A doctor listens to a patient's heartbeat at the Mountain Valley Health Center in Bieber on July 24, 2019. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters

Quote of the Week

“All we are asking for is a living wage. Transdev’s refusal to negotiate an economic package for us is a slap in the face.”

– James Balducci, one of the Transdev bus drivers who have just gone on strike, grounding Visalia’s transportation services to halt. San Diego, Arcadia and Antelope Valley all had their own strikes earlier this year.

This Week in Fresnoland

Fresno is suffering from the doctor shortage in California. 

This CalMatters article about the doctor shortage blames residency placements; doctors spend their first few years out of medical school undergoing additional training, often in expensive facilities. Most of the time, doctors don’t leave the area of their residency. However, this system is so entrenched, and the placement of a residency is so costly that some experts don’t even think it’s worth reforming.

As things stand, many rural areas are rendered “doctor deserts.” Rural Americans are more likely to die from heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease and stroke than urban Americans. While America does have about the same number of doctors as other developed countries, it trails behind in doctors per capita.

Fourth of July is the most polluted night of the year in Clovis. It’s just another weekday in south Fresno.

Southcentral Fresno is one of the most polluted neighborhoods in California, Fresnoland’s Gregory Weaver writes. It takes an entire fireworks festival for Clovis to compete with the toxicity numbers south Fresno regularly faces each winter.

“(The) fireworks simulate, for a single night, what we are forced to breathe for months on end in the Valley during the wintertime,” said Kevin Hamilton, executive director of the Central California Asthma Collaborative. The average Air Quality Index for Roosevelt High rivaled the peak hours of firework pollution in Clovis.

Careful readers will remember that Caltrans is working even now on a Highway 99 expansion plan that would pollute the area even further. Litigation is underway.

Democratic leaders and healthcare advocates agree that California should go single-payer – but how? And when?

So there are two sides of this battle, Ana B. Ibarra explains for CalMatters. On one end: a coalition of health, labor and civil rights advocacy groups want Senate Bill 770, which would authorize a workgroup of experts to study the possibility of a single-payer healthcare system in California. But, on the other hand, the California nurse’s union wants Assembly Bill 1690 which would establish a single-payer system called CalCare. 

The criticisms of SB 770 are pretty obvious: studying the possibility of single-payer is not the same thing as creating a single-payer system. “Instead,” Carmen Comsti, lead regulatory policy specialist with the nurse’s union said, “it opens the door for legislators to say: ‘It’s too soon to talk about CalCare and single-payer because we’re studying it.’”

But it’s not as if AB 1690 has the votes – its predecessor bill died last year after its author pulled it from the Assembly floor due to lack of support.

Another heatwave is headed our way. Where to cool off this summer?

Jackie Schuster wrote us a pretty thorough guide to answer a little-asked but hugely vital question: who has the best public pool access in Fresno County? Now I could name them all, whether it’s the Crandell Swim Complex in Kingsburg or the Parlier Pool. 

But if I did that the little blue link would be out of a click, so instead I’m just going to take this opportunity to shame the City of Clovis, which refuses to offer public swimming to its residents. The Clovis City Manager said it was because of a financial liability which, okay, the city of deep pockets is worried about a financial liability, okay, sure – but also he hasn’t seen a request to build or operate one in all his 20+ years.

These programs can teach you how to make a difference.  

Speaking of guides by Jackie Schuster, this one is focused on programs that can help readers make a difference. The Community Land Use Academy is a sort of civic boot camp that can help Fresno residents learn how to get involved in land use and urban planning in their city.

Mayor Dyer’s Office of Community Affairs hosts the Civic Academy, a class about the city’s government and how it functions.

And hey, if you want to learn a little bit of citizen journalism and community engagement, check out the Fresno Documenters program. We’ll pay you to cover the meetings and bring home the goods (the information worth caring about in a snappy bulleted list).

Block Beat

BAKERSFIELD: Aera Energy LLC, an oil producer and major employer in the area, has cut about 10% of its workforce, totaling about 100 jobs. The company was recently sold to the German asset management company IKAV as well as Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the minority owner. The Business Journal 

CARY PARK: The giant abacus – a primitive counting device featuring round stones on sticks, often seen in cartoons or period pieces where a bean counter is present –  at the Citibank on Ashland and Blackstone was thought lost. It has been restored. The Business Journal

HANFORD: Property owners have filed a plan with the city for an almost 40 acre mixed-use project called Hanford Place – it will have an ambulatory surgery center, a speciality clinic, a psychiatric facility, a hotel, housing, a nursing college and more. The Sentinel 

Department of New Construction

ROBINSON:  A development permit was filed for the installation of new solar canopy structures in the 5500 block of North Fresno Street.

SUNNYSIDE: A development permit application has been filed, with the City of Fresno proposing to develop the property previously owned by the USDS in the 2000 block of South Peach Avenue to serve the community by providing a sports complex and recreation areas.

DOWNTOWN: A planned development application has been submitted to build a new assisted living and adult day care facility in the 2100 block of Monterey Street.

Around Town

Registration is open for the third annual Mayor’s Citywide Community Cleanup Day. Cleaning starts at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 5, and continues until 10 a.m., which is when the after party starts at Manchester Center. Participants can get a free t-shirt and tickets to “Beautify Fresno Night” with the Fresno Grizzlies. Beautify Fresno

Fresno Unified High School hosts free open recreational swimming on Saturdays and Sundays from 12 – 5 p.m. until July 30. Participants must be at least 3 years old and potty trained. The readers with 2-year-olds are irate right now, but in my opinion they have bigger problems.  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.