Miguel Arias – Valley Climate

Fresno Unmasked: Police Reform Reveals Loyalties

[This article first appeared in the August 2020 issue of Community Alliance.]

By Kevin Hall

(Editor’s note: As of our deadline, the Fresno Police Reform Commission was next scheduled to meet on August 10.)

Like it or not, Fresno is about to take a deep dive into community policing. Count among those who don’t like it the Fresno Police Officers Association (FPOA) and a bevy of right-wing interests. Their tactics include a smear campaign against one advocate, legal objections to necessary information requests, accusations of conflicts of interest and—as usual—playing the race card.

collage — Right-wing opponents of police reform have been using their private online platforms at GV Wire and SJV Sun and working through local media to attack advocate Sandra Celedon.

The union is furiously working both sides of the political aisle to block any change, and the FPOA president is said to have been caught on video, no surprise, in a recent public meeting displaying scorn and disrespectful behavior toward advocates.

Continue reading Fresno Unmasked: Police Reform Reveals Loyalties

Developer Comfort Zone Ahead

(Published in the February 2020 issue of Community Alliance)

By Kevin Hall

Let’s hope Fresno city council members Miguel Arias and Esmeralda Soria haven’t already cost Andrew Janz the mayor’s race. They’ve certainly taken off the election table a trio of huge issues for hundreds of thousands of voters: affordable housing, sprawl, and climate change.

Public prosecutor Janz is assumed to be running a close second in the race for Fresno mayor against the city’s just-retired police chief, reported rapist Jerry Dyer, a Trump-Republican. Four other candidates, including Rev. Floyd Harris and Nikolas Wildstar, have filed but report no funds raised.

In a big break with fellow Democrats, Janz is refusing campaign contributions from developers. In a city infamous for its sprawl and corrupt political climate, that’s akin to a candidate for state or federal office saying no to oil and methane lucre (ask a Perea).

Local developers really don’t like it when people won’t take their money and implicitly agree to furthering their agenda. Janz is signalling it won’t be business as usual at city hall in his administration. If he wins the office without having sought their support, he certainly won’t feel obligated to them, unlike the current mayor and council members. Continue reading Developer Comfort Zone Ahead

Brown Wave or Whitewash?

A quick response to Joe Mathews ‘Looking for California’s Biggest Wave?’

By Kevin Hall, 1.27.20

With so many flaws in this analysis of Fresno politics (full article below), what really stands out in the superficial “Brown Wave” theme is the writer’s unproven contention that we’ve turned a corner thanks to the city council once again having a majority of Latino members.

He relies on the stereotype of all Latino Dems as progressive, despite this being a group of three moderates and the Republican-in-all-but-registration, Luis Chavez, the DINO who has endorsed Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims for reelection despite her enthusiastic support for Donald Trump. He also backed Tea Party extremist Steve Brandau for Fresno County Supervisor.

Joe Mathews’ writing on the central San Joaquin Valley last caught my eye with an opinion piece from February 2018 in which he extolled the virtues of Fresno-Madera-Clovis menage-de-sprawl. He suggested naming the leapfrog developments across the river up Fwy. 41 “Future Town.” Seriously. Continue reading Brown Wave or Whitewash?

Jim Costa’s Primary Concern

July 3, 2019

By Kevin Hall

FRESNO-Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 29-year-old political wunderkind who introduced the Green New Deal congressional resolution earlier this year, made a telling candidate endorsement in late May.

The Democratic Socialist from Queens, who a year ago successfully primaried long-time incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley, announced she is backing a fellow progressive Latina. Like Continue reading Jim Costa’s Primary Concern

Developer Dollars, Democratic Duplicity

(This article first appeared in the April 2019 issue of Community Alliance magazine.)

By Kevin Hall

Few were downtown at Fresno city hall on a cold morning in late January to witness the new council fail its first real test of character. The one that matters most in city politics, it’s a single-question exam: Do developers still run this town?

They do.

The new five-member, veto-proof Democratic majority on the council has raised the hopes of many locals. At long last, some say, our humble burg of half a million souls will be governed by a body with a greater interest in the needs of poor and working families, one willing to take on the special interests running roughshod over lives and futures.

When dread developer Darius Assemi looks up at the dais in Fresno City Hall, he is looking at more than $200,000 invested by his family members and their businesses in the political careers of the current council and mayor. The city’s election cycle limits are easily ignored and candidates often receive four or five times the limit from Assemi interests. Commercial developer Ed Kashian is the second most prolific backer in local politics.

Continue reading Developer Dollars, Democratic Duplicity

The Politics of Climate Change Parenting

(This article was first published in the January 2019 edition of Community Alliance, http://www.alliance.com.)

Joaquin Arambula and Miguel Arias are not the leaders we’re looking for

By Kevin Hall

Parents worldwide are faced with far greater fears and challenges today than at any time in history. They have the enormous responsibility for children’s lives, people they have chosen to bring into a world with a rapidly destabilizing climate. It’s a shared responsibility, of course, because at this point anyone under the age of 50 cannot count on having a stable climate in their old age.

Nearly 20 million people were climate refugees in 2018, according to U.N. estimates. Internally dislocated people, from hurricane victims in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Continue reading The Politics of Climate Change Parenting