City Council - Regular Meeting

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Everyone, we're going to go ahead and call this uh city council meeting to order. 9:08 a.m. Uh, clerk, would you please call the role? Thank you. Council member Perea, here. Council member Carbassi, here. Council member Arius presente Vice President Maxwell. Council member Vang present. Council member Richardson here. President Esparza present. Six members being present. We have a quorum.

All right. Thank you. So next we'll have our invocation. Right after that we'll have the pledge of allegiance. So I will ask everyone to stand and remain standing for the pledge. Uh but our invocation is going to be by pastor pastor Edward Thomas from Impact Church. So, welcome Pastor Thomas on up to the microphone.

Okay, perfect. Thank you so much for the invitation and honor. If everybody can bow your heads. Father, we come before you today with humility, with gratitude. We thank you for the gift of this day, the breath in our lungs, the clarity in our minds, and the opportunity to gather in this place with purpose. We acknowledge you as the source of all wisdom, the giver of grace, and the foundation of all true leadership. God, we thank you for every person present in this room, their lives, their influence, and the responsibility that they carry. We lift up every leader in this city, our mayor, our city officials, our council member and staff. We thank you for entrusting them with the weight of leadership, placing them in positions to serve, to guide, and to build. Father, today we don't take this moment lightly. In a room filled with decisions, diverse perspectives, and all real concerns that reflect real people, we pause and center ourselves in you. The word reminds us that if anyone lacks wisdom, they should ask of you, and you give it freely. So today, God, we ask for wisdom that goes beyond intellect, discernment that rises above emotions, and clarity that cuts through confusion. Let every decision be made in this room be marked by integrity, compassion, and rooted in what is right, not in what is easy. Father, where there is tension, bring peace. Where there is division, bring unity. Where there is pressure, bring clarity. Help every leader in this room to see beyond personal agendas and focus on the greater good of the people that they serve. Remind us all that

leadership is not about power. It is about stewardship. Not just about position, it's about responsibility. So let every voice be heard with respect, every concern be handled with care, and every outcome reflect a commitment to justice, equality, and community. God, bind this city together, not by agreement on everything, but by a shared commitment to move forward together. Let this be a place where solutions are found and progress is made and the people of this city are served well. God, cover every person here today. Give strength where it is needed, peace where it is lacking, in vision for what lies ahead. God, we trust you to God every step taken in this room today. In Jesus name we pray. Everybody say, "Amen."

Thank you so much. Thank you, pastor. Uh next will be led uh by council member Richardson and pledge of

allegiance. Milary military salute and salute to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right, we're going to go on to the approval of the agenda. Uh, clerk, do you have any announcements? Uh, and are there any changes or items removed from the agenda?

Yes, thank you. First of all, I'd like to let everyone know that we do have interpreting services available for today's meeting. We are providing interpreting services digitally by the Wordley system in the Spanish and Punjabi languages. We're also providing virtual interpretation services in Mong language as well as American Sign Language. If you need assistance with those um interpretation services, there are devices up front and you can also check in in back. With regard to changes to the agenda, we have several items pulled for contested consent. Item 2 ID 26-251 regarding approve the first amendment to the service agreement with Elevate Community Services. This was moved to contested consent by council member Richardson and council member Arius. With regard to item 2H ID26-49 regarding approve a third amendment to the grant agreement with Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission Advanced Peace. This was moved to contested consent by council member Arius. Item 2E ID 26-390 regarding reject all bids received for the trolley park lighting and shade structure project. This was moved to contested consent by council member Pereah. No further changes.

All right. Great. Uh council members, any other changes? Uh council member Perea. Council member Arius, council member Vang. None. Richardson, no. Kbasi, no. Okay. All right. I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda as amended.

Second. All right. Motion by Perea, second by Richardson. Any opposition to approving the agenda? Seeing none, that passes 620. All right. So, we're going to move on to the ceremonial presentations. Uh, one of the funnest parts of our day up front. Uh, the first proclamation that, uh, we have for today is a proclamation for, uh, Sunnyside High School theater and drama department, and that's going to be sponsored by Council Member Vang. Hello. Hello. Thank you very much, Council President Nelson Desparza. Can I have the Sunnyside High School theater in drama, teachers, staff, and students come forward. While you're making your way up here, I want to thank you uh Mrs. Alli Fugman Harrison, Mr. Angel, and students Maline Chen, Noel Martinez, Emma Lopez, Sarai Zandeas, Salvador Santilian, Marie Howard, Marco Phelis Casillas, and Brody Harrison. Congratulations to the students and the staff. We are here today to honor the Sunnyside High School's theater and drama department. Can I have some of you guys come to my right here? This is their first time. Mr. Johnson, it's good to see you. Former superintendent Sanger Unifi, welcome to City Hall, sir. It's good to see you again. Um, I want to congratulate the Sunnyside High School theater and drama department. They won a uh heated uh contest in a sense or um interview to perform at the Lincoln Center this past year that's in New York City. So I akin this to the Super Bowl of theater and drama department and so you guys hit the

jackpot in a sense you earned the jackpot and uh they performed with a professional uh actors choreog choreographers and directors in the uh Jane Air the musical. So you guys not only were required to act but to sing and even to dance and so that's a a triple there and um they went through the competitive process meaning that they had to submit recordings of their performances etc in cetera and they have prepared and they refined their studies and uh it was expected and you guys uh rise up to the level of being professional actors and singers and uh you made us proud and um this is a once- ina-lifetime experience for each and every one of you and I hope you can take that experience and use it to your benefit as adults uh or in colleges. And so on behalf of the city of Fresno, I can only imagine what it's like to go from the fifth largest uh city in the state to New York City and to be performing at the Lincoln Center. Uh, I can only imagine the stress level or perhaps the excitement to that, but you guys did exceptional and you made us proud. You put Fresno on the map in the city of New York and in particular at Lincoln Center. So, congratulations to the uh students and to the staff for your dedication and your hard work. Everybody give them a round of applause.

Thank you so much. It was an absolute amazing experience for myself as their theater arts teacher and also um as their as their director. And we worked so hard for months and and it's a good thing we did cuz when we got there we were expected to be um right right there at the same professional level as those Broadway actors and they sure were. you have some very talented students in front of you right here. Um, so I want to thank you um, Councilman for your this honor and for recognizing us and it was our honor to represent Fresno um, on Broadway and we we hope to do it again someday. Yeah, thank you so much. Thank you so much. And my drama club president and senior who just got accepted to many different colleges uh, has just a few words to say as well.

Good morning. My name is Marco. I am a senior at Sunnyside High School. And I just want to say thank you not only to our theater teacher, but to our council members, but also to Fresno Unified in the city of Fresno for this opportunity to be able to go to New York and be on Broadway. As our council member here said, the Super Bowl Theater. I'm eternally grateful for this opportunity. Thank you. Thank you again. Congratulations. Thank you so much. This is great. All right.

And um before um I present the plaque to the teachers, I want to read the last two paragraphs of the proclamation here. Whereas this month, let us recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of the Sunnyside High School theater and drama department, which has inspired the next generation of youth in Fresno and reach new heights for our city. Their achievements serve as a powerful rema reminder of the extraordinary talent, perseverance, and ambition that our students carry and their successes inspires young artists throughout our country. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer and the city and the Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim April 9th, 2026 as Sunnyside High School Theater and Drama Department Day in the city of Fresno. Congratulations everybody. Congratulations. City clerk, can you please read the rest of the proclamation onto the record? Thank you.

Absolutely. Thank you.

Whereas theater is one of the oldest and most enduring art forms bringing communities together through storytelling, creativity, and the portrayal of the human experience. Drama and performance arts reflect culture, inspire empathy, build confidence, and create meaningful connections across generations. And whereas the Sunnyside Wildcat Playhouse, established in 1999, has upheld a proud tradition of theatrical excellence at Sunnyside High School by providing students with opportunities to participate in highquality stage productions, including plays and musicals, while developing invaluable life skills such as discipline, teamwork, leadership, communication, and artistic expression. And whereas through the dedication of its students, educators, directors, and supporters, the Wildcat Playhouse has cultivated a legacy of excellence that extends far beyond the school stage, and alumni continuing to pursue and contribute to the performing arts industry in places such as Los Angeles, New York City, and beyond. And whereas in an extraordinary accomplishment, students from the Sunnyside High School theater drama department earned the prestigious opportunity to perform Jane Air the musical in New York City, one of the most competitive and celebrated centers for theatrical performance in the world. Beginning in September 2025, students demonstrated unwavering commitment through daily rehearsals, months of preparation, and extensive fundraising efforts, all in pursuit of this once-ina-lifetime opportunity. And whereas eight talented students were selected to travel to New York City to perform at the Lincoln Center alongside Broadway actors, musicians, directors, and choreographers, representing not only their school, but also the spirit, creativity, and promise of the youth of Fresno. Their hard work and fundraising efforts also allowed students to experience Broadway productions firsthand, deepening their appreciation

for the arts and expanding their vision for what is possible. And whereas this month, let us recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of the Sunnyside High School theater drama department, which has inspired the next generation of youth in Fresno and reached new heights for our city. Their achievements serve as a powerful reminder of the extraordinary talent, perseverance, and ambition that our students carry, and their success inspires young artists throughout our community. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer and the Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim April 9th, 2026 as Sunnyside High School Theater and Drama Department Day in the city of Fresno.

All right. Thank you, clerk. Uh, next up, the mayor and myself have the privilege of presenting a proclamation uh for Marcus P. Johnson Day. All right, Mr. Johnson, come on down. Bring bring your family. Come on down. Welcome. Welcome to city hall.

So good morning everyone. Uh it's really uh my privilege today along with the mayor to honor a very inspiring member of our community. That's Mr. Marcus P. Johnson to my left here. Let's give him a round of applause. Mr. Johnson is a a teacher, a mentor, uh, and a former superintendent out in Sanger Unified School District. Uh, where he embodied the true spirit of what it means to be an educator. Uh, you know, just to list a few briefly a few of his achievements over his decades long uh, career. His leadership has resulted in significant student achievement. uh recognition of 22 California uh distinguished uh schools, uh 20 title one academic achieving schools and three national blue ribbon schools just just to name a few of the the highlights. Uh but his influence did not stop uh at Sanger Unified uh school district. He became a nationally recognized uh leader who was able to share his expertise with educators across uh the country. And uh as an educator myself, I look to his career and achievement uh as as inspiration. And uh his motto u every child, every day, whatever it takes, uh rings true through my mind, I'm sure the minds of many others that you've crossed paths with, uh because it reflects the sentiments of educators everywhere. Um you know, Mr. Johnson has dedicated more than 50 years of his life to students and and our community. And now uh as it is his time to retire, I want to make sure to honor and and really recognize uh the vast impact and light that he's brought he's brought to this valet community. Uh so I want to thank Mr. Johnson for the hours and hours of tireless work uh that you've put in uh and that you've done and we wish you a happy retirement with uh your wife Penny and your your entire family. Uh congratulations uh on on a truly

inspiring uh career, an incredible career. and uh let us all remember your your motto, every child, every day, whatever it takes. Thank you. Absolutely.

Thank you, uh, Council President. I'll just add on a few things because I've known Mark for a long, long time. Uh, in fact, he started American Elementary, uh, back in the day and worked with my mom and so that's how far back uh, we go. And so, I've known him a long time. And one thing about Mark, no matter whether he was a teacher, uh, vice principal or superintendent, uh, he always put kids first and he was always dedicated to the community. And I know that you'll still uh, be dedicated to kids and the community. Uh, and just as important, he's been married to Penny for 50 years. Uh, that's an incredible uh, accomplishment in and of itself for you uh, to to stay married to Mark for 50 years. I I know I've been married 45 years, so it's an incredible accomplishment for my wife. Uh but I do want to say thank you not only for the work that you've done uh in the educational system but the work you've done with compact and I know you have some folks here uh that are part of that because your leadership in compact as the executive director uh does not go unnoticed in terms of what you guys have been able to accomplish your influence the ability to um to communicate navigate some of the difficult times during COVID and uh and so forth. So anyway, I just want to say uh congratulations Mark uh on 50 years uh in the profession and I do hope that you will take some time now to retire and enjoy those kids and I think you got what 10 grandkids.

