Good morning! It’s Thursday, Nov. 6. This is Rob.
🌞 Sunny skies return today with highs around 70. NOAA
🥫November SNAP/CalFresh payments will now only be about two-thirds of the usual amount, Bloomberg reports, revising earlier projections that estimated payments would essentially be cut in half. As uncertainty around benefits continues, and food bank lines grow, please share this free food and resource guide for locals in need. Fresnoland
🌮 Fresno’s annual Taco Truck Throwdown returns to Chukchansi Park on Saturday. TTT14
🐶The public is invited to a Free Community Vaccine Clinic for Dogs & Their Families from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8 at Roeding Park, 890 W Belmont Ave, Fresno. Instagram
🐉 The Kearney Park Renaissance Faire and Marketplace runs Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. until dusk and the park will be open exclusively for the faire. For additional information about the event, you can go to TwoFayreLadies.net. For all other questions, please email parks@fresnocountyca.gov or call 559-600-3004.
🎥 The Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, Fresno Immigrant and Refugee Ministries, and Stone Soup Fresno are pleased to invite you to a special screening of the docuseries Southeast Asian Journeys, highlighting Southeast Asian American stories and community voices from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7 at 2630 E. Weldon Ave., Fresno. More information
1. Mega-development in Fresno faces new ultimatum: an urban growth boundary
A diverse political coalition pushed back hard early Thursday on Fresno City Hall plans for a massive mega-development on the city’s southeast outskirts, Fresnoland’s Gregory Weaver reports.
The city’s on-again, off-again mega-development plans have been debated for years, with local developers and builders pushing hard for a greenlight on the 45,000-home project.
Speaking with reporters on Thursday at a news conference before the regularly scheduled City Council meeting, advocates demanded that the city halt plans for the development or face a potential voter referendum that could permanently place future suburban sprawl projects directly in the hands of local voters.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, who declined to comment on Thursday’s news conference, is expected to make another presentation on the development today at City Hall.
Rhonda Dueck, executive director of Jackson Community Development Corporation: “I’m not sure our job is to make developers rich. Our job is to take good care of the city. And there needs to be some boundaries on how that happens.”
2. Furloughs loom over Fresno’s anti-poverty programs
Hundreds of Fresno EOC workers face indefinite furloughs after the New Year, unless the historic federal government shutdown ends soon, Fresnoland’s Julianna Morano reported Wednesday.
The poverty-fighting nonprofit, which first opened its doors in 1965 during the height of President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” programs that also launched Medicare and Medicaid.
Fresno EOC was an early adopter of the anti-poverty initiatives, and administers dozens of programs helping over 100,000 Fresno County residents with anything from food assistance for seniors to transitional housing for youth.
CEO Steven R. Lewis: “Furloughs resulting from this action are expected to be temporary, but the length of the furlough is undetermined at this time.”
3. FUSD superintendent gets a new public report card
A new public report card is in the works for Fresno Unified Superintendent Misty Her as the state’s third-largest school district continues to overhaul a system that left thousands of students behind state testing standards.
Fresnoland’s Diego Vargas was on hand Wednesday night as the FUSD board of trustees continued its ongoing discussion over the systematic changes voters and trustees have said they want.
The new performance evaluation system will include a public scorecard that expects to measure administrative performance alongside student achievement and improving outcomes.
Trustee Andy Levine: “This is making sure that we’re objective to really stay laser focused. We are the ones that need to make the decision of whether to give them a positive review that has implications going forward and it should be based primarily on goals and guardrails and not a broader kind of evaluation.”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Danielle Bergstrom.
