I am a strong proponent of City of Fresno and County of Fresno consolidating services in order to provide more effective services and an efficiency of costs (see my January 27 posting: Fresno Citizens Need to Change County Government). The City of Fresno has been open to the concept. The County of Fresno has shown no interest other dabbling in a small face-saving study of law enforcement cooperation.
While the proof is always in "the doing not the talking," I was pleasantly pleased to see recently where Stanislaus County and several cities in the county are considering consolidating services to avoid duplicating work.
The Modesto Bee reports that two efforts have the most momentum.
One would lead to a joint building department for Modesto and Stanislaus County; the other is aimed at consolidating several fire departments with Modesto's. Modesto and Stanislaus Counties are poised to merge their building inspection divisions. The fire discussion include the Modesto Fire Department, the Salida Fire Protection District, the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District and the county Office of Emergency Services.
A non-threatening way to consider the issue of consolidation in Fresno County would, I believe, be the appointment of a citizens commission by both the County Board of Supervisors and the Fresno City Council. The commission would then be provided with some resources and sufficient time to consider what may and may not be feasible. Recommendations would then be made to both the County Supervisors and the City's Mayor/Council members for consideration.
The value of consolidating selected services is particularly appropriate at this time of serious unemployment and economic misery. Rather than the typical knee-jerk cutting of services and staff, our elected officials should do something that has a long-term, meaningful impact on the lives of Fresno's citizens.
Coming attractions..
1) My "chauffeur" wins an award, but his "vehicle" needs an upgrade.
2) Schools need a national test: National Assessment of Educational Progress to the rescue.
Your comments are always welcome. Simply click on "comments" below.
End of Coffee Stops: Serving Coffee at Fresno Street Corners Deemed Illegal
Saturday, April 25, 2009 |As I have been sharing with readers in previous blogs, sharing a cup of coffee with constituents on Fresno street corners for years a a city council member was one of the highlights of being an elected official. People would wave, honk and often stop to talk about issues important to them. It was, to turn a phrase, truly where "the rubber of local government hits the road."
Last year, while in my last few months serving as a council member (City of Fresno council members are limited to two terms of eight years in office) and running as a candidate for Fresno County Supervisor, I was castigated by Bill McEwen in his Fresno Bee column for my proposal for a City ordinance prohibiting the soliciting of donations from median islands due to traffic safety concerns (the ordinance was not adopted by the Council). He also criticized my years of being on street corners to answer constituent questions and, if they wished, share a cup of coffee with me.
Mr. McEwen had checked with the Fresno County Health Department to see if it was legal for me to serve coffee to people stopping at my corner table (I used one of those insulated coffee pumpers filled with Folgers drip coffee from my home). The Health Department told him that technically I could not serve coffee, even if given away free. They also told him that they had no intention of enforcing it.
While I disagreed with Mr. McEwen's position on allowing median island solicitation, I understood his right to express his position through his newspaper column. What I did not understand--and still don't--was his pettiness in criticizing my nine years of corner coffee stops as being dangerous to motorists and an illegal dispensation of a drink product.
As an elected, public figure I certainly could not flout what was now identified as technically illegal. I complied by immediately refraining from serving coffee. I did not, however, give him the satisfaction of seeing me leave my beloved street corners. I continued my corner coffee stops through election day. And even though I lost the election as county supervisor, I was out the following morning taking down my signs while waving at folks.
Thank you friends for nine wonderful years of waving, honking and sharing my coffee.
Coming attractions..
1) My "chauffeur" wins an award, but his "vehicle" needs an upgrade.
2) Schools need a national test: National Assessment of Educational Progress to the rescue.
Your comments are always welcome. Simply click on "comments" below.
More than three years ago Bullard parents requested improved sports facilities from the Fresno Unified school administration, FUSD school board and the City of Fresno. As the City of Fresno council member representing the Bullard area, I deeply sympathized with the parents and students in their need for an upgrade for their leaky pool and a better track to replace the existing one that must date to the founding of Rome. While I was certainly not able to fund it out of my limited council district budget, the City of Fresno eventually agreed to fund $1 million of facility improvements to upgrade FUSD athletic facilities as determined by the FUSD Board of Trustees. The eventual plan, which I strongly supported, included athletic facilities for Bullard.