10 grandkids. You're one of them, right? All right. So you get to spend more time with grandpa. All right. Well, and congratulations on that. You want to read the last piece or do you want

Let's give you Okay. It's always dangerous when you hand me a mic. You guys have work to do today and you know I I'll try to be brief. Uh but council member as far as that mayor d um I didn't get into this business for recognition. I got into this business for one reason because there's kids that need somebody to stand up and say let's do a better job. All of our kids. And that's the one thing that had just continued to drive me. It was August 1976 when I walked into a classroom for the first time. And it dawned on me the other day, my first class of kids are 63 years old now. I know, huh? It's like, oh my gosh, how how did it happen? How did we get this far down the road? And the problem I have with this is the concept of retirement is something I I really can't grasp and I failed miserably at since I left the superintendency. And I actually did a presentation at the Tiller County Office of Education with 14 aspiring administrators two nights ago. And when I finished, three of them came up and said, "Will you come do presentations at our school?" And it's like, yeah, just, you know, call me. Why? Because every one of our kids deserves deserves to reach their fullest potential. And the kids that are not successful in school, that's not their fault. You see, kids don't fail school. School fails kids too often because we haven't gotten to know our kids by name and by need and met their needs. We call

the role, but that doesn't drive the work. We got to know their heart. We got to know their home. We got to know their head. And we got to influence all so that every one of them leaves us on time and ready to be a contributing member of our society to to help build our communities because the kids are the foundation that we've got to build upon. They're our future. And so for this, thank you. Um I I don't know what else to say. Like I say, I didn't do this for recognition. I did it because I love the kids of this valley. And that's the one thing I would ask. It's time we knock down the walls and recognize it's not the kids of Fresno or Sanger or Menota or Fireball. It's the kids of our valley. They're our heart. They're a future. And it's time we all recognize they need us all. So, thank you for this. Thank you for that, Mark. I'm going to hit the punch line here and then we're going to have the clerk read the entire proclamation. But uh now therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer, Council President Nelson Esparza, and the entire Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim April 9th, 2026 as Marcus P. Johnson Day here in the city of Fresno.

Clerk, would you go and read the entire proclamation? Thank you. Whereas Marcus P. Johnson began his career in 1976 at the American Union Elementary School District in Eastern California where he served as a teacher, junior high vice principal, superintendent, and principal. In 1999, Marcus P. Johnson joined Sanger Unified School District as assistant superintendent for human resources. Later named superintendent in 2003, where he led the district for a decade and helped transform its culture and performance. roles that shaped his lifelong commitment to strengthening connections between schools and their communities. Under his leadership, Sanger Unified School District overcame significant challenges and became one of the first districts in California to exit the program improvement status. And whereas he championed the implementation of professional learning communities, building the collective capacity of educators and fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and shared responsibility for student success that became a national model for school improvement. His leadership resulted in measurable and lasting outcomes, including significant increases in student achievement, recognition of 22 California distinguished schools, 20 title one academic achieving schools, and three national blue ribbon schools within Sanger Unified School District. And whereas Marcus P. Johnson's influence extended beyond the Central Valley as he became a nationally recognized leader, sharing his experience with educators across the country, contributing to California's Race to the Top initiative and collaborating with major school districts statewide to improve educational outcomes. His outstanding contributions to education have been recognized with numerous honors and awards. He has remained guided by his enduring motto, every child, every day, whatever it takes, reflecting his unwavering commitment to students, families, and the future of public

education. And whereas Marcus P. Johnson has dedicated more than 50 years of his life to public education in the Central Valley, guided by the belief that every child deserves the opportunity to succeed and that educators and communities share the responsibility to ensure that success. And after many years of dedicated service as executive director of Compact Fresno, Marcus will be retiring, leaving a lasting legacy and is being recognized as the recipient of the 2026 Harold Hawk Award. His legacy is further reflected in his devotion to his family, including his wife of 50 years, Penny, their three children, and 10 grandchildren, whose lives and accomplishments stand as a testament to his values of commitment, service, and care. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, Mayor Jerry P. Dyer, Council President Nelson Esparza, Council Member Analisa Perea, and the Fresno City Council do hereby proclaim April 9th, 2026 as Marcus P. Johnson Day in the city of Fresno. Congratulations again, Mark. We're going to uh move on to our our last proclamation for uh for the day and uh that is a the proclamation for American Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month and that's presented by Council Member Artius.

Thank you. Thank you, Council President. Good morning, everyone. How are you all? I want to take a moment to um present this resolution proclamation on the appreciation awareness of Muslim month for the city of Fresno. This is our second time doing this and I wanted just to take a moment of privilege to call out a couple things. I think in our roles as local elected officials, we have the responsibility to call out and speak out against hatred, against coordinate efforts to portray any of our communities as something as they're not. For decades, we've seen um foreign governance governance foreign governments. We've seen lobbying efforts to try and portray our brothers and sisters in the Muslim community as the enemy of our country. The fact is they're our neighbors, our doctors in the ER, our educators in our schools, our business leaders locally, and our civic leaders. And it's important to take a moment to also reflect on the fact that recently we've experienced tens and thousands of our Muslim brothers and sisters suffer tragic deaths. Innocent lives have been lost in Gaza, in Palestine, and now in Iran. And all this can be traced to decades of a coordinated effort to portray a whole religious part of our country and our world as the enemy of our country. The fact is they're not. And I believe that the diversity of our city is what gives us the strength is what makes us uh one of the top places in the world for people to come to excel and to contribute to the world. And the Muslim community is an integral part of that. So I just want to take a moment to call out that against all coordinated efforts across the country, we will not accept and we will reject any narrative that portrays our brothers and sisters in the

Muslim community as the enemy to our country and anything but the fact is that there are neighbors and our friends and family. So with that, I'll turn it over to our friends here in the Muslim community.

Thank you very much. It was very very kind of you to say those words and to recognize us. Uh uh I would like to pass it on to Wed. My name is Haf Fatma. I am actually a doctor. Uh and as he said, you know, this is what we're doing. We we come here from our countries uh to serve the communities here. Uh we we have families here. We raise children here to give them a better chance at life. And uh we're very very proud to be here. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Aras. Uh my name is Raja Wal Taher. Uh Hin Fatma and I we both work with CARE Council on American Islamic Relations for the Sacramento Valley, Central California. So I just wanted to uh say a quick few words uh to all my colleagues, friends, and members of the Fresno community. Uh we stand here today to recognize and celebrate American Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month. This is a time to honor our uh vibrant, diverse Muslim communities that are so deeply woven into the fabric of our nation. Uh Muslim Americans are our neighbors, our colleagues, and our friends. Uh and you know, Muslims, we value above all else faith, family, and serving the community. These are all values that align with the core American values that we cherish. Uh and we also have to recognize that you know for many this month can be a reminder of the rising tide of bigotry and Islamophobia. Uh you know we want to be clear that hate and bigotry has no place in our cities or our nation. And you know Muslims come from all walks of life all uh you know diverse cultures uh different ethnicities different racial backgrounds and this defines the American Muslim community. So again, you know, let us celebrate the rich history and contributions of Muslim Americans and commit ourselves to building an inclusive and uh just society. So, thank you to the Muslim community for your invaluable contributions. Uh thank you to council member Aras and to the city of Fresno and the rest of the council. Thank you.

Thank you very much, city clerk.

Thank you. Whereas American Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month, now observed in April to better align with the academic calendar, provides an important opportunity to recognize and celebrate the rich history, cultural heritage, and enduring contributions of Muslim Americans, which continue to strengthen and shape the city of Fresno. And whereas the Council on American Islamic Relations, a nonprofit organization dedicated to uplifting and advocating for Muslim communities nationwide through its California chapter, advances this mission here in the city of Fresno through legal services, advocacy, and educational programming. And whereas Fresno's Muslim community has worked to create spaces for reflection, education, and meaningful civic engagement, building deep connections both within the Muslim community and around the broader Fresno community. And whereas Muslim Americans in Fresno have made significant contributions to the social and economic fabric of the city as entrepreneurs, educators, physicians, public servants, and community leaders, enriching the lives of all residents through both professional and civic engagement. And whereas the city of Fresno is enriched by the diversity of its residents and remains steadfast in its commitment to fostering an inclusive community where all individuals can express their identities, cultures, and beliefs with dignity and respect. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we, the Fresno City Council and Mayor Jerry P. Dyer, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2026 as American Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month. All right. Thank you. Well, that that'll conclude our u our ceremonial presentations for the morning. Uh we're going to move into uh council member reports and comments and we will go ahead and and go in order. Uh council member Perea, do you have any uh report

on today? Council member Carbassi. Council member Aras. Thank you, Council President. Just a couple of updates. Um, this last week, I finished my round of annual neighborhood meetings where I hear directly from residents in each of my four core neighborhoods and ask them to provide me their laundry list of requests for this upcoming budget. I want to thank everyone for their participation. Uh, my last meeting was on our hop day, so finished right prior to the incident that we experienced in our hop. Uh but I wanted just to reiterate to the residents although this is my last year um intending to finish my last year on the council as I began my first year which is meeting with residents directly and on ongoing basis and resolving neighborhood issues um while we reinvest and improve all our neighborhoods across the city. Um, with that, I also want to point out that I had communicated earlier with the city manager, uh, city manager, city attorney literally like 30 minutes ago. Over the last two weeks, I've seen that numerous, if not the vast majority of our um ABC conditional use permit holders, specifically gas stations, liquor stores, and convenience stores, have now decided to uh re-engage in what was an ongoing problem for us years ago, which was their violation of their conditional use permits to engage in advertisement on the exterior for alcohol and tobacco sales, which is a very here violation of their cup. Um over the last two weeks, I've seen every gas station um just about and convenience store across the city pop up with numerous ads, banners, advertisements on city right away on the exterior of their buildings covering up their windows. Um we dealt with this issue in early 2019 and 20 and resolved it. Um and now it's popped up again. After

communicating with some of the businesses, um I noticed a very clear trend. It looks like the distributors that sell them um the alcohol and um specifically valleywide and sales have taken upon themselves to provide them all free advertisements with the expectation that they put it up. So, I've asked the city attorney to send all the CUP holders um and remind them of their requirements under their conditions of approval that they not engage in external advertisement of alcohol sales and tobacco. A lot of these establishments are near um our schools. everything from the most recent um one that we approved on Fresno and Olive that is right next to Webster Elementary is now advertising with large banners the 599 beer sales. Uh this is going on across the city. Um so it it seems to me that they are succumbing to the pressure, the expectation by the distributors who have provided them free advertisement and just in time for spring and summer. Um we're seeing these massive external advertisements in the exterior of these businesses which is a violation of their cup. Um, I I want to re-emphasize this because as the weather improves and gets a little warmer across our city, we tend to have significant issues of safety in our city. Um, and um, I want to make sure that these businesses are not contributing to that by violating their cup. So, city attorney, I look forward to you communicating with the license holders and reminding them of their conditions of approval and also communicating with the distributors and reminding them that the city of Fresno, unlike the county, has some very strict rules um that license holders must um honor if they're to keep their CUPS in our city. Thank you, Council President. Council

member Vain,

I have a few comments to report. Thank you very much, Council President Sparza. This past Monday, I joined the parts department and community volunteers to help clean up parts following the Easter celebrations. Many, many thanks to the volunteers and our parts employees who came out and helped keep our parts clean after the Easter celebration. I also wanted to remind everyone about our upcoming town halls. Number one is in the books. Number two and number three will be next week uh at Ayer Elementary and Fenture Creek Elementary respectively. I encourage the residents to join me and be part of the conversation about how we can best clean up and improve our community. Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to attend my first ceremonial, first pitch for the Fresno Grizzlies opening night. And um I saw a little bit of video of my uh performance uh if you can say that. And I look forward to improving uh my uh pitching skills uh in the next couple of years. Uh there's room for improvement definitely. And uh the uh Greatest American Cleanup is coming up on April 18th. There are several locations in district 5 where residents can participate, including Kawwa Park, Cedar and Caesar Chavis intersection, Clovis and Kings Canyon intersection, the Jackson Elementary School neighborhood, and the site that my office and I will be attending, Lane Elementary. So, uh, get ready for the greatest American cleanup, uh, April 18th. And, uh, that's all I have, Council President. Thank you. All right, Council Member Richardson.

