Fresno Police Dept try to take over another Rec Center. They lost !

[annm4peace]

( The almost two decade Conservative run City of Fresno government gutted the much need Recreation Dept.. after gutting it,, the current Mayor was able to put it under the Police Dept). It is so shameful. I hope one day the people of Fresno will vote for a Park Board and have separate taxes to fund it so the City Government can't tough it) Until then, here is one small victory of not militarizing the kids of Fresno.

(West Fresno has a long community history of being mostly African American)

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/07/20/18518154.php

West Fresno residents won a victory when it was announced last week that the Police Activities League (PAL) was not going to take over the Frank Ball Community Center. Neighbors were upset when the City of Fresno announced the plan at a June 19th meeting. You can see what happened at that meeting here: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/06/21/18509945.php .

The response from the June 19 meeting was enough to stop the city in their tracks. Not only did they drop plans to turn the beloved Frank Ball Center into a PAL outpost, they also agreed to start some much needed repair and upgrading of the existing center. A new sound system, new lighting, and a computer lab was installed in time for Saturday’s meeting (July 19, 2008).

The meeting started off with Assistant City Manager Bruce Rudd apologizing to residents for not recognizing the value of the Frank Ball Center and for not having had better communications before making decisions that would affect them. Parks and Recreation director Randall Cooper was also at the meeting and apologized for not having consulted with the community before decisions to transfer the community center were made.

Most of the speakers at the community meeting were not pacified and spoke angrily about the lack of city resources put into West Fresno. You can hear the residents, in their own words, in the video below. The video starts out with Rudd and Cooper’s apology.