And then a handful of selfish neighbors, led by Jeanette Jurkovich, decided at the very last moment to file a multi-page letter opposing the upgraded facilities claiming there would be traffic and parking concerns. The formal objection will necessitate considerable delay and cost.
How inconsiderate. This issue had been discussed at informal meetings and formal FUSD board meeting for years. The handful of protesting neighbors, many of whom have significantly benefited over the years from attending Bullard and seeing the value of their homes appreciate, pulled the ultimate NIMBY (Not in My Back Year) by telling the next generation of Bullard students and parents that they would have to live with what current exists, poor facilities and all.
Those opposing these improvements had their chance to voice their concerns. Instead they chose to let the Jurkovichs tell them what to do. Shame on them. NIMBY's of the first order.
Coming attractions..
1) End of the Coffee Stops: Serving coffee to constituents at a street corner is deemed illegal.
2) My "chauffeur" wins an award, but his "vehicle" needs an upgrade.
3) Schools need a national test: National Assessment of Educational Progress to the rescue.
Two of the most difficult decisions I made during eight years on the Fresno City Council was to guarantee the $15 million loan for the not-for-profit Fresno's Metropolitan Museum and the almost $5 million loan for the for-profit ball parks at Granite Park. The most satisfying aspect of my tenure on the Council was leaving the City with a $17 million reserve during the worst recession since the great depression. Now, in retrospect, I realize that guaranteeing the loans was a mistake since the loans are now in default, and the City will have to divert valuable financial resources to make them whole.
Granite Park was the most difficult decision since it required guaranteeing a loan for a private for-profit entity. The bank would not make the loan to the developer unless the City guaranteed the loan. I wrestled with my decision, trying to make the case that the area was heavily blighted with significant crime and the City could, therefore, assist with relatively little risk to improve the area with a youth-oriented athletic facility. Also, if a default occurred, the City would be able to take over the facility and operate it as a city-owned park.
Suffice it to say that all my suppositions were incorrect. The developer was less than forthright with the City and stopped making payments on the bank loan while attempting to develop commercial property adjoining the ball fields that were out of legal reach of the City. If I remember correctly, only Councilmember Mike Dages --to his credit--opposed guaranteeing the loan. Bad decision, former Councilmember Brian.
The Fresno Met was a different set of circumstances. The Met approached the City with essentially an ultimatum: Guarantee their $5million construction loan for completing renovations or the Museum would have to shut down. The Met had a dozen or so reasons why they had dug themselves into a financial hole, but it really came down to irresponsible planning and follow-through. The Council, whipped on by the editorial board of the Fresno Bee and other community leaders, supported guaranteeing the loan.
In retrospect, the City should at that point have taken decisive action to replace the Met's board and key administrative staff. Instead, the City guaranteed the loan and chose not to monitor further developments. Maybe it wouldn't have changed the final outcome, but it certainly indicated a lack of due diligence once the City had signed on as the financial guarantor of last resort.
This lack of City oversight is indicated by the series of continuances granted to the Met for bringing a viable payment plan to the City for approval. It is also shown by the more than $2 million construction costs the Met incurred over and above the original $15 million loan guarantee that is now presented as a fait acompli to the City for payment. How audacious for the Met to add insult to injury by demanding this additional taxpayer subsidy after defaulting on the original loan. But I also hold the City responsible for not replacing their board and senior staff and auditing their books. Bad decision, former Councilmember Calhoun.
While mistakes have been made, it is now necessary to decide what now to do. My advice for the Council is to not allow the Met to operate as is since the Met will soon, for all practical purposes, be owned by the City taxpayers. On the other hand, I don't believe that the City is capable by itself of effectively operating it unless they want to have the Met continue with a hefty taxpayer subsidy. Please remember back a few years when the City Council was struggling with problems of running Chaffee Zoo. If Measure Z had not succeeded in providing a County-wide subsidy, the zoo would have been reduced to a petting zoo today.
I would recommend that the City consider a City (Parks and Recreation Department) and Visitors and Convention Center joint management model. The Parks and Recreation Department Director, Randy Cooper, and the Visitors and Convention Center Director, Stan Oken, are very knowledgeable, creative persons that would, at least in the short term, provide the Met with much needed leadership. The possible inclusion of SMG, the large national entertainment management company currently used by the City, might also be a partner in operating the Met.
