ON THE ISSUES
Housing and Homelessness
Although our City has sheltered and housed a record number of thousands of homeless residents during my tenure, our County’s homeless population continues to grow faster than we can shelter them. The County of Fresno needs to partner with the City to build new permanent housing options and expand drug rehabilitation and mental health services that keep people off the streets.
As a council member, Miguel has led the City’s strategy to address the housing and homeless crisis by initiating and securing funding for 28 new housing projects and sheltering 3,000 homeless residents in district 3 alone. We must continue to build diverse housing options that meet the diverse needs of our neighborhoods and families. As Supervisor, Miguel will lead the effort to build affordable and market rate housing for our students, seniors, working families and the homeless.
ON THE ISSUES
Rebuilding Neighborhoods
The City has made a concerted effort to invest in rebuilding existing neighborhoods first. However, the County continues to incentivize growth of new freeways and new suburbs leaving Calwa, Malaga, Mayfair and Sunnyside county islands with aging infrastructure and broken roads.
ON THE ISSUES
Improving Healthcare
As our families recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the next threat to their health is reduction of healthcare services at our flagship Downtown Fresno Hospital. The County must ensure additional beds and healthcare services are added to our Downtown Hospital to ensure the health of our families and community.
Rebuilding Fresno neighborhoods has been the top priority for Councilmember Arias. He led efforts to prioritize road reconstruction of existing neighborhoods with hundreds of millions to fix roads and build new parks, sidewalks, speed bumps and bike lanes. While also preserving historic buildings by renovating them for new housing and small businesses.
As City Council President, Miguel Arias appropriated more than $50 Million in Cares Act federal funds to support our residents and workers impacted by the pandemic. Under his leadership the City awarded $10 Million to build two new United Health Centers clinics in West Fresno and Southeast Fresno, expanding healthcare access for our residents. The city also approved his recommendation to invest millions for pre birth and reproductive health services. Miguel also led the partnership with UC San Francisco Medical School that provides mobile health services to our homeless residents.
ON THE ISSUES
Public Safety
Our top priority as a County must be to eliminate early inmate release that results in new violent crime to fixing the operations of our county jail currently under a federal decree that requires early inmate release.
Our City Council added a record number of new firefighters to ensure faster response times for medical and fire emergencies. We also increased the salary for our police officers and emergency 911 dispatchers to the highest in the Central Valley, ensuring a fully staffed public safety services. Additionally, Councilmember Arias led the efforts to reform the police department by eliminating choke holds, improving officer training and implementing recommendations by the citizens police reform commission.