Sierra In Peril; Sf 134

When to Jim Whitehurst W H I T H U R S T. That's the way I usually spell it. Yes I can refresh my memory which is getting worse with every passing year. What years were you mayor of Fresno 77 85. Many many years ago and darn near US Senator to that's right but not here. Obviously someone who will lead this city and has lived here all your life you probably have a special affinity for that you find yourself maybe feeling a mixture of satisfaction and sadness over the way this city has changed over the years. Yes but I think

mixed feelings sort of describes how people feel about present. People who live here are very loyal to the community there is there is a certain draw or connection that the city has of people who've grown up here and we have a case where I would define it or describe it as a Fresno that's kept growing is getting bigger without getting better which is a way of getting worse. And we're dealing with a whole lot of issues unemployment poverty not just trying to find a way to expand the economy so that more people can provide for themselves. That to me that the big issue in the areas was the economy. And but there are a whole lot of social issues that that flow from that that occupy our time. Do you think what has happened to Fresno here way as a microcosm or are somehow emblematic of what's happening throughout the Valley in terms of different towns and I wouldn't single out Fresno to the trends that are happening within the valley.

We've had an agricultural area that's had rapid population growth and the population growth has been unrelated to economic expansion and so we had people moving here even though there were not jobs here. And that's sort of describes the whole problem really the whole valley from say in the desert on the north down to Bakersfield on the south. And. The unemployment and poverty are even higher in the outlying communities and they aren't in Fresno. So we've got to come up with a way to. Create jobs for people and allow them to provide for themselves because agriculture can't do it and in the aggregate if anything agriculture is becoming less labor intensive more mechanized. Thought of me and so on. And so we've got some challenges. So while it's important not basically to diversify the economy afresh now in the valley. Don't we need to acknowledge that agriculture will still remain its fundamental

economic engines. Yeah I think there's a actually a consensus among the leadership in the valley that agriculture should continue to be our main industry as one of our experts on economic planning told us. Here Fresno in the valley could do a high tax but you won't be the best in the world at. In agriculture you're the best in the world that. Are the best in the world at something it. Sort of makes sense to go with that. And. So I think the feeling here is that we'll continue being an agricultural area but we have to diversify around agriculture. Come up with. Technologies that are related to agriculture that we can lead the way in. But there's a strong sentiment here to maintain the agricultural base. To curb urban sprawl so that only that we don't behave over the goose that's laying the golden egg for us has got to be said also that agriculture does bring problems it brings low wage jobs a lot of migrant workers who then end up in cities without job

skills seasonal employment. So Negra poacher is a huge positive force but it's not without negatives. How much of. The problem of the problems that we see here Deanna in Fresno and other cities around the valley are due to a lack of foresight by some of the people that have led to these communities. Well being one of those people I guess I have a vested interest in the answer here. You know I don't. I don't think our issues relate to a lack of foresight actually. I would say that it's. A very large rate of immigration into the area. And maybe that could have been predicted. But we even if we had seen it I don't know what we might have done differently. Part of our problem here frankly. Relates to our business community and I come from the business community. And. Identify with the business community our business community hasn't done the kind of job that other business communities have. For instance I would say that

in Silicon Valley the progress that's been made in that area nominally is not the result of city planning but a dynamic business innovation and talent. And we haven't we haven't done that here are. If anything we're kind of a brain drain here where our bright young people go to the Silicon Valley and then invent companies instead. So. I think our issues relate not so much the lack of. Government policy foresight. But. Maybe more to the lack of a dynamic economy and business community. While acknowledging that is being a significant factor. You have to admit that there's been a lot of. Unplanned. Growth in this community. That has. Potentially drained the vibrancy out of the southern part the central part of the city. And in fact it's reached the point where we now see that there was a lot of the correction involved. In the growth planning here yakka planning. Yeah.

See. I guess I would disagree with the premise I think that. The growth. The development was planned. People just don't like the way it looks and a reason they don't like the way it looks I think here is that it's this is a this is a port town. And. If you're in one of the poorest cities in the country it's going to reflect in the quality of development that takes place the you know the kind of commercial buildings that get built and so on. So. The growth here was it was planned it's just not that exciting when you see it. And. Part of the problem is the town like the Valley is flat. We don't have nice views of days or hills or that sort of thing. The decision to grow north in Fresno away from the downtowns to downtowns actually at the southern end of the city. A conscious decision was made to keep growing north rather than south and west because that's where the prime agricultural area was. So. In an effort to protect prime

agricultural land wheat we grew in a direction that wasn't beneficial for downtown but that was that was the tradeoff that was made. But. Yeah our area is hot and flat and no amount of planning I think is going to change that. It will continue to be that way. Then there has been corruption. In the in this area. The FBI has had a kind of a field day here. Catching folks bribery and other forms of corruption. And why you can't take away from the. The seriousness of those things. I think even if we had not had the corruption the president would still be pretty much the way they are. They. Would say oh my god this production has has made things bad for the local economy or the way the town mugs. I don't think the impact of that has been significant enough. To make a detrimental effect on the way the community looks and feels.

