Good morning and happy Friday! It’s Nov. 21. This is Rob.
Cloudy skies but drier weather today ahead of a weekend of mostly sunny Fresno skies. NOAA
Food vendors can stay in the Tower District on weekends, but face new beefed-up fines for code violations, following a City Council vote. Fresnoland
New training and evaluation standards for Fresno Unified teachers and staff took center stage at this week’s school board meeting. Fresnoland
A solar panel construction project at the Fresno County Animal Shelter, 1510 Dan Ronquillo Drive, will force temporary walkway changes outside the shelter and limit parking, county officials say, but all essential shelter services will remain in place during construction. Fresno Human Animal Services
Fresno Arts Council invites you to share your ideas for the next cycle of “Expanded Access to Arts and Culture” grants, funded by Measure P. The first meeting is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2 with a second at 6 p.m. on Dec. 10. Both meetings will be held at the Fresno Arts Council, 1245 Van Ness Ave. Fresno Arts Council
1. Commissioner voted ‘no’ on megadevelopment — then changed her mind
A contentious southeast Fresno megadevelopment squeaked through the city planning commission this week following a dramatic last-minute flip-flop by the swing-vote commissioner, Fresnoland’s Gregory Weaver reports.
In a dramatic final-act plot twist, Commissioner Linda Calandra first voted against the project, but then flipped her vote on a second motion.
Calandra’s second motion sought more farmland preservation and added an industrial park to the project’s first phase — a park that records indicate would get built on some of the same farmland her confusing motion intended to protect.
The commissioner rushed out of City Hall immediately after the vote and it remains unclear what inspired her turnaround.
SEDA will now go before the Fresno City Council on Dec. 4 for a final showdown vote and city leaders have yet to spell out how exactly its multi-billion-dollar infrastructure will be paid for.
Attorney Dan Brannick: “This plan is tantamount to a really big middle finger to Fresno residents.”
2. Tower District’s new plan sets up the future
A massive, three-year effort between Tower District neighborhood leaders and residents and Fresno City Hall ended Thursday in a unanimous vote — and then applause.
Fresnoland’s Pablo Orihuela was on hand when the City Council approved the newly drafted Tower District Specific Plan, setting new advisory guidelines for design and land use policies in the city’s historic and most walkable neighborhood.
Updating the neighborhood’s plan, a document first created in 1991, including numerous community meetings and feedback sessions over the last three years, with residents pushing hard for more parks and better access to grocery stores and doctors offices.
Plan committee chair Chris Johnson: “I think our passion over the past three and a half years to sustain this effort and to do what we needed to do to get this to you today is evident.”
3. Fresno council recycles city’s trash contract — again
The Fresno City Council concluded its busy daylong meeting by granting a one-year extension to a controversial trash contract and allowed the operator, Orange Avenue Disposal, the right to seek price increases whenever regulations change — a perk not afforded to other city vendors, Fresnoland’s Gregory Weaver reports.
City Manager Georgeanne White revealed that the extension was part of a legal settlement over a multi-million-dollar payment dispute with the wealthy and influential Caglia family.
Beginning in the spring of 2023, City Hall began withholding payments from the company after determining the city had overpaid the company by well over $3 million.
And while city leaders were quick to note that Thursday’s vote does not approve a new rate hike or necessarily guarantee future hikes, one councilmember — who has supported previous contract extensions — said the most recent changes went too far.
Councilmember Miguel Arias: “This vendor is uniquely positioned to increase rates for residents across the city.”
Today’s newsletter was edited by Fresnoland’s Omar S. Rashad.
