According to the last U.S. Census, 85% of Fresno’s population consists of minorities, women, youth, the elderly and low-income people.1 But the 1% of the population that cycles regularly comes from [...] Continue Reading
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Occupy Fresno: “Viva Liberté, Viva America!”
By Chip Ashley Mike Rhodes was walking by Courthouse Park on Dec. 12 and noticed Occupy Fresno was no longer there. On closer inspection he saw a notice taped to one of the columns of the “gazebo,” [...] Continue Reading
Statewide Coalition Vows to Stop Bay Delta Plan
By Vic Bedoian The release of the long-anticipated Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) was greeted with rallies in Los Angeles, Santa Clara County and Sacramento by a coalition of groups opposing its [...] Continue Reading
From the Editor – Jan. 2014
By Chip Ashley Every problem I can think of in Fresno, Fresno County and the San Joaquin Valley has to do with the fact that the whole massive edifice rests, or maybe floats, on a foundation of oil, [...] Continue Reading
Implementation of the Fresno County General Plan: Death by Design
By Radley Reep A real eye-opener is a rarely viewed film entitled Death by Design. This film describes the mechanism by which our bodies replace cells at a rate of about 5,000,000 cells per [...] Continue Reading
Letters to the Editor – Jan. 2014
Addressing Calwa’s Needs As a member of the Fresno community, it has come to my attention that the neighborhood of Calwa located in the south-southeast of Fresno has been experiencing numerous issues [...] Continue Reading
The Much Maligned Public Defender
By Michael Weinberg (Editor’s note: A different version of this article was published previously in the Fresno Bee.) Everywhere public defenders go, they are called names. Their clients feel they [...] Continue Reading
The Elected: In Conversation with City Council Member Lee Brand
By Richard Stone (This is the fourth in a series of interviews with members of the Fresno City Council.) Lee Brand surprised me. I really knew little about him except as part of what is sometimes [...] Continue Reading
The Prison Press: “Justice Reinvestment” Gets Billions for Reform
By Boston Woodard A reform movement is taking hold in the country. It’s called “justice reinvestment,” and it aims to harvest the billions spent on incarceration and redirect the money to social [...] Continue Reading
The 20 Percent Only Society
By James L. Rodgers As John Q. Adams said, “Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself as there never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” It can [...] Continue Reading
New Feature Starting in February
Starting with the February edition, the Community Alliance newspaper will have a new monthly series called “Five Heads Are Better Than One” edited by Richard Stone. A topic will have been proposed in [...] Continue Reading
Another Case of Police Misconduct
By Kevin G. Little On Nov. 27, 2013, after two hours of deliberation, a nine-person federal jury awarded Isaac Miller of Lemoore $500,000 against Hanford police officer Steven Schmitz, finding that [...] Continue Reading