When the history of Fresno County is recounted years from now, one of the most extraordinary tales will be the story of Measure S, the extension of the half-cent transportation tax known as Measure C that has been in effect since the mid-1980s.
That Fresno voters will be able to vote on Measure S this November is nothing short of miraculous, and the credit belongs to the extraordinary community leaders who made it happen.
Measure S is truly “the people’s transportation initiative.” It started with thousands of Fresno County residents gathering through more than 30 community meetings held in every corner of our county, and it reflects the priorities shared during discussions, surveys and polling. Fresno residents said they want potholes fixed on local streets, public transportation that works better and safer routes to school for kids.
This measure was not drafted in the dark halls of county government. In fact, a working group of 36 citizens, transportation professionals and elected officials invested dozens of hours reviewing data, listening to experts and imagining a county where every person can safely get where they need to go.
This transportation initiative, called “Better Roads, Safe Streets,” began signature-gathering last February. That would have been the time for the Board of Supervisors to study the plan. Instead, confident that a citizen-led measure would not gather enough signatures, the supervisors spent six months berating the measure instead of examining its contents.
On July 14, when the Fresno County Registrar of Voters certified the measure for the November ballot, supervisors were left with just two choices. Rather than acknowledge that the residents of Fresno County had spoken and simply place the Better Roads, Safe Streets initiative on the ballot, Fresno Supervisors employed a bureaucratic delay tactic that would have kept the measure off the ballot until 2028 — never mind the millions of dollars in lost revenue and countless missed opportunities that delay would cost the county.
The idea of citizens drafting their own plan for anything in Fresno County is revolutionary. We have been steered by the preferences and whims of the supervisors and county staff for so long that they seem to have forgotten that residents do have a voice.
When it looked as if Better Roads, Safe Streets might not reach the November ballot, Fresno County residents’ right to vote became the overriding issue. It’s one thing to oppose the provisions of a ballot initiative; it’s quite another to take the right to vote away from the citizens who qualified the measure for the ballot in the first place.
Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, D-Merced, and State Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Merced, agreed that the supervisors’ action was egregious, and used the legislative tools at their disposal to right this wrong. More than 100 Fresno County residents — including elected officials, community leaders and students — travelled to Sacramento to lobby for placing the measure on the ballot.
Assembly Bill 1923, which secured the Better Roads, Safe Streets measure’s spot on the November 2026 ballot, passed both houses of the California State Legislature.
Now, you have the chance to weigh in. Measure S will make sure you can safely get to where you need to in Fresno County.
Marianne Kast is a retired educator and 45-year resident of Fresno County.