All right. Uh, we celebrated the groundbreaking of phase two of Avalon Commons up in Northeast Fresno. So, if you're a resident of Avalon Commons or a supporter or one of the men and women who's put so much hard work into making that a reality, thank you. Uh, we had a neighborhood town hall there. The residents there had some issues, had some concerns, so they brought it to us and as phase 2 is being developed, we're able to implement those concerns or implement fixes to those concerns. Whether it was a speed bump or it was a change in in uh the design or whatever else, if you have an issue, you have a concern in your neighborhood, just get a hold of your elected. Just tell us what it is. Worst case scenario, we can hear you out. Best case scenario, maybe you can uh help shape the future. And finally, thanks to my staff who helped us uh inspect another shelter yesterday, and we are still looking for businesses to join us to become a free vendor for our first ever City of Fresno FitFest taking place in late May. For more information, follow us on social media, uh shoot us an email, call City Hall. Thanks.

All right, that brings us to myself. Um, as you hear from some of my colleagues, we had a great time on on Tuesday at opening day. We had our home opener tradition of throwing out the each of us throwing out the first pitch. Uh, I think most of us made it over the plate and somewhat down the middle. Um, you know, the the mayor always has the best pitch cuz I know he spends about a week in advance warming up and and practicing, getting the the back pad on. Uh, so his was uh superb as always. Um, but it was great spending the evening with uh with all of you and rooting on the the Grizzlies. Hopefully we have a great season. Um, coming this uh this weekend uh we have or no actually the weekend of April 18th, sorry, we have our Great American Cleanup. Uh and in District 7, um we're going to be out at Hidalgo Elementary from 9 to 11. Uh but there will be a number of uh different cleanups throughout the city that day. Um, so look for one uh near you. You can always uh find more information at beautifyfres.org or by calling one of our our offices. Uh, and lastly, um, it just came to my attention, we've got a couple of uh, council birthdays here. Uh, we've got, uh, happy birthday to Council Member Audius, whose birthday is tomorrow, and happy birthday to Council Member Richardson, whose birthday is a week from today. So, um, am I missing am I missing one? What day is your birthday?

Yesterday. Yesterday. Oh. Oh. Oh. Okay. Happy belated birthday, Brandon. All right. So, happy belated birthday to Council Member Vang. We have way too many April babies, I guess. April. Yeah. Yeah. So, we have I'm going to start calling you the April caucus. Go back nine months. When was it? Oh, never mind. Go back. I'll leave it at that. Okay. What was happening?

Thanksgiving. I don't know. I'm not sure what what happens nine months before April, but we have a lot of April babies on this council. So, h happy birthday to you all. Um, we'll go ahead and move on to the uh to the mayor and the manager. Sorry, Cmber Rang. I I didn't realize the person who passed all the information missed that that small detail. Uh, a little bit of disclosure, mayor. Uh, before you take the podium, uh, my birthday was yesterday, but the reality is I really don't know my date of birth, so it could be today. Uh, council president, let's call it uh, one of We'll call it today. Yeah. Well, and that's the reality for so many people who immigrated. That's the reality that I that I live in. Thank you. Well, you get to celebrate your birthday all year long then.

Uh, not quite, Mayor. Only in the spring. That's what my mom said. I was born in the spring. Sometime in the spring. All right. Thank you. All right, mayor.

All right. Thank you, uh, council president. Uh, I I want to reiterate the greatest American cleanup that's going to be taken on uh taking place on April 18th, 9:00 a.m. 20 different locations throughout the city of Fresno. Uh, as you know, we will have um a lot of volunteers. I'm not sure what the total number is, but at one point we were hoping for about 2500 volunteers this year to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our of our nation. And uh people can still go to beautifyfres.org to sign up and participate in one of those locations. We'll not only be doing trash pickup, but we'll be removing graffiti as well as planting uh trees in various locations. and uh also had the opportunity as was mentioned for the Grizzlies first pitch uh with all of the the council members and you'll all notice that uh council member Maxo was absent. He intentionally took his um his honeymoon uh this year during that time because he um got tired of us making fun of him throwing the ball in the dugout uh when it was supposed to go over home plate. But I know for a fact he did that. Um, you know, on on another note with Grizzly, uh, our Archansy Park, um, we we've invested a lot. I know Council Member Aras and I have had a lot of discussions a lot. We've we've put in about over $7 million in the last 5 years into that stadium. Uh, new paint, new turf, new LED lights, new sound system, new scoreboard, uh, new restrooms, new batting cages, new clubhouse. Uh we've invested a lot and I just want to encourage people to come out and support our Fresno Grizzlies. Um they are an incredible team. They've fortunately won that night. Uh but we we have a gym right here in downtown Fresno and I hope more people will will take advantage of going out and supporting supporting

them. And then I also with Council Member Richardson had the opportunity uh to break ground on Avalon Commons number two. Uh about 18 months ago, we cut the ribbon on Avalon Commons 1, which was 60 uh highquality affordable housing units in Northeast Fresno. And then this one is going to be 45 units um for a total of 105 very diversified one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom units. And I look forward to those being completed. And I thank you the council for your support. We contributed $4.2 $2 million uh to that project. And then lastly, um I had the opportunity this last Monday uh with my chief of staff to go to Diablo Canyon in Abala and to tour their facility um in terms of their nuclear reactor and the production of of electricity for the state of California. And that that single location provides just under 10% of all the electricity for California. And what's unique about it is the fact that the president just uh author authorized another 20 years of operation. However, that has to be um confirmed or affirmed by the legislature and the governor here in California, which I hope they will do because I can't imagine what California would look like uh without having that uh plant uh Diablo Canyon plant in place. So, and I want to also encourage all of you if you haven't had the opportunity to go um to take advantage of it. Um they're they'll take you on a tour, perhaps a private tour, but they will definitely take you out. So, I encourage all of you uh to be able to do that. And that is it. Thank you, city manager.

I can't remember what I was going to say, so I'll pass. Well, while you I'm having a senior moment. That's all right. Well, Council Richardson had an update.

Yeah. Real quick, we've noticed this in District 6. There are a lot of candidates out there who are running for office. That's fantastic. You want to go put your signs out there. You want to advertise. That's great. You have to do so legally. All right. We've seen a lot in District 6. People are slapping them in free in the medians in the road, on city property, on public property, on public works easements. It's especially especially ironic if you're running for the office of judge and you are unable to follow the law in placing your own signs. You look silly. So before you put a sign somewhere, let's look around. Let's get permission if it's on private property before you put it up. And let's maybe pick a different location if it's public property. It's angering residents. I'm getting phone calls about it and it's not making you look good. So that's all I had. Thank you. Good luck. Council member, council president if I may. I just spoke to a city attorney and asked them to send a letter to the candidates because in my district they've put put them in every light pole and street light which is a clear legal violation and I'm getting complaints from residents that as we try to clean the city we have judicial candidates making the city worse. So, I would ask the city attorney to send a correspondence directly to each candidate and reminding them of the city rules and asking them to take them down versus spending city code enforcement time cleaning up their mess.

And just to be clear, in district 2, it's not just judicial candidates. The current superintendent of schools in her candidacy has been doing it all over our trails. So, city attorney, please do reach out to them and let them know. Thank you. Yeah, it sounds like we have a citywide citywide enforcement or education effort. Um, not just in southwest or northeast, but I think it's happening everywhere. All right, city manager going once, going twice. All right. All right. So, that's going to conclude our uh council and mayor comments. Uh let's move on to the we've we've only got one scheduled hearing for the 9:05 a.m. item, the te terra hearing uh to hear and consider financing and refinancing the acquisition, development, construction of 120 units uh rental housing project. So, we're going to go ahead and take on um take on this item. Uh council, do we want a staff presentation?

A brief presentation, please. Okay, brief presentation is fine. Good morning, council. Uh Santino Denise, finance director controller. Um yes, the tougher hearing today is uh as council president stated uh for a principal amount of uh not to exceed uh $16 million for 120 unit uh on two 200 North Selma Avenue in District 5. Um, and this is an opportunity to provide uh the the public an opportunity to weigh in on uh the applicant's uh proposed financing. The authority uh is in attendance to uh in case there's any questions that uh you may have for them.

All right, Council Member Vang. Thank you very much, Director Denasi. This is brief and thank you very much. Um the I believe there are a few requirements that u this um bond could be qualified as tax exempt and one of those is for the city of Fresno to conduct a public hearing which is what we're doing right now. Uh city clerk, do we have any public comments with regards to this particular agenda? We did not receive any public comment.

Okay. Thank you. And the other I believe is uh within the uh jurisdiction of the uh council member within district 5 uh purview to uh considered uh approving this or not. And um because we don't have any public comments as to they are for or against this. I do not uh uh have any objections to this particular uh agend agenda item. And so if other members of my colleagues do not have any questions, I'll be more than happy to uh make a motion to approve this. Thank you, Council V. We're uh we'll entertain the motion, but we're going to do the the hearing first and we'll come back up to you uh for the for the motion.

Yeah. Thank you. Um All right. So, you have a comment, Council Richardson. I had a quick question. That's fine. Yeah. Now, now would be his Okay. I didn't realize if anyone else has punched up. No, just to clarify, all the money that's going to fund this to finance it is coming from the California Municipal Finance Authority. It's not coming from local money. It's not general fund. It's not

Council Member Richards, and I usually make that disclaimer as a part of uh to conclude my presentation. Yes. But the issuance of this bond uh does not obligate or have anything to do with the city's uh obligation to make payments on the bond. This is solely um a a debt u for the the developer and the issuer for the project. What we're doing here is just allowing the opportunity for public input since the project exists uh in the city of Fresno.

Got it. So very layman's terms basic. This is not Fresno taxpayer money going from Fresno general fund or city funds at all to pay for this project. It's state money that the developer, the applicant has qualified for. All we are doing is that since it is it is in our municipality, it's in the city. We just have to give it the okay for the developer and the state to have this financial relationship. Uh yes, just with with one clarification, this is um they're eligible for federal tax credits. So not the state, but in order to be eligible, they have to conduct a public hearing in the jurisdiction where the project exists. But otherwise, yeah, absolutely correct. Our responsibilities, our money, our accounting, our budget, not touching,

nothing to do with the city of Fresno's budget, uh none of our debt. We have no obligation to pay if they happen to default. Uh it's just to conduct a public hearing. Cool. All righty. Thank you. Mhm. Go ahead. All right. I don't see anyone else punched up. Uh we're going to go ahead and open the public hearing for public comment. Uh so if we have anyone who would like to comment on the 9:05 a.m. item, TERA hearing uh to consider the financing for the 120 units multif family and rental housing. Uh welcomed as you have uh 3 minutes.

