Quote of the Week

“Even if (CalOSHA) they have an office, until we … see concrete actions and steps to meet workers’ needs, I don’t see how the agency could be successful.”

– Sarait Martinez, executive director of indigenous workers’ rights nonprofit Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño. Excitement for CalOSHA’s new Fresno location seems tepid at best.

This Week in Fresnoland

Why is Cal/OSHA opening offices in Fresno?

While CalOSHA said that no specific incidents related to extreme heat drew their attention, there has been a marked increase in complaints and accidents alongside a need for high-heat inspections, Julianna Morano reports for Fresnoland.

Fresno saw some of the largest population gains during the pandemic, so we’ve become a site of interest. The Central Valley is home to a lot of high-hazard industries, between our meatpacking district (which boasted an exceptionally high level of complaints between 2015 and 2020) and our farmworkers (studies have shown a great deal of noncompliance with measures to combat extreme heat).

Elidio Hernandez Gomez, a Fresno-area farmworker, died working in triple-digit heat in August.

What conclusions can we draw from a new inequality study?

ECONorthwest, a group of economists studying inequality, produced a report about the City of Fresno. In two stories for Fresnoland, Gregory Weaver details how the city’s core has been hollowed out in favor of wealthy sprawl on its northmost edge and how this over-investment has decayed Fresno’s core neighborhoods.

Among other things, we’re seeing lots of urban blight (abandoned, derelict buildings) throughout town, from empty office buildings downtown to eight miles of abandoned shopping centers on Blackstone.

The city’s core has concentrated poverty, worse than most of California. The people in power have failed to invest in our innermost neighborhoods, leaving them to the fires, economic downturn, and failing infrastructure in a process called “urban decay.”

Mayor Dyer’s One Fresno Housing Policy hopes to add about 3,200 affordable housing units to the city’s center by 2025. Still, Dyer is committed to building even more houses on the city’s fringe and the controversial SEDA project, which will build a second Clovis in southeast Fresno.

Pending approval, Madera Hospital wants to sell off farmland to help repay its debts.

The hospital’s Board of Trustees approved the sale of a 35.58-acre parcel of land holding an almond orchard with an offer of $569,280 – but Bankruptcy Court Judge René Lastreto has to sign off on it first, Omar Shaikh Rashad reports for Fresnoland.

Madera Community Hospital filed for bankruptcy in March with $44 million in liabilities, which included the loan from Saint Agnes Medical Center. The hospital still has $33.7 million in liabilities and accumulated another $2 million in debts since filing for bankruptcy, according to an August update.

The hospital’s creditors called for a competitive bidding process instead of a direct sale, further complicating matters. Revenue from the sale would settle debts with Saint Agnes Medical Center. Madera Hospital owes them $15.4 million.

Advocates are calling for more diversity on Water Resources Control Boards

The California State Water Resources Control Board admits that its workforce doesn’t mirror California’s racial composition, Bella Kim reports for CalMatters.

Sixty-nine percent of their board management was white in 2020, with 31% Black, Indigenous, or other people of color.

“More local representation would ensure that when decisions are made, the needs of the communities impacted aren’t ignored,” said Michael Claiborne, an attorney for the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, an environmental justice organization.

Fresno State ranks eighth in ‘social mobility.’

A year ago, Fresno State ranked 30th by U.S. World and News Report in social mobility – a metric that assesses public and private universities for how well they graduate economically disadvantaged students to a higher standard of living – today it ranks eighth, The Fresno Bee reports. The Wall Street Journal ranked them sixth in a similar measure earlier this month.

If you’re wondering how such a thing can be calculated, it comes down to evaluating Pell Grant recipients (who are low-income) for six-year graduation rates and graduation rate performance relative to non-recipients.

Block Beat

WEST FRESNO: Just a week after demolition, the Central Valley Environmental group is wrapping up clean up efforts at the VFW Post on North Blythe Avenue. The VFW’s roof collapsed in July. ABC30 

TOWER DISTRICT: Tipzy’s Tacos and Beer is opening a second location in the historic Tower District. The Mexican restaurant is notable for being explicitly LGBTQ and nightlife friendly.  Fresno Bee

CENTRAL FRESNO: Heroes Comics will close its doors permanently thanks in part to rising rents. The Business Journal

BULLARD:  The Baskin-Robbins on Bullard and West is dead. Long live Scoops, a new independent ice cream venture – on Bullard and West. Fresno Bee

FRESNO: The Central California Food Bank held a ribbon cutting ceremony for its First Fruits Market in the newly opened City Center at 2025 E. Dakota. The Business Journal

Around Town

“Keep Fresno’s LGBTQ Community Safe,” a free forum, will bring Vida en el Valle and The Fresno Bee’s Stop the Hate project – which reported four stories on hate crimes and speech against Latinos and the LGBTQ+ community in Fresno – to a close on Sept. 28. Fresno Bee

Sensorio, an outdoor exhibit, is hosting its first Sunrise Sunday event, where attendees will be able to enjoy a variety of exhibits and colorful displays. There’s also Yoga. KMPH

The Crest Theatre is screening Wall-E, a movie about a little trash robot stranded on a poisonous Earth overflowing with trash. Relatable. Downtown Fresno

Next Week in Public Meetings

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Tommy is the author of Toplines, the Fresnoland newsletter curating the top stories in the Central Valley. He thinks he's very funny.