District 1 2017 Highlights!
Dear Friend,
We have been very busy again this year in District 1. I have the honor of serving as the 2018 President of the Fresno City Council and I am proud to say that I am the first Latina in the history of our city to serve in this capacity.
I am grateful for the trust that you have bestowed in me to continue to be your representative through serving on several boards and commissions as well as advocating for safer and stronger neighborhoods. To ensure the City of Fresno is represented at the state level in the policy making process, I have continued to be involved with the League of California Cities’ South San Joaquin Valley Division and Latino Caucus Executive Board. I also served as 2017 Vice Chair to the League of Cities’ Transportation, Public Works and Communications Policy Committee and am currently serving as chair.
My office is staffed to address residents’ concerns and work tirelessly to build healthy and safe neighborhoods, support our local businesses and tackle the many issues facing our city. I pride myself in being accessible and always keeping District 1 residents informed. As we begin our new year I would like to share District 1 highlights of the 2017 year.
Best,
P.S. Stay up to date on District One activities by visiting our District One Website. Don’t forget to visit us at one of my Coffee & Conversation meetings.
Building Safer & Healthier Communites
Tower District Neighborhood Team-Up to Clean-Up
Community coming together for the Tower District Neighborhood Team-Up to Clean-Up event. Thank you to the 100+ volunteers for helping beautify the Tower District!
Neighborhood Revitalization
Blackstone & Mckinley Transit Oriented Development
Councilmember Soria has been working to bring this development to Fresno for over 2 years and is proud of what this investment will bring to our city. Not only will it provide affordable housing for low-income working families, it will include a community health clinic, and space for a potential senior center. Additionally, 400 jobs will be created, $15million will be invested directly into our local economy through the purchase of building materials from local businesses, and we will receive $2.5-$4million for sidewalks, bike lanes, trails and other infrastructure upgrades in the neighborhood. This is a huge win for Fresno and District 1.
Community Engagement
District 1 Participatory Budget Process
Participatory Budgeting is a different way to manage public money. It’s a process in which you decide how to spend part of our City’s budget. The process which has not been used at the Fresno City Level before, allows residents and businesses to decide where tax payer funds allocated to their district should be invested. This was a chance for residents to weigh in on which community projects should be funded. Projects selected by the Delegation Committee will be voted on by District 1 residents in Spring 2018.
Councilmember Soria introduced the Participatory Budget Process to her constituents in District 1 by holding three Participatory Budget Meetings throughout District 1 at Slater, Heaton and Steinbeck Elementary Schools.
5th Annual Holiday Toy Drive
This year Councilmember Soria held her 5th Annual Holiday Toy Drive to benefit children at Heaton Elementary. A big thank you to all of our friends who helped make this toy drive a success. As a result of generous donations we were able to provide a gift to over 700 students.
Youth Engagement
District 1 Young Councilmember Program
With the support of PG&E, Fresno County Office of Education, and Comcast our office is proud to continue our second class of District 1’s Young Councilmembers with the goal to build future leaders of our city. The 2018 class is composed of 16 students currently attending school at Central, Edison, and Fresno High School. The program will educate and challenge participants in their understanding of local government, agriculture, arts, business, technology, law enforcement, and medicine.
Economic Development
City of Fresno Pedicabs Ordinance
Councilmember Soria brought to Council a Pedicabs Ordinance that will allow beer-bikes to operate within the City of Fresno. We are excited about the economic boost that it will bring to business districts and connectivity between neighborhoods like Tower District and Downtown.
Impact Fees
In 2017, Vallarta Supermarket at Clinton/99 opened to fill a food desert gap in the community. Vallarta was one of the first businesses that were assisted with the new ordinance.
Councilmember Soria and Councilmember Olivier co-authored two ordinances that assist disadvantaged areas suffering most due to the lack of commercial options and remove underutilized/blighted commercial buildings.
The first ordinance encourages commercial development providing healthy fresh food options, community medical, professional, financial services and mixed use developments into disadvantaged neighborhoods. Services that are typically unaccessible due to cost of private transportation and must seek these services through public transportation outside of their community.
The second ordinance addresses vacant and blighted commercial buildings. While a building is vacant or underutilized it deprives the community of needed services, creates safety issues and depresses property values. The vacant and blighted building costs the City also through loss of potential sales tax revenues, jobs and increased calls for policing and fire services. This ordinance encourages commercial development to revitalize these locations.
Constituent Services
Last year our office processed 735 service requests. Some of these requests were for services regarding grafitti, street maintenance, code enforcement, illegal dumping, parking services, and solid waste management. We are happy to report that 690 of the requests have been completed! The remainder of long-term requests are in progress.
Our office is available to answer your calls regarding District 1 and will be glad to assist you in reporting and fixing issues impacting your neighborhood.
FresGo is a free, easy to use, real-time app for residents to report issues. Report concerns, track requests, provide comments, and learn about city services.
Get Involved
WANT TO BE A PART OF OUR TEAM?
District 1 Internships
Over the last 3 years we provided internship opportunities to several students. They have come from the Fresno Maddy Institute, PG&E’s sponsored Boys & Girls Club Summer Employment Program and volunteers looking to help their community.
- Former District 1 Interns:
- Jasmin Mejia – San Francisco State
- Tarry Tuy – Fresno City College
- Leslie Hille – Fresno State
- Ariel Preciado – UC Santa Cruz
- Cynthia Escoto – Fresno State
- Tyler Munoz – Fresno State
- Claudia Salinas – Fresno State
- Cecilia Acevedo– Fresno State
- Kevin Balbuena– Fresno State
- Toni Sandoval– Fresno City College
- Daisy Benavidez– Fresno City College
- David Rodriguez– Fresno State
- Jorge Lopez– Fresno State
- Clifford Williams– Fresno State
Boards and Commissions
Please contact our office if you have an interest in serving District 1 and click below for committee applications. Please find application in the City of Fresno District 1 website under the”Boards, Commissions, Appointments” section.
There are several committees available to serve on. Please contact us for potential vacancies on the following:
COMMITTEES:
- District 1 Implementation Committee
- Tower Design Review Committee
- Youth Commission
