Fresno’s Measure P parks fight is far from over — and developer Darius Assemi shows why
Now that Measure P has kicked in, think the fight for Fresno’s parks is over?
Think again. In Fresno, some things are eternal. For as long as City Hall bureaucrats do the bidding of the politically connected. And powerful developers, stung by expensive defeats, use their media platforms to chew sour grapes and muddy waters.
Oh no, fellow citizens. Fresno’s divisive battle to invest in more maintained park space and provide funding for arts and recreation programs rages on — even as the citywide 3/8-cent sales tax hike took effect Thursday, July 1. It continues because there’s always more money to be made, promises to keep and influence to peddle.
The authors of Measure P took great pains to specify where the money would go. To ensure the city’s elected leaders would spend it properly and effectively, a nine-member oversight committee was formed. (The tax will bring in an estimated $37.5 million annually for the next 30 years.) Without those provisions, it’s unlikely 52% of the electorate would’ve voted yes, since no one trusts a politician with unfettered access to taxpayer money.
Enter Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, who managed to funnel some of those dollars to his own initiatives. While Measure P does set aside funds for litter and debris removal along the city’s streets and highways (to be precise, 35% of the 11.25% allocated to Safe Walking and Biking Trails; Street Beautification and Litter Removal; and the San Joaquin River Parkway), Dyer shouldn’t be able to tap them for Beautify Fresno ($985,400 in the 2021-22 budget) without a larger discussion.
Yet the mayor’s team penciled in the money, and the Fresno City Council went along 5-2. So much for citizen oversight.
On the same day as the council vote, a very interesting poll related to Measure P appeared on a local news site under the headline of “Tax Hike for Parks Hits July 1. Poll Shows How Fresnans Really Want Their Money Spent.”
Citing data from 500 residents asked to re-imagine the November 2018 ballot measure for themselves, the GV Wire poll revealed a majority of the respondents want the sales tax to fund public safety as well as parks, and in some cases instead of parks.
Talk about revisionist history advanced by sore losers with shady agendas. First of all, Measure P supporters offered to split tax revenues with public safety proponents during the lead-up negotiations, and the mayor, the Chamber of Commerce, major developers and the police and fire unions all declined.
Measure P foe uses poll to muddy debate
Instead, they actively campaigned against Measure P — and no one was more instrumental to that effort than Darius Assemi, CEO/president of Granville Homes and one of Fresno’s largest developers and pistachio farmers who doubles as GV Wire’s publisher.
What’s my basis for that claim? None other than the campaign disclosure forms for a committee called “Fresnans for a Safer Community, No on P, major funding from Lincoln Grantor Farms and affiliated entities and Granville Farms” that received $453,814.12 in total contributions.
Granville Farms and Lincoln Grantor Farms are owned by Darius Assemi and brothers Farid and Farshid. In addition to contributions from Granville Farms ($57,714.12) and Lincoln Grantor Farms ($10,000), the 460 forms list five-figure donations from several other businesses fully or partially owned by the Assemis. I totaled $123,000 worth and probably missed some.
Does it make clearer sense now why an Assemi-owned local news site would publish such a slanted poll without disclosing its publisher’s role in the No on P campaign?
It does to me. Good thing Fresno’s voters, along with a state appellate court, decided the matter — and not power-brokers like Assemi.
Northwest Fresno park rezone back in pipeline
Speaking of politically connected developers, a good ol’ boy deal I wrote about two years ago has re-reared its head. Once again, a local home builder is trying to rezone 17.58 acres of undeveloped land in northwest Fresno along the San Joaquin River from a park to medium-density residential.
If you recall, a city planning director sent a July 2017 letter to an executive at Benchmark Properties (who just so happened to be a member of Mayor Lee Brand’s transition team) indicating staff was “prepared to recommend” the Planning Commission and City Council approve the zoning change and General Plan amendment. One month later, armed with that wink and nod, the developer purchased the property for a lot less than they would’ve paid had it been set aside for housing.
The item was tabled from an April 2019 Planning Commission meeting after the owner of the nearby Fresno County Horse Park threatened legal action and I started asking questions. Now it’s back. Benchmark Properties has resubmitted the rezone application, and city staff have issued a Notice of Preparation for an environmental review. A public scoping meeting was held June 23 on Zoom.
Northwest Fresno has a dearth of green space and hardly any river access. A 17-acre park at 7308 N. Thiele Ave. would provide both, and thanks to Measure P there’s finally the financial means to build new city parks and better maintain existing ones. But we’ll have to keep our collective eyes on the ball, and keep up the fight for parks, or else forces will continue to push back against the will of the voters.
This story was originally published July 1, 2021 at 10:34 AM.
