On Aug. 24, I invited Brunette Harris, Bobbie Parks, Evonne Gordon and Diane Smith to share with me their update on an interview they did 14 years ago with the Community Alliance newspaper.
Our paths crossed back in November 2023 at a Fresno City Council meeting. I was there to support a ceasefire in Palestine; the women were there to speak out against a planned development in their community. After hearing the four women address the Council, I couldn’t help but reach out and offer my support because like them, I, too, have concerns about what the City Council and planning commission are doing to this place we call home.
Back in September 2010, these four women, who go by the acronym H.E.A.T., spoke with Mike Rhodes and at that time were raising concerns about high-density development, displacement of longtime residents and the misallocation of federal grant money intended to improve their community. Fourteen years later seems like a long enough time for positive improvements to be made, so what does H.E.A.T. think?
What follows are H.E.A.T.’s observations of our City leaders’ handling of funds meant for Southwest Fresno and conclusions about Southwest Fresno development projects, but before those are shared, let me be clear that H.E.A.T. is not against development. They fully realize and understand the need for such projects and welcome the potential opportunities grant money from the federal government can provide.
Reading the interview, there were quite a few remarks about not having community input, not having any representation, not having a voice, and when asked if any of that had changed, their answers were unanimous: no change.
Harris was clear, “I mean, the same thing happens now that was happening then. We still do not have proper representation. City Council persons still do not communicate. Meetings do not have community input. They do not meet with the constituents in the community. None of that, even though they say they are.”
This was shocking to hear and when pressed to declare some iota of change for the better that has happened, the answer was the same but with one addition: It’s worse.
In fact, Tate Ross, a long-time resident and supporter of H.E.A.T., who has been living in his Southwest Fresno home since 1961, shared a bulldozer meant for demolishing homes has been a fixture for months now in the lot sharing a boundary line with Ross’s property. And neither he nor his neighbors have received any notices about the planned development for 33 houses in that lot behind Ross’s property even though the City claims it notifies residents within 300 feet of proposed scheduled development.
As one who is recently aware of the City Council’s and planning commission’s plans for development, I feel betrayed by those who’ve been elected to represent Fresnans and what Fresnans want, not what these elected officials want perhaps due to the persuasive influence of developers who are the real winners of the Fresno Master Plan.
Evidently, developers in this city have a voice, they have proper representation and they have input. See for yourself. Take a drive into Southwest Fresno, and you’ll see the development our City leaders and planners have approved: mansion-like homes, a city college, wider streets, high-rise lofts and retail businesses, but most of the development happened without the actual residents themselves having provided their fair and just share of input before development plans were made.
This is interesting because 14 years ago, urban sprawl was not a popular idea, yet it’s happening in all parts of Fresno now, especially Southwest Fresno. It feels like Fresno is the new L.A., and that is any developer’s golden goose.
According to H.E.A.T., when the southwest community is contacted on those rare occasions, it is well after the fact, meaning plans for development are made and then residents discover the awful truth about what is going to happen to their neighborhoods, homes, businesses, schools, community centers and so on when letters start arriving in the mail.
After decades of federal grant money flooding into Fresno, why does H.E.A.T. still show up to City Council and planning commission meetings expressing intense dissatisfaction with the Southwest Fresno Specific Plan? Why aren’t the new homes, wider streets, high-rise lofts, new college campus and new retail businesses cause for satisfaction? What’s not to like about a new Starbucks?
According to H.E.A.T., “They [City Council] don’t care about the people who live around here. People of color. They [City Council] want to take money meant for Southwest Fresno and use it to fix up their end of town.
“Lying to the governor that they’re going to use [those funds] to take care of the area that they signed up for, but the money is not being used to help the people in their homes and build up their homes and build up their community, build up their streets.
“Everything, the [City Council] let go, let the area become blighted so they can use the area for their own monetary profit by sacrificing the people that live there, forcing them out of their homes where they’ve been working 20, 30, 40, 50 years. We have a lot of elderly people on fixed incomes, and their houses need to be fixed up. That’s what the funding is for, but instead you got a city college.”
If you’re wondering if your neighborhood is up for development, you should find out because our regional leaders and planners have a plan for addressing housing needs. It’s called the Multi-Jurisdictional 2023–2031 Housing Element. It includes Fresno County, Coalinga, Firebaugh, Fowler, the city of Fresno, Huron, Kerman, Kingsburg, Mendota, Orange Cove, Parlier, Reedley, San Joaquin, Sanger and Selma.
As alluded to earlier, Fresno is fast becoming the new L.A. Thank you, H.E.A.T., for the heads-up.
(Author’s note: Another installment on H.E.A.T.’s decades-long journey with the Fresno Master Plan and the injustices they continue to fight against will be in the November issue of the Community Alliance newspaper.)
