Fresno mayoral forum is Thursday

As a leader with Faith in Community, I largely agree with the recent Bee editorial statement that the Fresno City Council and Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer are “operating in a different political era.”

But while we’re making progress, we’re not there yet. Yes, community organizations like ours – and all of the partner groups with Fresno Building Healthy Communities – are engaging more residents. And yes, together we have made health care available to more residents, advocated to hold slumlords accountable and are continuing to push for more parks, especially in south Fresno.

These achievements make our city stronger and healthier, but more work remains. We need a community-informed parks master plan. We need to make sure that our housing is safe and affordable. And we need to provide health care for all. We invite residents to attend our mayoral candidates forum Thursday, April 21, 6:30 p.m., at St. Anthony Mary Claret Church.

I agree 100 percent on this point: “The lesson here for Dyer is that he needs to engage the entire community and gain consensus before implementing any change that might be controversial.” We would broaden this to all elected officials interested in creating one healthy Fresno.

This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 6:20 AM with the headline "Fresno mayoral forum is Thursday."