UPDATE! Before you get into the meat of this post, know that the Mayor has since pulled his initiative and we now fully support the Fresno Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks Initiative.
#Breaking: @MayorLeeBrand withdraws public safety/parks tax initiative, saying he can’t get council support to put it on the ballot. @FresnoBee
— brianna vaccari (she/her) (@brianna_vaccari) June 28, 2018
Here is the original post:
Alright, let me sort this out.
There is an item called Fresno Clean and Safe Neighborhood Parks Initiative that is gathering Fresno voter signatures so that it can be put on the November ballot. It is being helped along by Fresno for Parks.
If voters pass it, it would be a local funding source for our parks through a 3/8-cent sales tax in the City of Fresno. It would raise 38 million a year for Fresno park stuff.
This is cool because Fresno is shit when it comes to greenspace. In fact, we rank 94th out of 100 cities and at one time have been ranked THE WORST CITY IN THE DAMN COUNTRY FOR PARKS!
This city needs help
So great. A little bit of sales tax provides a better city to live in. Trees rule. We pay a little bit more for a night out at Pismo’s and one day we’ll have some more parks to go to and the existing parks will be cleaner and safer.
Easy peasy. See you on the coming bike trails along the canal banks.
Wait. Enter, Mayor Lee Brand.
Mr. Brand has announced a SEPARATE major tax initiative. One that would fund more police and fireman, PLUS park facilities and programs.
Please read Fresno Bee writer, Brianna Calix’s, article about it and the details.
The mayor’s initiative needs five of the seven Fresno council members to vote yes to get the measure on the ballot. It appears nobody on the council is supporting it.
You’d expect the conservatives and tea-bagger loons to vote no to anything taxes. But it is surprising the conservatives are voting “no” to helping police and fire. And the city of Fresno definitely needs help there.
Fresno’s Fire Department is working with the same amount of staff as it did in 1985. In case you have not looked around, there is a grip more people here than in 1985 and that is scary when you think about it.
What is going on here?
Even democratic members of the council are saying they will vote no for this. You would think it is because they are supporting the Fresno Clean and Safe Neighborhoods thing, but it’s not. At least they have not said that. It seems they just don’t want new taxes. They think they can find funding somewhere else.
Where the hell is “somewhere else”? You really think there is some department in the city of Fresno that is over budgeted and that will give you some money for parks? Jesus. Even Fresno’s “liberals” are Republicans.
So I don’t know what to do here. In a perfect world, I would vote for a parks initiative AND an initiative to fund more fireman and police programs that help neighborhoods.
The reality is if both measures are on the ballot in November, they will likely cancel each other out.
The Fresno For Parks people are willing to work with the Mayor so that we don’t have competing measures in November. Let’s hope he does or the Parks measure passes on its own.
Either way, we have to pass one of these. Fresno has waited to damn long for park support and letting another year pass with nothing will dig a deeper hole for Fresno to climb out of.
Did I mention we are among THE WORST CITIES IN THE DAMN COUNTRY FOR PARKS!?!!
