With millions of dollars in play, which Fresno areas have ‘highest need’ for new parks?
Neighborhoods and parks primarily in the southern parts of the city likely will see the most benefits first from Measure P, the new parks sales tax, but how many will see benefits still must be determined.
The Fresno City Council must vote this month whether 25% or 50% of a chunk of Measure P funding will be spent on the highest needs parks and neighborhoods.
Measure P is estimated to raise about $38 million yearly to maintain, improve and build new parks. The ordinance splits the money into five areas, and two of the five buckets must dedicate up to 50% of the money to neighborhoods and parks with the highest needs.
The city and parks commission hired a consulting firm to analyze data to define the highest-need neighborhoods and parks based on many factors, including: park acreage per 1,000 residents, pollution burden; poverty; population density; the number of young people and seniors, and more. The “highest-need” definition, once adopted by the council, will stand for three years before it’s revisited.
The Parks, After School, Recreation, and Community Services Commission held two community meetings to gather input, during which 60 residents participated in a survey. Survey respondents preferred only 25% of the two pots of money go to the highest-need neighborhoods and parks. Thus, on a 5-4 vote, the commission recommended the city council allocate 25%.
Ultimately, the city council can decide whether or not to vote for the commission’s recommendation.
Some of the parks that will likely be included in the highest-needs allocation include Romaine, Dickey, Holmes, Frank H. Ball, Mary Ella Brown, Kearney Park, and others.
Kimberly McCoy, the commission chair and a south Fresno resident, said she would’ve preferred the 50% be allocated.
“When I drive around south Fresno, and I look at the condition of the parks, I get pretty upset that there’s still not enough investment in south Fresno parks,” McCoy said in an interview with The Bee. “So if we’d been able to go with the 50% recommendation, we would have been able to provide more funding to our parks. …But again, this is just the first round of Measure P. We’ve still got on next year, and we’ve got 30 years to go.”
Councilmember Esmeralda Soria said, as of Thursday’s meeting, she could not support the 25% recommendation. She said she wants to see the council make the 50% allocation.
“As I look at the several maps that you guys produced with the various data points and the accumulation of the data, it leaves out neighborhoods that I represent that are in great need,” she said during Thursday’s meeting. “I represent one of the districts also that is challenged with green space and, we have already, in the last three years, a pipeline of park projects.”
The council is scheduled to settle the allocation issues at the upcoming Dec. 9 regular meeting.
McCoy hopes that in the future, more residents will be engaged in the process to get a better sense of what the larger community wants.
“I think that us coming together as a community and being able to get the word out that this is taking place and having the community weigh in on that will be better,” she said. “It will be a step in the right direction.”