Um yes. I would like to say that um I don't believe this should be up for us to be a part of. Again, we're working with uh Geanne White's old boss. Uh Lance Cashy and I believe this is Sarah's court, right? This is Sarah's court 2. Um Sarah Court one was supposed had received a lot of tax credit too. But I did raise concerns about the discrimination about black people over there. Um and it was never addressed. So everybody, the two u apartments that we put the disabled African-Americans, they're out back on the street. It was never addressed the discrimination that was happening inside that complex. Um nobody can say it wasn't brought up. I would love to talk to them face to face if they say that is false. So, I think that getting $16 million from the state and giving it to another one of the city managers, um, very close, longtime friends and a very close friend of Jerry Dyer, I think is wrong. We keep on giving money and signing contracts. Now, who's going to be responsible for this money if they just decide to die and then we don't have no more Sarah Court or Lance Cashians or anything? You know, I'm not anything against Lance. I'm pissed off at Sal Hernandez, okay, for making that phone call. Lance, he probably really he's probably being used by Jerry Dyer um for his kindness. And that's how I feel. And I just feel that, you know, hopefully, you know, that you guys actually do him well, you know, um because he's done a lot for this community. So, I'm not against Lance Cashing. I'm against the people that are working for him like George Anne White and trying to bribe people with tents and all that stuff so they don't pay attention to the first Sarah's court that went up. So, this is when that was going up. Remember, Georanne, when you came to my house? No. Yeah, thought so. Um, so I'm just really totally against us keep on giving money over to people

that are attached to our mayor and our city manager. It just looks like we're allowing them to just keep on profiting and and this is going to be great for her in the future. I mean, if she nails this one, like even when she retires, living out there, Copper River in uh isn't who's that a Sims? Um living out there, I mean, it helps her getting these contracts, it helps her in the future. So, that's why I feel that she should not be up here when you guys are reading anything that has to do with Lance Cashian. And if she was just a consultant, then she should have addressed herself that way to me, not meeting me at the office when she had me come to the office. So, it appeared Oh, yeah. Remember? Yeah. So, it appeared to me that she worked for him. So, now they're going to change it and said that he's just a consultant. Yeah, I'm almost done. Richardson, time's almost up. I see you. But, yeah. So, no. No, we should not be supporting this. This is ridiculous. We should not be and you act as president should not be supporting it. But I understand the position you're in because you already asked to leave.

Thank you, Dez. Uh, Bruce, come on down. You have three minutes. We're discussing the uh the TERA hearing for this project.

I've learned not to talk long. Just say specific. I just want to commend the city council, the manager, and the mayor for all the work they do for the home uh acquisitions and everything else you do. It's incredible. I've seen city councilman over many, many years not address to the degree which you have. And yes, by being in the position that you're in, you're going to have friends in the community. And there's nothing wrong with continuing to work with those friends because you'll get more out of it in the long haul. And to accuse anybody of motivations, I think is a wrongheaded and wrong practiced thing to do. I hear it every week. You ought to be commended. Thank you for your work. Thank you.

Thank you, Bruce. Um, so we're still on the public hearing for the 9:05 a.m. TERA hearing item. If anyone has public comment on that, right, seeing no further public comment, we're going to go ahead and close the hearing. We'll bring it up back to the council. Uh, Council Member Vain. We have a motion from Council Member Vain and a second from Council Member Carbassi. Is there any opposition to this item? Seeing none, that's in a pass six to zero. All right, that that was our one uh timed item for the uh for the day. Um, now we're going to move on to the consent calendar. Before we can do that, we are going to take uh public comments on the consent calendar, uh, the close session agenda and anything that got pulled for contested consent as well. And those items were 2 E, 2 H, 2 I. So, anything on consent calendar, contested consent, or close session. So, I'm going to go and open that up uh for public comments. Uh, anyone would like to comment on the consent agenda. contested consents or close session

on the right now. Yes, for the consent agenda. Yes.

I guess I would I was going to say um with you guys doing the new contract with CMAC, right? Um that maybe you guys would um consider lowering the rent for them because it seemed like every year, like the next five years, it's going to go up about $1,000. And CMAC is one of the few um places that actually does something for the public. And I know a few of you guys have utilized um CMAC. So then you guys would know some of the good things they do there. So if you guys might want to cut them a break. Um also take in consideration that people are stream streaming things and so the funds that they kind of depended on are for the last so so many years might not be as up like they won't have as maybe funds because people are streaming and stuff like that. So maybe if you guys would cut them um a break when it comes to the rent. Are you guys listening? cut them a break maybe with the rent lower it.

All right. Thank you. I realize I do have one uh one yellow card for consent uh item uh Reverend Simon Vasel and that's for item 2H. Reverend, are you with us? Okay. Um is there any uh other further public comments on the consent agenda? Contested consent or close session. Going once, going twice. All right, we're going to go ahead and close the public comment then for uh for the consent agenda. Is there a motion? Right. We have moved seconded. And is there any opposition to approving the balance of the consent agenda? Seeing none, that passes six to zero. Let's move into the contested uh the contested items. We're going to go in an order starting with uh 2E. Uh this was pulled by Council Member Perea.

Good morning, director. Good morning, Council Member. We've I know we've had conversations about what's been going on with this item and the timeline for completion. Um the motion was made over two years ago to install shading structures and to increase the lighting over at Trolley Park. Um and I know due to various reasons this has been delayed. Um the item before us is another delay. Can you kind of just walk us through the overall timeline from here on forward?

Sure. Uh good morning. Aaron Ngiri, uh parks director. Um so with today's council action, the uh staff is requesting that all bids be rejected. Uh this afternoon we would go right back out to bid. So we would advertise this project. Uh we would open bids in two weeks on April 23rd. Um at that point we anticipate coming back to council if all goes well with the bids on May 7th for award uh with a fall notice to proceed and a substantial completion uh December of this calendar year. Okay. Um city manager, is there any opportunity for us to do any of this work inhouse? Perhaps the electrical.

I don't know the answer to that. Um, does anybody uh capital Francisco, do you know? Good morning, Francisco Marosa, assistant director, capital projects. Um, the electrical work uh does require us going out and um procuring the light poles and all of that infrastructure. Um, this being an existing park, um, it is a little bit more complicated in terms of actual construction. So, I would, uh, advise that we keep it with a contractor and and have, um, their forces do it, uh, versus having city forces go out and and do the, uh, infrastructure work. Okay. Thank you, Francisco.

Um, this is a very tiny play structure and it's probably the smallest one we have in the city. I I could be wrong. um at around 80° it's extremely hot to the touch and so it renders it almost useless over the summer when we do hit 80 plus degrees. So, I'm just trying to figure out how do we how is is are there any opportunities to expedite this to where we don't leave our kids out from having to travel across the city to go to a different park for three to four months out of out of the year or council member if I may or that or a stop gap uh of sorts temp something temporary.

Yeah. So on completely understand your concern and um we sat down and looked at what the fastest path to get this done. Um and this is the fastest path. Um I don't know you know lately we have been having um a lot of bid protests and um you know we have to uh uh go through a process when something is raised um and there may be a possibility that there is um uh we have we have to take it to the process of going through a bid process. That is a like a statutory timeline. And so we looked at what the options were of the quickest way to get to the end and this is the quickest way to get to the end. Um, totally understand your concern. I have uh really been very um strong in my direction to staff at to fulfill the commitment to the council office that this will be done by the end of the year. And I mean if Erin and I and Francisco have to get in there and screw in light bulbs ourselves, we will. Um, but understand your concern. There's this is the quickest way to get there. Um, uh, to to be able to get to the the finish line.

Have we recently awarded either an electrical contract or a shade structure contract that we can just piggyback off of and soul source this item?

Yes, the answer is yes, but even that does take some time. Um, and I still believe that this process here would be the most uh expeditious. Okay. Council member Arias, go ahead.

If I may, the the city municipal code and the attorneys can correct me, but we've done this prior times. From my perspective, kids burning themselves in a playground, which we know is going to occur in a couple of months, it is sufficient for us to declare a a health and safety issue, and bypass a bidding process. So, why can't you guys just go do it yourselves or go have a contractor given that we declared an emergency that needs to be done before the summer heat comes in? I don't think I I would defer to the attorney's office as to where that would why if that would be a valid um emergency under the municipal code. We did not um we did not consider this as an emergency under the um under the municipal code. So I would defer to the attorney's office um for an opinion on that. I mean, we we now have evidence that above 80 degrees, which we know is going to come in a month's time, results in kids injuries. We've been trying to do this for two years, ever since this playground was installed. Why can't we do this? We've in the past turned light pose into flag pose within 24 hours. I have full confidence that you guys can figure out how to do it internally or get a contractor that has an already an active contract and just make the amendment to it. What what what's the

council member? I also want to um caution um the statement that um you know that we are in uh on notice of kids being injured. Um I understand um the heat but uh the I think that's a a statement that we have to be very careful about making um because uh ask it differently then if we're to get a claim in a month's time. Is that sufficient for us to use our emergency powers around health and safety to do this quicker or do we literally have to wait for a claim knowing that kids are going to get injured? Let's

this is legal advice that I don't want to get into up on the dice and I can provide a memo after the fact but this is not an appropriate place to discuss that it's putting city at risk potentially.

So here's our options. We can um not reject today and hold off until we have um advice from the city attorney's office and decide at the next meeting if we're going to continue forward on this path. Um I I can tell you that the city attorney's office has been involved in our meetings in determining the quickest path forward. Um but I don't honestly I don't remember if we uh consider this and and I'll um all you know with the city attorney I will take the city attorney's advice about not talking about legal advice on the dis. So those are the options. We either reject today move forward with going down the path. Um, I I do think that even if there was um an opportunity to use a health and safety and award to a different contractor, I still think we would have to reject the bids today. Um, I see I see Brandon shaking his head. Yes. So, I would recommend that we still reject today. Um, we'll talk with the attorney's office on this health and safety. If it's an option, then we can certainly go down that path. If it's not, then we'll continue on the path that we're going down.

Wouldn't we have to reject anyway because of the process? I think so. Yes. Okay. Yes. I would recommend rejecting bids. Okay. But but notwithstanding the the the rejection of the bids. I mean, from a a technical perspective, there isn't any kind of stop gap that would uh serve as kind of a temporary relief. while this process unfolded.

Um, we can we can look operationally, but I think to city manager's point, these these shade structures and to, as you all have experienced, these in your parks, um, they're unique and custom to each top lot that they um are designed to cover. So, it's not an off the offtheshelf item that we can just grab and permit. So, we've got to go through the deferred submitt process, which does take some time. So, each one is um designed and uh specifically for the top lot. it's covering. Is there anything temporary we can install until we get the the permanent structure installed?

I I'd have to I'd have to look. I'd have to maybe go back with capital to see what could be temporarily done um without voiding any structural components of the top lot itself if there's something that we can install. Um same with the light poles out there. I know if we put anything on there, we start voiding structural warranties and so forth. So, we can definitely look at that to see if there's anything that we can do in the short term. Okay. Thanks, director. Uh motion to reject the bids.

All right, we have a motion council member PA, second by council member Carbassi. Any opposition to item 2E? Seeing none, that passes 620 to zero and parks has direction from the council to uh pursue uh some options, some temporary stop cap options to hopefully get us through these warm warmer months uh while the project is uh rebidded and and constructed. All right, the next uh item we have is 2H. This was pulled, I believe, by council member Arius. This is the advanced piece item. Thank you, Council President. I appreciate the administration bringing this item forward. Um, just a few years ago, this project and program was a full um civil war amongst, you know, some in the far right of the airwaves of our community. And of course, it's turned out to be an a great investment of public resources and led to record reduction in violence. So my question is more steered towards um the city manager is this proposal as submitted buys us 18 months. Is that my understanding?

Um yes, it buys us until uh the uh June 30th of 202. Uh well, no, not 18 months. No, just till June 30th of 20. The contract goes that long, but the funding will cover through October, right? October of this year. Of this year. Yes. So, is it the intention of the administration to address um further funding in the upcoming budget process? Well, as you know, we don't talk about the mayor's proposed budget until he presents the mayor's proposed budget, but I think it would be safe to say that um uh yes, the mayor does plan on providing funding for advanced peace in the proposed budget.

Okay. The reason I wanted to ask you if if that wasn't a plan, then I was going to make a motion to amend the amount and fund it now. But I don't want to be disruptive of your proposed budget development work. Um so if we intend to take this on as part of the overall budget conversation in May, then I'll, you know, approve it as is. But that's what I just wanted confirmation on. Um with that, I'll make a motion to approve. Thank you for the time. All right. We have a motion for council member Arius, a second for myself. Any opposition to item 2H? Council President, I was punched up. Oh, I apologize. I didn't see that. Council Brea.

