THE FRONTIER
Hey, Kurtis Alexander and BoNhia Lee – maybe it’s not too late!
Alexander is the former Bee reporter now working at the San Francisco Chronicle. He sat in the newsroom cubicle next to mine. Lee is still The Bee’s real estate reporter. Her cubicle is only a few yards from where Alexander and I did our damage.
The three of us long dreamed of writing a big piece on 1.) Development plans in unincorporated Fresno County; 2.) Development plans in Madera County on the north side of the San Joaquin River; 3.) How the Assemi family’s amazing operations play into Nos. 1 and 2 and the future of Fresno’s growth.
The Alexander-Lee-Hostetter report most likely won’t happen. But the new mayor almost certainly will have to write something like it.
At its heart will be regional planning. It’s an old concept. All sorts of vehicles are in place to further it, the Fresno County of Governments being the most prominent.
But a developer is breaking ground for what could be the first major residential development across the river, something bandied about for decades. And the future of development in the Friant/Millerton Lake area is sure to get a boost now that El Nino is turning everything up there green.
The new mayor on his first day of work will find something called the Final Rule of Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing on his desk. The rule comes from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. The rule demands social engineering in our living arrangements on a scale never dreamed of outside of the U.S. Army.
It’s sufficient at this point to note that giving affluent and middle class Fresnans plenty of options to move to Madera County and Friant runs absolutely counter to the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing initiative.
The new mayor will have to square that circle.
Goodbye liberty?
I have known Lee for years. He’s a stand up guy and the only one who has been in business and has run a successful business. He’s been an effective councilmen. With that said, I was unhappy that he supported a lawsuit against McCaffery Homes for building across the river in Madera County. What one person or company chooses to do in another county is none of the business of Fresno other than to figure out how to deal with the loss of revenue. Certainly not with a frivolous law suit. Henry Perea is a snake and a typical career politician. He has done nothing save live off of the tax payer. Time to permanently retire this loser from public life. H. Spees is a good guy and has good leadership skills. I am unsure of his business skills which will be needed in this race.