\t\t\t\t\tWhat’s at stake?<\/p>\n
The council unanimously approved to initiate the renaming process on Thursday.
Their vote will not immediately rename Cesar Chavez Boulevard. There will be at least two more meetings in the future, confirmed Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz, providing residents with an opportunity for public input.<\/p>\n
The Fresno City Council held a special meeting on Thursday to initiate the process of changing local streets named after Cesar Chavez following news earlier this week that the iconic farmworker advocate raped and sexually assaulted women and children.<\/p>\n
The city announced the special meeting following the publication of a New York Times investigation published Wednesday<\/a> that saw first-hand survivors detail their encounters with Chavez.<\/p>\n Chavez was best known as being one of the leading figureheads in the farmworkers\u2019 rights movement, leading to significant gains that can still be seen today, like the formation of the United Farm Workers union. Many of those accomplishments were recognized with tributes to his legacy in the form of statues, and streets being named after Chavez.\u00a0<\/p>\n Most of those tributes have begun the process of being reconsidered, if not outright rescinded, in the wake of the Times\u2019 investigation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important we do not let this overshadow the wins that came from that union,\u201d said west central Fresno City Councilmember Annalisa Perea at Thursday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n Never miss the top stories in Fresno \u2014 sign up for our free, daily newsletter.<\/p>\n Southwest Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias, whose father was a farmer and who worked at a farm himself, said he was \u201cshaken\u201d upon learning of the allegations against Chavez.<\/p>\n Among the victims of Chavez\u2019s sexual abuse was Dolores Huerta, another leading icon in the farmworker movement. Arias said that when somebody like her, a \u201cmatriarch\u201d in the Latino community, speaks up on an issue, it\u2019s important for him to listen, and to put the focus on survivors instead.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important for us to acknowledge their pain, their suffering, and believe the survivors and ensure they\u2019re not erased as part of this conversation,\u201d Arias said.<\/p>\n The council unanimously approved to initiate the renaming process on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Their vote will not immediately rename Cesar Chavez Boulevard. There will be at least two more meetings in the future, confirmed Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz, providing residents with an opportunity for public input.<\/p>\n In 2023<\/a>, the City of Fresno approved changing the names of portions of East Kings Canyon Road, East Ventura Avenue, and West California Avenue to Cesar Chavez Boulevard.\u00a0<\/p>\n The name change was approved despite some pushback from residents who felt that part of the city\u2019s culture and history were being erased, and by business owners operating by the streets <\/a>who said the move would introduce a financial burden on them.<\/p>\n The Fresno County Board Of Supervisors rejected a similar proposal in 2023.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Recounting those comments from constituents, northwest Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi proposed having the streets reverted back to their original names.<\/p>\n Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said at Thursday\u2019s meeting that he would sign the legislation needed to rename the streets as soon as it reached his desk. He added that, though some new signs will have to be ordered for full installation, some old ones remain in city storage. He said he expects work to begin on street renovations in April.<\/p>\n Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza said that decision would make the most economical and practical sense for the city.<\/p>\n Both the proposal to remove Chavez\u2019s name and revert the streets back to their original titles was not met with unanimous approval by the public at Thursday\u2019s meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not defending Cesar Chavez but I think, maybe because I\u2019m a teacher, I look at this as a teaching moment. That we do need the sign up there, \u201d said Olga Valle who identified herself as a former farm worker and Fresno Unified School District worker. She was not the only resident who spoke up to share complicated feelings with having Chavez\u2019s name removed.<\/p>\n Some business owners also spoke up on Thursday to let the councilmembers know that they were about to be subjected to the same financial burdens the council put them through three years ago when the street names were first changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Much of what is currently Cesar Chavez Avenue is located at a major corridor that runs along southeast Fresno, in Councilmember Brandon Vang\u2019s District. Vang was not in office when the change was made in 2023, but said he was aware of the frustration from business owners, and would try to keep them in mind going forward.<\/p>\n \u201cI am going to talk to constituents and business owners to see what we can do as a city to make (the name change) as less painful as possible,\u201d Vang said. \u201cSo that this does not hit their bank account like it did.\u201d<\/p>\n Once the allegations against Chavez became clear, Fresno joined leaders across the country<\/a> in taking steps to remove local symbols of Chavez\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n The Fresno County Board of Supervisors announced their own special meeting on Wednesday<\/a> to rename Cesar Chavez Day to \u201cFresno County Agriculture Appreciation Day.\u201d That meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 23 at 11:30 a.m. at the Fresno County Hall Of Records.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Fresno State announced on Wednesda<\/a>y that they would be taking down their on-campus Chavez statue.<\/p>\n State lawmakers announced plans to rename the March 31 Cesar Chavez holiday to \u201cFarmworkers Day\u201d on Thursday morning<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chavez\u2019s allegations also come at a tough time for farmworkers.\u00a0<\/p>\n The same day the Times\u2019 published their investigation, farmworkers across the county, including in Fresno<\/a>, protested against policies by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration that could see the laborers lose billions in annual wages.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fresno City Council elects new leadership following abrupt president resignation<\/p>\n The Fresno City Council started their Thursday meeting by electing new leadership, following an abrupt resignation announcement from their council president late last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n Esparza and Tyler Maxwell were unanimously elected as the council\u2019s new president and vice president, respectively.<\/p>\n This year will be Esparza\u2019s second time as council president. He last served in the role in 2022.<\/p>\n The president\u2019s responsibilities include managing the meetings, and taking a role in deciding what gets placed on the agenda.