No, just a just a quick comment. Um, Mr. Foster, I just want to thank you again for the the ride along that I did a number of years ago and it was something that has stuck with me ever since. Um, I know there has been some mishaps throughout, but I don't think that should undermine the good work that the organization has done for our community. And so you um have my support. You've had it. You will continue to have it. So please keep up the great work. Um I was happy to make the motion last year to continue the funding moving forward. And um I appreciate Council Member Arias for asking about funding moving forward. Um it's important that we do sustain the program because you guys are incredible community partners um for us, for the community, and for our Fresno Police Department. So thank you very much. All right. Uh any opposition to item 2H?

All right. Seeing none, that passes 6 to zero. Live to fight another day and we'll look for some funding here in the uh the budget. And I think Maxwell was in spirit with us and supporting it too or he vacations. In spirit. All right. Our last item for contested consent is going to be item 2. This was pulled by I think Council Member Richardson and Artius. Uh Council Richardson, I give you the uh give you the floor. He's alphabetically first, so I'll let him start it off. Whatever. I was going to default to my senior member on the left. What? You're the senior. What are you talking about? Oh, I hadn't pulled this.

Go ahead, Member Richardson.

Yeah, go ahead. Okay. Um, I got to tell you, we uh every time this comes the the the funding or renewal of a contract uh of a shelter comes before the city, there are some in the public who have public comment about it. They want to express concerns and things and uh sometimes the point is brought up that the council members are making a decision but don't really understand it. Uh yesterday we had the opportunity to go unannounced. Uh, no red carpets, no forewarning with you and with my staff to go inspect this particular shelter um out at 959 Parkway. And when we got there, we were the staff was there ready for us. We got to talk to residents who were excited to talk to us, who were enjoying, who were gainfully employed, who had hobbies and friends and activities. We found facilities that were functioning safe facilities. We saw active programming to get folks not only involved in just doing something right now, but in building their resumes, building their opportunities, um building the options for them, widening their funnel, I believe was the word that was used. Uh we saw staff that was dedicated on hand and attentive and a director, the executive director out there or the manager out there who was uh passionate and a good person who I've known for a long time. So, thank you for that opportunity. You really gave us a glimpse inside there. And because of our ability to go through, look at individual rooms and units, look at the food, look at the programming, look at the facilities, look at the safety, look at all these things firsthand without giving them any heads up that we were coming was a valuable experience for us and really removed any hesitation that I have. Um, approving 2i going forward. So, director, I don't have any questions for you. Thank you for uh for joining us out there. Uh, you didn't really facilitate the tour. you were just there to join us and make sure to be the bridge. And um I appreciated you and my staff being out there and allowing us to

do that. So um that was great. That that's really all I had. Council President. All right. I don't see anyone else punched up. Council Aras. Thank you, Council President. I have more technical questions. Uh director, do you appreciate you reaching out to meet with me uh beforehand, but I just got busy this week. Um, this proposed though, as noted in the T staff report, we did an RFP and 24 and we enter into one-year agreement with two one-year extensions. You are proposing to extend this first extension. Correct. Correct. What is the plan for this shelter in terms of converting it to permanent housing and how does that where are we at with those plans?

Sure. Yeah. Phil Sky, assistant director of our plan development department. Council member Arius, thank you for the question. Um, we have been actively pursuing a particular plan to convert this. Um, I I will tell you that and I I won't say more I think at this time because it's just slightly premature. Uh, but we have a very trusted partner um that is looking to convert this to permanent supportive housing. Um, in order to pursue this, we would obviously be fully compliant with the uh state surplus land act. Um and the particular plan that we're pursuing wouldn't cost the city of Fresno any additional funds to convert it. Um it would be fully on the dime of um of that developer. Um and so you know hoping that we're able to share more uh in the near future.

Have you done an RFP process for to identify that potential developer? So uh again in this particular instance uh that wouldn't be necessary required um as it relates to the surplus land act. Um it would be of course something that we would bring before this body um for approval. Um but this time we have not done that.

So is it your intention to first secure developer and then pursue surplus act therefore you know limiting the council's ability to select a partner that we're in agreement with. So yeah, so that right now we're in the preliminary discussions uh with that trusted partner um who would be exempt from the surplus land act. All of this of course has to go through the state of California. All of it of course has to come before this body for approval. But right now that is the um I just want you to know what I want to convey is that we're actively working on a plan.

Correct. So does that plan that you're actively working on would that take us beyond the time of an additional one-year extension? This current plan as it stands today and again we're in kind of preliminary discussions would not take us beyond the period of this first amendment that's before this body today. I can't say for certain. Um I I think part of what will have to be contemplated by this body and certainly with the input of this administration will be if the development timeline um of the conversion uh were not to commence construction just based upon you know all that's involved in in a conversion. If that were to extend beyond, let's just say that um for to to offer an example, if construction were not to be planned to commence until let's say January 1st of 2028, so this agreement before you today expires June 30th or 27, I think it would be at the discretion of um this body and with the input of this administration and based upon available resources whether or not we want to keep this shelter open through January 1st of 28 if that example were to play out. Um that's a decision that we would make in the future.

The the reason I'm asking the these questions, director, is um I'm trying to be very intentional not to tie the hands of my predecessor and who's going to be in in this seat and have the responsibility to have to answer to the quality of operations of these facilities within these neighborhoods. So in this proposal, you're essentially, you know, extending it beyond my tenure. So, I want to be clear with everyone who's running to replace me um of the deadline for that operation and that any future plans to convert this to permanent uh supportive housing or permanent housing, Mercury or subsidized housing is not something that's predetermined and that the next uh member of this body gets to weigh in because ultimately we have spent probably half a billion dollars in this neighborhood acquiring these you know, human and drug trafficking motel, converting them to shelters and into permanent housing. And as you know, uh, living in Fresno, one bad house in the neighborhood ruins the whole block. And one bad shelter operator can ruin the whole corridor of housing that we've built over time. So to date, um, I've been satisfied with their operations.

But I want to be clear that if we go down the path of finding a new operator to permitive supportive housing that uh, this body gets to weigh in and my predecessor gets to weigh in so that we don't deal with a slum lord that deteriorates the rest of the work that we've been doing for years in that area. And I know you're being thoughtful about that, but I want to put that on the record that we don't engage in multipleear contracts as we exit our roles. But thank you for their your responses.

Council member, I do want to just say uh and thank you for those comments uh and your thoughtfulness uh and and your care for this entire for everything we've done around homelessness uh during your tenure. I I I want to just say to you that it is my hope, so I'm I'm optimistic that I'll be able to bring forward uh a proposal to this body um during your tenure and that you'll have an opportunity to to vote on on that future decision with regard to that permanent supportive housing provider.

Thank you. And just my last comment to my colleague um member Richardson, I appreciate you doing the site visits of the shelters. You should also know that when staff brings me recommendations for partners to operate permanent housing, I make it a point to go to LA and visit their operations without announcement, without schedules, without VIP tours because when we're inviting people to come into our city, we want to kick the tires, see for ourselves how they proposedly operate. because as you know uh as we do with liquor stores, people propose that they're going to run a grocery store and it becomes then you know a completely different operation in the neighborhood. So, I do appreciate you being forthright and sharing the information of who you're intending to bring forward and allowing us the time to go inspect for ourselves and kick the tires before we invite them into the neighborhood and then have to answer for their mismanagement or their, you know, over, you know, their used car salesman pitches that they tend to do when they come before this body. So, appreciate the time.

Thank you. All right. I don't see anyone else punched up. I'll entertain a motion. Second. All right. Motion by council member Arius, second by council member Richardson. Any opposition to item two I. All right. Seeing none, it's going to pass 6 to zero. That's going to conclude our consent and contest the consent agenda. Um, we're moving pretty quickly here through this relatively short agenda. Uh, city manager, are we ready for the uh the ATP update? We are. Before we go to that, I remembered my comments. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Uh, please.

It was just a quick thank you to Centino Denise, Caleb Newfeld, and the entire finance department for the Afer um that you all accepted um and with no findings uh for the second year in a row. That's a um pretty significant accomplishment. So, that was um all I forgot to forgot to say earlier. Thank you, Council President. And the staff is ready for the presentation.

Absolutely. Good morning. Andrina Agelar with public works and transportation planning. Um, thank you for having us today and you guys are moving through the agenda quite quickly today. Um, so we are here for the active transportation plan update. Um the last time we had an adopted ATP was in 2017. Um we are going through uh an update of what we had. Uh we have our consultants here today who will be presenting the majority of the presentation. Um so I'll call her up here in a bit. In today's presentation, we'll be covering what the ATP update consists of, all the different topics and what we've uh uh the process itself uh since we started it. um the the uh the ease um which is engineering along with others evaluation um our visions and goals of the policy itself which align with the city of Fresno's general plan goals and policies uh the foundation and community assessment uh public participation um throughout the process uh the bicycle pedestrian network uh the changes that we're seeing from 2017 to this current update um design principles And one of the items that's new here is our safe uh routes and safety education toolkit um which uh the consultant put together for uh for the community um implementation and funding and then the next steps from there.

Uh the question came up of why an ATP? Why do we have it uh and why are we updating it? So ATP promotes and encourages walking and biking uh throughout the community. It's public health. Um it's uh sustainable communities for better air quality uh equity uh equitable mobility for all. Um and most importantly it puts us in a position where we plan for this infrastructure so that we can ultimately go out for grant funding. Um why are we doing this current update? Uh on average uh the updates are done every 5 years or so. Uh and that's to to make sure that we have the latest data, most uh updated data uh show the network um throughout the years. We go through and um realize that some of the uh visionary planned infrastructure we had sometimes is infeasible. So this is an opportunity to update that information and again to maintain eligibility for state and federal funding. So, at this point, I'd like to bring up Ruda with TJKM. Thank you. Sorry. Good morning everyone. Um so we did kickstart this particular project in year 2024 um during winter and um we started with the existing conditions prop and went into updating visions and goals. Uh based on that we went back to the community as you can see on the top of the timeline we have met with the community multiple number of times. So um we did have an engagement and outreach strategy where we had defined some steering committee meetings as well as public engagement meetings and at every point within the project duration we did go back to them pointtooint kind

of giving them an update where we were and what we were doing. Uh based on that uh and all the input that we received from the community as well as the steering committee we uh developed a proposed plan network which was which consists of uh plan network for bicyclists as well as pedestrians. Um and also we considered transit aspect of it a little bit in this um also we had an interactive map tool which I will get into details in my next slides. Um we also developed safe route to school toolbox like Andrina mentioned. We do have a project website for that which will be going live after we adopt this particular plan. Um we have approximately 14 to 15 uh safety education brochures that are done both in English as well as Spanish uh which is also included in our plan. And then we also went through the design guidelines. Um and we expect to come back to you in May for the adoption of the plan. Um we did incorporate the six E within our active transportation plan. So that is engineering in encouragement, equity, education, enforcement and evaluation. It is very very important that we do have evaluation through the plan because we want to continue to monitor our plan to make sure that we do include any new aspect of um uh updates that are necessary uh to our plan. We did develop vision goals and policies and made sure that the goals and policies support each other. And these um goals and policies included safety enhancements, connectivity, equity, um economic vitality and quality of life, education, encouragement and uh enforcement and also data collection and performance monitoring. Um most importantly, we also included ongoing maintenance that would be needed uh for

some of these facilities. as you know that sometimes we have bike facilities but they're not maintained and that's the reason you know uh bicycle community does have issues uh riding along those u corridors. Um based on that we developed our vision statement which says that our city and visions uh individuals of all ages, abilities, income levels and backgrounds um need to safely, conveniently and comfortably walk, bike or roll or use any micromobility um uh options that are available to reach to their destinations and uh access transit. Uh it has to be a well uh connected network. um so that it provides seamless link between in between homes, jobs, schools, transit hubs and other key destinations. As well as this empowers residents to uh choose active and um have sustainable travel options fostering improve public health, reduce environmental impact and enhance the quality of life. So based on our goals and uh objectives as well as policies, we did develop a vision statement for ADP. Um as you know that we did have a plan before. So we really wanted to build on the previous efforts that were done by the city. So we did start our foundation from community assessment as well as the infrastructure assessment that we have in existing and that included we looked into historical development and geographical context our socioeconomic analysis and equity. And then from uh from um infrastructure point of view, we did look into our existing wayfinding uh signs that are out there, lighting, pedestrian and bicycle uh connectivity with transit and other land uses and micromobility. Um the reason we brought up lighting is when we looked at the