But in retrospect when we look at what's happened to Fresno over the last 30 years. The decision to go north rather than perhaps try to redouble the efforts to keep the downtown live and do you think first is paying a price for that. You know it really gets back to what consumers want. The city spent tons of money downtown they were in a mall here where that was kind of a visionary sort of thing the presence of the first cities in the country to say let's tear up our main downtown street into a pedestrian mall very very progressive creative idea that just turned out not to work very well. The problem is that Californians and I don't think this is just in the valley that Californians generally. Are drawn to the new they'd rather have a big house than the small house would rather have a big lot than the small lot that rather be in the brand new suburban school than the old inner city school. And if Fresno had tried to steer people to live downtown I think people would just move to the next town which is which is what has

happened in a lot of places. The suburb down the road is where where the growth is so. And we we have tried in Fresno to do a lot of things to get people to live and invest downtown and it's it's a struggle here has been as a struggle in a lot of places in the city he said. Whether downtowns have done well. Or in some respects some respects the exception. But he started to see cities like San Jose and others where the downtowns are coming back in. And there's actually lot of optimism about downtown Fresno a whole lot going on a new federal courthouse is going to be built. There's a new exhibit hall the convention center the new Regional Medical Center New Adult School. It's a new shopping areas. So a lot of good things are happening downtown Unfortunately most of those are public projects. Rather than. Private investors doing things that's the next thing that have to happen. And. As you look ahead to perhaps becoming mayor of the city again it is that want to be a priority just to downtown

is a priority and I think unfortunately for us a lot of people have developed the attitude Well our downtowns not important man ever go there. I almost don't care what happens there. I don't agree with that view I think the downtown. Serves as sort of the symbol of the city the heart of the city if you typically when someone goes to a city they go to the downtown area and they form an opinion of that community based on what they see and I think if you're downtown is not doing well then your city is not going to be seen as doing well and so I think everybody has has a stake in how well downtown does. There's a lot of lot of potential I think in the downtown area now one of the things that you know looking back you know why has our downtown not done well I would say that the failure of the state of California to build the freeway system that was designed for Fresno in the late 50s early 60s the idea was a freeway system that would have downtown as its hub. The state never built it. We had to build it ourselves. Voters had to impose a half cent sales tax which is now

commonly done around the city. We're one of the first counties to do that in our freeway system is just now getting completed with the downtown as the center of a. Sort of hub of that system. And I think that's one of the reasons why there's renewed interest in downtown. Oh but I've heard a little bit of the responsibility on the state. The state built the freeways in the Bay Area and Los Angeles and San Diego and other places and it's in Fresno you're on you're into the poorest part of the state. You guys can do this on your own. Not fair I would say. And but people here said That's right we'll do it anyway and they did and I think we should see some. Of the benefits of that now. You know we're entering a pivotal moment in the history of this community and. Will what happens to Fresno in the next 20 years sort of symbolize what could happen to the rest of the valley. I guess every time seems pivotal to me and. I do think we are at a point I mean this what's become finally become apparent to us here is that. The economic train left the station we were in on it

and. Now the rest of California has maybe four percent unemployment. And during the best times of the year we're 10 percent in the worst times of the year we're close to 15 percent. And. I think there's now finally a recognition that wait a minute we've. We've got a fundamental issue or problem here. And. So. To a great extent the rest of California isn't going through what we're going through. But the rest of the Central Valley is and. I'd like to think that Fresno could lead the way in recent years it has not been kind of flopping around I think. Not able to. Chart a course of in some positives but. By and large I think we're tough. We're caught up in this. It's politics of scarcity and not able to unite people and moving it in a direction. And. But I think Fresno of Fresno could lead the way. It's a logical I think Fresno is. Legitimately the capital city of the San Joaquin Valley. And it just needs to start acting like it will be well defined.

