A Chat With A Candidate For Fresno City Council District 1

so your opponent has been very vocal about he calls it corruption but also the need for reform in city hall how would you grade the job being done at city hall um i would give

it um it's funny i love teaching by the way i've been teaching for a number of years right now Grading is the one thing I really hate about teaching, but that's an aside.

I would give the current City Hall a C.

There is a lot of good work they've done, but there is a lot of room for improvement.

And I think anyone that I talk to at the door when I'm out in the neighborhoods, most people have that same view.

They're able to point to a few things that, for example, okay, this street got repaved, thank you.

Okay, we have this new park over here, thank you.

but then they'll point to a number of other streets that haven't been touched in decades.

Or you go to the west side, west of the 99, that part of District 1, you see this infrastructure patchwork where you have, for example, a nice new school that's been built.

with a nice sidewalk around it, a nice street right in front of it.

But then that nice street and nice sidewalk ends when the school ends and doesn't connect with the housing that's nearby.

So you have kids walking in the street to get to school.

So that's the grade I would give because again, some good things that have been done, but a lot of room for improvement.

What's

the biggest issue you see

in

District 1?

Hard to narrow it down to a single biggest issue, but if you allow me some leeway, at least the few biggest issues.

First is cost of living.

And I recognize that there are certain cost of living or affordability issues that are sort of outside the control of City Hall.

For example, gas, which is being affected by the war going on right now in Iran.

But there are other areas where the city can have a positive impact and bring down the cost of living.

For example, with respect to housing, which is a huge priority of mine, is trying to bring down that cost of housing for both renters and folks looking to buy.

So that's a huge priority.

Another is public safety.

so your opponent has been very vocal about he calls it corruption but also the need for reform in city hall how would you grade the job being done at city hall um i would give

it um it's funny i love teaching by the way i've been teaching for a number of years right now Grading is the one thing I really hate about teaching, but that's an aside.

I would give the current City Hall a C.

There is a lot of good work they've done, but there is a lot of room for improvement.

And I think anyone that I talk to at the door when I'm out in the neighborhoods, most people have that same view.

They're able to point to a few things that, for example, okay, this street got repaved, thank you.

Okay, we have this new park over here, thank you.

but then they'll point to a number of other streets that haven't been touched in decades.

Or you go to the west side, west of the 99, that part of District 1, you see this infrastructure patchwork where you have, for example, a nice new school that's been built.

with a nice sidewalk around it, a nice street right in front of it.

But then that nice street and nice sidewalk ends when the school ends and doesn't connect with the housing that's nearby.

So you have kids walking in the street to get to school.

So that's the grade I would give because again, some good things that have been done, but a lot of room for improvement.

What's

the biggest issue you see

in

District 1?

Hard to narrow it down to a single biggest issue, but if you allow me some leeway, at least the few biggest issues.

First is cost of living.

And I recognize that there are certain cost of living or affordability issues that are sort of outside the control of City Hall.

For example, gas, which is being affected by the war going on right now in Iran.

But there are other areas where the city can have a positive impact and bring down the cost of living.

For example, with respect to housing, which is a huge priority of mine, is trying to bring down that cost of housing for both renters and folks looking to buy.

So that's a huge priority.

Another is public safety.