Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Social Justice Groups Silent After Trying to DeRail Fresno Downtown Investment
Edward Smith updated website photo 2024
By Edward Smith
Published 2 years ago on
June 19, 2023

Share

Community-based organizations trying to torpedo plans by Gov. Gavin Newsom and Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer to invest $250 million of state funding in downtown Fresno’s aging infrastructure are dodging GV Wire questions about their tactics and motivations.

A May 31 letter to Newsom and other state leaders signed by 10 nonprofits demanded funding for housing and transit. Dyer had cited the need for infrastructure to build new downtown housing in his conversations with the governor. And, the mayor dedicated $20 million to an intermodal transit center to connect different transportation types throughout the city.

The CBOs wrote: “We are surprised that there are no apparent transit access or affordable housing requirements attached to this significant grant of funds.”

In addition, the social justice groups stated that Newsom’s earmark for Fresno should require that 50% of all downtown housing be “deed-restricted, affordable housing units available to Low, Very Low, and Moderate Income households … .”

Despite the letter, Fresno will receive $50 million from the state’s 2023-24 fiscal year budget and Dyer said he is optimistic that the city will get $200 million more in the two succeeding budgets.

Why, given the highly delicate and political nature of budget negotiations in a year in which California has a $31.5 billion deficit, would these groups try to scuttle funding vital to downtown Fresno’s future?

They’re not saying.

An interview with Ivanka Saunders, the top signatory on the letter, was declined. “We are trying to have a much larger conversation with all involved parties on this matter and are on a very short timeline,” a text message read from Saunders stated.

The following groups also did not return requests for comment:

  • Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability
  • Fresno Building Healthy Communities
  • Faith in the Valley

For his part, Dyer told GV Wire on Friday that he doubted the letter had much influence in the Capitol.

“Based on inside information I had from some of the decision-makers, the vast majority of them never read the letter,” Dyer said. He added that if politics gets in the way of future money for downtown, “shame on Sacramento.”

Downtown Infrastructure Investment Key to More Housing

Elliott Balch, CEO of Downtown Fresno Partnership, said that the points made in the letter were points that have arisen over the past few years. And, while they weren’t surprising, “they’re also not really a point of disagreement,” Balch said.

He said the infrastructure needs of downtown are “fundamental and structural.”

“The reality is that the sewer pipe, you know, doesn’t know what kind of housing is being built,” Balch said.

With pipes 125 years old, they need replacing, he said.

Balch said the cross-section of people visiting downtown is “very representative of the communities of our region.”

Using the money toward parking worried some lawmakers, said Fresno City Councilman Miguel Arias in a previous interview.

But a vision for downtown Fresno density requires parking to go vertically, Balch said. Half of the land for the 700 housing units that have come to downtown Fresno in recent years is dedicated to parking, Balch pointed out.

In addition, dedicating land to surface parking limits housing to two or three stories.

“We want to see a downtown that’s very dense, compact, vibrant, walkable, and that means that we can’t have big surface parking lots,” Balch said.

Newsom’s Earmark for Fresno in His May Budget Revise

(Source: State of California)

Community Leaders’ Letter to State Officials

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Delta Plane Flips on Toronto Runway Amid Winter Storm

DON'T MISS

Fresno Joins National Protests Against Trump Administration

DON'T MISS

Canadian National Anthem Booed, but Only Lightly, at 4 Nations Hockey Tournament

DON'T MISS

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

DON'T MISS

‘Life-Threatening Cold’ Expected as Polar Vortex Stretches Across US

DON'T MISS

Where to Chill on the Cheap in the Caribbean

DON'T MISS

Should Builders Permit Their Own Projects? Post-fire LA Considers a Radical Idea

DON'T MISS

I Was a Bad Father. How Do I Live With the Regret?

DON'T MISS

Royal Caribbean to Launch First-Ever San Diego Cruises in 2026

DON'T MISS

What Is Field Hockey? Fresno’s Sikh Community Explains

UP NEXT

Fresno Joins National Protests Against Trump Administration

UP NEXT

Canadian National Anthem Booed, but Only Lightly, at 4 Nations Hockey Tournament

UP NEXT

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

UP NEXT

‘Life-Threatening Cold’ Expected as Polar Vortex Stretches Across US

UP NEXT

Where to Chill on the Cheap in the Caribbean

UP NEXT

Should Builders Permit Their Own Projects? Post-fire LA Considers a Radical Idea

UP NEXT

I Was a Bad Father. How Do I Live With the Regret?

UP NEXT

Royal Caribbean to Launch First-Ever San Diego Cruises in 2026

UP NEXT

What Is Field Hockey? Fresno’s Sikh Community Explains

UP NEXT

Sean Combs Sues NBC Over Documentary That He Says Defamed Him

Edward Smith,
Multimedia Journalist
Edward Smith began reporting for GV Wire in May 2023. His reporting career began at Fresno City College, graduating with an associate degree in journalism. After leaving school he spent the next six years with The Business Journal, doing research for the publication as well as covering the restaurant industry. Soon after, he took on real estate and agriculture beats, winning multiple awards at the local, state and national level. You can contact Edward at 559-440-8372 or at Edward.Smith@gvwire.com.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

4 hours ago

‘Life-Threatening Cold’ Expected as Polar Vortex Stretches Across US

4 hours ago

Where to Chill on the Cheap in the Caribbean

7 hours ago

Should Builders Permit Their Own Projects? Post-fire LA Considers a Radical Idea

9 hours ago

I Was a Bad Father. How Do I Live With the Regret?

9 hours ago

Royal Caribbean to Launch First-Ever San Diego Cruises in 2026

1 day ago

What Is Field Hockey? Fresno’s Sikh Community Explains

1 day ago

Sean Combs Sues NBC Over Documentary That He Says Defamed Him

1 day ago

European Detour Destinations Are 2025’s New Travel Trend

1 day ago

California’s Aging Population Will Test Whether Its Demography Is Destiny

1 day ago

Delta Plane Flips on Toronto Runway Amid Winter Storm

TORONTO — A badly injured child is among eight people who were hurt Monday when a Delta Airlines plane flipped upon arrival at Toronto’s Pea...

44 minutes ago

A Delta Air Lines plane heading from Minneapolis to Toronto crashed at Toronto's Pearson Airport, Monday Feb. 17, 2025. (Teresa Barbieri/The Canadian Press via AP)
44 minutes ago

Delta Plane Flips on Toronto Runway Amid Winter Storm

1 hour ago

Fresno Joins National Protests Against Trump Administration

Team United States fans cheer after their team defeated Canada in a 4 Nations Face-Off hockey game in Montreal, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
4 hours ago

Canadian National Anthem Booed, but Only Lightly, at 4 Nations Hockey Tournament

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, boards Air Force Two at the Philadelphia International Airport on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. Harris might have traveled on Friday to Philadelphia or Milwaukee for the umpteenth time, but motivating tuned-out voters in battleground states required something different. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)
4 hours ago

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

Downed trees cover the roadway toward South Jefferson Street from severe weather in downtown Tuscumbia, Ala., Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025.(Dan Busey/The TimesDaily via AP)
4 hours ago

‘Life-Threatening Cold’ Expected as Polar Vortex Stretches Across US

7 hours ago

Where to Chill on the Cheap in the Caribbean

9 hours ago

Should Builders Permit Their Own Projects? Post-fire LA Considers a Radical Idea

9 hours ago

I Was a Bad Father. How Do I Live With the Regret?

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend