Jerry Dyer served Fresno for decades. But Andrew Janz is the right choice for mayor

Fresno’s next mayor awaits enormous challenges:

The metropolitan area ranks in the nation’s top 10 for income inequality. The city ranks second in a listing of the top 20 American cities with extreme poverty. Fresno tops big cities in California for its rate of domestic violence calls. People living in the city’s poorer neighborhoods have drastically worse health than those in more affluent areas. And the city has remained at the bottom tier of large cities in the U.S. for its parks, both in quality and number.

Such problems might seem beyond the responsibility of the mayor. However, that leader can wield the power of a large bureaucracy in California’s fifth-largest city, and a budget over $1 billion, to address those issues.

In the March 3 primary, voters will get to pick from a field of seven contenders who want to become Fresno’s next mayor. If no one wins 50 percent plus one of the ballots, the top two finishers will proceed to the November general election.

Based on name recognition and campaign funding, there are two clear front runners: former police Chief Jerry Dyer and county Deputy District Attorney Andrew Janz.

The election will be a referendum on whether voters are satisfied with the status quo, or want to seek a new beginning. Status quo all but guarantees social ills won’t be dealt with in meaningful ways.

Janz is committed to changing over the ranks at City Hall, if necessary, to ensure a new start. Dyer does not promise any such overhaul, and in recent years has opposed new ideas in favor of more of the same. Fresno cannot afford to weather more of the same. For those reasons, Janz has earned The Bee’s recommendation.

Comparing the candidates

Here are reasons why Janz is the better choice:

▪ City Hall: Janz promises a full review of City Hall operations, with an emphasis on not doing things as usual, but having the best people in place and being more transparent and responsive to the public. Dyer plans to maintain much of City Hall’s staffing.

▪ D.R.I.V.E.: Janz volunteered to the Editorial Board that he supports the D.R.I.V.E. initiative and wants to make its principles key parts of his agenda. D.R.I.V.E. is a community-based effort led by former Mayor Ashley Swearengin that is focused on raising the quality of life for all Fresnans by maximizing economic and educational opportunities. The portfolio of ideas is too extensive to explain here; suffice to say it would transform Fresno if followed.

Dyer did not reference the D.R.I.V.E. initiative, but he thinks Fresno must become a more business-friendly city. He wants to audit how city officials process business permits and new-business plans to look for improvements.

▪ Measure P: Janz backed the Measure P parks initiative that voters supported with 52.1% of the vote two years ago, but which did not take effect because it did not get the necessary two-thirds approval. That measure would have hiked the sales tax to create guaranteed funding for improving existing parks and building new ones.

Dyer opposed Measure P when he was chief because it did not devote revenues to public safety and would have been in place for decades. Dyer says it was divisive, but admits that campaigning against it as chief was a mistake. He now backs reviewing the budget, then possibly hiking taxes, with proceeds benefiting both parks and police-fire.

▪ Crime: As a prosecutor, Janz understands Fresno’s crime problems. That said, he backs a new approach to dealing with high-risk offenders called Advance Peace, which has been tried in several communities in California. Sacramento and Richmond, cities with Advance Peace programs, have seen significant reductions in gun-related crime. The Fresno City Council approved spending $200,000 to start the program here, but Mayor Lee Brand vetoed the plan, saying Advance Peace was still too untested. Among those not supporting Advance Peace was Dyer.

Dyer told the Editorial Board one of his top goals would be combating criminal gangs. Under Dyer’s leadership as chief, notable reductions in gang crime occurred. But Dyer’s orientation continues to be a police-chief mindset, not that of a mayor. Let the police handle the gangs; the mayor must think more broadly.

▪ Management experience: Janz managed some student enterprises in college, but nothing like what he is seeking to do now. Yet he has shown aptitude for quickly grasping complex issues and proposing smart solutions.

Dyer managed a department of more than 1,000 employees with a budget at one time of more than $200 million, so he understands the intricacies of a complex agency and working with City Hall.

Yet significant problems occurred under his management. For one thing, the Keith Foster scandal. Foster was a deputy chief and Dyer’s hand-picked successor who was arrested by the FBI and convicted of drug dealing. Dyer said he did not know anything about Foster’s criminal enterprise. If not, why not?

Dyer has also come under criticism for officer-involved shootings, with legal settlements that have cost taxpayers millions. And a 2015 report found that two-thirds of the sworn officers and half the civilian employees thought morale in the department was poor and that Dyer did little to address it.

Recommendation

There is no question Dyer sincerely loves the city, and his charisma is considerable, which is a good trait to have in Fresno’s strong-mayor system of government. Sit down at a restaurant with him, and a stream of well-wishers soon develops.

But the baggage of past controversies he carries into this race is notable, and when presented with the chance to support forward-thinking ideas over the last few years, Dyer has opposed them.

Dyer is accepting developer contributions; Janz is not. If Dyer is elected and continues policies that have favored suburban development, he will have a hard time recruiting people with the passion and experience to create innovative affordable housing, neighborhood revitalization and economic development.

Janz is untested in running a bureaucracy. But he is smart, open-minded and offers new approaches on how to solve Fresno’s many problems. The majority on the City Council is now Latino, and there are many more registered Democrats in Fresno than Republicans. (For the record, races for city office are nonpartisan). Janz would work well with the new council majority and offers the best chance for a new direction that Fresno badly needs. The Bee recommends voters support him for mayor.