And someone who's who's involved the great valley foundation and you obviously have to look beyond Fresno's borders and see that. Some of the economic changes that need to take place here in the city also apply to the rest of the valley. Yeah we have. You know it's clear that production agriculture which is what we are the best in the world that they can carry. They can carry a small population but a lot of the kind of why we have five million people in the San Joaquin Valley. And. That's a whole lot of folks and. Production agriculture can support that that larger population have to diversify we have to build on it we have to. Try some new things. And. So without ever backing up with some new ideas that haven't tried yet. Yeah I think. Some of the worst case scenarios for the valley see this teeming Central Valley Los Angeles type setting with gridlock in them that high

unemployment and a non-diverse economy and then the more positive visions we've seen some samples of this show of greater density preservation of farmland and a retention of some of the quality of life here. One of the one of the positives talk about vision then collaboration. There was a year long effort done by a group called the growth alternatives Alliance and they came up with a document called the landscape of choice. And this is. The agriculture community the conservation community. The. Home builders. Chamber of. Bombers. They came together and. Hammered out a set of policies to guide development in the area that was really very positive it for the first time it was Home Builders saying Agriculture is important preservation of Agriculture is important important our business supportive of the farm community for the first time saying the health and vitality of cities is important what happens in Downtown is

important and and just to have those two communities are usually either ignored or fobbed with each other before. Have them saying. You know what there we've got to come up with a way to say that agriculture thrives and cities. Thrive. And. I think if our community can build on that spirit of collaboration and honest and honest objective dealing with the issues. And not ignoring them. There's going to be a lot of progress versus now for the first time you're starting to see. The agriculture community and the environmental community working together on things. And farming in ways that will preserve wildlife but habitats and. That can and using water in ways that. Create environmental benefits and. You know with. It for years. Farmers environmentalist saw the other camp as the enemy and now they're finding common ground. So it made it takes us a while to learn these lessons

but. To have groups that. That were at odds looking for areas of. Joy. And benefit. You know that's the sort of a way for us to go. We got plenty of opportunity. To address it and get five issues to address I guess what I'm saying we have plenty of opportunity to collaborate. I think the rest of California kind of looks down on the valley and do we suffer from an inferiority complex. Oh yes sure they do. Yeah because I've lived in the Bay Area for about eight years and I know how people feel about the valley. I doubt I'm going to live there. It's hot it's flat. And and I do think that has produced an inferiority complex of people here a real defensive whenever there's a nasty article in the big city paper about. Valley or Fresno. People get all worked up and. I think. You know the. Community spirit and loyalty that's admirable but I think I think we need to worry too much about what other folks think about the region we just need to work on improving if we like

living here and feel a connection to what our job is not so much to improve it to impress others but to the benefit of our families and the next generation. And that's that's part of the psychology here is that kind of defensiveness. I've lived in. Other parts of the country and there are really advantages to the Bay Area and Southern California and cities in the east. But there are disadvantages too and I think people here find that this is a it's a comfortable place to. Live and to live a life to raise a family. And. You know what I need to be defensive about it. We have to be realistic that we get we got some things we got to do. Something that draws us back isn't it. I mean we all know that. Yeah what is that people do keep coming back. You know I I think it has to do and maybe when you get. A little bit older like me. The connections you have to like we went to school with and your you know your cousins that she

fought with as a kid there. The neighborhood you grew up in those because those ties become important. We were ambitious aggressive people. We're Americans and we Californians and we we want to move on to the new the new thing that's hot and challenging and profitable. But then. At some point you start saying you know I'm. Here I've. Been a success in my profession or my business or whatever and then lost touch with all my old friends and those those things have a value and the desire for the sort of the small time small town. Quality of life pace of life. Human Touch. I know friends like L.A. in particular I have always thought that. Los Angeles is described as a laid back town. To me Los Angeles is the least laid back city I can think of. People there are constantly on the go their social life is completely involved in their business life but in the entertainment world and so on. And to me L.A. is not laid back at all and people I know who live down there have very little time to spend with their

friends and. Do family things and. So this part of the country still has that and I think. A lot of people get to a point in life or they go you know I kind of. Want to reconnect and they can do that. But but you can't base your economy on. Any OS you want to identify get some good good response stuff. Yeah yeah I think they're. Excellent. Very nice your land. Donated their old place. A few providers for the state or something. There's a professor at present state of affairs the state that he wants to do. A. Kind of a. Poll of hijacker Internet. OK. That's OK you can you can deal with them.

OK. Just.

Right. Yeah. I know. Thank you.

So. Much.