Fresno

Fresno is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. Named for the abundant ash trees lining the San Joaquin River, Fresno was founded in 1872 as a railway station of the Central Pacific Railroad before it was incorporated in 1885. It is the fifth-most populous city in California, the most populous inland city in. California, and the 34th most populous city. in the nation. Fresno is near the geographic center of California, approximately 220 miles (350 km) north of Los Angeles, 170 miles (270 km) south of the state capital, Sacramento, and 185 miles (300 km) southeast of San Francisco. Since 2010, statewide droughts in California have further strained both Fresno's and the entire Central Valley's water security. 50.5% of its population was Hispanic in 2020. The Metro population of Fresno is 1,008,654 as of 2022. It covers about 115 square miles (300 km²) and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, making it the third-largest majority-Hispanic city in U.S. The city's first and oldest synagogue, Temple Beth Israel, was built in 1909. It was the first modern landfill in the United States, and moved up to 47th place with 354,000, and in the census of 2000, it achieved 37th. place with 428,000. In 1960, it entered the top 100 most populous cities in the country, with 134,000 residents.

History

Fresno is the primary city name, but also Pinedale are acceptable city names or spellings. The official name is City of Fresno. The first European to enter the San Joaquin Valley was Pedro Fages in 1772. The county of Fresno was formed in 1856 after the California Gold Rush. Fresno entered the ranks of the 100 most populous cities in the United States in 1960 with a population of 134,000. In the 1990 census, it moved up to 47th place with 354,000, and in the census of 2000, it achieved 37th place. The Fresno Municipal Sanitary Landfill was the first modern landfill in the U.S. It is a National Historic Landmark as well as a Superfund site. In September 1958, Fresno Bank of America launched a new product calledAmericard. In 1976,Americard was renamed and spun off into a separate company known as Visa Inc. Fresno was commonly known as popping in the 1970s, when the city's style of dance evolved in the city. The city is now home to the Fresno Unified School District, which was founded in the 1960s. It was named for the abundant ash trees (Spanish: fresno) lining the SanJoaquin River, which is the source of the San Francisco Bay. Fresno's first and oldest synagogue, Temple Beth Israel, was founded. Before World War II, Fresno had many ethnic neighborhoods, including Little Armenia, German Town, Little Italy, and Chinatown. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported Fresno's population as 94.0% white, 3.3% black and 2.7% Asian. Today few Japanese-American businesses remain.

Geography

Fresno has three large public parks, two in the city limits and one in county land to the southwest. There are no natural lakes or rivers; only manmade waterways. Fresno sits at the junction of Highways 41 and 99 (SR 41 is Yosemite National Park's southern access road, and SR 99 bypasses Interstate 5 to serve the urban centers of the San Joaquin Valley) The city also serves as an entrance into Sierra National Forest via Highway 168, and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks via Highway 180. Fresno is only two and a half hours from Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur and the central coast of the U.S. The city is located near several Sierra Nevada lakes including Bass Lake, Shaver Lake, and Huntington Lake. Fresno faces serious challenges to creating a well-developed park system due to the lack of any natural bodies of water in its city boundaries. In October 2017, the Fulton Mall was finished and opened to traffic, featuring a large public parade featuring public art pieces. In one of the six canings that one can walk up to and touch, it is reportedly the only cast of Pierre-Auguste Renestre's bronze "The Washer Woman" The Tower, which is included on the National Register of Historic Places, is the center of the historic Tower District, which was built in 1939 at the corner of Olive and Wishon Avenues. The Tower is the only building in the historic district that is still standing today.

