Fresno Women's Garden Co-op

04/20/2022

The zucchini are coming up. Several varieties of tomatoes were planted. We'll see what grows in the soil at it's current state. Unfortunately we've lost the garden caretakers and are again at risk for theft and vandalism (all the garden tools were stolen from the locked toolshed on Monday!).

02/28/2022

Sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine. Let's start posting them all over Facebook in support for the Ukranian people. Cover the world in sunflowers, love, and light for a speedy resolution to this war! 🌻

02/18/2022

Fresno could learn from Olympia.

Standing across from the city's housing mitigation site in Olympia, WA. on Feb. 15, 2022 retired social worker and Just Housing organization volunteer Mark Johnson shares his thoughts on fair and equitable treatment of the homeless.

02/14/2022

The new location, for former occupants of the private lot.

02/14/2022

One of the former occupants, leaving the lot.

02/14/2022

Fresno will not provide sanitation services to homeless encampments. Would they allow private citizens to do so? Evidently not!
There was a vacant lot on San Pablo, just north of the 180 freeway. The owner put up a fence and began the process of getting approval to build below market-rate housing. A community garden was started at the end of the lot that was unusable for building and water and a portable toilet were brought in. The owner invited a small group of people to stay there, to work on the garden but more importantly to prevent vandals from cutting through the CalTrans fence. The eight caretakers staying there shared the duties (including picking up litter around the neighborhood and down the alley). Some went to work, others applied for replacement documents that had been lost in previous sweeps of their encampments. They stored their possessions and their food there. Case managers knew how to find them there. Even though they were camping over the winter in Fresno, for those 3 months, it was better than the other options for camping and being forced to move every few weeks because of unsanitary conditions.
Fresno does not allow people to camp. Not on public land, for which explanations about the public good are given, but also not on private land even with the permission of the property owner. Code Enforcement has said that people can no longer occupy that site as of Monday February 14. … Code Enforcement says that is a health and safety hazard. So those people will leave the fenced lot with running water and toilets to return to camping on the sidewalks and parking lots where there is no water or toilets and garbage piles up. If you would like to express your opinion about this to someone, I’d suggest your city council member and the Director, Housing and Homeless Services [email protected]
And the anti-camping ordinance:
https://library.municode.com/ca/fresno/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=MUCOFR_CH10REREPUNUREPRCOUS_ART17UNCA
CITY COUNCIL
The Fresno City Council meets each Thursday beginning at 8:30 a.m.
*COG Policy Board Representative
Mayor Jerry Dyer [email protected]
(559) 621-8000
Council President Miguel Arias [email protected]
(559) 621-8000
Councilmember Esmeralda Soria [email protected]
(559) 621-8000
Councilmember Mike Karbassi [email protected]
(559) 621-8000
Councilmember Tyler Maxwell [email protected]
(559) 621-8000
Councilmember Luis Chavez [email protected]
(559) 621-8000
Councilmember Garry Bredefeld [email protected]
(559) 621-8000
Councilmember Nelson Esparza [email protected]
(559) 621-8000
City Manager Thomas Esqueda [email protected]
(559) 621-7770

02/10/2022

We finished the dog run!

10/26/2021