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Bus Rapid Transit Plan Slows, But Might Not Be Dead

Anil Verma Associates / Fresno FAX
The proposed Bus Rapid Transit system was a major element of the 2035 General Plan.

Following a public hearing last night that lasted about seven hours, the Fresno City Council voted four-to-three against two contracts needed to move forward with the proposed Bus Rapid Transit system. The high-capacity express bus system would have been funded through a $50 million federal grant.

District 6 council member Lee Brand says his vote against the project was based in doubts about the 2035 General Plan. The new bus system was a major element of the proposed plan, which calls for more development within the city limits, and high-density residential buildings along Blackstone Avenue.

“The whole thing is on a house of cards,” Brand says. “It really doesn’t make any sense at all.”

Disappointed advocates view the decision as a blow against the General Plan.

“The decision last night was a clear devaluation of public transportation,” says Christine Barker of Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries. “It was a not-so-veiled attempt to criticize the plan that the community selected and supported.”

Another advocate, views the vote as a lack of support for working-class people, who live along the Blackstone and Kings Canyon corridors and rely on public transportation.

“The people that definitely needed this service to have a more effective means of transportation will not see the benefit,” says Centro Binacional para el Desarollo Indigena Oaxaqueno assistant director Walter Ramirez.

The plan might not be dead. Brand says a compromise might be reached in a few months, with some modifications to the proposed General Plan and express bus system.

Rebecca Plevin was a reporter for Valley Public Radio from 2013-2014. Before joining the station, she was the community health reporter for Vida en el Valle, the McClatchy Company's bilingual newspaper in California's San Joaquin Valley. She earned the George F. Gruner Award for Meritorious Public Service in Journalism and the McClatchy President's Award for her work at Vida, as well as honors from the National Association of Hispanic Publications and the California Newspaper Publishers Association. Plevin grew up in the Washington, D.C. area and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. She is also a fluent Spanish speaker, a certified yoga teacher, and an avid rock-climber.
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