02-26-10 Friday

The day started out with a great talk with the folks from Building Healthy Neighborhoods. BHN is a group of organizations who have common goals about health, planning, policy, pollution/environment...those sorts of issues. Groups like County Health, Kaiser Permanente, Master Gardeners, Air Pollution Control, Metro Ministries.



The talk was about the Downtown Neighborhoods Community Plan and how good planning will change the quality of life for residents in southern Fresno and how walkability is a part of the plan. Other items like community gardens, trails and other features can also be included. For more about the plans: http://www.fresnodowntownplans.com/


After the talk Dawn, Elaine and I grabbed a quick bite at the Corner at L and Ventura.


11:00-12:30 The Specific Plan team met with our Budget Director Renena Smith and Karen Bradley and Phillip Hardcastle from finance. The financial benefits of good planning are incredible, while the costs of bad planning are obvious.


1:00 We had a meeting with representatives from the various departments along with the Specific Plan consulting team. This is officially referred to as the Departmental Working Group. The City's Traffic
Engineer gets paired up with the consulting traffic engineer, and so on. People from police, fire, sewer, water...everyone was there. Stefanos Polyzoides said that it was the best turnout from a city they've ever seen!


2:00 Next, the Planning Team met with John Dugan from Planning and Marlene Murphey from the Redevelopment Agency. This was a very involved conversation about ongoing planning efforts with bike lanes, the need for a general plan update, activities and corridors studies...there is a great deal to be coordinated.


3:30 We meet with the economic piece of the downtown plans to discuss an economic summit which will precede the charrette for the downtown neighborhood community plan. This will be an important piece and will hopefully be a starting point at attracting foundation support. Here is a link to the economists' website http://www.strategiceconomics.com/projects.html


5:30 I headed up north to the Joy Luck Club to attend a fundraiser for Superintendent of Fresno County Schools Larry Powell.