Last year produced the election that knocked City Hall off of its right-leaning political axis, propelled it sharply left, and made "patience" a word for a bygone era. Deliberative, consensus-building Mayor Lee Brand saw the handwriting on the wall and decided not to seek a second term. His thinking? By taking...
Brand Touts Higher Rainy Day Fund In ‘Status Quo’ Budget
Mayor Lee Brand described his proposed 2020 Fresno budget as “status quo.” Not much is different in FY 2020’s $1.187 billion spending plan, a 3.5% increase from FY 2019. “It maintains all the existing services, with only three positions added in the general fund portion. We simply don’t have the...
Good Boy! Meet Fresno's Newest Police K9's
Three new Fresno police dogs and their officer handlers were sworn in as members of the department's K9 Unit on Wednesday. The highly-trained dogs range in age from 16 months to 22 months and were introduced at a ceremony at Fresno PD's K9 facility in east-central Fresno. Police Chief Jerry...
Brand: The Public Spoke on Parks-Only Tax
Measure P failed. Mayor Lee Brand acknowledges the ball is now in his court. Brand led the effort to defeat the city sales tax initiative that would have specifically benefited parks and cultural arts in Fresno. The city's voters said no, with 51% rejecting the 3/8 of a cent tax...
Is Measure P’s Defeat The End or New Beginning?
To the surprise of many, Fresno's ambitious Measure P ballot initiative not only failed to attain the two-thirds vote it needed to pass, it didn’t even receive a simple majority of votes in favor. With 100% precincts reporting, 51% of Fresnans voted "no" on P. The measure would have raised the...
It's Swearengin vs. Brand, Parks vs. Public Safety, and Much More
Measure P is the heavyweight local issue on the ballot for Fresno city voters. It's a proposal to raise the sales tax by 3/8 of a cent for 30 years to build, fix and maintain parks and trails, and fund cultural arts. But it's also a scrap to decide Fresno's...
The KMJ Measure P Debate: Both Sides Square Off
Leading figures on both sides of the Fresno parks sales tax proposal debated their positions this week on KMJ580 in a conversation moderated by talk-show host Ray Appleton. No on P advocate and housing developer Darius Assemi squared off with David McDonald, former CEO of Pelco and a Measure P...
Step Up, Fresno: Vote 'Yes' on Measure P!
I am a new reader of GV Wire, so it was with great interest that I turned to your Voter Guide. I was quite shocked to see the content of the “No” commentary on Measure P. First, the opponents of Measure P are not giving Fresno residents much credit: They...
There's a Better Way to Make Fresno Sparkle. Vote 'No' on P.
Here’s something I believe people on both sides of the parks tax debate can agree on: We’ve got miles to go to make Fresno a vibrant, safe, and prosperous city for all. For decades, our elected leaders have struggled to make ends meet while facing annual budget challenges in which...
No on P's Warning: Beautiful Parks, but Deficient Public Safety
The chiefs of Fresno’s public safety departments predict dire results if voters pass Measure P. “The biggest consequence to the citizens of Fresno if Measure P passes — they will have beautiful parks, but they will have deficient public safety services,” Fresno police chief Jerry Dyer said Thursday. The No...