Does future of Fresno’s San Joaquin River Parkway rest with bill to reshape leadership?
Decision-making authority over the San Joaquin River Parkway and paying for its management and upkeep were the focal points of a Tuesday news conference attended by California Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and local youth advocates.
Overlooking California’s second-longest river at Spano Park in northwest Fresno, speakers touted an Arambula-authored bill that would reshape the governing board of the San Joaquin River Conservancy, the state agency entrusted with assembling the 22-mile river recreation and ecological corridor from Friant Dam to Highway 99. AB 559 passed the Assembly floor by a 56-17 vote last month and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water.
Arambula also spoke about his other parkway-related priority: a $15 million earmark within the current state budget to pay for the parkway’s management and upkeep through 2026. That item remains subject to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s veto. (Update: Newsom signed AB 128, the Assembly budget bill, one week after publication of this story. The $15 million is contained within that bill.)
“It is a top priority for me and my office to make sure that we are bringing park space back to our communities as well as addressing the equity issues that we currently have on the conservancy board,” said Arambula, who represents 468,000 residents of south Fresno and western Fresno County. “I’m going to continue to work on this and won’t stop till we have access to the river, the jewel that’s right here in our backyard.”
In its current version, AB 559 would increase the San Joaquin River Conservancy Board membership from 15 to 17 by adding a representative from a local Native American tribe and a fourth public member “to represent statewide interests.” The three other public members (Fresno County resident, Madera County resident and city of Fresno resident) would come from a list submitted by local nonprofits that “support outdoor recreation, conservation, environmental justice, or social justice issues.”
AB 559 removes the current stipulation that at least one of the two public board members be a property owner along the San Joaquin River. It also contains language that transfers the power to appoint public members from the governor to the Assembly speaker if vacancies are not filled within one year.
This is important because the current San Joaquin River Conservancy board has lacked a 15th member, a Madera County resident, since 2017. Why? Because Gov. Newsom and Gov. Jerry Brown rejected nominations sent to them by the Madera County Board of Supervisors.
All public board members in state conservancies are gubernatorial appointees.
Bill ends rotation of board chair position
The most controversial provision of AB 559, at least in political circles, is the one that opens the positions of board chair and vice chair to all voting members. As currently configured, the board chair rotates every two years between an elected representative from the city of Fresno, Fresno County and Madera County.
Of California’s 10 state conservancies, the San Joaquin River Conservancy is the only one set up so that the board chair can only be an elected official and not a public member.
“We are simply attempting to align the San Joaquin River Conservancy board with all the rest of the state conservancies that elect their chairmen rather than a rotation that was written into the law,” Arambula said.
Both the Fresno County Board of Supervisors and Madera County Board of Supervisors are opposed to AB 559. It is supported by the Fresno City Council and Madera Mayor Santos Garcia, who also serves on the conservancy board.
On hand to lend support for AB 559 as well as the $15 million budget item, Assembly Speaker Rendon said he would push Newsom to approve both.
“The governor has been supportive of these types of projects in the past … and this is something I’ve called to his attention on at least two different occasions,” said Rendon, who represents eastern Los Angeles County. “The budget process is a three-way negotiation, but this is an incredibly important project and I’m going to advocate for it as hard as I can.”
Fresno councilman: Funding comes at a price
Fresno City Councilman Mike Karbassi issued a statement Tuesday seemingly in opposition to Arambula’s bill. The current San Joaquin River Conservancy board chair called it “a shame” that “a substantial recall effort” against Newsom was required to procure much-needed operations and maintenance funding.
“It is not lost on me that this funding comes at a price,” Karbassi said. “The Governor, Speaker, and Assemblyman Arambula are eroding local control that has allowed the City of Fresno, County of Fresno, City of Madera, and County of Madera to make decisions critical to their residents being able to safely enjoy the immense asset that is the San Joaquin River. The Governor is now leveraging the San Joaquin River as his own personal recall life raft — attempting to win over Central Valley residents with funds, while reducing their control over their own community asset.”
The news conference was organized by Fresno Building Healthy Communities, a nonprofit that was instrumental in getting the Measure P parks tax on the ballot and eventually passed by city of Fresno voters.
“This river and this community are intertwined in so many ways,” said Paying Her, parks and outdoor advocate for Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries. “But there is no one who looks like me or my family on the San Joaquin River board.”
“It’s not about calling out the current board, which is doing as much as they can,” Fresno BHC president and CEO Sandra Celedon said. “It’s about increasing the representation to allow more voices at the table.”
This story was originally published June 22, 2021 at 5:35 PM.