Demographics

Fresno is home to numerous ethnic minority communities, such as the Armenian and Hmong communities. In 1920, Armenians comprised 9% of the population of the city of Fresno. The Hmong community of Fresno, along with that of MinneapolisSaint Paul, is one of the largest two urban U.S. ethnic Hmong Communities. The 2010 United States Census reported that Fresno had a population of 494,665. Non-Hispanic Whites were 30.0% of Fresno's population in 2010, down from 72.6% in 1970. There were 171,288 housing units at an average density of 1,525.2 per square mile (588.9/km²), of which 158,349 were occupied, of which 77,592 were owner-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.6%; the rental rate was 7.6%. There were 111,529 families (70.4% of all households) living in Fresno; the average family size was 3.62. The city is the larger principal city of the Fresno-Madera CSA, a Combined Statistical Area with a combined population of 922,516 at the 2000 census. The population of Fresno was 245,306 (49.6%) White, 40,960 (8.3%) African American, 8,525 (1.7%) Native American, 62,528 (12.6) Asian (3.6%), 1.7% Indian, 1.2% Filipino, 1,2% Laotian, 1, 0% Thai, 0.7%. The city's population was 140,079, households and 97,915 families.

Economy

Fresno is the center of Metropolitan Fresno and serves as the regional hub for the San Joaquin Valley and the greater Central Valley region. In 1958, Fresno was selected by Bank of America to first launch the BankAmericard credit card, which was later renamed Visa. The unincorporated area and rural cities surrounding Fresno remain predominantly tied to large-scale agricultural production.Companies based in Fresno include Pelco, Valley Yellow Pages, and Saladino's. The city's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are: California State University, Fresno, and Fresno City College, according to the city's economic report. The top employer in Fresno is Fresno County, California, with the top employer being Fresno City University with the number of employees at 1,816. The number of employers in Fresno County is 1,715. Fresno County has the highest unemployment rate in the state at 8.7%. The city has the lowest unemployment rate among the Central Valley regions at 6.2%. The top employers are California State College, Fresno and the University of California, San Francisco, with more than 1,100 employees. The highest employers in Yosemite County are Fresno City and Fresno County with the total number of workers at 2,716. Fresno City has the second highest unemployment rates in the region at 7.8%. The highest rate is Fresno City with 7.9%. The lowest rate is Yosemite City with 6.7% of its workers unemployed. The most employers are Fresno County and the City of Fresno, California.

Culture

Fresno has no teams in any of the five major sports leagues. The Fresno State Bulldogs football program is considered to be the biggest event in terms of sporting events in the city. The Save Mart Center at Fresno State is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of the California State University, Fresno. Fresno's Woodward Park is the location of the CIF Cross Country State Championships, where high schoolers from around the state compete. The Big Fresno Fair, 12 days October, is the largest event in the Central Valley attracting over 600,000 visitors. Fresno Yacht Club established in 1959 hosts the High Sierra Regatta on Huntington Lake every July (barring extreme drought) and regular sailing on Millerton Lake. Fresno City College's Ratcliffe Stadium is a 13,000-seat track and field stadium. Fresno Grizzlies was home to the Fresno Grizzlies before their move to Chukchansi Park in Downtown Fresno. The city's only anime convention is Ani-Me Con (every spring) Fresno's only Anime convention is every spring. Fresno has no professional sports teams, but does have a number of amateur and semi-professional sports teams that play in the ECHL (ECHL) and the Pacific Coast Hockey League (PCHL) Fresno Grizzlies were in the PCHL for the first five seasons of the 2010-11 season. Fresno State's football team is known as the "Red Wave" because of the name given to the fans of Fresno State athletics, and as well as "Pride of the Valley" since the university's fanbase represents all of Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley.

