Fresno County’s Measure C renewal is set to launch. Let’s see if it flies | Opinion
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Expanded Measure C advisory board began work with focus on inclusive dialogue.
- Local road repair ranked top priority among advisory board's 36 members.
- Ashjian's removal and Mendes' actions sparked controversy over process transparency.
Fresno County’s most consequential government trial balloon in two decades is filling with helium and getting set for liftoff.
From Clovis to Coalinga and Firebaugh to the foothills, county residents deserve to find out if this stitched-together dirigible, threaded with the best of intentions, can take to the skies.
We all deserve to see if this blimp can fly – without interference from certain forces who seem determined to bring it down. Why? Because they remain bitter about Measure C’s defeat at the 2022 ballot box and couldn’t box out community groups from participating in the 2026 renewal process.
It’s really as simple as that.
Thursday afternoon marked the first meeting of the expanded Measure C steering committee that included both Fresno Council of Governments appointees and representatives of Transportation For All, a coalition of more than 20 community groups that organized in 2022 to sway voters from renewing the half-cent sales tax.
Regrettably, that meeting got overshadowed by related events made public during a meeting a few hours prior. When Fresno City Council members and city officials expressed consternation over the revelation that one of Mayor Jerry Dyer’s three appointees – paving company owner Brooke Ashjian – was removed from the committee for critical comments (published online and made during a radio appearance) regarding the Fresno COG policy board’s June 27 vote to expand the membership by 50% to include a wider breadth of input.
The decision to remove Ashjian from the 36-member panel was made by Parlier Mayor Alma Beltran (the Fresno COG chair) and Mendota Mayor Victor Martinez (the COG vice chair) and carried out by COG interim executive director Robert Phipps and Measure C consultant Kendall Flint, according to Martinez.
In his op-ed, Ashjian took issue with the 24% allocation to buses in the current version of Measure C and wrote that Fresno COG “just installed 12 of the most left-wing disrupters to the Measure C board who are hoping to make that number 50%.”
In response, Martinez called Ashjian’s words “a bunch of lies.”
“Committee members were briefed about the rules and one of them is not to bad-mouth the process. Don’t talk negatively about the process,” Martinez said. “Then this guy goes out and does exactly that. It’s not right. Especially since we don’t even know yet where this process is going to end up. The committee hasn’t even discussed revenue allocations.”
Behind-the-scenes smoke
While the Ashjian drama played out at a public meeting – Fresno City Council President Mike Karbassi characterized the Fresno COG’s decision as a First Amendment rights violation – Buddy Mendes played the role of behind-the-scenes disruptor.
Earlier in the week, the Fresno County supervisor and Fresno County Transportation Authority board chair sent a letter to fellow FCTA board members Martinez, Beltran and Clovis City Councilmember Lynne Ashbeck advising them the FCTA would have no role in a “Facilities/Synthesis Team” made up of elected officials and county staff that helped put together the current framework.
Mendes then gave an interview to a local news site, one published by a local political operative up to his neck in this muck, suggesting the group’s meetings could be a Brown Act violation.
And voilà. There’s another negative Measure C headline following Ashjian’s op-ed the week prior.
What the “Facilities/Synthesis Team” story didn’t mention is that Mendes himself was a member and attended multiple meetings. So if anyone committed a Brown Act violation, Mendes is among the guilty. Really, though, it’s all a bunch of smoke.
According to Ashbeck, citing determination of the county counsel, the “Facilities/Synthesis Team” is not an hoc committee. It is simply an informal work group, formed by an April decision of the Fresno COG board, to determine if the opposing sides from the 2022 election cycle can find a way to co-exist in 2026.
“It is not secret, it is not negotiating anything, it is not acting on anything and it is not making a single decision,” Ashbeck said. “It is simply a group whose purpose is to keep the work moving, as directed by the COG board.”
“There was a large amount of data that we needed to synthesize and deliver to everybody together and help support the effort,” Martinez added.
Consensus on local roads
I listened to Thursday’s first meeting of the expanded Measure C steering committee, nearly to its 2½-hour entirety, and can assure anyone reading there was zero discussion about how the tax’s revenues should be divided and allocated.
The discussion was limited to big picture topics (i.e. vision and priorities) and hearing everyone’s point of view. My two main takeaways: First, more than 20 members live in the City of Fresno – which makes sense considering the population numbers. Second, repairing local roads was the No. 1 priority of every person seated around the table.
Not public transportation, light rail to Huron, or flying cars but improving the condition and safety of the streets in their neighborhoods that county residents use every day.
While details of the measure will be drafted over the next several weeks – and don’t forget elected officials will make the final decisions over what appears on the ballot – that sort of consensus is a solid place to start.
“This work will rise or fall under its own weight, so let it work itself through the process,” Ashbeck said. “Eleven mayors in Fresno County said, ‘Do it this way. Give it a shot.’ Right?
“We didn’t promise it would work. We promised it was worth a try. And it’s super important that we allow the process to work its way through.”
It puzzles me why people such as Mendes and Ashjian (who should be reinstated, provided he agrees to follow the rules) are so afraid of letting others have a voice.
What’s so frightening about listening to somebody who may have a different point of view? I’d love to hear an answer.
