Fresno council approves new plan for the Tower District
A seemingly straightforward approval from city leaders on Thursday marks the end to years of arduous discussion and planning among Tower District stakeholders over the future of their community. The Fresno City Council approved the newly drafted Tower District Specific Plan, setting new rules for design and land use decisions in the city’s historic neighborhood. …
Fresno art? Inside a vending machine? Meet the man behind it
Marco Tovar was around 9 years old at a Modesto swap meet when he first came across a switchblade comb. He had never seen anything like it. With the press of a button, a fine-tooth plastic comb snapped out. It was so cool to him as a kid in the 1980s. “The fact that you…
Fresnolandia Podcast: How to improve a neighborhood
On this week’s Fresnolandia, Jordan and Danielle speak with Kiel Lopez-Schmidt, a longtime Fresno community organizer and the executive director of the South Tower Community Land Trust, about his decades of experience working in community development. They talk about the fight he and his neighbors took on to get a new park built on Broadway,…
This is one of the cheapest homes for sale in Fresno right now, and here’s why
Fresno’s first-ever community land trust-owned home went on the market Wednesday in the city’s South Tower neighborhood. The single-family home, located on Farris Avenue just north of Belmont, was purchased and renovated by the South Tower Community Land Trust over the past year-and-a-half. Now, it’s for sale for $215,000, well under the neighborhood’s median home…
How Fresno’s South Tower neighborhood replaced a police station with a community park
Just around the corner from Fresno’s brand new Broadway Parque is the first door Kiel Lopez-Schmidt and his neighbors knocked on eight years ago, asking what people wanted to see built on the lot that’s now home to the park. Before it was Broadway Parque, the corner was the site of a Fresno police substation.…
Fresno to crack down on smoke shops following narrow vote
City leaders moved forward Thursday with cracking down on Fresno smoke shops after a somewhat tense debate. The Fresno City Council’s narrow 4-1 vote — with one councilmember abstaining and another absent — greenlit a proposal to force dozens of smoke shops to close down or change the nature of their business by 2026. “I…
Most Fresno councilmembers own property in the Tower District, complicating key planning vote
At a meeting Thursday, the Fresno City Council approved a contract to begin construction on a long-awaited park, heard a report on code enforcement’s activities, and chose who on the council will get to vote on the Tower District Specific Plan. To decide the latter, the council resorted to drawing lots in a process Council…
Fresno Unified Area 5: Three candidates compete to represent Fresno High region
Leer en español In the most crowded Fresno Unified trustee field on the November ballot, incumbent Andy Levine faces two challengers in the race for the Fresno High seat. Levine has only about half a term under his belt, after winning a special election to fill a vacancy left when the late Carol Mills passed…
Fresno police approved for new $7 million helicopter upgrades
The council also approved more license plate readers, a tax agreement with VRBO, and heard why the Tower District plan is hitting some delays.
Fresno’s old Central Valley Cheese factory building will soon be the new home of Radio Bilingüe
The long-vacant Central Valley Cheese factory building is set to become the new headquarters of Fresno-based public radio station Radio Bilingüe, an early step in a plan to transform the lot into a South Tower District community hub. The “ambitious” plans were announced at a news conference Thursday at the factory building. Fresno City Councilmember…
