Jeff Eben's mayoral platform is interesting in that it leans heavily on his Clovis roots and his experience as a Clovis Unified school administrator.

For example: His mailer includes a picture from his days as the principal at Clovis East and endorsements from local sports figures such as Fresno State coaches Pat Hill, Steve Cleveland, Mike Watney and John Baxter. Also endorsing Eben are former Oakland Raiders star quarterback Daryle Lamonica, former Fresno State basketball standout Tyrone Bradley, Clovis Unified Superintendent Terry Bradley and developer Scott Ellis.

But there's a glaring problem with the brochure: many of the people endorsing him reside in Clovis, not Fresno -- a fact that will enable opponents to keep painting Eben as a carpet-bagger.

Continue reading "Jeff Eben's mayoral mailer" »

If you missed the Fresno mayoral forum Wednesday night at Bankers Ballroom, click here for The Bee's podcast and here for The Bee story by City Hall reporter Denny Boyles.

Next Wednesday night, the City Council candidates will square off in another forum at the same location. You can submit questions for the forum at www.fresnofusion.com.

You'll never guess who is one of two finalists for a superintendent's position in Georgia.

Former Fresno Unified boss Santiago Wood, who was fired here in 2004.

He is competing with John W. Thompson to become the interim/corrective superintendent of Clark County Public Schools, a one-to-two-year position that entails turning around the troubled system.

The district is the fifth biggest in Georgia with about 52,000 students. Clark County is south of Atlanta.

Thompson, the former superintendent of Pittsburgh (Pa.) Public Schools, is asking for $275,000 a year, 24-hour security and $2 million for his consulting team, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Wood told the newspaper that he would like $185,000 a year, a modest monthly expense allowance, a one-time $2,200 housing fee and moving expenses.

Wood lists many accomplishment during his tenure in Fresno. You can read the candidates' resumes here and the newspaper story here

This is your one-stop shop for info, news and analysis on the Fresno mayoral race.

If you want to see what the candidates are saying about themselves, check out these Web sites by clicking on the candidate's name.

Jim Boswell: http://www.jimboswellformayor.com/

Tom Boyajian: http://www.votetom08.com

Mike Dages: http://www.dagesformayor.com

Jerry Duncan: http://www.jerryduncan.org

Jeff Eben: http://www.ebenformayor.com

Henry T. Perea: http://www.perea2008.com

Ashley Swearengin: http://www.ashley4mayor.com

I couldn't find Web sites for Ignacio Garibay, Barbara Hunt, Henry Monreal and Doug Vagim.

If you know of Web sites for any of them, please post in the comments section below.

Thanks

Bee Editorial Page boss Jim Boren and I have teamed up on a weekly political podcast airing Monday afternoons on fresnobee.com.

Our goal is to provide information and analysis on local and state topics while occasionally venturing into national issues and political races as well. If we do our jobs right, you'll find that "Boren and McEwen on Politics" is as good as NPR's "It's All Politics."

And, yes, we are getting rid of the cheesy packaged photos of us on fresnobee.com and replacing it with a fresh shot of us in front of Fresno's City Hall.

We focus on the Fresno mayoral race in this week's podcast. Here are my odds for each of the 11 candidates making it out of the June primary and into the November runoff to replace Alan Autry, who terms out in January:

Henry T. Perea -- 6-to-5
Ashley Swearengin -- 9-5
Jerry Duncan -- 11-5
Jeff Eben -- 5-1
Tom Boyajian -- 10-1
Mike Dages -- 25-1
Doug Vagim -- 500-1
Henry Monreal -- 1,000-1
Jim Boswell -- 10,000-1
Ignacio Garibay -- 1,000,000-1
Barbara Hunt -- 10,000,000-1

Here is the report of Bee reporter Russell Clemings on the proposed expansion of a gravel mine on the Kings River at Riverbend and Goodfellow avenues:

Continue reading "Commissioners reject Kings River mining expansion" »

Jeffry Long sends pictures of Jesse Morrow Mountain, along with a response to my March 6 column:
You can view the pictures here and here.

Here's what Jeffry had to say:

Continue reading "More on Jesse Morrow Mountain (with pictures!) " »

You can read my take on the Jesse Morrow Mountain mining proposal here.

But Michael J. Donahue, a retired environmental supervisor for Caltrans, says my "thumbnail analysis" of the proposed aggregate quarry in eastern Fresno County "serves to give a one-sided view of the proposal and does the public, decision makers, project proponents and the Indian community a disservice."

