Good on parks
Our City is in dire need of more park and open space areas in the City. This is especially true in District 4. I am disappointed with the closure of Palm Lakes and also with the lost dreams of building Granite Park into a premier sports facility in District 4. To turn this trend around in District 4 specifically, I believe we should expand the number of schools participating in the agreement between the City and Fresno Unified School District to share green space with the surrounding community. We should require minimum landscape guidelines for new commercial strip malls and we should work with existing strip mall owners to set realistic timelines for adding neighborhood buffers and landscaping improvements to their properties over time. We should also work with entities such as the Metropolitan Flood Control District, the Fresno District Fair and the Fresno Irrigation District to enhance open spaces and the seasonal public use of facilities under their purview. Park impact fees on developments, authorized in 2005, have provided a revenue stream for parks in newer areas of the City, the PARCS division has put together an impressive growth plan and we need to make sure it is carried out and it is funded. Regarding funding: we need to continue to get our share of State/Federal monies, we need to continue to forge partnerships for cost savings and we need to be steadfast on our continued collection of equitable park impact fees from developers.