Quote of the Week

“I’m encouraging residents right now that are affected by the storm, who have received damage on a private property, to fill out these forms. There’s a threshold that has to be met for California to be able to qualify for this individual assistance through FEMA. But if we don’t meet that threshold, that declaration won’t be made.”

— Nathan Magsig, supervisor, Fresno County Board of Supervisors

This Week in Fresnoland

The Tulare lakebed is the site of some truly drastic flood mitigation measures.

The Tulare lake was drained 100 years ago by the Boswell farming empire, who diverted the waters for agricultural irrigation and municipal water purposes. The rivers leading into the lake have been tamed by various dams – but with all this flooding, it’s just not enough, Lois Henry writes for SJV Water. Deer Creek’s riverbanks were keeping the water relatively well contained, until someone intentionally and illegally breached it with heavy equipment, likely in an effort to save their own land from flooding. The breach would divert the waters: right into the path of the tiny, historically Black community of Allensworth. There are real concerns that the floodwaters could make the roads into and out of Allensworth impassable. 

At the same time, the Boswell company had placed heavy equipment (a “land plane”) on the banks of the Homeland Canal, preventing the Deer Creek Flood district from cutting Homeland in order to let the waters flow north. If they did flow north, they would flow onto Boswell’s land. If the water can’t go north, it will instead go east and west: putting Allensworth and Alpaugh further into harm’s way. Both areas are currently under evacuation. 

The Deer Creek Storm Water District head, Jake Mitchell, initially discovered the Deer Creek breach. He was told by two separate callers – one purporting to represent the Kings County Board of Supervisors –  that if he tried to move the land plane or breach Homeland, he would be arrested.  

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that they will begin a rare flood release into the Tulare Lakebed; about 1500 cubic feet per second will travel through the Kings River’s Clark’s Fork-South Fork system to the lakebed. This move could save upstream communities from even more intense impacts.

Flood-affected Maderans and Fresnans must submit property damage forms to their respective counties.

If you asked me about the underlying theme of this first season of Toplines, I’d say it was the floods: these long weeks of unexpected torrential rain stranding citizens, disrupting roads, and filling our reservoirs, even as they overflow our rivers. But I’d also say this: help is out there, and if your property has been damaged after these drought-busting months, Gregory Weaver has an article about your options.  

Impacted families will need to submit forms online to the County of Fresno or the County of Madera in order to qualify for relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA typically supports disaster relief for the public good, funding repairs to the infrastructure we all rely on like roads. Individual assistance on housing works differently. “There’s a threshold that has to be met for California to be able to qualify for this individual assistance through FEMA. But if we don’t meet that threshold, that declaration won’t be made,” Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig said. 

I want to highlight also underrepresented communities impacted by disaster. In Weaver’s story, Bobby Hale, a secretary for the North Fork Rancheria tribe, said that the rainfall uprooted and collapsed centuries-old oak trees that were already weakened by the drought. Reservation roads have also suffered major washouts.

As wild as this rainy season has been, without Terminus Dam, it could have been a lot worse in Visalia.

This story from the Visalia Times-Delta has some stunning archival photos spanning the floods in 1906 and 1955. A 1906 photo from the west view of Visalia’s Main street shows men on horseback standing in horse-ankle high water as a carriage is pulled by. During scary, unpredictable and unprecedented times, it’s always best to pull back and look at the bigger picture, where we find that; actually, there is a precedent: floods were quite normal in the Visalia area before the Terminus Dam was built in the 1960s. People have survived this and much worse before. “That’s the downside of being in the Delta region; sometimes you get more water than you want,” Visalia historian Terry Ommen said. “If the Terminus Dam should break, we are right in the path of destruction.”

Are we still talking about renaming Slur Valley?

Apparently, and you can read about Fresno County’s ongoing efforts to thwart decency in Melissa Montalvo’s (Fresno Bee/Fresnoland) story. Last week, the board of supervisors voted 3-2 to sue the state of California over the 2022 law that requires the slur “squaw” to be removed from the names of places and locations by 2025. The vote runs contrary to years of advocacy and activism that lead to the newly named Yokuts Valley. 

