FRESNO - Papers filed with the City Clerk have started the recall process on the grounds that Fresno mayor Jim Patterson is unfit to lead the City as its first strong mayor.
The papers filed with the City clerk fail to make any case against the popular mayor. It appears that forces behind the recall effort are not pleased with Fresno's new strong-mayor form of City Council governance.
The papers cast vague complaints at the mayor that sound very much like a plea to return to the free-wheeling liberal spending local government that brought us the recent series of disastrous economic failures of 'business-city hall partnerships' like the tortilla factory, turkey plant, airport hangar, French restaurant, and downtown Fulton-Mall.
There have been more egregious examples of irresponsible city government, like construction of a $multi-million City Hall temple under the leadership of then television news reporter turned mayor, Karen Humphrey, in the face of Fresno's homeless derelicts and struggling economy, rampant crime on City streets, and burgeoning welfare rolls.
On another note, the recall papers take mayor Patterson to task for hiring a strong fiscal conservative, Jeffrey Reid, as city manager.
The worst case presented in the recall arguments is that mayor Patterson, is not doing enough economic development.
In a Fresno Bee story on Friday, an official of the Mexican-American Political Association is reported to be circulating petitions to recall the mayor because he is 'color-blind' on the issue of affirmative action.
Ben Benavidez, the erstwhile spokesman for MAPA was quoted in the Bee Thursday saying he would cooperate with an existing effort led by former City Council member Rod Anaforian and others to recall mayor Patterson.'I have not see[sic] any major things the mayor has done for minority communities. I can see why other people want him out,' Benevidez was reported as saying in the Bee story.
In his reply to those critics, Patterson has consistently indicated economic, social, and educational motives for his support of sensible projects that create hundreds of permanent jobs like those with the Gap distribution center, a great stride forward for improving Fresno's year-round economic base.
Over the past year the mayor has addressed Fresno city policymaking issues. At the very least, strong-mayor leadership is a very problematic and fragile process. First, the sheer size and complexity of urban problems
including socio-political vested interests. All hopefully passing and transitory influences that have exacerbated the problems facing local government.
To be fair, it should be mentioned in every story about the recall of mayor Patterson, even if the problems faced by City Hall were of a much smaller magnitude, and if the City of Fresno were not tossed and turned on the waves of public opinion, the City of Fresno would still be a poor policy maker because City policy making is inherently weak and fragile.
Voters should try to remember that City problems are, if not permanent,
deeply resistant to change. The ability of the City of Fresno to make policy
and solve social and economic problems through a strong-mayor form of leadership or any other, has been eroded by developments in the 1960's and later on.
These issues are, no doubt, of greater import to the future of Fresno than baseball stadiums, or business parks, or gambling casinos, and a matter that transcends even whether council member Dan Ronquillo has the moral or legal right to promote the transfer of title to [Fort Miller Block House in Roeding Park] Fresno's historic assets. Not only will Fresno lose title to the 'Fort Millerton' asset over which Ronquillo is a City 'trustee' his plan is to remove that public asset to a nearby Rancheria which operates a Casino near Friant on Indian land, outside the jurisdiction of the City, County, and State. Some such issues may have escaped even the most ardent City Hall activists, for the moment. Mayor Patterson, in the meanwhile, has taken no public stand on halting the Ronquillo deal.
It is, perhaps, a truism, that the most serious of the problems facing City Hall policymakers is their false moves toward resolution that lead only to greater socio-economic turmoil within the community, such as the present recall effort.
The recall of Jim Patterson, Fresno's strong-mayor, would be both wrong-headed and backward-looking. He is doing a very difficult job very well.
The people elected Jim Patterson because of his leadership qualities of strength and fairness. Appropriate business development and economic progress require trust in those negotiating agreements and contracts.
While, a recall action is a protected right under both the California and U.S. Constitution, like other protected rights, the petition must be exercised responsibly. It may not be used for the purposes of coercion nor as a wedge to force elected leaders to capitulate for the sake of special-interest group politics.
Mayor Patterson and the voters of Fresno deserve a better effort by those in opposition to balanced budgets, good jobs, and safe City streets.
Fresno City Hall Series
