Good morning! It’s Wednesday, Oct. 21. This is Rob.
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New digs? Who’s moving into the vacant Walgreens buildings in Fresno? The Fresno Bee
Gas leak: An unspecified number of downtown offices evacuated Tuesday after work crews hit a gas line near Calaveras and H streets. YourCentralValley
Getting out of jail: Judge cuts ICE agent’s bail, allows him to return to Texas while awaiting trial in Fresno assault case. YourCentralValley
A valley legend: A new northwest Fresno park has been named in honor of former California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante. ABC30
1. Where’s the water?
Fresno County OK’d building a new town — the size of Fowler — that doesn’t have enough water for future residents.
Only the developers of the new community said they believed they would have enough water for the town in the event of a drought.
As previously reported by Fresnoland, Millerton Lake, the main water supply for the new town, can hold Friant Ranch’s backup water for only one year — too little to carry the town through a drought similar to what occurred in 2014.
At the time, county planners failed to account for the gap because they relied on a 2008 water analysis.
Tuesday’s hearing was the county’s last chance to fix the problem.
Supervisors heard their own lawyer confirm Fresnoland’s reporting on the record — and unanimously approved the project anyway.
A legal battle is likely.
Clovis resident Radley Reep: “If this goes to court, the court will overturn you in two seconds for recognizing changed conditions and new information, and not allowing the public to participate in that discussion.”
👉 Read the full Fresnoland story here
2. The fight over the library is dead again — at least for now
A contentious months-long debate over the latest effort to privatize Fresno County’s library system is all but dead after the company involved in the process ghosted county negotiators.
The possibility of taking the library private — which never had the votes to pass the Board of Supervisors — crashed out after the company, Library Systems and Services, abruptly stopped communicating with the county and never submitted an actual proposal.
The Fresno County Friends of the Library and other critics of the proposal repeated their frustrations and anger over the issue and said they’re looking for a permanent solution that could keep the library public.
They suggested one possible route might be adding language to Measure B, a library tax up for renewal in 2028, that would prevent the money from going to a private company.
SEIU member Joel Perez: “Now that the vendor has abandoned its courtship of Fresno County, the moment has arrived to put a stake through the heart of this unholy proposal.”
👉 Check out the full Fresnoland story here
3. ‘Don’t fuck with Fresno’ isn’t just a warning anymore. It’s also a hat
A new fundraiser for local veterans nonprofits celebrates the one-year anniversary of a Fresno city councilmember sending a “clear” message to the federal government: “Don’t fuck with Fresno.”
Councilmember Nick Richardson threw down the now-famous (infamous?) public gauntlet last year amid a fight with federal officials who were threatening to withhold Congressionally-approved funding for the city.
Fresno sued the federal government and won.
Now, one year later, the Sequoia Brewing Company is teaming up with Richardson, a major, with the USMC Reserve, to re-release the ‘Don’t Fuck with Fresno” special edition beer and a hat that says ‘DFWF’.
Donations start at $150 and include the hat and a beer crawler and it’s only available to those who donate at one of the brewery’s two Fresno-area locations. Check out the promo here.
Richardson: It’s always great to see local businesses looking for ways to give back to our community. Now, let’s show Sequoia that same support! Stop by, grab a bite, bring a friend, and support a local business that’s stepping up for our veterans.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Danielle Bergstrom.
