Fresno County transportation foes bury the hatchet, agree to combine forces | Opinion
Fresno County leaders and community groups that defeated them at the ballot box in 2022 have laid down their arms and opted to join forces over Measure C.
Negotiated over a series of meetings since April, the unlikely alliance brings together the county’s official renewal campaign for the soon-to-expire transportation tax and the Transportation For All coalition under a shared umbrella called “One County, One Plan.”
The agreement, formalized Thursday night with an 11-4 approval by the Fresno County Council of Governments Policy Board, does not 100% guarantee there won’t be competing tax measures on the November 2026 ballot. Much can happen in 16 months.
But for as long as the two sides remain united, it assures the Measure C renewal process will have a higher level of community input (i.e. committee members not limited to business leaders or political appointees) and greater transparency (i.e. no last-minute switcheroos) than what county voters experienced, and ultimately rejected, in 2022.
“We need a measure that can be supported by the entire county, not just a select group of people,” Clovis Mayor Vong Mouanoutoua said before joining Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and the mayors of nine other cities in approving the “One County, One Plan” agreement.
The mayors of Kingsburg, Reedley and Selma voted “no” along with Fresno County, which was represented by Supervisor Garry Bredefeld.
Bredefeld’s vote came as no surprise. During last week’s Fresno County Transportation Authority board meeting, he hissed “I don’t a sh– about those people” in reference to Transportation For All, a coalition of more than 20 community organizations including Fresno Building Healthy Communities, League of Women Voters, Cultiva Salud, Faith in the Valley and Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability.
Bredefeld denied making that statement (even though it’s plain as can be on the audio recording) when Mendota Mayor Victor Martinez, the Fresno COG vice chair who also serves on the FCTA board, reminded the supervisor of his own words (in a cleaned-up version) during Thursday’s meeting, which resulted in a shouting match between the two.
Good times.
Transportation For All gets 12 seats
The “One County, One Plan” agreement calls for an expanded steering committee of 38 members – with Transportation For All getting 12 seats – as well as a compressed and coordinated process over the next two months until the new version of Measure C is drafted.
Three different reviews of the draft are scheduled for September, followed by polling and recommendations from elected officials at the city and county level aimed at final approval in mid to late October. Which would give the renewal effort more than a year to publicize the expenditure plan, gather signatures for a lower voter approval threshold and place the initiative on the November 2026 ballot.
What if the two sides ultimately decide they can’t work together? The revised timeline gives them enough time to unfurl their own measures – an outcome both are hoping to avoid.
“It wasn’t too long ago that a few of us couldn’t be in the same room together,” said Veronica Garibay, executive director of Leadership Counsel, “and I’m really proud of how far we’ve all come. ... This is a trust exercise. This is our opportunity to work together and commit to a process.”
In recent weeks, the county’s Measure C consultant and Transportation For All have each held a series of community workshops designed to gauge public input on how the initiative should be crafted.
The difference has been stark – most glaringly with regard to turnout.
I attended Tuesday night’s Measure C workshop at Fort Washington Elementary in northeast Fresno. Of the 22 people in the room, roughly half were either county staff or on the job (i.e. a photographer and two translators who sat around with nothing to do).
Sparse turnout despite free food
Five of the remaining 11 were folks that are actively involved in local transportation matters, including two members of the city’s Active Transportation Advisory Committee. Which left six regular everyday citizens. Six. Me included.
You can bet the turnout would’ve been larger had organizers publicized the fact that Sam’s Deli and Me N Ed’s Pizza were on the menu. Two pillars of the Fresno culinary scene, to be certain. As it was, most of the food went uneaten.
From what I gather, the 22 people represented a slight attendance increase over previous Measure C workshops held in Reedley, Kingsburg and Fresno’s Betty Rodriguez Library.
By contrast, nearly 300 people attended Transportation For All’s community workshop last week at Fresno’s Big Red Church. Previous workshops in outlying cities drew 200 or more.
Despite the sparse turnout, I found the Measure C workshop to be informative and thought-provoking. Never more so than when Robert Phipps, Fresno COG’s executive director, steered the conversation away from street paving, bike paths and bus routes and asked those in attendance to gaze toward the future.
“There are always going to be advances in technology,” Phipps said. “What is our transportation network going to look like in 20 years, and how do we plan for that?”
If the half-cent sales tax is renewed and resident priorities evolve, Phipps suggested, future transportation projects could include a light rail system. Or infrastructure that supports self-driving cars.
I get the sense most Fresno County residents, whether they live in Clovis or Coalinga, would settle for a measure that fixes the streets in front of their homes. Hopefully there’s room in this expanded, more inclusive renewal process for some bigger thinking as well.
This story was originally published June 27, 2025 at 11:00 AM.
