Who’s running for Fresno City Council District 6? A crowded field of four candidates
Incumbent Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld is wrapping up his second four-year term representing District 6 covering northeast Fresno. Term limits prevent him from seeking a third consecutive term. Bredefeld previously served another four-year term on the council from 1997 to 2001.
As Bredefeld seeks election to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, a field of four candidates has emerged to fill the District 6 seat. They are, alphabetically by last name, attorney Roger Bonakdar, businesswoman Molly Fagundes-Johnston, self-employed consultant/fundraiser Nick Richardson, and businesswoman/bank executive Raj Sodhi-Layne.
The Fresno Bee submitted questions to each of the candidates and asked each to respond with answers of in the neighborhood of 200 words, if possible. Their responses are offered here, and presented in the order in which they were received.
Molly Fagundes-Johnston
Age: 41
Occupation: Nonprofit advisor / businesswoman
Education: Bachelor’s degree and MBA, California State University, Fresno.
Offices held: None
Campaign website: MollyForFresno.com
Q: Fresno has repeatedly been described as having a homelessness crisis. The state has provided millions of dollars for the city to convert old motels into shelters, but what kinds of solutions would you favor? Providing lots for safe camps? Large congregate shelters? Tiny homes? What locations in your district could suit some of these solutions?
A: California has approximately 25 percent of all homeless in the country and Fresno has more than its fair share. As councilmember, I will work with local non-profits to develop a plan to prevent homelessness by offering practical assistance to those who fall through the cracks, including mental health and drug rehabilitation services. This government and local non-profit collaboration will ensure we explore innovative solutions instead of recycling failed and costly programs.
I will also advocate for the development of shelters in areas where we currently have fundamental mental, physical, recovery and social services, to address our homeless community’s needs readily while working cooperatively with county partners and law enforcement to prevent camping in parking lots, on sidewalks and parks where our families recreate. I will also explore ways to increase our housing inventory while assisting low-income renters.
Q: About one out of five residents in the city of Fresno has income that falls below poverty level. However, the average market-rate apartment rent rose by almost 43% in the Fresno metro area since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the median sales price of homes has climbed by about 106% over the past 10 years. How would you promote greater housing affordability? And what is your position on rent control?
A: Several factors go into helping to create an environment where housing is more abundant and more affordable. As a council member, I will promote greater housing affordability through by-right development to help establish higher-density multifamily housing. We need to evaluate how we can allow for greater density housing in amenity-rich and walkable areas. Look at what we’ve done with Riverpark. The shopping and general vicinity are beautiful, and we have no complementary apartments or condos nearby. How do we create centers where people can live, work, play, and thrive? Such centers generate several synergies that benefit the city and the residents.
We need to evaluate the current process for development and ensure that the process from the side of private builders (e.g., permitting processes) and the city expanding services for these new communities is moving together synchronously.
I do not support rent control. The state has already set parameters for rent price increases. The city does not need to put further controls in place.
Q: Beyond homelessness and housing, what do you see as the most important issue facing your district, and how would you approach dealing with it?
A: Public safety is our community’s most critical issue. The current budget could increase the number of police personnel from 900 to 926 officers. This is a step in the right direction, but we also must look at how we evaluate and communicate safety throughout our neighborhoods. People’s insecurity is apparent as I have worked and talked with neighbors. It is common in most communities to find well-fortified security doors, bars on their windows, and camera security systems greeting you when you approach a home. This speaks to how many of us feel unsafe. As reported in the city’s budget, measurable crime is down. This is progress, yet we need to ensure we look at crime regionally and address issues neighborhood by neighborhood. We also need to ensure greater transparency so residents have confidence in the city government’s ability to address crime.
Compared to other areas of the state, we have a high proportion of youth versus the overall population. A safe Fresno will continue to attract families looking for a better quality of life. Families feeling safe and secure are more prone to positive social and economic behavior.
Nick Richardson
Age: 32
Occupation: Consulting company owner; substitute Clovis Unified teacher; captiain in the U.S. Marine Reserves
Education: Bachelor’s degrees in international political science and modern language & culture (emphasis in French) , Virginia Military Institute
Other offices held: None, first-time candidate
Campaign website: www.NicksGotMy6.com
Q: Fresno has repeatedly been described as having a homelessness crisis. The state has provided millions of dollars for the city to convert old motels into shelters, but what kinds of solutions would you favor? Providing lots for safe camps? Large congregate shelters? Tiny homes? What locations in your district could suit some of these solutions?
