Mayor Ashley Swearengin and other Fresno leaders listen to resident concerns at the Oct. 11 BHC Gathering

On Tuesday night, October 11, four hundred people from the Downtown Neighborhoods Community Plan area, which includes large portions of Southwest, Southeast and South Central Fresno, gathered at the Fresno Convention Center for a meeting with Mayor Ashley Swearengin and Councilmembers Oliver Baines, Clint Olivier and Sal Quintero, to share input from community residents on the City’s recently released Downtown Neighborhoods Community Plan.

Resident concerns were gathered from 850 one to one interviews in this area over the last few months conducted by FIRM and partnering agencies through grants from the California Endowment.  These concerns were formed into a list of nine priorities for the plan area, and included: clean, well maintained streets, increased job training for youth and adults, forming and maintaining new and existing parks, and providing additional opportunities for shopping and entertainment in the area, especially for youth.

This was only the first of a series of meetings about these issues. Next steps will be for residents to participate in community research to try to develop specific policy proposals for each area.

This event received good news coverage.  In case you missed them, here are links to some of the stories:

• http://www.ksee24.com/news/local/Downtown—AAS-131561688.html

• http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/politics&id=8388722

• http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/10/11/2573487/south-fresno-residents-present.html