Fresno has so many issues that need fixing. Enough political fixation on Granite Park
Poverty, homelessness, housing costs, homicide rate, air quality, schools, parks, police lawsuits, water conservation, public transportation, road conditions, sprawl.
Each of these issues is more important to Fresno, and deserves more attention from its city leaders, than Granite Park.
Let’s keep going: Gun violence, environmental racism, property crime, downtown revitalization, public safety staffing, alternative transportation, graffiti abatement, street racing and the climate crisis.
All of three minutes were spent compiling those lists, so forgive any obvious exclusions. I put myself through the mental exercise simply to illustrate the relative unimportance of a modest sports complex next to a freeway.
But judging by the ongoing furor over Granite Park, measured by the hours and effort Fresno’s electeds spend bickering over the place, you’d think those 20 acres contained a lithium mine.
Nope. Just a few baseball, softball and soccer fields (albeit with a long, complicated past) built atop what was once a dairy farm.
The latest flashpoint in this never-ending imbroglio is over insurance. Specifically, evidence the nonprofit operating Granite Park isn’t carrying enough of it to protect taxpayers from liability damages.
Two Fresno City Council members, Garry Bredefeld and Mike Karbassi, seized the opportunity to renew their finger-pointing at Terance Frazier over the “special treatment” the Granite Park operator supposedly gets from the council due to his romantic relationship with council member Esmeralda Soria.
Addressing reporters later that same day, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and City Manager Georgeanne White leaped into the fray.
Dyer made it clear if the power rested with him, and not the city council, his administration would’ve already taken action to break the city’s lease with the Frazier-helmed Central Valley Community Sports Foundation.
White went so far as to say Granite Park not being properly insured “literally keeps me up at night.”
All this drama over a few sports fields along Highway 168.
Blemish that keeps coming back
Granite Park is like a cold sore on Fresno’s lip. Insignificant in the big picture, but an ugly blemish that keeps coming back. Ever since city leaders, in 2004, committed the original sin of co-signing a $5.2 million loan to a private developer who went belly up.
By 2015, when Frazier entered the picture, Granite Park was a literal weed patch that still cost hundreds of thousands to “maintain.” Which is why City Hall was only too happy to hand his foundation a 25-year deal to run the place.
Since then, this saga has contained enough twists and turns to fill a John Grisham novel. There have been angry accusations over political favoritism. FBI probes into Brown Act violations. Audits mysteriously released to the public in incomplete form. Discrimination lawsuits filed against the city. Broken promises and unpaid PG&E bills.
Fresno has so many more pressing issues (see above), and yet Granite Park continually rises to the top of the heap.
Why is that? Well, it’s pretty clear why.
Bredefeld has long proven he cares about little else than ranting about the “stench” emanating from City Hall. (That is, of course, except when the odorous behavior comes from his office.) Angry accusations are his raison d’être.
Karbassi, running against Soria for the 27th state Assembly seat, has adopted a similar mindset over Granite Park. The usually mild-mannered councilman sounded so exasperated at Wednesday’s press conference you would’ve thought someone spilled wine on his favorite Persian rug.
Be it far from me to advise Karbassi how to run his campaign, but the residents of Merced and Madera counties (who make up 72% of the voters in that new district) couldn’t care less about a sports park in east-central Fresno.
And if Granite Park and Soria’s general influence are what motivated Karbassi to run for state Assembly, with two years remaining on his first full council term, that’s truly sad.
Losing sleep over taxpayer liability
Dyer’s reasons for going public are equally plain: His administration wants Granite Park back under city control. Unlike his predecessors, Dyer has Measure P funds to properly operate and maintain the place.
Among city government bureaucrats, White’s earnestness is rare. So I don’t doubt that she’s losing sleep over the insurance lapse.
Yet you don’t hear the city manager admit to any restless nights over taxpayers being on the hook for all the multimillion-dollar civil rights lawsuits filed on behalf of victims shot, pummeled and suffocated by Fresno police.
Which liability should trouble White, and the general public, more? Hint: Not the one her boss felt deserved its own press gaggle.
The question for Frazier (I’ll be sure to ask it the next time we cross paths) is whether all this is worth the trouble. It can’t be that hosting youth baseball tournaments and an inflatable theme park once in a while is such a lucrative business.
Frazier has consistently maintained he’s losing money over Granite Park — $20,000 a month at one point — and keeps the place open as a community service even as the unpaid bills and headaches pile up.
Except there comes a point when admirable intentions get overrun by real-world realities. Until Granite Park ceases to be a topic for Fresno’s politicians to flog each other over, a largely inconsequential sports park will continue to hog the public discourse.
At the expense of so many issues of greater importance to Fresno residents.
This story was originally published April 9, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