A: I’ve used my consulting tools and conducted a full root-cause analysis of why we have Fresnans living on the streets. I found upward of 126 contributing factors. Not only has government action made housing less affordable for builders and ultimately, customers (current Project Labor Agreements enforced by the city), but CA Prop 13 hurt the availability of homes. The conversion of businesses (hotels) into housing for the unsheltered was a short-term remedy that will not fix the problem. Camps and shelters don’t fix the problem, but rather treat the symptoms. The rise in homelessness won’t be stemmed until we address the causes. To fix affordability, we should revise the standards owners are held to when inspected for Section 8 compensation, and allow trades in the free market to compete to supply builders with the highest quality for the lowest price. Alongside that, breaking the “fire triangle” of mental health issues, crime, and drug use will provide tools and outlets for people to get the individual help they need. This would mean providing resources (financial, educational, support, and mental/physical health) to raise recruitment and retention in law enforcement, approving and building space for the DA to incarcerate known drug dealers, and bridging the gap between County Mental Health and some of the people in the City who need it most. My experience in running highly successful Suicide Prevention and Substance Abuse Counseling/Control programs make me uniquely qualified to identify and root out these issues. My investigation and consulting background gives me the tools to do it. And my stubborn nature won’t let me stop until it’s under control.
Q: About one out of five residents in the city of Fresno has income that falls below poverty level. However, the average market-rate apartment rent rose by almost 43% in the Fresno metro area since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the median sales price of homes has climbed by about 106% over the past 10 years. How would you promote greater housing affordability? And what is your position on rent control?
A: “Rent control” at face value sounds like an easy solution to help renters stay in their homes. But AS a renter, I know that it would be a negative incentive for property owners to develop property into rental housing, which would ultimately lower the supply and raise the demand. The current CA policy of 10% is okay with me, but artificially adjusting the market is writing a check that the city can’t cash. Demand will continue to rise, so supply must rise as well. The only ways to increase the supply of affordable housing is by making room for housing to be built (more land zoned as “residential”), making homes cheaper to build (revision of in-place Project Labor Agreements), and making built homes easier to rent or sublet out (a new, streamlined and expedited approval process for State rental subsidies). Keeping the same big-dollar interests in charge of these decisions is what has gotten us into this mess.
Q: Beyond homelessness and housing, what do you see as the most important issue facing your district, and how would you approach dealing with it?
A: The most important issue for District 6 residents ranges from home to home, neighborhood to neighborhood. What the vast majority have in common is their need for safety. Either driving on our roads, protecting their home and property, taking their kids to school, or visiting a park, the residents of District 6 have changed the pattern of their lives in the last decade due to feeling uneasy about their safety. We need to get the homeless the care they need, get our first responders the resources they need, and stop spending taxpayer money irresponsibly to create jobs that actually contribute to our community. I’m actively accepting invitations to visit any Neighborhood Watch that will have me. I always love patrolling.
Raj Sodhi-Layne
Age: 58
Occupation: Bank executive / businesswoman
Education: Bachelor of arts degree in organizational leadership, Fresno Pacific University
Other offices held: City of Fresno Planning Commissioner
Campaign website: rajfordistrict6.com
Q: Fresno has repeatedly been described as having a homelessness crisis. The state has provided millions of dollars for the city to convert old motels into shelters, but what kinds of solutions would you favor? Providing lots for safe camps? Large congregate shelters? Tiny homes? What locations in your district could suit some of these solutions?
A: The homelessness crisis is not just limited to Fresno, but extends to cities across the entire state of California. We cannot expect that throwing money at the problem will yield any sustainable solutions. As your councilmember, I believe it is important for our city to have the flexibility and local control to enact solutions that work for Fresno. By allowing more local control, Fresno can develop more affordable housing, provide mental health resources, and create spaces for our homeless population in a humane way while maintaining public safety for all residents. We need to consider alternative housing options, as an example dormitory-type housing.
Q: About one out of five residents in the city of Fresno has income that falls below poverty level. However, the average market-rate apartment rent rose by almost 43% in the Fresno metro area since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the median sales price of homes has climbed by about 106% over the past 10 years. How would you promote greater housing affordability? And what is your position on rent control?
A: As a businesswoman who has worked in finance for 40 years, I have the necessary tools and experience to protect our tax dollars at city hall and I understand the challenges that businesses and residents face when it comes to affordability. I have also served on the Planning Commission and understand the process of doing business at city hall. When taxes, regulations, and bureaucracy increase, so does the cost of doing business and the cost of goods. Those costs get passed on to our renters, homeowners, and business owners. We need to ensure that Fresno is a business-friendly city so that more housing can be developed (both single family and higher density where it makes sense). More one-size-fits-all regulations from the state of California will not help our renters, homeowners, and small businesses thrive.
Fast-track affordable housing projects with the Planning department.
Q: Beyond homelessness and housing, what do you see as the most important issue facing your district, and how would you approach dealing with it?
