiritual money. 

Trong Yang’s article (Fresnoland) details more of the day’s festivities.

In last week’s letter we highlighted another story by Trong Yang, which explored the history and demographic realities that make Noj Peb Caug a significant holiday in Fresno. I also highlighted our previous coverage about the Hmong language, which educators are working to preserve in the Central Valley. 

Dos Rios restoration project pushes the Central Valley back in time

Industrialists might see this world, and our civilization on it, as a process of terraforming, where we bend the land to our will to accommodate human life – and yet reading this story by Jake Bittle over at Grist paints a fundamentally different picture. Consider the San Joaquin valley as it was: vast floodplains. This was the valley-at-large prior to colonialism, and it exists again in the wilderness between two dammed rivers, a waterlogged land where beavers, quail and deer have reappeared in the area for the first time in decades. Before white settlers began the process of transforming the region into the industrialized agricultural titan that it is today, tribes like the Miwok used native plants for cooking, basket weaving and making herbal medicines. Those plants also returned.

These lands are also, crucially, useful. In wet years, the ground absorbs excess water before it can make it to larger cities, recharging the aquifers that farmers have drained over the years. The area also quarantines an amount of carbon dioxide equal to that produced by thousands of vehicles.

“Dos Rios is good,” Jane Dolan, chair of the Central Valley Flood Protection Board said, “But we need 50 more of it.”

Outside the Lines

Artists, the first round of Measure P arts funding is coming this summer. Also, the Valley Air District is no longer offering rebates for electric vehicles.

The only public transit option between Fresno and Yosemite National Park might disappear. The Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System or YARTS has provided bus service between Fresno and Yosemite since 2000 but that almost came to an end in 2021 were it not for an 11th hour save from the City of Fresno, Marek Warszawksi writes in this column for The Bee.

Block Beat

WEST CENTRAL FRESNO: The Department of Behavioral Health partnered with RH Community Builders to open the first Bridge Housing Program in Fresno County. Sierra Sunrise will provide temporary housing for 60 people at a time, and is currently housing 50. Instagram

TOWER DISTRICT: Fresno’s three warming centers opened this weekend as temperatures dropped below 35 degrees. The city provides warm meals and blankets at the centers. ABC 30

Department of New Construction

MAYFAIR: A development permit is under review to build a single-story restaurant on North Cedar Avenue near East McKinley Avenue serving hamburgers, chicken strips and french fried from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.

ROOSEVELT: A conditional use permit is under review for a remodeling project that will include the addition of four more gasoline pumps at a business on the corner of East Tulare Avenue and South Chestnut Avenue.

Around Town

Bitty Basketball, a program for baby athletes ages 3 to 6, is starting up in March. Registration closes on Feb. 12. Instagram 

Drag Me to the Theater Presents: The Rocky Horror Show. This is another nepotism pick, since some of my pal are in this cast and/or involved in the production. The first show is on Friday, Jan. 12. EventBrite

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.