<\/p>\n The leadership shakeup comes following an announcement last week from Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi <\/a>that he was stepping down from his role as president. He cited a desire to focus on his campaign for Fresno County Supervisor, and endorsed Esparza succeeding him in his role.\u00a0<\/p>\n Karbassi is only stepping down from his role as council president. He is not resigning from Fresno City Council.<\/p>\n Karbassi was given a golden wrestling-championship-like belt as a going away gift. Esparza was given a golden gavel by Karbassi to welcome him into his new role.<\/p>\n Fresno initiates study on local corporate homeownership\u00a0<\/p>\n The council<\/a> unanimously approved a study to identify the effects of corporate homeownership in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n Plans for the study<\/a> were brought forward by Perea. She said at Thursday\u2019s meeting that the idea came when she discovered that the city does not monitor homeownership from corporations or institutional investors.<\/p>\n She said she hopes the study will give the city \u201ca better idea of how much of a problem this is within the City of Fresno.\u201d<\/p>\n No specific consequences were announced at Thursday\u2019s meeting, though the study may be the first step toward introducing such legislation.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce we get that study,\u201d Perea said, \u201cthe goal is to do some research and to determine if there are any ordinance amendments or any need to introduce new ordinances to better hold these corporations accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n Fresno County has the highest share of single family homes owned by corporations in the San Joaquin Valley, according to city documents.<\/p>\n The City of Fresno\u2019s Rental Housing Improvement Program<\/a> includes a registry of properties within the city, but it does not monitor corporate home ownership trends.<\/p>\n City documents say results of the study would be available within 75 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n Studies on corporate homeownership<\/a> have drawn a vast array of conclusions across the country.<\/a> Though some effects have been positive, the growing housing crisis nationwide has introduced pressure for local governments to be more strict to corporate investors who let their properties succumb to substandard conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump announced a desire to introduce legislation to add restrictions to corporate homeownership earlier this year<\/a>, as did California Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a>.<\/p>\n Council pumps the breaks on facial recognition technology at City Hall \u2013 for now<\/p>\n The Fresno City Council punted a proposal to look into installing facial recognition technology at City Hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n The proposal was brought forward by North Fresno City Councilmember Nick Richardson.<\/p>\n The proposal brought forward on Thursday<\/a> asked staff to conduct a study looking into how feasible implementing that technology would be. But that language wasn\u2019t clear to some residents, as it came following an eleventh hour amendment to the original proposal by Richardson<\/a>.<\/p>\n Richardson\u2019s proposal would have facial recognition technology flag people entering City Hall who are convicted sex offenders. He was motivated to introduce the legislation following concerns that the city may not be doing enough to protect vulnerable groups, specifically minors and children.<\/p>\n However, concerns were raised by some councilmembers and residents that the technology could infringe on people\u2019s rights to privacy, or be biased <\/a>or discriminatory<\/a> against individuals \u2014 both of which could open the city to litigation.<\/p>\n The council eventually moved to retract the proposal and directed Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz to conduct the study. The council said they\u2019d return to discuss the matter as a closed session item in future council meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n Esparza and other councilmembers were not totally against the idea, but he said he also wanted to make sure that the facial recognition technology was the best way to handle child safety concerns at City Hall.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not trying to use a bazooka to take out ants,\u201d Esparza said on Thursday.<\/p>\n Child predators, in particular, have been a talking point among local elected leaders following the brief, failed bid by Rene Campos, a local sexual offender, to run for Fresno City Council.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n The council voted on Thursday to unanimously support<\/a> state legislation brought forward by Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria (D-Merced)<\/a> to ban sexual offenders from running for public office.<\/p>\n Karbassi said he \u201ccommends\u201d Soria for introducing the legislation, especially since it came without the city asking her to do it. He was among a group of councilmembers on Thursday who said they received calls from constituents asking how they could let a sexual offender run for public office.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat made me really upset as a local policymaker is, I couldn\u2019t do anything about it,\u201d Karbassi said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n Fresno Police Department to hold public hearing on military equipment use<\/p>\n The Fresno City Council also punted on approving the renewal of a state-mandated report for local police departments\u2019 use of military equipment.\u00a0<\/p>\n California Assembly Bill 481<\/a> requires local law enforcement to obtain permission from their respective government body to use and purchase military equipment. The legislation requires an annual review.<\/p>\n Fresno Police Chief Mindy Casto presented the review<\/a> on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n She said the police department\u2019s most frequently used piece of military equipment last year was their drones, used 293 times. She said the drones were used during operations like a search and rescue or to observe an active crime scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n She added that the police department does not expect any \u201cmajor acquisitions\u201d of military equipment for the next fiscal year.<\/p>\n The Fresno City Council was initially scheduled to approve the review on Thursday, though it was announced at the top of the meeting that a vote was moved to March 26.<\/p>\n Some of the councilmembers said they received input from constituents that they felt the city may not be doing enough to provide the public with opportunities for engagement on the item leading to Thursday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n Casto said at Thursday\u2019s meeting that the police department engaged in multiple community engagement meetings, but that this year\u2019s community engagement requirement would be \u201cenhanced\u201d\u00a0 through an additional meeting.<\/p>\n That meeting by the Fresno Police Department will be Wednesday evening at City Hall<\/a>.<\/p>\n Support our hyperlocal reporting with a donation today. <\/p>\n Every week we bring you deeply reported stories about the essential issues facing our region. 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