December 2008
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Vol 3, Issue 14
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In the Black
Newsletter
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| Greetings! |
Black leadership: Good
talk but no walk?
Is black leadership
competent and ready to help move its community forward? This is the question
many local African-Americans are asking about the overall quality of leadership
in the city of Fresno. In the recently conducted survey of In the Black readers,
68% the respondents said that black leaders were "not" or only "somewhat ready
[competent and able] to execute their agenda". When asked in the Fresno Mayoral
Priorities Survey how ready is "Fresno's black leadership to work with the
Mayor and the City to address issues in the African-American community", 3 out
of 4 stated that leadership had no common or comprehensive plan to address
issues.
At the same time, one out
of four believed that leadership was "very ready" to articulate the needs of
the community and that had the communication tools to connect to black
Fresnans. In others words, the community has good spokespersons but lacks
individuals with the ability to transfer the dialogue into deeds. These results
didn't wane depending on geography. Those north (90%) and south (64%) of
Shields Avenue believed black leadership didn't have a common or comprehensive
plan to address issues within their community. Those who worked in West Fresno--
where a majority of black leadership is represented as elected officials
and through faith and nonprofit organizations-- were just as critical as more than
50% graded leadership as not or only somewhat ready to represent or communicate
with the community along with not having competency or a common agenda.
This phenomenon is not
isolated to Fresno but spans the country. In an Associated Press/AOL Black
Voices survey, only 18% though those polled said that African-American leaders
were doing a "very effective job." Even worse, a third could not offer a name
for the county's most important leader (In the Times, February 2006).
This creates a challenge
for Fresno's black community as Mayor-elect Ashley Swearengin will look to
leadership to give her insight into how to serve its needs. So what's next? How can the community address these issues?
Here are four
recommendations/observations for moving forward:
- Make sure the 'right
people are on the bus'. In this new Obama era and the public's desire for
increased accountability on every front, the days of repetitive excuses for
poor performance are over. The question must be answered whether Fresno's black
community has the right people leading and coordinating policy, politics,
and business that will elevate all of us?
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Build the leadership
capacity of the 'right' leaders. The capacity to plan and implement is critical
for effective leadership-- zeal is not good enough (Proverbs 19:2). Does this
mean that our leaders need to be all knowing and experts in fields? Maybe not.
But they should be able to deliver on the outcomes that will result in a more viable community. We must make sure those who need training and advisors have access to them to execute their missions or agendas.
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Recruit new soldiers and
sergeants. Unfortunately, some of the community's core organizations are dying
because they have very little or new blood in them. They need field soldiers to
work in the trenches along with leadership succession plans that will maintain vibrancy beyond any one executive director, pastor or business owner.
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Leverage the black
network. There is a cadre of leaders, professionals and managers in the public,
private and nonprofit industries that are not connected to each other. This
allows the persistence of scattered and disjointed efforts often targeting the
same populations. The power of the network is not any one individual but it
collective ability to respond to each other's needs.
Tate Hill
Editor
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In the Black: 2008 in Review
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In the Black is preparing for the January 2009 '2008 in Review' issue. The issue will include the 'good, bad & ugly' that shaped 2008.
See the archived The Best of Black Fresno- 2008 and the In the Black: 2006 in Review on the Urban Knowledge Blog.
Do you have an opinion? Feel free to share your ideas between now and the end of the year.Email us at urbanknowledge@gmail.com and let us know your thoughts.
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Who passed the Cheese?
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The community opposes an
odorous milk & cheese waste processing plant in West Fresno
On Wednesday, December 17,
a group of about 30 concerned citizens and organizations won their plea before the Fresno Planning Commission asking them to
uphold the City's decision to not allow the southwest Fresno Cottonwood Creek
South Gate facility to operate.
Cottonwood Creek Consultants, a locally owned renewable technology
company had operated a single cell protein production facility that processed
water waste from milk and cheese industries into caloric feedstock for animals, appealed to the Commission about the revocation of their site plan.
Recently retired planning
director, Nick Yovino had revoked the site plan that allowed them to operate
this fall after working with Cottonwood Creek for eight months with no resolve
on numerous solid waste and public nuisance violations and citations at the
plant due to odor and overwhelming air-borne chemicals. The City's code
enforcement department was asked by Yovino to investigate the situation after
the former director, others members of city staff and the community went on a
tour of the Darling International meat rendering plant in October 2007. The
group noticed a significant odor that wasn't coming from Darling as it was not
online at the time but from the adjacent city-owned South Gate Pre-Industrial
W astewater Plant. Yovino promised to have the situation investigated as the
group noticed four uncovered pools of foaming water and milk products.
Cottonwood Creek/South Gate facility
In the appeal case heard
before the Commission, code enforcement officers testified under oath that the
odor and the chemicals presence were so strong it was difficult for them to stomach
staying on site but for a few minutes. The City also cited speaking to homeowners at
the Habitat for Humanity subdivision at West & Church stating they could
not open their windows due to the pervasive odor that persisted throughout the
day. A neighboring business & property owner located at the corner Church
& Walnut testified that he had difficult keeping employees and lost
potential tenants because of the odor. The site plan was revoked due to
violations of the conditions that the City was sold on by the owners that the
operation would emit no odor.