While I am still very disappointed with the necessity of the City having to guarantee the loans of these two projects, I hope that Mayor Swearengin and the Council take a hands-on approach to solving these unfortunate problems. The Mayor and Council can also learn a valuable lesson from the mistakes of the previous mayor, council and administration to not guarantee in the future pleas from either for-profit developers or not-for-profit organizations to be bailed out by the taxpayers.
Coming attractions...
1) End of the Coffee Stops: Serving coffee to constituents at a street corner is deemed illegal.
2) Bullard High was cheated.
Your comments are always welcome. Simply click on "comments" below.
As a candidate for Fresno County supervisor, District 2 (Northern half of the City of Fresno and a small portion of Clovis) in the recent election (I lost), I was amazed at the lack of citizen understanding of County of Fresno issues. My observations are based on personally visiting between July 2007 and May 2008 the homes of thousands of registered voters in the 119 precincts that make up County District 2. It also includes more than 150 corner "Coffee Stops" in the District to talk with voters.
Many voters recognized me at their door as a sitting City of Fresno council member. Even though the upcoming elections were being well covered in the media and election materials were being sent by me and my opponent, incumbent Susan Anderson, the first response at the door were inevitably questions about City of Fresno issues. After again reminding them that I was a candidate for the county board and not city council, they either didn't understand what I was a candidate for, had no interest in Fresno County issues, or are only interested in City of Fresno issues.
What really concerned me, however, was the large number of voters that couldn't understand why I was at their door because, "they live in the City of Fresno, not in the County of Fresno." Even after I explained to them that they were residents of the county and paid county taxes, many didn't believe me. They were not aware that they paid for the court system, public health services, libraries and a myriad of other essential services.
This ignorance or disinterest in Fresno County issues or elections by City of Fresno voters explains why the Board of Supervisors do not face the voter-imposed restrictions placed on the Mayor and City Council. Supervisors do not, for example, have term limits. They have an automatic salary escalator not requiring a public vote and are not subject to the check and balance system from an elected county executive (the county administrator is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the Board). County supervisors rarely lose elections.
America's county system of government is a creature of the 18th Century. The significant growth of cities since then have removed many of the responsibilities (and visibility) of counties. This decline of relevance was certainly brought home to me during the election campaign. Unfortunately, instead of voters demanding changes, such as a merger of overlapping functions of both the cities and counties, the outmoded county system continues unabated largely because it is in the best interest of the self-preservation of the status quo by elected county officials and county employees.
The status quo, unfortunately, certainly does not address the needs of Fresno's citizens in the 21st century
Coming attractions...
End of the Coffee Stops: Serving coffee to constituents at a street corner is deemed illegal.
Your comments are always welcome. Simply click on "comments" below.
May you and yours enjoy the Easter Holiday. I will return on Tuesday.
Brian, the FresYes guy.
In my January 13 post, I made a plea for higher education standards for the nation's teachers and students. Developments at the federal level since then further calls for, I believe, major changes in the way we measure the effectiveness of K-12 education.
The economic stimulus plan signed recently by President Obama includes approximately $100 billion for public education. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan argued that besides preventing the loss of thousands of teacher jobs in this terrible recession, the monies should also be used to develop a 21st Century education system that works. For those of us that have been either involved in or close observers of public education for many years, we have never seen that kind of money spent on education, but we have heard that refrain before.
The National Commission on Excellence in Education's 1983 report, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform, identified many serious problems with American education. Highly critical of the nation's schools, the report linked a decline in U.S. economic competitiveness to a decline in the quality of public schooling. "A rising tide of mediocrity...threatens our very future as a nation and a people. We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral disarmament." The report emphasized the importance of rigorous academic programs, proposed that teacher preparation programs be strengthened, and promoted the introduction of more sophisticated school management procedures.
