All Fresnans need a chance to speak out on Measure C tax for local road improvements
There’s a darkness that kills democracy, and too often it’s found behind the closed doors of local government. There the public trust is violated in private meetings held between politicians, bureaucrats, and private interests. They casually ignore the open process critical to a healthy, well-functioning community. Deals are cut, important policy debates preempted.
Such is the case with the Fresno County Transportation Authority, a powerful, but little-known entity responsible for billions in taxpayer dollars and for whom public involvement appears anathema. For more than six months now advocates for equity in transportation spending have been knocking on FCTA’s seemingly barred doors, determined to let some light — and all the community — into the agency’s Measure C sales tax renewal process.
Authentic, inclusive engagement is critically important because of the enormity of Measure C’s potential impacts, both good and bad. First passed in 1986 and due to expire in 2027, the next 20-year extension would carry us directly into mid-century. Renewal campaign consultants go so far as to say the standard 20-year sunset clause should be removed and be made a forever tax, depriving voters of an important check on government power.
The complexities of a 20-year plan are enough for any committee to tackle, and given our current stack of transportation-related crises, ranging from air pollution and climate change to crumbling roads and unreliable transit, this is not the time to guess at the distant future.
The Measure C tax renewal process must begin with direct, deep, meaningful engagement with the entire community. Fortunately, we know how to do this, and we have time.
Multiple such efforts have been successfully completed in recent years. Thousands of residents have shaped new, healthier land-use plans for west Fresno, a $2 billion expenditure plan for parks throughout the entire city, and $70 million in state investments in greenhouse gas reduction projects.
The key to our success has been authentic, sustained interactions at the neighborhood level, where residents are the experts in local needs and priorities. It takes time, effort, and patience. The meetings are long, and the discussions get intense. But it works. And the outcomes result in plans that have integrity — and the strength to withstand closed-door attacks. Spending priorities reflect the desires of the residents that will truly make an impact in their daily lives.
This is what democracy looks like. Unfortunately, it appears FCTA staff and consultants see Measure C as a plutocracy. In fact, they recently announced a series of outreach meetings for the Measure C renewal campaign to tell the rest of us what they plan to do, without first bringing the idea to the Measure C Renewal executive committee itself, the body theoretically in charge.
They also failed to get approval from their own board for the action, despite it being dangerously conducted during a COVID-19 surge. Responsible community-based organizations certainly will not be turning people out for these events — the risk of deadly infection is too great. If thwarting public participation is FCTA’s goal, they couldn’t have timed it better.
The executive committee must commit to a deeper democratic process than closed door meetings, surprise announcements and a malfunctioning committee structure. The public demands it, and taxpayers deserve it.