{"id":118788,"date":"2026-01-03T15:12:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T15:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/118788\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T15:12:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T15:12:33","slug":"im-gonna-make-sure-this-fails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/118788\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019m Gonna Make Sure This Fails!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u201cI\u2019mKay Bertken of the League of Women Voters of Fresno. Screenshot from Livestream<\/p>\n

On Dec. 9, the last Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting of 2025, staff presented an update on Measure C renewal negotiations, also covering what would be required to advance a potential alternative, citizen-led initiative, should it come to that. The meeting revealed a bleak contrast: District 2 Supervisor Garry Bredefeld\u2019s intractable refusal to engage respectfully or seek consensus, and everyone else\u2019s cooperative, pragmatic willingness to collaborate.<\/p>\n

Measure C, a countywide half-cent sales tax first approved by voters in 1986, funds local transportation projects such as road repairs, public transit, bicycle lanes and the like. It must be reapproved by voters every 20 years (a new proposal would increase the term to 30 years).<\/p>\n

The current measure expires in 2027; hence, plans are under way for a renewal to continue the funding of essential transportation infrastructure projects. The revised measure will be on the ballot in November 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Managed by the Fresno County Transportation Authority (FCTA), Measure C has generated billions of dollars to the County for road and highway maintenance and upgrades, as well as for the expansion of public transit.<\/p>\n

Current negotiators have focused on how much to allocate to each transportation category; some support funding exclusively for routine road repair, whereas others prefer a balance among road repairs, public transportation and other transportation needs and considerations, with a view to planning over the next three decades.<\/p>\n

Community input has been solicited to better determine how the next expenditure plan would best be allocated.<\/p>\n

Negotiations have been ongoing over the past year between the Fresno Council of Governments (COG) and the Measure C Steering Committee, which includes a citizens\u2019 advocacy group, Transportation for All (TFA).<\/p>\n

TFA\u2019s inclusion reflects an explicit attempt to bring community-based organizations (especially social justice\/environmental\/equity-oriented groups) into the core planning and decision process to ensure the renewed Measure C addresses broader priorities, such as transit equity, rather than roads-only and car-centric infrastructure, an approach that has delighted many but made others, such as Bredefeld and District 4 Supervisor Buddy Mendes (Bredefeld serves on the FCTA and COG boards, Mendes is chair of the FCTA), furious.<\/p>\n

Bredefeld, in particular, has expressed a vitriolic, ideological contempt for anything other than plain pothole repair.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mendota Mayor and COG Vice Chair Victor Martinez. Screenshot from Livestream<\/p>\n

At the Dec. 9 meeting, Mohammad Alimi of the Department of Public Works summarized the negotiating parties\u2019 proposed allocation plan, which was decisively approved on Nov. 20. In a nutshell, it accounts for 65% of the tax revenue to be spent on road repair, 25% on public transportation, 5% for regional connectivity, 4% for innovation and 1% for administration.<\/p>\n

A 2022 attempt to renew the measure early had allocated about 70% to road repair, 15% to regional projects and 10% to public transit and was rejected by voters; so, spending formulas that reflect voter preferences are critical and add to the urgency as the clock ticks toward Election Day.<\/p>\n

Intensifying the drama, Bredefeld has repeatedly warned that he would not support anything other than 85% for road repair. At the Board\u2019s Nov. 18 meeting, he had complained bitterly that the mayors on the Steering Committee had \u201cpunted to unelected radicals\u201d (meaning TFA) who \u201cbelieve in climate change,\u201d something he regards as beyond the pale.<\/p>\n

He derided the steering committee for wanting to \u201cspend on public transit and bike lanes\u201d and railed that \u201cpeople don\u2019t want it!\u201d<\/p>\n

He claimed that no one wanted anything but getting potholes fixed, that 65% spent on roads \u201cis not really roads, it\u2019s bike lanes,\u201d and snarled that \u201cCOG abdicated to left-wing radicals! It\u2019s a shit-show, a complete shit-show\u2026left-wing lunatics\u2026I won\u2019t be a part of a shit-show, I\u2019ll make sure it fails!\u201d<\/p>\n

Bredefeld persisted in this obdurate, emotionally fixated manner at the Dec. 9 meeting, recycling the same threats, word for word.<\/p>\n

A lot is at stake, because if the measure fails in the November 2026 election, there will be no money to fund anything transportation-related. Critically, the final step before the measure can appear on the ballot is approval by the Board of Supervisors, so it is possible that the three MAGA Republicans on the Board will reject the negotiated measure when it reaches them for approval.<\/p>\n

Discussion followed Alimi\u2019s presentation. Predictably, Bredefeld ranted about what he was sure was a diabolical \u201cagenda to get people out of their cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

He bellowed that \u201cno one rides public transit,\u201d that \u201cno one rides bikes\u201d and repeated that the steering committee \u201callowed the process to be hijacked by radicals!\u201d<\/p>\n

He huffed and puffed that he would \u201cnot allow this to be hijacked, the radicals could care less!\u201d and, if anyone doubted that he had said it before, again threatened, \u201cI\u2019m gonna make sure this fails!\u201d<\/p>\n