The extremely influential Nation at Risk report can be considered the start of the modern "accountability" or, if you will, "reform" movement in education. This movement eventually led to the 2001 No Child Left Behind legislation requiring states and school districts to test low-income and minority students annually to assess their academic skills in grades 3 through 11. States expanded the definition of those being tested to include almost all school-age children. The NCLB law, in the words of Chester E. Finn Jr, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, was an "impossible dilemma for states. It admonishes them to bring all their students to proficiency in reading and math by 2014." How is this going to be done when there is such a huge variation in student proficiency standards from one state to the next? A student can be considered "proficient" in one state and literally be failing in another.
Secretary Duncan is an astute educator who has made significant improvement in the Chicago Public schools while serving as its superintendent for many years. Now he wants to use the billions in dollars to build on Nation at Risk and NCLB to "stimulate a race to the top." This is not possible with 5o different standards for 50 different states.
Raising academic standards and performance so that all children are proficient in their grade level by 2014 or any date necessitates, I believe, establishing national standards as well as a national test for reading and math. The national tests would be relatively simple to implement by expanding the extremely reliable National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) tests that have been used by the federal government for more than 30 years to evaluate the progress of 4th, 8th and 12 grade students.
National standards and national assessment would not diminish state control of schools. Chester E. Finn and Frederick Hess are correct when they say that, "Washington should trust states to turn around their own schools, but all schools should be measured against a single set of national standards and uniform national test, at least in the core areas of math and reading." The states, utilizing national experts, could together create national standards, particularly in reading and math. There is no reason the federal government would be involved.
We are going to continue put patches on our educational system and never realize the goals of The Nation at Risk or NCLB unless the states and federal government work together to create a single set of national standards and a uniform national test. If we can set national standards for a myriad of other products and activities, it is certainly possible and imperative for the most important resources we have--our children.
Coming attractions...
End of the Coffee Stops: Serving coffee to constituents at a street corner is deemed illegal.
Your comments are always welcome. Simply click on "comments" below.
I love the building that is Fresno's City Hall. It makes an architectural statement about grace and beauty. It sweeps like a bird in flight. I was always so proud of living in a city that was willing to put tradition aside to build something so futuristic. And it was particularly meaningful for me as an elected council member to work in City Hall for eight years.
Recently I have been turning over some thoughts in my mind that would add to the uniqueness of City Hall. Admittedly, my thinking is influenced by recent actions of people like Tom Vilsack, the new Secretary of Agriculture, who had the pavement torn up outside departmental offices to create a "people's garden." His announced goal, according to a recent article by Farley M. Peters, is to create community gardens to promote "green" concepts at all USDA facilities worldwide.
And then it was First Lady Michelle Obama, joined by local fifth-graders and White House staff, who recently planted a 1,100-square foot kitchen garden. Ms. Peters writes that, "the garden is to grow no less than 55 varieties of vegetables, fruits and herbs--lettuces to berries, cilantro and hot peppers. The plot, in clear view to passerbys, is being fertilized with White House compost and Chesapeake Bay crab meat."
Now, you know where I am going: Yes, plant Fresno's "Victory Garden" in one of the two grassy knoll areas in front of City Hall! I would, of course, volunteer Mayor Swearengin, city council members, the city manager, assistant city manager and department heads to join students from nearby Yokomi Elementary School to plant the garden. Weed pulling could be the responsibility of the County Board of Supervisors (Just kidding! Just kidding!).
The second knoll in front of City Hall would be converted to a model landscape of drought-resistant plants appropriate to our semi-arid Valley region.
Selling or donating the fresh produce to appropriate not-for-profits would be a slam-dunk. And, just as Secretary Vilsack and Mrs. Obama have done at the national level, the City of Fresno would be a "garden" role model to our local community. As Ms. Peters astutely observes, "Demand for local produce is on the rise nationwide. And the reasons are so many you can name your own--complaints about taste and nutrition in mass-prepared foods, obesity becoming a national epidemic (especially alarming among youth), climate change suggesting less long-distance food supplies, worry about loss of open farm fields around our cities, and the growing concern about federal subsidies to large commercial farmers."
So, demand our own Victory Garden at the foot of Fresno City Hall steps! Eleanor Roosevelt, starting the very successful nationwide Victory Garden campaign from the White House in 1943, would be very proud of us.
Coming attractions...
1). The need for national standards for public schools
2). End of the Coffee Stops: The Bill McEwen story.
Your comments are always welcome. Simply click on "comments" below.
