Good morning! It’s Friday, Feb. 27. This is Rob.
Fog. Then, not fog: Fresno’s fog hangover clears out by 10am today, making way for party-cloudy skies and another day of highs in the 70s ahead of what’s expected to be a pretty nice weekend. NOAA
Civil rights lawsuit: A former worker suing Fresno City Hall says he was shocked by a supervisor’s use of racial slur about a Black colleague. The Fresno Bee
Lion Dancers: Chinatown Fresno invites you to view the Lion Dancers return this weekend at Central Fish Co. The event begins at 11 a.m. Saturday at the market, 1535 Kern St. Instagram
Party for a good cause: The Marjaree’s Birthday Soirée, a benefit dinner for the Marjaree Mason Center, is set for Friday, March 20 at Table Mountain Casino Resort. More info
1. More bad budget news
There’s at least a projected $23 million hole in Fresno’s budget — and that number is expected to get uglier, Julianna Morano reports for Fresnoland.
The $23.3 million or so gap is larger than last year’s midyear shortfall and, for the third year in a row, city leaders are looking to make across the board cuts — to the tune of 5% to each city department.
A year ago when preparing for the current budget year, the city projected a deficit of closer to $20 million, which ultimately ballooned to approximately $50 million.
City Manager Georgeanne White said department heads “don’t have a lot of options left” to trim budgets without hurting services.
White: “I know the low-hanging fruit is gone.”
2. Clovis slowly opening up city to affordable housing
The City of Clovis’ long-resisted mixed-income zoning law inched along again this week as the city moves in line with state housing policies requiring minimum levels of affordable housing, Fresnoland’s Pablo Orihuela reports.
At a city Planning Commission meeting this week, commissioners unanimously approved the mixed-income zoning ordinance, also known as the MIZO, which city officials said makes Clovis the first city in the central San Joaquin Valley to develop that policy.
The MIZO is expected to come before the Clovis City Council for final approval in April.
After losing a lawsuit, the City of Clovis made a total of five concessions it committed to delivering following a lawsuit. That includes increasing affordable housing by eliminating red tape and increasing financing options for local affordable housing developers.
3. Promoting school safety
The Fresno City Council on Thursday OK’d a string of new investments promoting pedestrian safety around the city’s school campuses.
Fresnoland’s Julianna Morano reports that investments include two new pedestrian-activated crosswalks, at First Street and Home Avenue near Mayfair and Ericson Elementary Schools, and another at First Street and Dovewood Lane near Hoover High School.
First Street was the road 15-year-old Hoover student Rashad Al-Hakim Jr. was crossing in 2022 when a driver under the influence struck and killed the high school athlete.
The $2.1 million project on First and Home also covers the cost of adding a traffic signal to the intersection of Chestnut and Weldon Avenues.
The project near Hoover comes in at just over $955,000.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad.
