Quote of the Week

“At times, I stand alone. I’ll stand against the woke. I’ll stand against ultra-conservatives.”

– Republican House Rep. John Duarte said, in an attempt to position himself as the middle ground between extremes, not beholden to any particular political party. Woke. Ultra-conservative.

This Week in Fresnoland

Fresnoland, the ACLU, and the First Amendment Coalition demand the Fresno City Council comply with California’s open meetings law

The Fresno City Council has 30 days to formally respond to a cease-and-desist letter regarding the budget committee. The letter, jointly signed by the ACLU, the First Amendment Coalition and Fresnoland, demands the city open up its budget committee to the public. Since at least 2019, the committee has met privately with the mayor’s office, debating. key budget questions behind closed doors.

A Fresnoland investigation, published Aug. 16, revealed that of California’s 10 largest cities, only Fresno claims its budget committee is exempt from the state’s open meeting laws.

It’s been three weeks since Omar Shaikh Rashad published the Fresnoland investigation and most city leaders remain silent. Those who have spoken out, have stopped short of saying the council has done anything wrong.

Speaking with Fresnoland last week before the ACLU letter was delivered, Mayor Jerry Dyer called the city’s current budget process efficient and said it would be difficult to change.

“That budget subcommittee process is an inherited system,” Dyer told Fresnoland. “It is a system that predated my administration. It was my understanding at that point that it had been vetted through the city attorney’s office prior to Andrew Janz coming in, prior to me coming in.”

If the Fresno City Council refuses to “ensure that the budget committee ceases and desists its secret meetings,” the ACLU and First Amendment Coalition could seek legal action against the council. If they prevail, a judge could ultimately force the city to pay for court costs and attorney fees.

“Governance shrouded in secrecy is an anathema to the democratic ideal,” the letter read. “We urge you to stop hiding behind closed doors when deliberating on important issues concerning the residents of Fresno.”

The City of Fresno wants to hire from a pool of marginalized applicants. 

The city is interested in people between the ages of 14 and 24 with the legal right to work in the United States, Julianna Morano writes for Fresnoland. Government jobs are one of the largest labor pools in the county and they lack many of the usual barriers to employment, barriers to guard against low-income applicants or those with a criminal record. The first step to applying is to call or text 559-230-3656, or to apply online. Applicants will be placed based in-part on their interests, but availability of positions across the city’s many departments — human resources, parks, or public utilities were examples Fresno City Councilmember Tyler Maxwell gave – will be the primary factor. 

Positions pay $17.55 an hour for 200 hours of work. 

Fresno Unified will let the kids play outside as long as the AQI stays under 170. The EPA draws the line at just 100.  

Sports events were not canceled and children were allowed to be outside their classrooms last week, Gregory Weaver reports, despite an AQI well above the EPA’s limit of 100 for limited exposure. While FUSD’s guidelines define “sensitive persons” (the sort of person who should shelter from contaminated air) as anyone with a medical condition on file, such as asthma, the EPA defines all children as sensitive. Their still-developing bodies are more vulnerable to PM2.5 exposure, which has been linked to altered brain structure, autism, depression, schizophrenia, suicide, obesity and asthma.

Both CUSD and FUSD rely on older, slower to respond systems from the Air District rather than the more modern and fast-reacting NOAA forecast system. While CUSD has a powerful air filtration system indoors, FUSD’s system proves woefully inadequate by comparison, filtering a mere 40 cubic feet per second compared to CUSD’s 1500 cubic feet of air per second at high settings. 

Congressman John Duarte is a Republican who would like you to believe otherwise. Kind of.

Alright, alright I’ll talk about him for real. Reading this story about John Duarte –  the congressman who bested Democrat Adam Gray by emaciated margins – one is overcome by an essential question: What does anything mean? Michelle Morgante reports for CVJC that Duarte pledged to stand his ground in the dead center. 

A so-called Valleycrat, Duarte seems determined to convince Valley voters that he doesn’t hold strong allegiance to anyone but them. He stressed the need for better water infrastructure for clean water and better crops – and then he said we need to drill American oil. 

He called himself “immigration fluid,” a phrase so mystifying that I almost want to bold and underline it. In this context it means that Duarte supports border security in public but will ultimately vote against tighter restrictions, like he did with HR-2. He recognizes that the Valley relies on its immigrant agricultural workforce. He says that too many people are living in secrecy in the Central Valley, implying that he would like some form of legal recognition. “It’s not fair,” he said. “We rely on them.”

 Five years after police cracked down on MS-13, Mendota is flourishing.

The city of Mendota had a reputation for being both poor and incredibly violent with no less than a dozen murders being linked to the infamous MS-13 gang. A coalition of logical, state and federal police cracked down and between Los Angeles and Mendota more than 25 gang members have been charged with murder, violent assault and drug trafficking, Yesenia Amaro (Fresno Bee) writes.

While it can’t be said for certain that the gang has been eradicated from the area, it can be said that businesses are showing a renewed interest in the town. Element 7 Cannabis Dispensary set up shop there, as well as a gym and some other small businesses.

The city has invested a projected $8.5 million in a new police station and City Hall chambers. Another $8 million is set to build a community center, with $400,000 earmarked for a park for children with special needs. A new soccer field will cost $300,000.

Outside the Lines

Immigration activists knocked on Kevin McCarthy’s doors. Nadie estuvo presente. 

Fresno City Councilmember Annalisa Perea is calling for more support for the LGBTQ+ community in Fresno.

Read about an entrepreneurial program meant to empower immigrants to start and maintain businesses in Fresno.

Block Beat

FRESNO CITY COLLEGE: FCC is seeing pre-pandemic enrollment numbers. ABC 30

FOWLER: 17-year-old Mary Wilson has gone missing and is assumed an at-risk runaway. She was last seen on Monday, September 4 at 12:30 in the area of 4th and Fresno Streets. KMPH

Around Town

Mochilicious, a new food truck boasting Korean corn dogs, mochi donuts and boba, debuts Sept. 5 – 7 at The Grand 1401 on Fulton Street. Downtown Fresno

The Crest Theatre on 1170 Broadway Plaza is screening Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. You know, the Gene Wilder version, the one we don’t have to have any complicated feelings about in 2023. Downtown Fresno

I’ve been watching this YouTube series where four drag queens play Dungeons and Dragons for the first time – and serendipitously enough, the Fresno EOC LGBTQ+ Resource Center is hosting a Dungeons and Dragons 101 session on Sept. 9. 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.