California Attorney General asks Fresno council to delay Measure C hours before crucial vote

THE LATEST: Council approves Measure C

This story was produced by Fresnoland, a nonprofit news organization that partners with The Fresno Bee.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta asked the Fresno City Council to delay its vote on a 30-year renewal of Fresno County’s transportation tax until the council takes steps to “incorporate adequate public input and carefully develop this critical measure.”

Dated Aug. 10, Bonta’s letter came mere hours before the Fresno City Council was scheduled to vote on the Measure C plan at Thursday’s meeting.

Coincidentally, Bonta heard Fresno-area residents’ concerns during a visit this week.

The Fresno County Board of Supervisors was scheduled Friday to give the nearly $7 billion spending plan its final approval to go on the November ballot. Bonta’s letter, however, sends a strong message to local leaders to hold off on Measure C’s renewal until at least 2024.

The letter cites local concerns about the spending plan’s cuts to public transit and “a lack of adequate public process” in creating the 30-year transportation spending plan, as well as the city’s “lack of clarity” in its review of the environmental impacts of interchange and road-widening projects that would increase diesel truck traffic in downtown Fresno.

“I ask that you consider ways to address residents’ concerns regarding lack of adequate public process undertaken to develop the Renewal Plan,” Bonta’s letter states, “and to meaningfully engage those residents left out of the process to date.”

Gregory Weaver is a freelance journalist based in California’s central San Joaquin Valley. He can be reached at gweav37@gmail.com. This story was written in partnership with Fresnoland.