Come hear candidates for Fresno mayor in what could be last forum before March primary
We are at a critical moment in Fresno’s history and this year’s election of our next mayor impacts every one of our lives. That is why the “Fresno4All” coalition invites every Fresnan to our nonpartisan candidates forum on Thursday evening, February 13th, at St. James Episcopal Cathedral on Dakota and Cedar.
We’ve seen just one public forum with all mayoral candidates present, so this may be our last opportunity before the March 3rd election to take a close look at who wants to be our mayor. Who will be a mayor for all of Fresno, and not just their friends?
While we haven’t yet heard back from all of the candidates, we are hopeful that every individual seeking to lead California’s fifth-largest city will decide to prioritize this event. It represents an important opportunity for each of the candidates to not only make their case to a large and diverse group of voters — it also communicates their intentions to represent and value every single Fresnan and Fresno community.
Fresno has long served as a place of refuge and welcoming for all types of people, whether it be African Americans fleeing violent racism in the South, immigrants from Latin America and all over the world seeking safety and new opportunities for their families, or Hmong, Armenian, Syrian and other refugees fleeing war and violence.
But we also live in a moment when we’re being told to put up walls, and many of the same people just mentioned are being told they do not belong. In Fresno, our most vulnerable communities have the most at stake this election, but the numbers tell us they are less likely to vote. One of the many reasons for this disconnect is a lack of real engagement and encouragement from candidates and public institutions. Put another way, they are implicitly told that the polling place is one of the places where they do not belong.
This is why our communities and community-based organizations have increasingly come together across race, neighborhoods and faith traditions in recent years to shine a light on the real crises for far too many Fresnans, and to build up the voice and power to do something about it. Together, we have won big on addressing unsafe and unhealthy housing conditions, securing direct investments in long-neglected southwest Fresno, relocating and stopping future toxic industries in already burdened neighborhoods, and investing in proven solutions to prevent gun violence.
On the other hand, Fresno is still one of the poorest cities in the country. We have the highest concentrated poverty, eight of the 10 most polluted zip codes in the state (they are all in south Fresno), fast rising rents and homelessness, thousands of families who don’t have health care, and we’re near the bottom in our access to parks and green space.
This is also why our diverse communities and organizations came together for the “Fresno4All” campaign to bring thousands of Fresnans into the conversation of what we share in our beliefs for what the next Fresno mayor needs to prioritize.
While we go door to door, congregation to congregation, and neighborhood to neighborhood, we find that people are ready to engage, and they expect their candidates to respect them enough to show up.
In 2016, nearly 600 Fresnans from all over the city packed a church in southeast Fresno to hear from each of the mayoral candidates and make their own informed voting decision. This was described by one of the candidates as the most diverse and well attended forum of that election.
Now, we are hearing concerns about the “objectivity” and “safety” of the upcoming forum. With this forum being open to everyone, but especially encouraging south Fresno residents and communities of color, what message does that send about how they and their concerns are seen?
But it’s not too late. We are still hopeful that all of the candidates will decide to prioritize this and to send a message that every single one of us belongs here and will be heard.