collision analysis, 50% of the collisions occur during dark conditions. So we thought that it would be good for us to look into that too. uh as a part of uh community engagement or outreach process or public participation. Uh we had over 2,000 participants engaged within uh during this duration. Uh we did have three steering advisory committee meetings. uh we did develop a map input platform that would help a community to get to a driveway level zoomed aspect of a map and then they can let us know where their concerns are or what is their feedback or what are their issues. So we did collect like 303 mapping tool comments which were either point comments or line comments and the top corridors that came up in the community concerns were Hunden Avenue, Shaw and Blackstone Avenue. Uh we also went back to the community with the 30% conceptual design corridors. Um one of the scopes in ATP was to look at east west connector, northwest north south connector and the um uh downtown loop. So we did go back to the community with those options and we had come to the council also a year before with those options. Um I think there was a comment um regarding the downtown loop uh to eliminate the uh the link between on Ed Street between Belmont and Devisado and that has been already incorporated in our plan. Um and then on the right hand side you can see that we had multiple events that we have attended and gone to the community to uh get their input. Not only that we also collaborated with vision zero. So at the end of the day a lot of these goals and objectives are the same. So we want wanted to make sure that we collaborate with them and incorporate their comments too. So that has been done through the

process also um based on the feedback that we received from the community. As you can see um on the left hand side uh we have identified the bicycle improvements that were brought up and on the right hand side we have brought up we have identified the pedestrian supporting infrastructure that was brought up. So um it was identified that uh community wants to see more secure bicycle parking and storage uh traffic uh signal detection for bikes specifically at intersections, more trails uh to support facilities and wayfindings and all definitely maintenance and operations. Like I mentioned before on the pedestrian side they wanted to see more sidewalk network completion. So basically gap closures, enhancing crossing treatments, uh lighting and visibility improvements, uh traffic calming and speed management, uh accessibility and ADA compliance as well as wayfinding and education. And as you can see through our plan that we have tried to incorporate all of them. Not only that, this kind of gave us a very good understanding and validation of the collision analysis that we had done that whatever community was telling us that kind of matched with what we were looking at the collisions and the history of the collisions. Um it it kind of at least gives us a sense that the data that we have is not garbage in garbage out because it is validating with the concerns that community has. um bicycle uh getting into bicycle network. Oops, sorry. Just a recap on different type of classifications that we have. Uh before we just had class one, two and three. It was really easy for us to understand that. But lately we have um class 2 buffer and class 4. So there are quite a new type of classifications that have come since um our plan was updated in 2017. So as you can see class one is a bike path or we

can also classify that as shared use path uh which is separated from our travel lane. Class 2 is a bike lane stripe bike lane which is on your travel lane uh as you can see over there in the second uh photo right there. Uh class 2 bike lane buffered is a buffer separation between the bike bike bike facility and the travel lane. Class 3 is a bike route where you are sharing the road with the uh bicyclist. And then class 4 is separated bike way which is a little different from class 2 buffer because it does have a physical um like a bullard or a post um in between the buffer that we have. So it does have that physical separation um between the bike and um the cars or motor vehicles. Uh also the next slide shows us the supporting infrastructure for the bikes. Like for example, we have considered green pavement like we have today on first street um bullard separated bikeway like I just mentioned before. Um through bicycle lane striping through the intersection like on Barstow. uh bicycle box uh example is on the first street and then the bike racks. So some of the infrastructure improvements there. Um bicycle network um fortunately unfortunately our city is huge. um it has multiple districts so it's kind of hard to read um the maps but uh to make it easy if you look at the appendix and our report each um every district has its own map so it's easy for us to read those maps um not only that towards the end of this project we will be having a GIS dashboard because we do have GIS layers which will be given to the city

so at a later date if you want to go get to that dashboard and zoom in into any of the districts or corridors or intersections you will be able to see that much clearer than what we are seeing right now on this one map. Um so uh getting into bike network in 2017 ADP as you can see um there were uh class one bike paths which had total of 38 mi class 2 bike lanes of 431 class 3 bike routes of 22 and at that point there was no class 4 separated bikeways. So first of all there was it was not defined at that point. It originated starting somewhere 2019 2020. Um but we had already started thinking about it because uh everyone was thinking about separated bikeways. So as you can see there were proposed class 4 separated bikeways um with 21 miles there. But going back to class one paths proposed miles were 166. Uh class 2 bike lanes were 691. Class 3 bike routes were 69. Um so when you compare that 2017 ATP uh table with 20 26 class one bike paths existing went from 61 to 153 class 2 bike lanes from 521 to 540 class 2 buffer bike lanes from 5 m to 22 class 3 bike routes from 50 to 40 class 4 bike lanes from 20 to 70. So that is what we are looking at with 2026 ADP. Just to completely give you a gist of it, existing bicycle facility network increased by almost 34% which is approximately 166 mi. Updated propose uh update proposes 22 mi of class 2 buffered bike lanes. So if they were previously class 2, we are proposing to

um uh modify it to uh buffer separated bike lanes for more safety. And then update also proposes 70 mi of class 4 separated bike facilities. Uh we prioritize these facilities also. I know everyone would want all these projects to be implemented but we do have limited funding so we need to prioritize them. And the priority was divided into high priority, medium priority, and low priority. And as you can see that we have 82 mi of high priority bikeways that have been identified. 227 mi of medium priority and 515 mi of lower priority bike bike bikeways. Um anyone would think that why so many. Um but that this is a visionary document, right? We want to make sure that we can provide as much as we can and also it is very important that our document mentions this because if we go after the funds for implementation they do look at this document to make sure that it has been mentioned in this document. Uh we also looked at the 30% conceptual corridors design corridors. There were multiple options and they were kind of nailed down to these three uh corridors. Um I I shouldn't say all of them are corridors because the last one is a downtown loop but um first street uh from Ottabbon to uh Caesar Chavez Boulevard, Clinton Avenue from West Avenue to first street and downtown loop which includes Belmont Avenue first street Caesar Savis sorry Caesar Chavez Boulevard Ed Street and Devisardo Street. So that has been already um considered and we have 30% conceptual designs done for it and they are all attached in the appendex of the report. Uh moving on to pedestrian network. Uh

different type of facilities as you as you all know sidewalks, crosswalks, median refu refuge islands, curb extensions, pedestrian hybrid beacons, we al also call them PHBs and rectangular rapid flashing beacons, we also call them RRFBs. When we look at the difference between the existing and planned facilities, um as you uh we have already gone through the class one bike paths, but if you look at the sidewalks, we had a total of 1,984 existing miles and proposed 661 in 2017 ADP. Uh versus in 2026, we had existing 2,88 miles of uh sidewalks and our planned is 636. So overall when I look at it, existing pedestrian network increased by 128 mi. Update proposes 153 miles of class one shared pots and uh also proposes 636 miles of sidewalks additional ones. Again we did we do have a high priority, medium priority and low priority uh sidewalk network. So 62 miles is um a high priority network that we have identified. 268 mi of medium priority and 251 of low priority. So changes between 2017 to 20 26 what what are the different things that we have seen um as I went through the bicycle facilities uh increase in mileage for bicycle facilities across four classifications both in existing as well as proposed identified class 2 buffered bike lanes updated the bike network map and level of stress map uh analysis. We have done level of stress analysis as a part of uh this plan and uh based on that we came up with some completed and updated uh project data

also updated the priority le list based on the input that we have received. Uh similarly for pedestrian facilities increased mileage of pedestrian facilities both in existing and planned identified some hawk or flashing beacon which is PHB and RRFBs uh locations. Um updated the pedestrian network map based on the completed projects that are that were already completed between 2017 and um 2025 and then updated the priorities based on the updated data. Along with that, we did develop a safe routes to school toolbox like I had mentioned before and it is going to be available for the community uh and it is going to be on the on the website as a separate page and we have developed safety education toolkit which includes uh approximately 14 to 15 different uh brochures that could be used by city as well as um community to educate um the community. Uh we also looked at the design aspects of um the different facilities uh whether it's bikes or uh pedestrians and these design they were depend or they were basically based on some design principles and those design principles were safety first. We wanted to make sure that all modes of transportation are safe. Uh it should be contextsensitive solutions. So we did account for that too. We also accounted for uh accessibility. So ADA compliance like curb ramps, sidewalk widths, uh uh accessible pedestrian signals like APS and we also made sure that it does align with the complete street policy. So those were the different aspects or principles that our design is based on. Um just an example of the safe routes to

school toolbox. Uh as you can see we have also looked into uh actually we have integrated the six E within the safe routes to school toolbox also and it has a lot of good uh resource uh on this particular uh web page which will have estimated timelines cost potential partners that would be needed to implement some of these uh counter measures within the toolbox. Um just an example for a safety education toolkit. The brochure that we have put together. Uh here it shows um us the different type of crosswalks that everyone should know of. So for example, what is a mock crosswalk? What is a high visibility crosswalk? So these were kind of categorized into four different categories. Pedestrian safety has a few brochures. Bicycle safety has few brochures. Um driver education um has uh a couple of brochures right there. And then infrastructure navigation like you know how could you how would you navigate a roundabout or what what would you do when you see a bike signal? What is an RRFB? So things like that have been accounted for in these brochures and toolkit. Uh one of the cool things that we did on this project is also have a traffic garden program. Um we we kind of had traffic garden um um in the uh Pinedale Community Center. A lot of kids showed up as you can see. We had a temporary installation of features that we have on our transportation infrastructure like uh lanes were uh striped with chalks and um tapes um different type of bike facilities, crosswalks and this was kind of a medium to educate kids on uh how how should they ride their bike, what should they do while walking or crossing a particular intersection. We also train, we also talked to them about not having their cell phones with them and

texting and walking and the hand gestures that are needed for um when they ride their bikes. So those were the different things and actually they loved it so much we were actually supposed to just take it out at the end of the day but they wanted us to leave it in because they really thought that it was very very useful and kids loved it. So uh it it was kind of a cool exercise for us. uh overall at the end implementation and funding. So uh this is a table that shows kind of details of each type of facilities. Uh also high priority, medium priority and low priority associated with the cost. So as you can see that the bicycle network we need approximately $334 uh million for uh to have everything in place. And then when you look at the pedestrian network implementation cost u along with all the sidewalks it's around 552. Um it's kind of a little bit on the higher side because we like to be conservative. Um sometimes you know if you consider lower cost and then you go after funds then you figure it out after getting the funds that oh it's not enough for us to meet the ends. So we we kind of are a little bit conservative on this cost. And then also we wanted to make sure that we identify the funding sources to go after these funds. So there are different type of funding sources that we can go after like CMAC, EDSIP. We have one upcoming SS4A grant application that city has been really really fortunate to get a lot of grant from there too. We will continue our effort to go after the grants so that we can implement some of these improvements that we have identified and also uh we have kind of separated these sources um like the what are the different sources in state that covers state funding and then regional and local sources.

Um so far we have received um multiple comments from the public review and here are all the comments that we have. Uh there are some general comments. There are comments on um more bike parking and bike lockers needed uh more shades for cyclists and pedestrians. So we will be going through all these comments and we will make sure that we we would accommodate as much as many comments as we can. So next step we will incorporate the public comments like I mentioned and then we will be coming back to you for adoption on May 7th of 2026. Um and with that I would like to open it up for discussion.

All right. Thank you. Uh we have council member Carbasi punched up.

Great. Thank you so much. That was a very thorough and helpful presentation. It's helpful to see where residents all over the city feel about these issues. um being able to create I mean this is logical but create safe roads to our roads and drivers and pedestrians and anyone else walking or riding a bike are safe and everyone's on their cell phone now so it's gotten even more difficult and and I think the public recognizes that huge thank you for the traffic garden program I love the fact that you're telling kids about cell phones a for them if they listen to music or something but also watch out for other drivers as a kid when I was going to Malik which is not too far from there um I remember having whether it was a bike rodeo or something where they taught you hand signals and all those things and it's just more dangerous out there now. Yeah.

