Granite Park fight heats up again as Fresno remains exposed to potential lawsuits
The Granite Park operator’s current insurance policy doesn’t cover the city of Fresno, which owns the park, making the city liable for lawsuits.
The issue came to light Wednesday after Fresno City Councilmembers Garry Bredefeld and Mike Karbassi held a news conference blasting the operator and their council colleagues.
“Somebody can get seriously injured and sue the city for tens of millions of dollars, and we would have absolutely zero protection,” Bredefeld said.
Central Valley Community Sports Foundation, led by developer Terance Frazier, leases Granite Park from the city and operates the park. Frazier said Wednesday he is working to secure the policy required by the city, but it has taken more time than expected.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and City Manager Georgeanne White said they’ve tried working with Frazier, extending him many chances to correct the issue, to no avail.
Because of the city’s strong-mayor and council structure, only the Fresno City Council has the authority to take action on the Granite Park lease. Bredefeld and Karbassi allege a council bloc of four won’t take action because Frazier is Councilmember Esmeralda Soria’s fiance.
The insurance issue is the latest in a years-long, politically-charged and public dispute between the city and Frazier’s foundation. It began in 2019 when the city released an audit of the foundation’s finances. Since then, players on both sides — including a congressman and business partner, city manager, mayor, and mayoral chief of staff — have left their respective positions. Frazier’s discrimination lawsuit against the city remains open and ongoing. Despite all the clashes, Frazier continues to operate the park, drawing thousands of visitors each year.
“Fresno ranks nearly dead last in public parks for its citizens,” CVCSF officials said in a statement. “In 2019, the city offered to modify its lease agreement for Granite Park, but that initiative was tabled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the day before a new agreement was to be voted on, that agreement stymied due to a unfounded ‘Brown Act’ allegation. In the meantime, Granite Park and the Central Valley Community Sports Foundation continue to maintain and offer softball, baseball, soccer and other activities to the citizens of our city. It would just be nice to have some help.”
Insurance issue
Frazier provided a copy of the foundation’s insurance policy to The Bee. While the policy does cover Granite Park, it does not include the city of Fresno as an insured endorsement, which is required by the lease agreement between the city and the foundation.
Frazier said Granite Park continues to be fully insured, including the park’s Alcoholic Beverage Commission conditional use permit. He said the contract with the city includes an indemnification provision that protects the city from liability.
“This year, the city made a new request for us to secure a rider provision coverage that we are working with them and our Tedmus Insurance Service to secure,” Frazier told The Bee. “This new rider has taken more time than expected but we continue to work to secure the third layer of protection requested by the city.”
White, the city manager, said the city checked with an outside attorney who specializes in insurance. The insurance the city is requesting from the foundation is the same insurance the city requires of every other tenant or special event coordinator.
“We’ve had this conversation for months going around in circles. Enough is enough,” White said. “The city being exposed to this type of liability — where there are baseball bats, balls, small children, liquor— It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when, and having the city exposed to this type of liability literally keeps me up at night. So we need to get this resolved. We’ve tried to help in any way possible.”
White said that previously, Frazier did have the necessary insurance that included coverage for the city. That policy expired in 2021, she said.
Dyer said the inadequate insurance is just one cause that puts the foundation in default on their lease. Over the last year, the city has covered hundreds of thousands of dollars of past-due PG&E and city utility bills, he said.
The mayor and city manager called on the City Council to tackle the issue in a closed session meeting.
Under the city charter, the mayor and city manager don’t have authority to direct any legal matters.
“I can tell you if that authority did rest with my administration, that action would have already been taken,” Dyer said. “We have done everything that we possibly can within my administration to work with the folks at Granite Park, to work with Mr. Frazier, to do everything we can to allow his operations to be successful.
“Unfortunately, it appears that there is some something that is preventing them from being able to stay current on their insurance, something that has prevented them from staying current on paying their bills,” Dyer continued. “The main concern for us is the fact we are allowing someone to operate on that property and exposing the city of Fresno to unnecessary liability.”
White said earlier in the week, she requested City Attorney Doug Sloan put the item on the special closed session meeting agenda for Thursday. She also emailed Council President Nelson Esparza directly Tuesday night.
Bredefeld said Esparza refused to put the item on the agenda.
Esparza said he didn’t receive a request before the special meeting mandatory 24-hour advance notice was sent out.
“The current posted notice had been sitting on the council president’s desk for several days as items were added, in order to accommodate any additional requests that may come through,” Esparza said in a statement. “The notice was finally signed and solidified on the late afternoon of Tuesday, April 5.
“The council president’s office has been looking at information and documentation independent of Councilmember Bredefeld’s latest media charade to determine whether a special meeting is indeed required to remedy any potential issues,” the statement said.
Animated news conference
Bredefeld, over the years, has held a number of news conferences lambasting Frazier and the bloc of four councilmembers, which includes Councilmembers Esparza, Soria, Miguel Arias, and Tyler Maxwell.
On Wednesday, Bredefeld again demanded Frazier and the foundation be removed as park operators.
This time, Karbassi joined him, saying he felt compelled to stand up for the right thing.
Bredefeld and Karbassi outlined the issues with Granite Park’s insurance and the defaulted lease, but they said there were more details they were prohibited from sharing because they were discussed during closed sessions of council meetings or the information was subject to attorney-client privilege.
They said Frazier is getting a pass on lease violations and failing to pay utility bills because Soria is his fiancee and the council majority turns a blind eye.
“My hands are tied. I’m tired of it. I’m flipping exhausted. I’m tired of double standards,” Karbassi said. “I’m calling on the mayor of Fresno, I’m calling on the U.S. Attorney, I’m calling on the powers that be to get off their ass and do something about it.”
Karbassi and Soria currently are running against each other for the new 27th state Assembly seat. Karbassi said the Granite Park issue and Soria’s influence in other city dealings are why he’s running.
“I am running for assembly to build up our Valley and develop solutions for our homeless and housing crisis as my record on the council demonstrates,” Soria said in a statement late Wednesday. “It’s unfortunate to see Mike lacks a positive, solution-driven agenda for our community.”
In a statement, CVCSF officials said Karbassi’s participation in the news conference was “especially problematic.” The statement pointed out that Karbassi led the effort to revise and extend the lease agreement with the foundation for Granite Park.
Karbassi disputed that characterization late Wednesday, saying that the agreement never came to a vote because he changed his mind and withdrew support.
“Today, now that he is running for assembly against Mr. Frazier’s fiance (sic), Mr. Karbassi is suddenly Mr. Frazier’s and Granite Park’s most strident critic,” the statement said. “Mr. Karbassi’s votes, actions and discussions of Granite Park, especially since the facilities are not in his district, are a direct conflict of interest.”
The foundation officials in the statement also said that although the city has hundreds of agreements with organizations and companies, Karbassi and Bredefeld chose to criticize the Granite Park agreement.
“Today — in their latest clown show — Councilmen Bredefeld and Karbassi illustrated two key points,” the statement said. “One: they have nothing better to do than to harass and pester Terance Frazier, an African-American community leader who is simply trying to provide the children and residents of Fresno with a first-class recreational facility at Granite Park, and two: through their actions, Councilmen Bredefeld and Karbassi provided a real-life example supporting Mr. Frazier’s lawsuit against the city for being treated differently and discriminatory.”
This story was originally published April 6, 2022 at 7:45 PM.