Lee Brand faces the biggest decision of his first mayoral term with eyes wide open. Whoever succeeds Jerry Dyer as Fresno police chief, the mayor says, "somebody is going to be unhappy." But if anybody complains they didn't have a chance to weigh in on the choice, well, that's on...
Clovis Mayor Answers Housing Commissioner: We Welcome All
Clovis leaders are pushing back against comments made by a Fresno Housing Authority board member who questioned the agency's first-ever project in their city. Terra Brusseau serves on the 14-member Fresno Housing Authority board. Brusseau's remarks, made during a March 26 discussion about a 60-unit housing authority project at Willow...
How Fresno Sets Its Road Repair Priorities
Fresno Mayor Lee Brand is hitting the reset button on how to distribute $12 million in SB 1 gas tax funds to repair local city roads. Four council members, whose districts' encompass south and central Fresno, vociferously objected to Brand's original plan. Esmeralda Soria, Miguel Arias, Luis Chavez, and Nelson Esparza...
Will Alonzo's Establishment Support Help Him in Council Run?
Nathan Alonzo officially announced his 2020 campaign for Fresno City Council District 4, covering the east-central part of town. The political establishment stood in support of Alonzo’s run — the mayor, the incumbent, the police chief, the sheriff, the chamber of commerce, and the police union, among others. Yet, the...
Brandau and Bredefeld Deserve to be Read the Riot Act
Can I just call in Jack Nicholson to give Steve Brandau and Garry Bredefeld the full "You Can't Handle the Truth" treatment? If anyone deserves a big-league butt-chewing from the fictional Col. Nathan Jessup, it's the north Fresno councilmen who find themselves buffeted by the city's newly liberal political winds....
Brand to Human Traffickers: All of Fresno Is Coming After You!
Fresno Mayor Lee Brand put human traffickers on notice Wednesday morning. We're coming after you. We're arresting you. You're going to prison. And here's one more thing: The flophouses on Parkway Drive and Blackstone Avenue better clean up their acts. If they don't, the city will take them over. No ifs,...
20,000 People Can’t Be Wrong. Downtown Fresno Is the Place to Be.
Who knew so many people would bombard downtown Fresno on a Saturday night? Apparently, the organizers of the FresYes Fest and Alley Wave did. Those two events, along with the home opener for the Fresno Foxes minor league soccer team, dominated the Fulton Street/Inyo Street areas Saturday. FresYes, in its...
Mayor Brand Comes Out Against Anti-Panhandling Proposal
Fresno Mayor Lee Brand is opposed to lame-duck City Councilman Steve Brandau's anti-panhandling proposal. The proposal called STOP for "Safe Transfer of Objects to Pedestrians", which will be taken up at Thursday's council meeting, would forbid drivers from handing anything from their vehicle to pedestrians. “I do not support this...
Campaign Begins to Raise Funds for Fresno Veterans Memorial
Fresno leaders are embarking on a public fundraising campaign to erect a memorial at City Hall for the 277 city residents who gave their lives in America's wars. Fresno City Councilman Garry Bredefeld announced the plan Tuesday, and the council will vote Thursday on authorizing the memorial's placement on city...
On High-Speed Rail, Will the Real Gov. Newsom Please Stand Up?
Gavin Newsom has said more than once that he wants California's high-speed rail project completed between the San Joaquin and Silicon valleys. "It's not a train to nowhere," Newsom told George Skelton of the Los Angeles Times in October. "It's insulting to suggest the Central Valley is nowhere. This is...