Um so thank you for that. That really does help a lot.

Um I stepped out of the room for a little bit so I might have missed some things so please forgive me for that. Um just some feedback I had. So I want to ask you a little bit about and you may have covered it but just road diets in particular and how those will impact Northwest Fresno. Staff has always been very um proactive and worked with me beforehand. I know as we convert and add some lanes and we'll share the road with we take a lane and convert it to a bicycle lane um with parking. When I ran in uh 2024, the funny thing is I walked door to door and the one piece of feedback I got, it wasn't what you would think it is. I heard repeatedly people complaining about not in district 2, other parts of Fresno, those road diets. So, it's always been in my mind. Um any plans on road diets uh in northwest Fresno that we can talk about? whether it's from the folks that have provided feedback or anything from staff.

Um Andrea with public works, the the plan doesn't identify any road diets. Um but some of these infrastructures, if we do go out funding for funding and receive it to be able to design and accommodate for the facility, sometimes we need to narrow down uh the roadway. That sometimes means just narrower um travel lanes or reducing the amount of uh travel lanes within it. in the case of reducing the untravel lanes. There are certain roads I think that um uh maybe are better suited to that versus let's say Palm Avenue. So I mean you guys have always been great about working with me on that. I just want to make sure if you're going in a particular district definitely work with the council member. You guys always do that. Just mentioning that and um no just terrific work. I know there's a contingent of folks out there that are very very concerned about safety and they should be. Um so I do sincerely appreciate the hard work Scott. Your team does a great job and they're very transparent with us. So thank you. Keep it up.

Oh, also Oh, sure. Also on the road diet or sorry, um we have a very detailed spreadsheet that has already identified what are the giveaways for certain type of facilities. Uh definitely if you want a class 2 buffer or a class 4, there would be some uh thing you might have to give away, right? It could be parking, it could be a lane. So those are also identified. But it's just that since we're not ready for those projects, we have not identified them that what are we uh balancing that with.

And one thing I'll say, so you have a very important job. It's very technical. we rely on your information, but sometimes in our field, we have an emotional job because in our case, we're dealing with the public and maybe they are not wellinformed about the technical aspects, but we have to take that into account because they really want to see just like the folks that have met with you about this that are passionate. There are other folks out there that may have thoughts about how things um changes will affect them. Change is always hard. Sometimes it's easy for us to be able to sell that change saying, "Hey, try it out. It'll work." We've done that before many times. So that's why that collaboration with the council members makes a big difference because we hear all that. Yes. So what when get closer to making plans.

Yes. Exactly. So what we have done is we have just identified that. But if we try to go into details and pick a particular corridor, we will be coming back to you and to the community that okay these are the trade-offs that we have. Do you agree with the trade-offs or not? Are you on the same page with us? Only then we will go ahead and make those changes. Right now fair enough. Yeah. Right now we have just identified that these are possible

and your department always does that. My suggestion is just before going to the public maybe you guys always do that already but just a reminder go to the council members the districts um two things um good things one uh we are doing I think this late summer uh breaking ground on the realignment of the overpass uh at H. turned in between Melbourne and um Pulk and I believe there's going to be a class 4 uh bike lane which is but separated by a class one I'm sorry class one kind of like Veterans Boulevard has is that correct Scott which is totally separated by a barrier which is great because whenever I ride my I don't do it as often as I should I have to go actually don't do this anyone across the railroad tracks I won't ride up there because I'm so concerned about traffic that's going to be a great thing you guys are doing and I think the folks are going to really appreciate that

yeah that's a great project The other thing um is working with Fresno County. So I'll give you an example and we've not discussed this before so please forgive me. Barstow Avenue Gibson Elementary is a school in my district adjacent to Bullard High School. Barstow between Palm and what is that fruit um one side of the street city the neighborhood south is county now supervisor Bredeld has been really cooperative with us and working with us to figure out what we're going to do but drivers and oftentimes it's the parents I'm I'm sorry to say that it happens they just go right through there and don't pay attention to any any anyone else and it is it is we've been working to maybe do a joint crosswalk how has cooperation with the county been I mean I know not it's not necessarily a subject matter here but we have county islands and we have of course a lot of parts of our town especially on the west side that border county so there are those pockets or the the adjacent parts how is that going any discussion with the county on any of this work? So yes, the county was um so as part of the the the whole project, a committee is put together and the county was a part of that committee just so that they are in the conversation. Good.

Um and public works and the county of Fresno re meet regularly to speak on those type of projects uh along with others. Um and one nice thing about TJKM is that they are also the consultant uh on one of the plans for safe streets for all safe streets for all project at the county. So they have got that knowledge um on both ends but as far as public works we do have those continued communications

and let's not be afraid to get some of their money. I mean our residents are their residents too. So don't be shy. Uh thank you for that. And then uh one last thing for sorry my Columbbo moment. Was there any response council me council president Esparza I think did a really great thing bringing forward an option for us to be even more proactive with slowing the speed limits of school zones. I'm sure that must had a very positive response. Uh any feedback from residents about that? So when we were out for public uh participation uh that was before it was before so we didn't hear um on on this uh but we have heard through our vision zero uh action plan that will be before council here soon as well. Um

but the feedback is is positive. Um there should be just implemented. Yeah. I just appreciate the council president for his leadership on that. Thank you very much. Council member Richardson, followed by Council Member Vang. Sure. When it goes into the and my colleague kind of spoke to this for a second. Um when it goes toward the the design of the streets, right, to facilitate an active transportation plan and safety for the pedestrians and the riders and rollers and everyone else. Um are there what do you have in terms of suggestions? Are there suggestions that come out that hey, a radar speed sign should be put in here, a speed bump should be put in here, anything that's not directly on the bike or the traveling path that may affect the traffic in the area.

So, this particular plan really focus on that bicycle and pedestrian connectivity. Um some of the topics you're talking about uh fit more aligned along along the lines of the vision zero action plan um which does support slowing down traffic um identifying where those uh high-risisk or higher risk locations are at and how to uh implement some counter measures to address that. Um but that so much wasn't in like speed humps wasn't included in here. Um what was included is just safer pedestrian crossings. So those high visibility crossings uh what they should look like. Um and here in the in in the next future or next project, we also have a mobility design guide that we'll be developing which covers more of the design um of the infrastructure.

Okay. In terms of the design principle slide, u both on the safety first with the protected facilities preferred on high volume highspeed arterials and under the complete streets bullet that talked about transit operations maintained and enhanced. Uh I I think maybe I'm just speaking for myself up here, but I think that would really help us with policy decisions and with public works projects if there were recommendations that hey look, we'd like to extend this. Cars are moving too fast right here. uh either if there's a reduction in speed limit there, if there's a speed bump we can put in, if there's some sort of RFB or whatever at a different point that needs to go, that would really help me and I would imagine more than just me when it comes to policy decisions in our neighborhoods to keep them safer. As a subject matter experts, we can, you know, you can give us information that we really only otherwise hear from residents. You know, some resident will generally call and say, "Hey, I want a speed bump here." And that's great and I totally understand that. It's a little anecdotal and clearly you guys put a lot of study and time and effort and research into this and that would really be a great policy guiding um piece of information you could provide to us. And then the second question, actually I brought our uh ADA coordinator here down um pulled him out of his office to to help answer this if if for some reason you want some backup, but what are the are there state or federal standards outside of just new lights have to be uh APS? Where do those have to go in? What do we look like percentage-wise in the city for how close we are to those? Uh do we see a lack of them? Is there an area where they're kind of underresourced? Um what does it look like with the APS and and their uh kind of promulgation throughout the city?

So for accessible pedestrian signals, which are APS, and that's the the buttons, right, where you have the I call it a 3D button where you can push and touch it and it has the locator tones and it says walk sign is on. Just to be clear, that's what we're talking about. Um approximately it's like 140 out of our intersections have it for sure and that's we have it's going to be it's going to grow a lot quicker with newer intersections going in. So whenever we do a program change is when it's required um to update and all new intersections do get APS. Um and we do a fantastic job here at the city of Fresno. I can assure you when it comes to APS um there's a couple years ago I attended a conference in Kansas City for an ADA national conference and there was no one that was above uh 10% out of the couple let me think like 80 different uh cities and counties that were there and we were above like 30% we're about 30% of our intersections have APS so that's how we're installing them and that's where we're installing them um and we do even install almost all over like uh safe uh what is it? Safe streets around schools. Booms are always doing the APS. We are doing with the proper prioritization around governmental agencies around hospitals and around schools as well.

So just math for Marines here. This wasn't on the job application for this job how many intersections we have in the city. But if we have 140 and that's 30%, we're looking at roughly 430 intersections. I don't think we're that high yet. Um I think we're like 320. Traffic signals. Yes. Traffic signals. 611 611 and we have 140. We have it's going to be close to 200 soon is what I will tell you. So that's where I got the 30% number from. Um just because of new intersections that are getting installed. We're waiting for them to get charged. Um and then honestly we're missing a little bit of data but uh for sure I can tell you we have 140 but it should it's going to be closer to 200 in the next year or so.

Okay. Thank you. Good morning Joe Henosa City of Fresno ADA coordinator. Council President. All right. Council member Vang followed by Council Member Arus. Good morning and thank you very much for the thorough presentation very detailed and safety oriented uh surrounding bike and pedestrian safety and also the uh safe route to school. A lot of my students uh at the three high schools that I have under district 5 in particular uh Sanger West, a lot of the students uh use their motorized bike to school quite a bit and so the uh safe route to school is really important to the uh members of that community. Uh you touch upon the uh the bike and pedestrian u component um in detail. I wanted to ask you about the uh Fenture Creek Trail. I believe it is a uh an equestrian designated route. The uh active transportation update here does that impact the uh designation of that route uh with regards to the equestriant designation.

So a portion of that uh trail alignment uh is which is within the county of Fresno um has the equestrian uh designation. At the city of Fresno, we don't have that designation. Okay. We don't have a designation in the city of Fresno. So it would not even impact uh the designation in the county. It wouldn't impact their No. Yeah, that's the question I have. Thank you. Thank you, Council Barius.

Thank you. So, in my final year, one of my most valuable lessons I've learned as a council member when it comes to traffic and bike lanes and pedestrian movement is that every resident in the city wants us to slow down traffic in their neighborhood and speed it up in somebody else's neighborhood so they can get to work to school faster, to work faster. And um ultimately, it's a balancing act for all of us. you know, in every neighborhood meeting I've been to, sure enough, half the audience will say, "We hate the bike lanes." And the other half say, "We like the bike lanes." Um, and so I I think as a city, we've done a significant job in building freeways, and I constantly tell my residents, the freeways primary purpose is to get you across town in a faster speed. You know, Palm Avenue, McKinley Avenue, Clinton Avenue are not freeways. uh the residential streets and expect to slow down and expect pedestrians and bikers to be on the streets. The reason we don't allow bikes on freeways is cuz they're not meant to be on freeways. So, um I appreciate the the work that you guys do and all the outreach meetings and the difficult criticism that you all take, especially Scott Moer. Um he'll tell you that for years we had a neighborhood in my district ask for roundabouts and then we funded them and then a whole batch of people criticized us from the roundabouts even though the neighbors in the area wanted them but the people that used it as a bypass to get from one side of town to the other didn't like them because it slowed down traffic. So in essence my lesson is we're a selfish community and sometimes you have to be okay with being criticized. Um, another part of of the city, you know, that you guys are in or in California Avenue, we're installing bike lanes cuz it has a high school in

front of it. And some neighbors will argue, "Kids don't use bikes, so why are you putting bike lanes?" But then the kids at the school will tell you, "If we had a bike lane, I could get here without being run over and hit by a vehicle." So, you guys all have a different uh difficult task before you. Um, but I do want to point out a couple of things as I've learned. One is the inequity in how we do big public infrastructure projects. Give you an example. As member Kabasi noted, when we built Veterans Boulevard, we did a class one, which is the safest way to have um pedestrian and bikes go through a busy intersection. But in my district, when Calrans did Ashlin and Clinton interchanges, they did um class two. They put the back lanes, it's just a stripe in the middle of truck traffic. When uh Highspeed Rail did the um underpass on Taller and Chaveis Boulevard, they put the class two bike lanes, a stripe, and then truck traffic. So I I guess my question is and maybe it be Scott, who determines whether we build a class one in an intersection with trucks versus a class 2? Is it our city? Is it ATP plan or is it the agency that's building the project who ultimately determines how safe these intersections between bicycles less and vehicles is? So ultimately it's going to be up to the agency that's um leading the project um with hopefully lots of input from the community um and support from the neighboring jurisdictions um veterans.