He angrily reprised his characterization of the steering committee meeting as a \u201cshit-show,\u201d compulsively repeating the phrase multiple times.<\/p>\n

Aside from Bredefeld, Chair Mendes is openly hostile to both negotiating-team colleagues and to the current proposal, and District 5 Supervisor Nathan Magsig, though he has expressed willingness to work toward a compromise, is no less against it.<\/p>\n

District 3 Supervisor Luis Chavez asked County Clerk\/Registrar of Voters James Kus, who was present, to address what it would take for a citizens\u2019 initiative to appear on the ballot. Presumably, if the Board rejects the negotiated measure and replaces it with something aligning with the views of the three MAGA Republican supervisors, the negotiated measure could appear on the ballot as well, as a citizens\u2019 initiative\u2014resulting in two competing measures for voters to choose from.<\/p>\n

Kus explained that the timeline for a citizens\u2019 initiative process is tight\u2014a petition must be circulated and at least 22,000 signatures would be required. Those signatures would have to be vetted, and the deadline for all of that would be mid-July. The Board would assume a ministerial role to pass the initiative on to Kus, and if they refused to do it, a court order would be required.<\/p>\n

District 1 Supervisor Brian Pacheco said he \u201choped we can work it out\u201d to avoid what would be \u201can ugly mess.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Parlier Mayor Alma Beltran. Screenshot from Livestream<\/p>\n

Magsig\u2019s remarks were made in calm and measured tones, but he appeared to be essentially agreeing with the bullying and intimidating Bredefeld. For example, prefacing his objection to the allocation for public transit by claiming that he has \u201cno issue\u201d with it, Magsig tried to make the case that current ridership doesn\u2019t justify investing in it, but he didn\u2019t account for the reality that, as a member of the public later pointed out, low ridership reflected inadequate service resulting from a lack of investment. Alimi himself noted that there is public demand for expansion of public transit.<\/p>\n

Mendes, a foe of public transit, said that the original measure had allocated nothing for transit and that only in the second iteration of Measure C, funding for transit was \u201ctooken [sic] off the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mendes repeated a charge he made previously, that \u201csecret negotiations\u201d had been held, excluding him and others. Later, during public comment, Parlier Mayor Alma Beltran responded to Mendes, reminding him that he had explicitly refused, in writing, to participate in the negotiations in question.<\/p>\n

Chavez, summarizing, said he had not observed a \u201cshit-show\u201d but rather saw groups working together to reach a \u201chappy medium.\u201d He emphasized that if agreement could not be reached, it was important to know what was entailed if \u201cmom and dad ended up in divorce court\u201d and two separate measures were proposed.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, he was optimistic and quipped that he hoped the slur \u201cradical\u201d wielded by Bredefeld would be downgraded to \u201cadvocate.\u201d This was, after all, an opportunity to create policy to serve the County over the next few decades, he said.<\/p>\n

Mendes asked a reasonable question\u2014did any of his colleagues approve of the measure as it was currently written? Chavez liked some of it, didn\u2019t like other bits, but saw a chance to reach consensus. Pacheco agreed with Chavez and nitpicked over cities getting higher allocations than the County; he felt there was time to \u201cwork it out a little bit\u201d or \u201cget nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chavez emphasized that \u201cthe conversation\u201d should continue. Magsig found the reduction in allocation for regional projects a \u201cfatal flaw\u201d but agreed with Pacheco that if the measure failed, the results would be devastating.<\/p>\n

Mendes tried to go to the next agenda item without allowing public comment, but there were objections. First, Mendota Mayor and COG Vice Chair Victor Martinez said he was in support of the current proposal, which will help cities like his \u201ccatch up\u201d after 20 years of under-investment.<\/p>\n

Parlier Mayor Beltran said that it was critical to reach agreement, and when she countered Mendes\u2019 assertion that she and others had met \u201cin secret,\u201d Mendes interrupted and angrily shouted incoherently at her.<\/p>\n

Beltran admonished him that \u201cwe need to come together instead of arguing,\u201d and that if there are two ballot measures, they will both fail.<\/p>\n

Addressing Bredefeld, she said that \u201ccalling us \u2018radicals,\u2019 is not right.\u201d She continued, \u201cWhy would anyone say that this is a \u2018shit-show\u2019 and that we are \u2018radicals\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are trying to do what\u2019s right, bring unity, and focus on our [neglected] rural communities,\u201d concluded Beltran.<\/p>\n

Bredefeld, clearly agitated, made free to insult Beltran by telling her that he was \u201cnot calling you a radical,\u201d he was calling TFA, the group \u201cshe allowed to hijack\u201d the process, \u201cradicals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last to speak was Kay Bertken from the League of Women Voters of Fresno: \u201cI\u2019m one of the \u2018radicals\u2019 on the steering committee,\u201d she joked, noting that there was broad public support for the proposed plan and a 93% vote of the Steering Committee in support of it.<\/p>\n

Regarding the 25% allocation for public transit, that figure represents residents\u2019 polling results, she said. Over a 30-year plan, \u201cpeople want a community that is not without options to the individual vehicle,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

The coming weeks will determine whether Bredefeld\u2019s histrionic obstruction will nullify constituent-supported priorities.<\/p>\n

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