Councilmember Annalisa Perea: Fresno’s quaint, older neighborhoods badly need repairs
As I walked Fresno City Council District 1 for months, I encountered multiple stories of individuals growing up in their homes, moving a family member back into their house or taking the property over after their parents had passed. Multi-generational living is strong in District One, especially in our much-loved older neighborhoods. My own family continues the generational tradition of loving older homes.
I recall many stories of constituents with strong bonds to their neighborhoods being left with a sense of disappointment because they felt their neighborhoods had been left behind by the city. They’re not wrong. Quaint older neighborhoods can look appealing on the surface, but are full of challenges that have historically been swept aside.
I drove down streets so cracked that I could hear the rocks from old paving spin off my tire. Too often, there were sidewalks being lifted by tree roots that didn’t allow children to ride their bikes, parents to push strollers, or our seniors to take walks without having to step into the street.
Unfortunately, many of our neighborhoods have become deteriorated.
As I begin my term representing District 1, I bring a pragmatic urban planning background, coupled with the ability to look at the issues with fresh eyes and fresh ideas. Years ago, we looked at these issues through the lens of the No Neighborhood Left Behind Initiative. This initiative was a $45 million bond that repaired streets, sidewalks, and made other infrastructure investments in over 70 Fresno neighborhoods. We’ll take the lessons learned from the last initiative to develop a new strategy.
We can all agree that Fresno has consistently ranked among America’s poorest cities, ranking 17th out of the nation’s 50 highest poverty metropolitan areas in 2019. That is simply unacceptable. Covering about 112 square miles, with a population of more than 540,000 residents, Fresno is California’s fifth-largest city, the largest in the San Joaquin Valley, and the 34th largest in the nation. Fresno is the Central Valley’s financial core, a region with an economy that takes the lead on large-scale agricultural production, agricultural-related manufacturing, and other support industries.
Fresno is also leading the way in diversifying the economic base and developing economic mobility for residents with an unemployment rate of 5.0% in November 2022. Add to that, large employers such as Amazon, GAP, Kaiser, Fresno State, State Center Community College District, and others that call Fresno home, and we should be on the cusp of making great strides toward improving our communities and the accompanying infrastructure.
My New Year’s resolution is to bring Mayor Jerry Dyer and my colleagues to the table to find sustainable solutions to a problem that stretches across not only District 1, but across our great city. We should task ourselves with bringing forward a plan that will help neighborhoods thrive one block at a time, even if that means looking back to see what worked and what didn’t; returning to the basics and moving forward from there. We can and will do better.
Collaboration is key and I am looking forward to tackling these challenges together. Here’s to 2023 and a new approach to No Neighborhood Left Behind.
