Imagine Fresno County is like a big playground where everyone’s trying to get around — many kids are running, some are biking, and very few are riding the bus. Measure C is like the piggy bank we all chip into to keep the playground safe and fun. It’s a successful special tax (0.5 cent) that has collected over $2 billion since 1986 to fix paths, roads, and provide buses.

Brooke Ashjian
Opinion

The current debate is over how much to spend on roads. Common sense says it should be around 90%. Why? Because if we look at the math, we have 1,019,000 people in Fresno County and 647,102 cars, approximately one car for 1.5 people. But right now, 40 years of evidence proves that we’re spending more on empty buses, and not enough roads or on the paths and trails where most kids play.

I have yet to see a full bus. But right now, the buses receive about 24% of all Measure C funds.

And the Council of Governments just installed 12 of the most left-wing disrupters to the Measure C board who are hoping to make that number 50%.

All reasoning has left the building!

Checking the Math

The math shows we should change Measure C to only give 10% to buses and use the extra money to fix our roads and build more walking trails, especially in the busy parts of Fresno, Clovis, and nearby areas where tons of people live. It’s just common sense.

The big picture: The city of Fresno has 550,000 people, Clovis has 125,000, and the areas around Fresno (the unincorporated areas inside Fresno) have another 150,000. Yet these areas don’t receive their proper percentage of funds per capita. How come? If we are paying the most, why are we not receiving the lion’s share?

Our roads are falling apart so badly that Fresno County’s “path score” dropped 14 points, and we need $1.7 billion to fix them. That’s like needing a mountain of gold coins to rebuild our playground! Again, Measure C gives 24% of our piggy bank to buses that people don’t ride.

In Fresno, only 2% of kids ride the bus, like a few kids huddling in a corner of the playground while everyone else is racing around. Clovis’ buses are quiet too, and even the rural buses for 360,000 faraway kids only get 4%. If we lower the bus money to 10%, we’d have about $14 million more every year. It’s good government! It’s good for our people!

Clovis needs help too, with roads like Willow Avenue packed like a dodgeball game gone wild. We also need more walking trails, like safe side paths where kids can stroll without tripping. Fresno is one of the most dangerous places to walk, like a playground with no guardrails.

In places like West Park, people are begging for trails so they don’t have to dodge cars like they’re in a video game. The 2020 Trails Plan says we need paths to connect schools and parks. If we spend more on trails, kids can walk or bike safely, and we won’t need cars for every little trip. Some “grown-ups” say cutting bus money hurts the planet, not true! Either we fix our roads with a new and improved Measure C, or we are going to need more dentists in the Valley from losing teeth while hitting all these potholes.

At some point the kids on the playground have got to be saying, “Can’t we just have good roads?”

About the Author

Brooke Ashjian is a Fresno businessman and a former board president of Fresno Unified School District.