High-Speed Rail Station Area Master Plan
The Skinny: The City Council is expected to soon host a public workshop on the status of this plan-in-the-making. The plan’s aim is to turn the area surrounding the proposed station site (half-mile radius) at Mariposa and H streets into a bustling urban center with statewide renown.
The Rundown: “A master plan is being developed to provide a vision for the Fresno Station District that builds on and supports the City’s vision and plans for downtown Fresno, while leveraging the investment in the future high-speed rail station. The station is Station District is important to Fresno because it is Fresno’s ‘front door.’ This will be a visitor’s first impression of Fresno and it needs an elevated sense of place and arrival. It is Fresno’s birthplace. It is home to some of Fresno’s oldest neighborhoods and the foundation for the stories that shaped our history. It will fuel Downtown Fresno’s ongoing resurgence. It will bring visitors and activity to Downtown and fuel economic development. It will provide a new ‘postcard image’ for the city that will be recognizable by visitors around the nation and the world.” (Source: Fresno Station District website)
The Pledge: “The Station area plan is focused on 200 acres surrounding the station itself, a five-minute-walk radius around the station. It is the nesting doll sitting in the middle of the central business district.” – Mayor Ashley Swearengin, Oct. 11, 2016, to the High-Speed Rail Authority board. (Source: The Fresno Bee)
The City of Fresno is the 5th largest City in the State of California and has an annual Budget of almost a billion dollars, with approximately 4,000 employees, and does NOT have an Internal Audit Unit to ensure the proper accounting, internal controls and safeguarding of all City Assets are in place and functioning as intended. As the retired Principal Internal Auditor for the City of Fresno, effective January 2016, this area should be of significance to the City and newly elected Mayor and all Council Members. All the top ten Cities in the State of California, except the City of Fresno, have an Internal Audit Unit. For the structure, benefits and type of Internal Audits performed by the Internal Audit Unit I oversaw while employed with the City, I reference all viewers of this comment to the City’s Administrative Order 1-10. I would hope that this significant area of concern and importance might be #11 on the Mayor’s Listing going forward. Thank You!