After technical difficulties caused the previous meeting to be rescheduled, the Measure C renewal online community meeting held online Friday, April 29, shared with voters what Measure C has to offer.
The community meeting was presented by Mike Leonardo, executive director for the Fresno County Transportation Authority (FCTA) where he shared what benefits of renewing Measure C are to attendees.
Measure C is a half-cent tax aimed at providing funds to improve the quality of roads, sidewalks, and the overall quality of the transportation system.
Ryan Burnett, engineering program supervisor for the City of Clovis, said once measure C is approved so money can be sent to local agencies then they can focus on projects like street maintenance, which are called “local” projects.
Detailed in “Measure C extension reporting additional funds” report from the City of Clovis to the FCTA, 96 projects were labeled as unable to have been completed without funding from Measure C, totaling to $37,078,520.51.
Projects such as street maintenance on Villa, on Bullard to Herndon, and the Clovis Old Town Trail that utilized Measure C funding for its pedestrian trails.
Once funds are received, Burnett said the City of Clovis budgets out projects every year to use the funds on.
“If we’re talking about a streets project, we keep a list of priorities of street projects that need to be fixed and we budget so many of them in the year they are done,” Burnett said.
The measure has gone through three evolutions since its inception during the 1970s-80s when the focus of the measure was to finish dealing with limited infrastructure funding, such as incomplete freeway systems and congested roads and highways. The most recent iteration voters will see on the Nov. 2022 ballot will have a different focus according to Leonardo.
“I think what we’ve seen is that our needs have changed. So while we may still have needs on the regional highway system, that system is largely built out so the need there may not be as significant,” Leonardo said.
Through their own studies and polling, Leonardo said the new focus for Measure C will be on streets and roads, which Leonardo said will be Measure C’s “highest priority.”
Alongside improving roads, Measure C will also be funding pothole repair and street paving in hopes of emphasizing safety according to Leonardo.
According to Leonardo, the push for the emphasis on public safety stems from the community’s responses to polls the FCTA has conducted.
“This is by far people’s highest priority for how they think the next Measure C should allocate funding,” Leonardo said.
Attendees who participated were presented two polls at the end of the meeting asking them to rank their ‘transportation priority importance’.
Repairing potholes and keeping local roads in good condition was the highest-ranking priority for attendees with the option showing that 89% of attendees thought it was a ‘high priority, while 11% thought it was a ‘medium priority.
In the second poll, 85% of attendees thought that improving bike paths, bike panes, and other safe biking strategies was a ‘high priority while, 10% found it as a ‘medium priority, and 5% of attendees found it as a ‘low priority.
Measure C will be on ballots in Nov. 2022 for voters and more information can be found on the Measure C homepage where future community meeting dates can be found.