Supporters of the “Better Roads, Safe Streets” transportation measure rallied outside the Fresno County elections office on Tuesday before submitting more than 30,000 signatures to qualify the proposal for the November ballot.<\/p>\n
The group says the measure would transform transportation across Fresno County by improving local roads and strengthening long-term infrastructure, while opponents argue it prioritizes the wrong types of spending.<\/p>\n
During the rally, supporters chanted “better roads, safe streets” as Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer voiced confidence in the proposal.<\/p>\n
“Together, I am confident we can build a better frame, and it starts right here with this measure,” Dyer said.<\/p>\n
Organizers say the measure would improve roads in cities throughout the county and strengthen transportation infrastructure for future generations.<\/p>\n
Supporters also emphasized that the proposal would not increase taxes.<\/p>\n
“We are doing this without raising taxes,” one supporter said.<\/p>\n
If approved by voters, the measure would replace the existing Measure C half-cent sales tax, which is scheduled to expire in 2027.<\/p>\n
Supporters marched into the elections office to turn in the petitions seeking to place the measure on the ballot.<\/p>\n
Among those signing was Anthony Llandes, a first-time voter who said he plans to support the measure.<\/p>\n
“We the youth, we are the voice and power of the future, and if we don’t have reliable transportation in general, we won’t be able to do much with it,” Llandes said.<\/p>\n
Dyer supports the measure, which he said would raise $7.4 billion over 30 years. He outlined how the funds would be allocated if voters approve it.<\/p>\n
“65% of overall funds go to fixing local roads, 25% to public transit, 4% to innovative transportation and 5% will go to regional with 1% of that dedicated to our Fresno airport,” Dyer said.<\/p>\n
The proposal faces potential opposition from supporters of a competing plan known as “Fix Our Roads,” which would direct more funding to streets and less to public transit.<\/p>\n
Fresno County Supervisor Garry Bredefeld criticized the submitted measure, citing concerns about required bicycle infrastructure.<\/p>\n
“They’re required in the measure to build 120 miles of bike lanes. Watch what they’ve done in the Tower District, how they’ve destroyed hundreds of neighborhoods with their bike lanes. That’s what they’re gonna do,” Bredefeld said. “That’s what this measure is it’s a public transportation tax disguised as a road tax.”<\/p>\n
Supporters counter that public transit riders and cyclists also use roadways and deserve infrastructure improvements.<\/p>\n
Dyer said the measure would improve transit options across the county.<\/p>\n
“The measure allows for expanded bus routes and decreased wait times by increasing frequency,” he said.<\/p>\n
The Fresno County elections department has 30 days to validate the submitted signatures.<\/p>\n
If enough are verified, the measure will appear on the November ballot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Supporters of the “Better Roads, Safe Streets” transportation measure rallied outside the Fresno County elections office on Tuesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,622,114,113,10332,85700,1967],"class_list":{"0":"post-268388","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-county","10":"tag-fresno-headlines","11":"tag-fresno-news","12":"tag-jerry-dyer","13":"tag-supporters","14":"tag-transportation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}