Government

Fresno has a strong-mayor form of government. The mayor (executive branch) is directly elected and the seven city council members (legislative branch) are elected by district with no at-large seats. The mayors office and council positions are officially nonpartisan and not affiliated with any political party. As of 2016, according to Fresno County Registrar of Voters, the majority of registered voters in both the city and county of Fresno are registered to the Democratic Party. President Barack Obama carried the county 49.99% in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Fresno is the county seat of Fresno County. It maintains the main county courthouse on Van Ness in the Fresno County Plaza for criminal and some civil court cases. It is also the seat of the Fifth Appellate District of the State of California Court of Appeal where a new courthouse was built in the old Armenian Town section of downtown Fresno in 2007 across from the Fresno Convention Center. The Fifth District Court of appeal Courthouse is named after former State Senator and Associate Justice of the 5th District, George N. Zenovich. The citizens of Fresno is represented in the United States House of Representatives by Democrat Jim Costa in District 16 and most recently Republican Connie Conway in District 22. They are represented in California State Senate by Democrat Anna Caballero in District 14 and Democrat Angelique Ashby in District 8. The city is home to the University of California, Fresno, which has one of its six divisions based in the Robert E. Coyle Courthouse.

Education

Most of Fresno is in the Fresno Unified School District. California State University, Fresno is the main state school in Fresno. Fresno City College and Clovis Community College are public community colleges. The University of California, San Francisco has its Fresno Medical Education Program. Fresno is home to the University of Phoenix, National University, and DeVry University. It is also home to Fresno Christian High School, San Joaquin Memorial High School and Fresno Adventist Academy. The city is part of the Central Valley region of the California Bay Area, which includes Bakersfield, Modesto, Merced, and San Diego. It also includes parts of Kern County, Kings County, San Diego, and Modoc County, which are in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has a population of about 2.5 million people, mostly in Fresno and its surrounding areas. The majority of Fresno's schools are K-12, with the exception of a few private schools. The town has a history of violence, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. It was also the site of the Battle of the Bulge, which took place in the early 1980s. The current mayor is Ruben Navarrette, who has been in office since 2008. The mayor is also a former mayor of Fresno and served as mayor from 2003 to 2008. He was elected to a second term in 2010. He has been re-elected to a third term in office in 2012. He is currently serving a fourth term as mayor.

Transportation

Fresno is served by State Route 99, the main northsouth freeway that connects the major population centers of Californias Central Valley. State Route 168, the Sierra Freeway, heads east to the city of Clovis and Huntington Lake. Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System added summer seasonal service between Fresno and Yosemite National Park in May 2015. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak San Joaquins. The city of Fresno is planned to be served by the future California High-Speed Rail. Sierra Sky Park Airport (airport code: E79) in Northwest Fresno is a privately owned airport, but is open to the public. Extra-wide streets surrounding the airport allow for residents of the community to land, taxi down the extra- wide streets, and park their aircraft in a garage at their home. Fresno Area Express (FAX) is the city's primary public transit system, which operates eighteen routes and Handy Ride, a paratransit operation. The Fresno City Railway Company and later the Fresno Traction Company operated horse-drawn streetcars from 1887 to 1901. Electric streetcars were introduced in 1903. The electric street cars were used until 1939. BNSF Railway and the Union Pacific Railroad, which both operate Bakersfield-Stockton mainlines which cross in Fresno, maintain railyards within the city. The shortline San Joaquin Valley Railroad also operates former Southern Pacific branch lines heading west and south out of the city and into Fresno. The main passenger rail station is the renovated historic Santa Fe Railroad Depot in Downtown Fresno.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Fresno, Fresno County, California = 1. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 22. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 12. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Fresno = 5.3 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 542,107 individuals with a median age of 30 age the population grows by 11.61% in Fresno, Fresno County, California population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 4,722.60 residents per square mile of area (1,823.43/km²). There are average 3.05 people per household in the 153,747 households with an average household income of $43,074 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 14.80% of the available work force and has dropped -1.02% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 23.16%. The number of physicians in Fresno per 100,000 population = 162.1.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Fresno = 10.9 inches and the annual snowfall = 0.1 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 45. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 271. 98 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 37.5 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 54, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Fresno, Fresno County, California which are owned by the occupant = 48.58%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 31 years with median home cost = $130,880 and home appreciation of -14.00%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $9.53 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $4,721 per student. There are 19.2 students for each teacher in the school, 3683 students for each Librarian and 1061 students for each Counselor. 6.87% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 13.44% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 6.36% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).