Here is his complete e-mail:

Continue reading "A different view of Jesse Morrow Mountain" »

Topics on this blog usually are serious.
Not today.
Check out this video on YouTube.

It was made a few years ago by a friend of mine -- Jerry -- who works out at the Blackstone Avenue Gold's Gym in Fresno and loves fast cars.

Keith Bergthold, a brainy guy who is second in charge of Fresno's municipal planning and development department, has been talking to people throughout the San Joaquin Valley about the importance of collaborative regional planning.

By Bergthold's count, he has made 30 presentations to city, county and Council of Government boards during the past five months -- each time outlining growth scenarios for our region. I've seen his thought-provoking talk and now I'm sharing it with Bee readers.

It's long. Probably the longest blog item in fresnobee.com history. It has footnotes. It's not presented in the most reader-friendly-format. But it's worth wading through, and I am looking forward to your comments.

Here it is:

Continue reading "Fresno planner's manifesto on the Valley's future" »

My Jan. 19 column -- "It's war on Prop. 93" -- struck a chord with readers, many of whom had been struggling to figure out if Proposition 93 is about term-limits reform or a scheme to keep state Democratic leaders Fabian Núñez and Don Perata in power.

You can read the column by clicking here, and you can do California a favor by voting no on 93. It's time to send the faux populists packing.

Click here to read more about Núñez and here for more on Perata.

I don't know if the picture is genuine or a fake. Either way, it's funny.

The city of Fresno's motto, created by Mayor Alan Autry's administration, is "a culture of excellence where people get the best every day."

The driver of this vehicle probably has a Toyota truck in his driveway that says "YO" on the tailgate.

Poor Bob Waterston can't make up his mind.
One day he's saying he won't run for re-election to his Fresno County Board of Supervisors' seat. A few months later, he's running down to the elections office and pulling papers.

Continue reading "Sing along with Bob" »

We grow 'em tough here in Fresno.
We surely do.

Former Fresnan Victor Conte admits he was scared out of his gourd during the first 36 hours at his four-month federal sentence at the C.I. Taft Prison Camp near Bakersfield.

But, after that, he tells ESPN.com's Patrick Hruby, he was coaching fellow inmates and enjoying life in "a sports paradise" with a ton of athletic equipment -- but no guard towers or walls.

Continue reading "BALCO's Conte: Prison camp was 'sports paradise'" »

I'm going to tackle a 100-mile bike ride around Lake Tahoe again this June. It'll be my third time participating in "America's Most Beautiful Ride" as a member of Central California's Team In Training, a program of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Continue reading "Taking the Tahoe challenge (again)" »

It's not too late to make a New Year's resolution, and I've got a suggestion.
First, read this semi-recent column, and then go to your favorite city council, board of supervisors or other government board meeting.

Continue reading "You can improve local government" »

Update: Guess what, readers? It took four days since my original post, but the photos have been removed from the Web site.

Click here to check out the former Bulldogs women's basketball coach and husband Chuck Klein when they were friends with Welty -- and $19.1 million poorer.

I wouldn't blame Hanson for trying. San Diego is a great city, his wife has family there and some teachers union activists are trying to chase him out of Fresno. Fanning the rumor: Hanson, as well as district trustees, will attend a conference in San Diego this week.

Continue reading "Hanson says he's staying put" »

The economy is muddling along, gas prices are soaring and the fires in Southern California are diverting donor attention from the San Joaquin Valley.

As a result, local nonprofits are struggling during this holiday season. Food banks lack goods to meet the demand, and agencies that rely on financial donations are seeing a slowdown.

That's why I challenged readers in October to participate in a food drive organized by the Sequoia Council of Boy Scouts and asked local politicians to match my $100 pledge to the Clovis chapter of the Salvation Army.

Continue reading "Food drive collects at least $1,100, more than 1 ton of food " »

Fresno's Christmas Tree Lane knocks the socks off of Peter Fish, author of Sunset magazine's Postcards and Western Wanderings essays.

Writes Fish in the December issue: For a long time, I saw the spirit of Christmas as a plump, white-bearded, Santa-ish figure — like Jack Black if you glued cotton to his chin. But now I know who the spirit of Christmas truly is. He is a 49-year-old engineer named Dean Alexander.

Continue reading "Magazine profiles Christmas Tree Lane " »