Brandau, Bredefeld face off in Fresno County District 2. What are their priorities?

Fresno County Supervisor Steve Brandau, who represents District 2 encompassing northeast, northwest and central Fresno, is seeking re-election to a second full four-year term on the Board of Supervisors. Brandau was initially elected to fill a partial term in a special election in 2019 and elected to a full term in 2020.

But it was challenger Garry Bredefeld, a term-limited member of the Fresno City Council, who was the leading vote-getter ahead of Brandau to earn a spot in the Nov. 5 general election following a five-person contest in the March primary.

Earlier this year, The Fresno Bee submitted questions to each of the candidates and asked each to respond with answers of in the neighborhood of 200 words, if possible. Their responses are offered here.

Garry Bredefeld

Q: About one out of every five residents in Fresno County has income that falls below the poverty level. However, the average market-rate apartment rent rose by almost 43% in the Fresno metro area since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. How would you promote greater housing affordability?

The best way to ensure greater housing affordability is to reduce government regulations and encourage the private sector to build more housing. However, California has so many regulations that make it extremely difficult for the private sector to build housing that is affordable.

In California, when the state invests in the building of "affordable housing," in reality, it is anything but affordable for the taxpayer. Taxpayers are really subsidizing the development and most of the apartments built cost the taxpayer anywhere from $500,000 -$750,000 PER UNIT. It's outrageous and why I don't support such misuse of taxpayer money.

If you look at states such as Texas where regulations are minimal, taxes are low, and government is not intrusive, there is massive building of houses and apartments taking place all over the state.

In Fresno, my At-Risk Permitting Ordinance was unanimously passed by the City Council which has allowed developers to move forward with their developments without being impeded by onerous regulations and bureaucracy. It has helped locally.

Rent control is definitely not the answer and I will continue to strongly oppose it!

It's not complicated. Get government out of the way, reduce burdensome regulations that prevent the private sector from building homes/apartments, create tax incentives to build those homes, and you will have more affordable housing.

Q: The average condition of roads in Fresno County is considered at "higher risk," and in many cases is deemed "poor." What steps would you take to work toward improving the county's roads?

One of the most important concerns for residents is the lack of maintenance and decades-long neglect when it comes to their streets and neighborhood roads. They're frustrated and rightfully so, particularly with all the taxes they pay to fix their roads.

Californians are burdened with some of the highest gas taxes and gas prices in the entire nation. We pay about 54 cents in taxes for every gallon of gas. SB1 which was passed in 2017 was another gas tax that was supposed to improve our local roads. The improvements have been minimal to barely noticeable. Yet, Sacramento politicians insist on wasting nearly $100 BILLION on a "bullet train" to nowhere instead of spending that money on repairing existing roads and infrastructure.

As Fresno has grown, we needed to build Highways 41, 168, 180 and more recently Veterans Boulevard. It was critically important and I supported those projects. But now as we look at the possibility of renewing Measure C, if the voters approve it again it must be with the focus on repairing and fixing our local streets and neighborhood roads, not continuing to build new highways. The Fresno County budget must also emphasize the need to fix roads and I will ensure that it does in all future budgets.

Q: How would you work toward bringing higher-paying job opportunities that are accessible to a wide array of Fresno County residents?

As your County Supervisor, I will always fight for policies that promote economic growth and prosperity for Fresno County. That means pushing for policies that help Fresno County employers large and small continue to grow, and reducing burdensome regulations that impede that growth.

As mentioned earlier, the Fresno City Council unanimously approved my At-Risk Permitting program where small and large businesses can move forward with their projects without being unnecessarily delayed by government bureaucracy and regulations. It has saved them tremendous amounts of time and money, which allows for greater expansion opportunities for these businesses.

We have also offered tax incentives and been successful when competing against many other large cities to bring Fortune 500 companies to Fresno such as The GAP Distribution Center, Amazon Fulfillment Center, and Ulta which has produced thousands of quality and high-paying jobs.

I believe we can make Fresno County the center of job creation in California. And we do that by having a Supervisor in District 2 working hard to reduce regulations, making sure the bureaucracy is promoting and not hindering growth, and thereby ensuring our county is the most attractive place in the state for both employees and job creators.

Steve Brandau

Q: About one out of every five residents in Fresno County has income that falls below the poverty level. However, the average market-rate apartment rent rose by almost 43% in the Fresno metro area since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. How would you promote greater housing affordability?

Regarding "the Fresno metro area," most residential housing with few exceptions falls to the City of Fresno and is not impacted by the Board of Supervisors directly. However, I would support those efforts by requesting state legislation that could remove burdensome development fees, mandates and red tape. These factors, like requiring solar on new housing, drive up the cost to the buyer and help keep housing out of the reach of the poor and much of the lower middle class. I believe that unfortunately we are at the mercy of a state government that doesn't understand the basics.

Q: The average condition of roads in Fresno County is considered at "higher risk," and in many cases is deemed "poor." What steps would you take to work toward improving the county's roads?

I have worked hard as a member of the Fresno County Transportation Authority to address these issues in our community. I would be a strong advocate for another round of funding for Measure C (local transportation tax that can be leveraged) as long as the focus is primarily on roads. Some flexibility should be given to each agency, the cities of Fresno County and the County itself to address specific needs as urban and rural priorities may at times be different. Some regional roadwork projects remain to be done also.

Q: How would you work toward bringing higher-paying job opportunities that are accessible to a wide array of Fresno County residents?