Quote of the Week
“I don’t anticipate the county doing privatization anytime soon,”
— Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez, after sharing with Fresnoland the political hurdles involved in privatizing the Fresno County Public Library
(📢 Join us at October ArtHop this coming Thursday to hear from residents sharing about the legacy of freeways in Fresno’s historic neighborhoods. Register to save your seat here.📢 )
This Week in Fresnoland
Will we, or won’t we, privatize the library?
As anti-library privatization sentiment grows, backers of the fledgling proposal to outsource the Fresno County Public Library system don’t have the votes to make it happen, just yet.
A vote to turn the library over to the private sector requires a supermajority of four of the five county board of supervisors. It’s unclear how much the math could change on the Fresno County Board of Supervisors in the coming year.
Earlier this year, Fresno Board Chair Garry Bredefeld ordered county staff to prepare a feasibility study and cost analysis of privatization as the county grapples with struggling finances on multiple fronts.
But even Bredefeld, who has publicly clashed with the library and what he has described as its “woke agenda”, has stopped short of saying he supports the idea.
Bredefeld: “I’m not committed to anything simply because I asked for a report and an analysis of what it would mean to privatize the library.”
The supervisors are tentatively scheduled to discuss the library study further at their Oct. 20 meeting, according to Supervisor Luis Chavez.
👉 Read the full story from Fresnoland here
The parent group that wants more transparency from Fresno Unified
Kristina Holmes-McIntyre, a parent of three kids at Fresno Unified schools, has spent the last year rattling the cages of anyone at Fresno Unified who will listen.
She co-founded the Fresno Community Parent Coalition in 2025 after getting frustrated with how her kids’ schools handled a CPS call.
The parent coalition has been advocating for a new independent parent oversight committee that will report directly to the board of trustees on a quarterly basis.
Holmes-McIntyre said that top leadership at the district was happy to meet with her and the group, but less interested in parents reporting directly to the board. Instead, she told Fresnoland, they wanted to make a few changes to the current site councils to make them more effective.
Holmes-McIntyre: “We were offering them a mechanism to hold themselves accountable and build trust with parents, but they don’t want to do that.”
👉 Read the whole Fresnoland story here
Next month, Fresno prosecutors might be armed at work
Fresno County prosecutors are now just weeks away from being able to carry concealed guns into county buildings and parks under a new law, ABC30 reports.
The law, which goes into effect in late October, comes in the wake of two high-profile incidents involving city and county prosecutors.
In August, a deputy district attorney was attacked and stabbed in Courthouse Park. He survived and is recovering. And in May, a man with a knife came to the home of Fresno City Attorney Janz. Neither Janz nor anyone in his family was hurt.
District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp has long been critical of safety in downtown Fresno and told ABC30 she feels there’s a general lack of respect for law enforcement.
Smittcamp: “We’re going to do things legally, morally, ethically, but we’re not going to sit back and allow ourselves to be victimized.”
SEDA, developer contributions become flashpoint in city council candidate forum
All six candidates running for the Fresno City Council have come out opposed to Mayor Jerry Dyer’s signature SEDA development plan, which calls for 45,000 homes packed tightly across 9,000 acres on the southeastern outskirts of Fresno.
Even candidates supported by Dyer, like D7 hopeful Nav Gurm whose criticisms of the plan have taken a sharper edge as election day approaches, The Fresno Bee reported about a candidate forum held Tuesday night hosted by Dulce Upfront. Rob Fuentes, the other Dyer-backed candidate in the D1 race, who wasn’t present at the forum, has also told Fresnoland he opposes the current version of SEDA, during the primaries.
Gurm’s opponent in the race, Arianna Martinez Lott, suggested Gurm’s current opposition to SEDA might be a more politically convenient position at the moment and one she seemed to suggest Gurm could change his mind about after the election.
Martinez Lott: “I’m not waiting for a certain version that appeals to the elected officials and to developers.”
The ‘No on S’ campaign has emerged, quietly
The on-again, off-again efforts to thwart Fresno County’s road tax renewal quietly got off the ground Tuesday, six weeks ahead of the November midterm election, YourCentralValley reports.
The No on Measure S group held a small and selective news conference Tuesday and decried the plan for what they say is too much emphasis on bike paths, public transportation and road maintenance requirements they say are too heavy-handed.
The opposition has gathered a lot of the same voices we’ve been hearing over the past few months: Supervisors Garry Bredefeld, Buddy Mendes, and Nathan Magsig; along with Clovis City Councilmember Diane Pearce, Reedley Mayor Matthew Tuttle, and asphalt contractor and former Fresno Unified trustee Brooke Ashjian to counteract the politically diverse “Yes on S” coalition that has garnered endorsements from 10 city councils, a smattering of small and large city Republican mayors, and dozens of community and social justice advocacy groups.
Outside the Lines
Pay now, train later? The California High-Speed Rail Authority says it is facing a looming cash crunch by the end of next year — and they want early access to $20 billion the state has pledged. The Fresno Bee
Homecoming: New York Times California editor at large returns to his alma mater for “Manny Fernandez in Conversation: Inside The New York Times’ Cesar Chavez Investigation” at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30, at the Satellite Student Union. Fresno State
In this week’s “what’s going on at State Center?”: Negotiations over the district’s project labor agreement are intensifying. GV Wire
Closed: The road to Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park closed this week in connection with the Dome Fire. YourCentralValley
Listen up: West Nile virus cases are surging in California and there isn’t one clear reason, but rather a combination of factors coming together at once. KVPR
Up and coming: Mariachi Monarca is a Fresno-based ensemble gaining a following after gigs at places like Tower Porch Fest, Engelman Cellars and Chukchansi Park for Fresno Grizzlies games, among others. ABC30
50% blank? Fresno State farm suffers big pistachio losses after March heat. ABC30
Block Beat
Downtown: We’ve solved the mystery around what happened to Fresno’s trendiest taqueria that came into town like a train and disappeared just as easily. Fresnoland Food
West of 99: The Highway City Community Development Corporation is hosting a candidate forum for the Fresno City Council, District 1 and Fresno County Board of Supervisors, District 1 races this Monday, Sept. 28 from 7-8:15 p.m. at the Teague Community Resource Center. Instagram
Tower District: Come celebrate FernFest, a celebration that aims to bring the Tower District’s vacant buildings back to life. The event features live music, local crafts and music. The event begins at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25. Vibrant Not Vacant
Fig Garden: The Starbucks at Fig Garden Village is among the casualties of the coffee chain’s nationwide shuttering of 250 stores. It also affects the shop on Shaw and Woodrow, across from Fresno State. Fresno Bee
Downtown: Tioga Sequoia Oktoberfest runs from 3 to 11 p.m. Saturday at Tioga’s beer garden on Fulton Street in downtown Fresno. The event features live music, food trucks and includes a Steinholding Competition at 5 p.m. This event is free to attend and welcomes all ages! Oktoberfest
Tower District: The Mexico-based, Latin Grammy-nominated alt-rock bank Allison takes the stage at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Tower Theatre, 815 East Olive Ave. Doors open at 7 p.m. Ticket information here
