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Good morning! It’s Friday, June 26. This is Rob.
Nicer: Cooler today with highs in the upper 80s ahead of a mild weekend. NOAA
Family matters: In an effort to celebrate families and protest Fresno County’s anti-queer “Nuclear Family Month”, Maarte is joining forces with a local photographer from 5 to 8 p.m June 30 at Maarte taking free photos in a project dubbed “This is what family looks like.” Instagram
‘Seeing stars’ The Kings River Land Trust invites the public to join them for an evening of star-gazing 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. ‘The worst thing we could do’?
Fresno County is studying the feasibility of privatizing its 116-year-old public library system, Fresnoland’s Danielle Bergstrom and Julianna Morano report.
Over the last three years, Fresno libraries have faced increased scrutiny and criticism from high-profile right-wing politicians, like Garry Bredefeld at Fresno County and Diane Pearce on the Clovis City Council. It’s become one of the frontlines of political culture wars in the central San Joaquin Valley.
“But for the library system’s staunchest supporters, the question of privatization raises a host of concerns beyond the county’s finances — about the future of the libraries that some see as one of the only bastions of communal gathering space that doesn’t come with an entry fee.”
Supervisor Luis Chavez says it’s a bad idea.
Chavez: “Handing over library operations, budgeting and management to a private company is the worst thing we could do, it doesn’t yield savings, pays low wages and benefits if any and reduces the library experience to a simple book-borrowing enterprise where certain books and materials can be censored.”
2. Fresno incentivizes affordable housing
The Fresno City Council on Thursday approved a construction approval process for proposed developments that set aside at least one-fifth of their housing units to lower-income households, Fresnoland’s Pablo Orihuela reported.
If developers set aside at least 20% of the units in a single project for low-income renters, it can be approved ministerially by the city in certain areas of town, meaning those projects can skip past review by the Fresno Planning Commission and Fresno City Council.
Councilmember Annalisa Perea said Thursday’s proposal is a way for the council to address local cost-of-living issues.
Perea: “As electeds, we preach affordability, affordability, high cost of living. What can we do to bring costs down? But we don’t always act upon those statements. This is a policy that allows us to practice what we preach.”
3. Red light camera pilot in the works?
The Fresno City Council also unanimously approved a resolution to pursue a 36-month long pilot program that will see red-light traffic violations enforced automatically through mounted cameras on intersections around the city.
The program comes after state lawmakers passed a law allowing local jurisdictions to implement these programs to curtail vehicular homicide and injury numbers. The bill passed through the legislature without much opposition.
Thursday’s resolution was sponsored by councilmembers Annalisa Perea and Nelson Esparza.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad.
