Good morning! It’s Thursday, April 9. This is Rob.
Clouds creepin’: Mostly sunny skies today over Fresno with highs in the low 80s ahead of expected rain storms on Friday and Saturday. NOAA
(Very) Un-appealing? Fresno wants a new trial in the $15 million racism verdict, despite public objections. GV Wire
Life is a highway: Madera County launches $100 million Highway 41 expansion project. YourCentralValley
Learn to Swede? Want to create your own sweded film for Swede Fest, but don’t know where to start? CMAC has you covered. Two free classes are available to help you learn how to pick a project and build a production plan, among other tools. Class begins at 6 p.m. April 14. CMAC
Basque Fest! The 48th annual Fresno Basque Festival begins at 9 a.m. May 2. The free public event includes a parade, Basque music, dancing, and food. More info
Calling all poets: The Fresno County Public Library is accepting submissions for its 27th Annual Poetry Contest, inviting residents of all ages to share their writing and be recognized as part of a long-standing community tradition. Facebook
Farmworker wages stagnate: A new study has found that wages for farmworkers have stagnated, making it tough for them to choose between paying for medical care or utility bills and other fixed expenses. The study projects farmworkers’ health outcomes to improve with wage increases. Fresnoland
1. Mayor Dyer’s ‘friendly reminder’
Why don’t Fresno Unified’s elected trustees have any opinion about a mega-development that district staff say would aggressively accelerate the district’s slumping enrollment and force double-digit school closures in the coming years?
According to text messages obtained by Fresnoland’s Gregory Weaver, the Fresno Unified school board can’t figure out how it feels about closing nearly a dozen schools because of political pressure from Mayor Jerry Dyer.
The highly contentious SEDA megadevelopment — a massive $4.3 billion, 9,000-acre housing plan roughly the size of Clovis — has been in the works in various forms for decades now.
In February, the FUSD school board briefly debated taking a formal position opposing the sprawl development widely expected to fuel the district’s enrollment demise, but ultimately took no action.
The night before FUSD’s vote, Dyer sent text messages to at least most of the board — which he told Fresnoland weren’t “intended to be a threat” — urging them to stay out of the issue.
“When we start, as government entities, making comments about each other’s operations, all it does is create a divide,” Dyer told Fresnoland’s Gregory Weaver. “And the last thing we need in government today is a divide.”
Trustees Keisha Thomas, Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, Susan Witrupp and Claudia Cazares acquiesced to the mayor’s demands and voted to table the issue indefinitely.
Three FUSD trustees pushed back against Fresno’s two-term mayor, with Veva Islas and Andy Levine telling the mayor that SEDA was bad for FUSD students and families.
Islas, Levine and Trustee Valarie Davis voted to oppose the urban-sprawl development, despite Dyer’s “friendly reminder.”
“Let me be clear,” Dyer wrote to Levine. “If the FUSD takes a formal position against SEDA the relationship between the city and FUSD will be damaged. No way around it.”
2. Fresno residents urge Edison High to remove Chavez mural
As tributes to disgraced labor rights leader Cesar Chavez continue falling quickly in the wake of devastating rape and abuse allegations, multiple Fresno residents slammed the school district for dragging its feet on Edison High School’s prominent mural.
The Rev. B.T. Lewis echoed the same sentiments, acknowledging the board’s resolution but also calling for the mural to be removed as quickly as possible, Fresnoland’s Diego Vargas reports.
“Given the recent egregious allegations levied against the legacy of one of our most influential civil rights leaders, I believe it is in the best interest of our district and our community to remove the image of Cesar Chavez as soon as possible,” Rev. Lewis said.
The resolution to assess mentions and works of Chavez in the district includes a process for community feedback on whether any works should be preserved, replaced, restored or removed.
3. Fresno Unified budget talks in limbo
Fresno Unified’s scramble to close massive budget deficits will be put on ice for at least the next month while the district awaits new budget numbers from the governor’s office, Fresnoland’s Diego Vargas reports.
“We’ll be taking a brief break from the budgetary process until we get the governor’s May revision, and then we’ll be coming back to talk about the board, the budget again as a whole,” said Patrick Jensen, the district’s chief financial officer.
More than 450 jobs are on the district’s chopping block to help close a roughly $55 million deficit, but administrators have repeatedly said they believe most employees will be transferred to other positions instead of being laid off this summer.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad.