I believe our number one issue in Fresno is public safety. As a trustee for the Fresno Police Neighborhood Watch Northeast District, I have firsthand experience working with our local first responders to keep our neighborhoods safe. We need to continue to support our police, firefighters, and first responders so they have the necessary resources and personnel to keep our neighborhoods safe. As your representative, I would fight to have a proper ratio of police/fire to residents in the city of Fresno. Additionally, I would equip our first responders to adequately deal with the homelessness crisis that has increasingly affected northeast Fresno. We need mental health and drug addiction trained personnel to meet with the unhoused rather than police officers.
Roger S. Bonakdar
Age: 42
Occupation: Business owner / attorney
Education: Bachelor of arts degree, University of California, San Diego; juris doctor degree, Santa Clara University School of Law (certified scholar in public interest law)
Other offices held: None
Campaign website: RogerForFresno.com
Q: Fresno has repeatedly been described as having a homelessness crisis. The state has provided millions of dollars for the city to convert old motels into shelters, but what kinds of solutions would you favor? Providing lots for safe camps? Large congregate shelters? Tiny homes? What locations in your district could suit some of these solutions?
A: Project Homekey (a state funded program) has been helpful in pushing back against homelessness. But the State is facing a huge budget shortfall, so help from Sacramento is about to dry up. As a result, Fresno must move forward on plans that assume that we are on our own.
Under State law, the County is directly charged with distributing resources, namely mental health and supportive services. As your City Councilman, I would lead the effort to put together and execute on a cohesive and comprehensive plan for the City and County to deploy resources on a unified basis, as opposed to independently. Getting the City and County in lockstep will give more bang for our buck (conserving resources), and get the job done faster. As the candidate with the full support of law enforcement at the City and County levels, I can and will bring together the community resources to make a difference.
The options mentioned (i.e., safe camps, shelters, etc.) are ideas that I could support. I also support short-term navigation centers. I reject the idea that District 6 is where these facilities should be placed. The demand for these shelters elsewhere, the infrastructure to support these shelters is elsewhere. We need to be efficient with our resources and deploy them where there is existing need and help.
Q: About one out of five residents in the city of Fresno has income that falls below poverty level. However, the average market-rate apartment rent rose by almost 43% in the Fresno metro area since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the median sales price of homes has climbed by about 106% over the past 10 years. How would you promote greater housing affordability? And what is your position on rent control?
A: Housing unaffordability has a single solution-- increasing supply. To do that we have to eliminate the barriers to construction, by pushing back on onerous requirements codified in CEQA and eliminating local regulations that deliberately slow the construction of homes.
Our General Plan for development is/was misguided, and between that and the expiration of the master tax sharing agreement with the County for annexed property, Fresno has boxed itself in, with virtually no large-scale housing development and no pathways to grow. This has hurt Fresno families by pushing up prices, across the board.
As a result, families have been pushed out of Fresno, and into adjacent cities (Clovis, Fowler, Madera/Riverstone, etc.).
As council member, I will pursue a reversal of our current failed general plan, help bridge the gap to spur development in SEDA and the West Growth Area to help bring down the cost of housing and stop the exodus to Madera County.
I oppose rent control. In 2020, California passed a law imposing statewide rent control rules. The result has been immediate and continued increases in rents, to keep up with the new rules. The results have been disastrous, with rents rising faster. This has also discouraged new development and investment (improvement/updates) to existing rental units.
Q: Beyond homelessness and housing, what do you see as the most important issue facing your district, and how would you approach dealing with it?
A: Northeast Fresno residents are concerned about the security of their families and their future – both in terms of public safety and the economy. They feel that City Hall does not know what it is like to raise a family or run a business in Fresno, and that they are on their own.
My goal for northeast Fresno (and Fresno, at large) is simple – “Put Fresno Families First!”
As a father of two young children, I know how important it is to keep your family safe. I’m proud to have the backing of everyone we count on to protect us: Fresno’s police officers, firefighters, Sheriff’s deputies, prosecutors, and Sheriffs John Zanoni, Margaret Mims (Ret.) and Steve Magarian (Ret.).
As Councilmember, I’ll continue to fight to boost the ranks of Fresno P.D. I’ve signed the “No New Cops, No Budget” Pledge and will only vote for budgets that include the hiring of new police officers to meet the necessary per capita service level that will cut down response times across the whole city.
As the only candidate to carry a payroll, I know what it is like to be responsible for the financial well being of a family other than my own. I’ll deliver sound business policies that encourage growth in incomes and job opportunities. I’m endorsed by the Fresno Chamber of Commerce because I understand the burdens on small business, and will cut red tape to make it easier to do business in Fresno.
