Good morning! It’s Wednesday, July 1. This is Rob.
Do you like cooking and money? Fresno County is trying to clear the way for cooks to make money on food they prepare at home. Fresnoland
All the smoke: Here’s a list of free fireworks shows this week! YourCentralValley
Ready for Art Hop? (It’s on Thursday!) Find out more about the “No AI flier challenge.” Instagram
Fear of libraries? Tioga Beer Garden invites the public to Cafe Scientifique for discussion and lecture over the history and context of controversies surrounding libraries. The event begins at 7 p.m. July 7 at 745 Fulton St. Instagram
‘Seeing stars’ The Kings River Land Trust invites the public to join them for an evening of stargazing at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 16 at Kinney Ranch, 769 N. Piedra Road, Sanger. Kings River Land Trust
Summer reading! The Fresno County Public Library is inviting residents of all ages to Go Wild for Reading this summer through its annual Summer at Your Library program, presented in partnership with the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. Instagram
1. Not everyone is on board with Fresno’s childcare proposal
Nobody is really opposed to having more affordable childcare options in Fresno.
But that doesn’t mean City Hall has carte blanche when it comes to paying for the proposed $2 million pilot program touted by Councilmember (and potential mayoral candidate) Tyler Maxwell.
Maxwell’s otherwise popular idea has been viewed with jaundiced eyes by some who have bristled at Maxwell’s suggestion that funding could come from Measure P, the city’s 30-year sales tax for parks and arts.
Fresno Building Healthy Communities, one of the coauthors of 2018’s Measure P, sent City Hall a stern letter last week, reminding them that Measure P has what are supposed to be extremely strict and specific rules for spending and, they say, none of those rules include funding childcare facilities.
Read the full story from Fresnoland’s Julianna Morano here.
2. Fresno’s conservative leaders think you should support this new tax proposal
Fresno County’s most conservative, tax-skeptical supervisors are on board with a new tax. That’s because it literally works everywhere else in the entire state of California.
Dubbed a “transient occupancy tax,” Fresno County is one of just three California counties (out of 58) that doesn’t currently tax tourists staying in local hotels. And Fresno County is the only county that’s losing out on money.
That was the analysis provided to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday as they unanimously supported putting the question to Fresno County voters in November.
Supervisor Garry Bredefeld: “This is rectifying something that should have been addressed a long time ago.”
Read the full story from Fresnoland’s Pablo Orihuela here.
3. Fresno secures final installment of downtown money
Mayor Jerry Dyer says Fresno has secured the last installment of his promise to direct $250 million to Fresno’s infrastructure. The money was included with the state budget signed Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The investment in Fresno will replace water and sewer systems, rebuild streets and sidewalks, create parking infrastructure and prepare land for housing and mixed-use development.
The funds would also go toward the planning stages of Linear Park and an intermodal transit center near the High-Speed Rail corridor. It would also go directly toward stormwater enhancements and utility upgrades.
Dyer: “This investment is changing the trajectory of Fresno.”
Read the full story from Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad here.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Omar S. Rashad.
