Jerry Dyer is doing ‘a pretty decent job’ as Fresno mayor. But his PR is tremendous | Opinion
One of Jerry Dyer’s shrewdest moves as Fresno mayor was to recognize the value of good PR.
The latest example: Dyer’s 2022 annual report. Which was disseminated Tuesday via the city’s official social media platforms, one day before Dyer revealed he intends to run for reelection next year.
“I’m 100% certain that I need to be here a second term to be able to carry out the initiatives and the vision that we’ve started,” Dyer said in an interview with The Bee.
That vision and those initiatives are carefully laid out in the 22-page online document that presents Dyer’s second year as mayor in the rosiest of lights.
Of course, that’s the whole point of the exercise.
“Two years have flown by since I first took office,” Dyer writes in the introduction. “However, in a very short time our community has made much progress. The City of Fresno has been coined by many as the ‘City of the Future.’ For this future to become reality we must know our past, relish our present, and stay committed to what we are becoming.”
Know our past, relish our present, stay committed to our future — that’s nicely phrased. And having received several emails from Dyer over the years, I’d even venture to say he wrote those words himself.
The report’s “aim,” Dyer continues, is to “celebrate our accomplishments and look forward to a promising tomorrow.”
So, yes, we’re getting the positive spin. Good of the mayor to let us know in advance.
Police, fire hirings highlighted
The 2022 report begins by highlighting public safety. While law enforcement agencies nationwide struggled to recruit qualified candidates, it states, the Fresno Police Department bucked that trend by hiring 117 new officers as well as nearly 100 community service officers, dispatchers and staff.
Those investments “have proven most meaningful in our community, leading to” a 51% reduction in gang-related shootings and a 19% dip in homicides as well as a police force “that better reflects our City’s rich ethnic diversity.”
Next up is the Fresno Fire Department, which until recently was operating with the same staffing levels as in 1980 when the city’s population was 220,000. Not anymore. Bolstered by two recruiting classes, the department now has 95 active duty firefighters at any given time (up from 80) to respond to an ever increasing volume of calls.
Sections on Beautify Fresno, public works, youth leadership and the Fresno-Yosemite International Airport are also filled with objectively positive facts and tidbits gleaned from the past year.
For example, did you know Beautify Fresno (with the help of nearly 9,000 volunteers) removed more than 2 million pounds of trash from city streets? The resulting civic pride is immeasurable.
I was pleased to learn about Dyer’s Youth Jobs Corps Program, funded by a $7.4 million state grant, that resulted in 122 “fellows” between 16 and 30 getting hired across 14 city departments. And be reminded that 529 kids and teens from disadvantaged homes got to attend Camp Fresno in the Sierra for free last summer.
The “We Work For You” videos highlighting the good work, and great attitudes, of numerous city employees are also an enjoyable watch.
However, it’s when the progress report focuses on thornier, more-difficult-to-sugarcoat issues that the veneer of good PR starts to wear thin.
Mayor’s big misstep overlooked
One of Dyer’s major missteps of 2022 was the clumsy launch of his administration’s One Fresno Housing Strategy without City Council buy-in — something the mayor himself has owned up to.
But you won’t find that kind of plain English in the document’s housing section. Instead, we get vague phrases such as “set the stage” and “set in motion” that glosses over both the enormity of the deficit and the urgency required.
Likewise, the page devoted to homelessness contains little beyond a continued pat-on-the-back over 2021’s Project Off-Ramp and an acknowledgment of all the state assistance Fresno has received ($76.3 million in 2022 alone) to combat the problem.
And before claiming there aren’t any “large” encampments in the city, the report’s authors might want to take a drive up Weber Avenue or south of Ventura Street.
Speaking of downtown, the long-awaited revitalization appears stuck in first gear with the lack of housing presenting the largest hurdle. Yet only one new housing project (Chinatown’s The Monarch) has been built and occupied since Fulton Street reopened in 2017.
Such hard truths have no place in Dyer’s annual report. Rather, you’ll find mention of “submitted plans” for converting the Helm Building and the JC Penney — exciting possibilities that are years away even in the most optimistic scenario. Or that a new downtown hotel broke ground while leaving out the one that closed its doors.
My “aim” in writing this isn’t to deflate the mayor’s positive helium with a cynical pin prick. I believe he’s done a pretty decent job so far. Better than expected, to be honest.
Except there are times when Dyer’s actual job performance becomes shrouded by the tremendous job his communications team and key staff are doing to make him look good.
Public relations might help Dyer get reelected, but positive spin can only carry any elected official so far.