“The big issue isn’t necessarily that particular name,” Supervisor Nathan Magsig said, “but the whole process of hearing from the local community is really taken away.” Anyway, Montalvo’s earlier story documented that the U.S. Board of Geographic Names –  federal body responsible for establishing and maintaining names in a consistent manner throughout the federal government – sought additional feedback from tribes, local communities and other stakeholders before their final vote. Magsig himself organized a meeting to gather opposition to the name change. Notably, indigenous voices that were in support of the name change were at times sidelined or shouted down at that meeting.

At least two staff members have been removed from the Tulare County Housing Authority following allegations of discrimination.

The pair were not fired, per this report from KVPR, but rather reassigned to the main Housing Authority office in Visalia. Readers will remember the allegations: that farmworker and their families who lived in Farm Labor Housing Centers in Tulare County were forced out of their homes and served three-day eviction notices, questioned about their immigration status and, by implication, threatened with the possibility of deportation. At least 17 families were served the three-day notices between September 2022 and February 2023. 

Housing Authority Commissioner Raymond Macareno disputes that anyone was truly evicted. The notices were merely the first step of the eviction process, and that residents left their homes before eviction proceedings could take place. Semantics. Note, instead, that residents don’t seem fully satisfied with this outcome: “They were supposed to provide us with information about the next steps and where they’re at, and we just feel like that did not happen,” said Mari Perez-Ruiz, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Central Valley Empowerment Alliance.

Block Beat

AIRPORT: The Fresno Yosemite International Airport will receive a public art piece designed by Caleb Duarte, art professor at Fresno City College. Fresno Bee

CLOVIS: An 11-year-old was arrested in connection with a fire at a playground in Music Park, next to the Clovis Rodeo grounds. While the fire was quickly extinguished, the playground was deemed destroyed. Fresno Bee

KINGSBURG: More than 20 people were rushed to the hospital, following a gas leak at the T-Mobile Call Center. Fox 26

CLOVIS UNIFIED: Corinne Folmer will become the next superintendent of Clovis Unified School District, ending a months-long search. Fresno Bee

SOUTH CENTRAL FRESNO: The Fresno Planning commission denied an appeal, upholding a conditional use permit for a new Starbucks location at 2840 Tulare Street. The new store will be the largest in the city, with a solar-covered patio and four electric vehicle chargers. Opponents say idling cars will further burden the area’s air quality. Documenters

CLOVIS: Clovis City Council heard arguments for and against the legalization of backyard hens. The matter was dismissed two years ago but the issue has reared its ugly head once again. Documenters  

SOUTHWEST FRESNO: Three police officers are on administrative leave pending an investigation after they fatally shot a man who held a knife. It was the second officer-involved shooting in two weeks. Fresno Bee

Department of New Construction

QUIGLEY PARK: A conditional use permit was filed on behalf of an existing convenience store for the installation of three fuel pumps with a 1,360 square foot fuel island canopy on the northeast corner of North West and West Shields Avenues.  

SOUTH CENTRAL: A development permit was filed for the construction of four 720 square foot mobile office trailers for a Ray Properties trucking lease facility on South Cherry Ave, south of East Jensen Ave. 

MANCHESTER: An environmental assessment was filed for The Dakota, a proposed affordable housing project to replace the shuttered Smuggler’s Restaurant on the southwest corner of North Blackstone and East Dakota Avenues. 

Around Town

FresYes fest 2023, the block party that draws about 20,000 annually, is coming to Tioga-Sequoia Beer Garden on Saturday, March 25, 2023. Facebook

Catch a touring production of Hairspray, the stage adaptation of the classic John Waters film, at the Saroyan Theater on March 21 – March 22 at 7:30 p.m. Downtown Fresno

Interested in content creation but a total novice with the camera? CMAC provides a workshop that can teach you the basics of visual storytelling (and even audio and lightning techniques) on March 22. EventBrite

A Tower District community meeting to discuss streetlights on Olive as well as smoke shops will be hosted at 1535 E Olive Ave. Apt 101 on April 12. Instagram

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.