Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Social Justice Groups Silent After Trying to DeRail Fresno Downtown Investment
By admin
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

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

UP NEXT

A Former Aide Says Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Kidnapped Her in a Plot to Kill Kid Cudi

Trump to Pardon Reality TV’s Todd and Julie Chrisley After Tax Evasion Conviction

3 hours ago

Westlands Leader Calls Slight Water Boost ‘Disappointing’

4 hours ago

High School Dropout to Five Decades in Congress: Charles Rangel Dies at 94

NEW YORK — Former U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, an outspoken, gravel-voiced Harlem Democrat who spent nearly five decades on Capitol...

2 hours ago

Charles Rangel Obituary
2 hours ago

High School Dropout to Five Decades in Congress: Charles Rangel Dies at 94

Sean "Diddy" Combs stands as he is arraigned on a superseding indictment ahead of his May trial on sex trafficking charges, in New York, U.S., March 14, 2025, in this courtroom sketch. (REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg?/File Photo)
2 hours ago

A Former Aide Says Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Kidnapped Her in a Plot to Kill Kid Cudi

2 hours ago

RIP Local Broadcast Legend Marv Allen, 80, Longtime Voice of KVPR

Todd Chrisley (2nd L) speaks next to his wife Julie (L) and their kids Chase and Savannah at a panel for the USA television series "Chrisley Knows Best" during the Television Critics Association Cable Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills, California July 14, 2014. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
3 hours ago

Trump to Pardon Reality TV’s Todd and Julie Chrisley After Tax Evasion Conviction

4 hours ago

Westlands Leader Calls Slight Water Boost ‘Disappointing’

U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) annual meeting in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., February 22, 2024. REUTERS/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/File Photo
4 hours ago

Republican Tuberville Announces Bid for Alabama Governor

Residents walk by power grid towers at Bair Island State Marine Park in Redwood City, California, United States, January 26, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
5 hours ago

PG&E Sees Surge in AI Data Center Interest With Fresno Area Emerging as New Hotspot

Salesforce Tower in New York
5 hours ago

SF-Based Salesforce Is Buying Informatica in $8 Billion Deal

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

Search

Send this to a friend