Turf protectors threaten public safety

It's time that the public begin pressuring local elected officials to consolidate public safety services in the Fresno/Clovis metropolitan area. The erratic boundaries make it costly and inefficient to deliver public safey services. There's a movement to fix this problem, but I get the feeling that the politicians aren't really interested in it, and are just going along to keep people off their backs. Fortunately, the Fresno Chamber of Commerce has grabbed onto this issue and its leaders are trying to get some action out of elected officials.

Here's our editorial from today on the issue.

The real answer, of course, is getting rid of all the county islands and making the metropolitan area one jurisdiction. But good luck on that one. . . The public, especially those living in the county islands, don't want to be part of the city. But they sure want urban services. Seems like they ought to have to make a choice. If you want to be in the urban area, you have to be part of the city. If you want to live in the county, move to a rural area.