The owners armed with the
staff, consultants and the Central Valley Business Incubator spoke to the
merits of the demonstration site and how it produced 200,000 gallons of recycled water a day available to water-starved Westland Water
District for irrigation along with a resalable product from the milk waste-feedstock. One
commissioner countered that the quantity of water was relatively small given that 27,000
gallons are needed to do a one inch irrigation of one acre of farm land (how did we calculate that?) and the Westlands is compromised of 600,000 acres.
The Incubator argued that
the pain should be tolerated in order to support a locally headquartered
company that would produce jobs (presently 18 employees) and build up the
renewable/recycling industry. Members of the community countered that the smell
was too profound especially in a one-mile radius of five schools
(preschool-12), four churches, and hundreds of residents. Also Sarah Sharpe,
Environmental Health Director from Metro Ministries and Edison High alumnus
spoke to the potential unknown health hazards that the facility may present in
its' open air biological processing.
The owner and regional
investors also spoke to the $3 million investment they had made into the
project, which they didn't expect to make a significant return for another
eight years. Tate Hill, Chair of the District Three Implementation Committee
stated the Edison/Southwest Fresno Merger II Advisory Planning Committee approved the
project on the contingency that the site would do no harm. He was concerned
about the odor's impact on the Housing Authorities' HOPE VI Project that has $20
million of federal funding along with the $100 million plus of potential commercial and
housing development in the surround area.
Among the individuals
that came out for the almost four hour agenda item included representatives from  California Rural Legal Assistance, The Concerned Citizens of
West Fresno and the National Network
In Action that spoke in support of the city's action. At the end, the
Commission agreed the City and voted unanimous to deny Cottonwood Creek's
appeal.
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| Archives |
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'In the Black' Archives
What the top 3 black- owned websites?
- Black Planet
- BET
- Black Voices
Source: Blackbottom.com as of September 23, 2008Annual Black Purchase Power in Fresno County?
$486 Million
Source: 2000 Census
MERRY
CHRISTMAS
Jesus is the Reason for the Season
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The Fresno Mayoral Priorities Survey
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In the months of November and December, readers of In the Black voiced what they believed incoming Mayor Ashley Swearengin should focus on when she takes office next month. Here are the results from the respondents:
Respondents were asked to rank the priorities from 1 to 10. The North & South Shields and the Works of West Fresno filtered results cross compare their direct rankings to those of the overall respondents by matching color.
The issues of downtown revitalization, equitable government funding, and dealing with the city's homeliness ranked as the top priorities readers felt the Mayor needed to tackle in 2009. These issues don't differ much from Swearengin's proposed priorities as stated during her campaign that include: - Increasing employment and
educational opportunities in Fresno
- Ensuring A Vibrant Downtown
- Safer neighborhoods through (1) good policing, (2) making sure our number of sworn
officers is near the top of our peer cities, and (3) improving
employment in Fresno.
- Specific infrastructure and public services plans are implemented for
West Fresno, Southeast Fresno, and other areas with the highest
concentration of poverty in our city;
- The City of Fresno works with the County of Fresno and the non-profit
community to put in place a cohesive, long-term strategy for addressing
the growing homeless population in our community
- Setting up the Fresno Citizens Academy, a voluntary program to educate
and engage citizen leaders, to make City Hall as open and accessible to
citizen input as possible.
The question is which ones will she tackle first as the City is headed towards leaner times with state budget woes and reduced revenues due to decreases in property tax and foreclosures. To read about Mayor-elect Swearengin's priorities and plans to address economic development, downtown revitalization and more then visit her campaign website. Forward your request on survey details to urbanknowledgeblog@gmail.com
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Making Community Connections
Your partner for community engagement & mutli-cultural marketing
tatehill@att.net
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Looking for In the Black Writers
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 Do you have something to say? Are you passionate about a particular subject? Have you said, "they need to write to
about ..."? Well, here's your chance!
In the Black is looking for other Issue writers, opinion editorals, and reviews of local restaurants, shops and entertainment venues from a black prospective.
College students are especially welcomed to inquire.
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Where is the black perspective in the local media? RADIO
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 With only one African-American on local TV news broadcast (Ralph Gaston, KSEE 24 Sports Team), many are turning to radio as a source for a black experience. Fresno-based radio stations over more that seven programs hosted by black DJs, commentator or personalities (see Best of the Black 2008 survey for the most popular programs). While most are music-oriented on both commercial and public stations, the Fresno College Foundation (KFCF) has the most and the only locally-produced and hosted black talk show program-- Valley Black Talk.
Join Valley Black Talk every Monday on KFCF, 88.1 FM from 8-10 PM for thought provoking dialogue, intriguing questions and passionate perspective on national and local events and issues affecting the black community.
On the December 22 program, Tate Hill will cover the Fresno Mayoral Priorities Survey, President-elect's Economic recovery plan, and guest-- incoming Fresno City Council President Cynthia Sterling.
For archived shows or more information about the program, go to www.vbtradio.org
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Food for Thought:
Defining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face.
Carol Moseley-Braun
interview in The New Republic, November 15, 1993
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| In the Black, a publication of the Urban Knowledge Blog
Disclaimer: This is an editorial publication. The comments above are solely of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views or ideologies of any organization or person outside of Urban Knowledge Blog or In the Black. If there is a numerical or factual error, please inform us and we will publicly rectify it via email. Comments received may be republished for the betterment of other readers, unless you indicate otherwise. Thank You. |
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