So in the case of veterans it was a city sponsored project so we did the most safest route. So with that the city is the lead agency on McKinley and Blackstone. Are we proposing to do a class one like we did at veterans? Are we going to put pedestrian and bicyclists in the main group? Just to clarify, it's a very good point. I think the veterans that was from highspeed rail, is that correct? That portion for the class 4. I thought we were the lead agency. We are. Go ahead, Scott. Sorry.

Good morning, council. I just wanted to add uh yes, we are the lead agency, but uh really going back to uh the ATP update workshop uh that's before you um which we'll then uh we hope to bring to council next month for adoption. really it is the ATP and the general plan which guides that decision. Um you know many decades ago uh Veterans Boulevard uh was designated on the general plan to have a class one trail uh along that corridor and to have the on street bike lane. So when the project came up uh through measure C through and with highspeed rail funding, federal state grants, uh it was built per uh the general plan. uh by comparison uh class one trail off streetet uh two-way separated bike path was not on the general plan or ATP4 let's say uh Cesaro Chavez Boulevard or Tallarian downtown but we did have uh the bike lanes on there um and working with highspeed rail for example for me having been involved in the project initially they said well well the street that you had there before didn't have any bike lanes on it why do we need to build them. Well, because that is the adopted plan and we're able to implement. Uh just wanted to close that out. The question about Blackstone McKinley grade separation uh that is being designed consistent with uh the council adopted south southern Blackstone smart mobility plan uh with uh with the class 4 uh separated separated bike plans.

So it won't be what we have at veterans which is a dedicated path. it just going to be your sticks, plastic sticks that separate bikes with cars.

It does have a raised uh bike path. So, an actual elevated uh in the concept design, the community scene and the current 90% plans, it does have an elevated bike path. So, not a two-way. The one distinction, the class one is generally a two-way off- streetet bike path. So on one side of the street like Jensen Avenue has a uh an off street uh two-way bike path of class one. Um other roadways like H. Hearnden Jensen have that uh but not Blackstone. That one is planned for basically one way each side but it will be elevated and not uh down at pavement level.

So when you say elevated, are we talking your traditional curb and gutter? I don't know what you call that. Um, separation that occurs between the bikes and the vehicles or is it just height elevation at essentially at sidewalk level? So, yes, raised up above the street. Above the street. Yes, that's correct.

All right. What what I want to get ahead of is the whole idea is to improve safety with McKinley and Blackstone, right? But now that people don't have to stop for the train, the tendency is going to be to go faster and we're intentionally sending all bicycle and pedestrian traffic in in that same area. So I want to see how more aggressive we could be and creating the separation and the safety. I know some jurisdictions do curb and gutter as a standard separator. That's what some in the neighborhood in my district have asked for because you know cars tend to you know run over the plastic barrier. Uh but food for thought on that. Um my second question around uh or comment around bike lanes is um next council meeting this body will discuss the community initiative to renew measure C the transportation tax measure our local self south self south self south self south self south self south self south self south self south self south self south self south self south self south self south self south self south self south self south self south self um fund u proposal and one of the big areas of investment in that proposal different from the one that's been in the books for 40 years that built all the freeways in our community is an intentional investment in a lot of miles of bike lanes. Historically, the city of Freso has relied on federal and state grants to build bike lane infrastructure and pedestrian infrastructure and safe route to school infrastructure. If this initiative is successful in the November election, it would give us an infusion of local funds to build new bike lanes, new pedestrian, new trails, and to maintain existing ones and upgrade existing ones. So, we're the next council will actually have the resources to put a lot of these plans into effect instead of relying on state and federal funds to do one at a time. Um, and in that context, what I've

experienced is ATP plan has called out certain areas for a potential bike lane. When we finally get to that area, we find out from either neighborhood feedback or public works feedback that it's not a viable corridor. Give you an example. Um, I think there was ATP calls for bike lanes on the west side of Edison High School in that street. And the reality is that that street is always impacted with street parking for football practice and baseball practice in that neighborhood. So we were to do a bike lane, we would essentially eliminate all that street parking. So what I'm going to be looking for in this ATP plan is that we're actually much more practical in the corridors that we're recommending because as I indicated, we wouldn't in the future now have actually money to execute much faster. And I don't want the next council to be frustrated that the areas that we identified for bike lane infrastructure practically cannot be done either for practical reasons or neighborhood reasons. There's plenty of quarters where we could do it. Um, and I do, um, want to again appreciate your guys' work and encourage you that don't let the community meeting criticism or conflict dissuade you from making these infrastructural improvements because ultimately they are helpful. They do improve safety. And, you know, at times people just they want to be mad at something. And the easiest thing to be mad at is some somebody that changed their daily um routine. And for too long, the daily routine for Fresno's and those passing through Fresno is to use our residential streets as highways. And we, you know, it shouldn't take a tragedy for us to honor the the request for us to slow traffic down in residential neighborhoods and

redirect high traffic and high speeds to the freeways, which is our primary purpose. So those are all my comments for today. Thank you. Thank you.

So you you mentioned uh vision zero earlier. Obviously we don't do policy in a vacuum. All of these um different initiatives are are related. And so just my one brief question is you know sort of what is the overlap between um you know our update here uh and the forthcoming vision zero that's going to be presented. Uh so the overlap is both um projects looked at the same data set um to make sure that they are looking at the same thing and evaluating uh appropriately. Um and as far as the vision zero um action plan that should be coming before you within the next couple of weeks um in a workshop setting just like this one um and then coming back to council for adoption that will give you the opportunity. It's currently out vision zero is currently out for uh public review. So I invite you to to go take a look at it um so you are better prepared for the workshop meeting.

Great. Thank you. Any additional comments, questions from council? Uh, city manager, let's take a look at um I like today was a relatively shorter meeting and I think we had the captured the attention span of the council with respect to the workshop. Um, so let's take a look at kind of the forthcoming agendas and we'll try and place the vision zero on one of those uh less crowded ones uh where we're not trying to zip through um the non voting items in favor of you know other pressing business. The next meeting is looking pretty heavy already on the 23rd. I understand. Um I don't I think Amy can probably confirm that. So I'm not sure if the 23rd um I would qualify as a less crowded agenda, but perhaps

that that was my that was the inference. So I think we may punt you have two weeks from now, but we may punt it, you know, maybe 7th. We'll take a look. We'll discuss. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Um, so with the respect to the last part of the public agenda, we do have only remaining unscheduled communication. I have one card for unscheduled communication so far. Uh, if you'd like, please fill out a yellow card in the back, bring it up to the the clerks here. Uh, if not, I will still call you up. Uh, but my first card uh for unscheduled communications for Hester Hensley. Come on down, Hester. You have three minutes. Good morning, council, to the president, to my area, to Mike Kosia, and all of you. I'm just here because on a a few a month or so ago, I was here and I made a statement and I just want to clarify what I made the statement about. The statement was about myself, but it involved my district uh Councilman Miguel. I just wanted to clarify my heart because I am a Christian and I can't do things uncchristianike. I was holding a very bitter anger toward him for things that he was doing in Southwest Fresno. And he would say he's doing things to better Southwest Fresno when the residents in Southwest Fresno know you're not better in the area. He mentioned about the back trail which one was really one of my real bad exe resentment to the young man that got murdered out on by Hoover High School. May he rest in peace. But that incident

happened out by Hoover. Why was a bike trail put over in Southwest Fresno? And if you would go through that area, you can't even see the bike trail now. weeds is this high. You can't see the trail and it shouldn't have been put over in Southwest Fresno. It's money that's been spent that shouldn't have to be spent. The street signs shouldn't have to be that was another thing that a lot of unnecessary money that was spent. Recently we talked about um roundabout unnecessary. Who would have a roundabout right there on a signal light on Martin Luther King in California? That roundabout would be so confusing and probably cause a whole lot of more accidents. But to make a short story, I just want to say to the council, when you're voting for stuff, if it doesn't make sense, don't go alone to get along. A lot of times, I'm not a politician. And I I I am speaking for personal. I'm a personal person. uh and politician I noticed a lot of times people are go along to get along. So when you voting for stuff, even the person that's doing it wrong, if you voting with them, you're an accomplished to their wrongdoing. And it's, you know, you're accomplished and you going to be held accountable too for doing what's wrong, whether you like the person or whatever reason you going alone to get along. And I' I've listened to Councilman Kabashia saying when you're doing personal things, do it from the heart. do it right. That's all.

Thank you, Esther. All right, we are on unscheduled communication. We're welcome to public comment on any topic. Uh, please come on down. Welcome, Dez. You have three minutes.

Well, I wrote it down so I stay on time. Um, so respectfully about the shelter comment, uh, when you visit, when your visit is coordinated in advance with leadership like Phil Sky is not truly a surprise that it's a controlled environment. Of course, staff are prepared and of course residents are going to give positive feedback in that setting, but that's not the full picture. If we're serious about accountability, then why not do unannounced visits to sites like Clarion or the Welcome or speak privately with residents without staff's presence? Why not hear from the seniors, disabled individuals, and veterans who struggle to advocate for themselves? One well-managed visit cannot be used to represent the entire system. People are still coming forward with concerns, and those voices deserve to be heard, not dismissed. I'm still urging you to look deeper, ask harder questions, and ensure that oversight is real and not staged. Also, I want to address that um when we are we going to build barriers around the canals. How many more residents in this city have to die before we act? People have been asking for this long before I even started coming here. This is about prevention. This is about saving lives. I hear a lot about the sidewalks and repairs also. And that's good. But when are you going to prioritize lowincome areas like Parkway? This is where you've concentrated people existing in homelessness, individuals in treatment, those in mental health shelters like the one Richardson visited, and people discharged from hospitals. Yet the infrastructure does not match the need. Sidewalks are broken or blocked. Wheelchairs can't be impassed because the light pole or fire hydrant sits right in the middle. Like I hope you guys don't have him still working for you. Whoever thought of

that. This is a safety issue, an accessibility issue, and a dignity issue. And in the future, there's going to be a new affordable housing coming in. But where's the investment in large properly equipped schools? A small charter school being built right now does not meet the demand. That should have been addressed decades ago. And inside these housing units that you guys are proud of, why are residents being given many refrigerators, that doesn't even meet the real needs? Seniors, disabled residents, and low-income families can't store food properly. They can't buy in bulk, and they end up paying more. That's not equitable, and it raises serious compliance questions from the state funding that you guys received. And also, please um care about the playgrounds inside of these affordable housings that you guys just went and did pictures at the Manzania. I've been asking for shade over there. Do their kids not matter? How many kids are going to um have burns this summer, which I'm sure that I'm going to ask on record right now that you guys put a shade over there before one of the kids actually burns themselves. And

thank you, Dez. Any further public comment? We're on uh unscheduled communication currently. Anyone else in the chamber like to speak? Going once, going twice. We're going to go ahead and close uh unscheduled communication for the day. That concludes the public portion of our uh of our agenda for today. We do have uh close session. Um, city attorney, go ahead and please read off the items that we'll be hearing in close session.

Sure. Today in close session, we have conference labor negotiators, all units listed on the agenda. Conference with legal council, existing litigation, ACLU of Southern California versus City of Fresno, and conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, one potential case. We may have reportable items after close session. All right. Thank you, city attorney. Uh council, let's uh move in to close. We may might be able to knock out one of the items before lunch. Um if not, we'll resume after. Thank you.

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