It’s a rematch. Madera City Council race pits incumbent against candidate she beat in 2020

There's a rematch in the race for Madera's District 4 City Council seat.

It wasn't a close contest in 2020, when Anita Evans won almost 75% of the vote and unseated then-District 4 Councilmember Derek Robinson. In this November's election , District 4 Councilmember Evans is seeking a second four-year term, but Robinson is standing in her way again. He wants his seat back and says the COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted his ability to campaign in 2020.

Evans has been active in the community for years, starting organizations in town that host celebrations for Black History Month and Juneteenth. She says she has pushed for road upgrades and traffic safety projects that are now in the works in District 4, and also touts that the Fresno River, a place where homeless people often camp out , is much cleaner today than it was four years ago.

Robinson, a retired U.S. Army veteran and former juvenile hall counselor, served as District 4's councilmember for eight years prior to losing the seat. He thinks the current council is failing Madera's citizens and says the city showed more interest in filling the downtown area with cannabis stores in recent years than upgrading its infrastructure or keeping tabs on Madera Community Hospital . The hospital has been closed for nearly two years but is expected to reopen soon.

Geographically, District 4 is the city's smallest but also its most densely-populated. The district stretches north to Ellis Street, west to the Pan-American Park area, south to the Fresno River and east to Raymond Road. Multiple large apartment complexes are included in District 4, including the Madera Garden, Lakewood Terrace, Bridgeview, Creekside, Lakeland and Valley Vista communities.

Below is an overview of what Evans and Robinson said about their backgrounds, why they are the best choice to represent District 4 and what they envision for the future of Madera. The Fresno Bee used a digital random selector to decide the order in which the candidates are presented in this story.

Fact: Madera County voter registration has increased 18.5% since 2020. That's more than any other California county, according to the Secretary of State .

Anita Evans

Evans was raised in Bakersfield in a politically active family. She became a member of her local chapters of the NAACP and Black American Political Association of California at an early age. She baked a cake for Rev. Jesse Jackson when the former senator visited Bakersfield in the late 1970s.

The decade prior, he father had marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.

"It's always been in my blood," she said about political action. "I've always been an advocate."

Prior to being elected to the City Council in 2020, Evans and her husband would create food bags and deliver them to homeless people in the Fresno River. She also organized a "Senior Lives Matter" protest in the mobile home complex where she lives.

Evans sought feedback from District 4's children and educators for her work as a councilmember. She said the children told her they walked to school on unpaved streets with no sidewalks, which caused them to be splashed with water by cars. Many children walk the streets along Lake Street to get to James Monroe Elementary School.

"Derek Robinson sat for eight years and Adell Street was never paved," she said. "It was in my soul to make sure my kids didn't have to walk in those conditions anymore."

During her term, Evans said, flashing lights have been installed at multiple four-way stop intersections along Lake Street, and the street's intersection with Sherwood Way is waiting on a signal that could be installed by next summer.

The councilmember also said the Fresno River is much cleaner today than it was when she took office four years ago because the city has spent money on equipment to remove debris and shrubs.

"The river bottom is much better now because the city has gone in and taken care of it," Evans said.

In a second term, Evans said she would like to see the city use more solar energy and for its public safety workforce to grow by at least 10% and generate the revenue to provide those workers raises.

Evans also said she is also advocating for more housing to be built on some of the undeveloped plots of land in District 4.

"There's room for growth in my district," she said. "I see Madera becoming like a rose. It's just opening up and blossoming."

Derek Robinson

Robinson moved to California with his mother when he was still an infant. He enlisted in the U.S. Army just months after graduating from high school and served for five years during the Vietnam War era. Afterward, he attended Long Beach City College, earning a track and field scholarship to UC Berkeley, where he competed under the leadership of Fresno Athletic Hall of Famer Erv Hunt.

Robinson moved to Madera in 1992 and coached at Fresno City College and Reedley College. After suffering a severe neck injury, Robinson began taking city government courses and joined Madera's beautification committee. He was elected to the Madera City Council in 2012.

"If you really want to do something, you can do it," Robinson said. "I'm a coach. I'm a motivator. I can push people to get things done."

One of the reasons he wants his seat back is because of the closure of Madera Community Hospital in January 2023. Robinson said that closure happened under the current council's watch. It's a criticism current members have said is not fair because healthcare falls under the county's funding responsibilities and because the city had no part in the hospital's governance.

Robinson said the traffic safety upgrades going on in District 4 were planned during his time on the council. He also criticized the city's decision to approve multiple cannabis stores in the downtown area, though only one has opened so far.

"What businesses want to be right next door to a marijuana shop with drug addicts in the street," he said. "We're trying to clean the streets up."

If elected, Robinson said he would like to hire more personnel to streamline the government processes entrepreneurs have to navigate to open small businesses. He said he wants neighborhood watch programs to return and added that the city needs more code enforcement.

"I want to make sure that crime is not rampant," Robinson said.

Robinson previously led an initiative called "Pennies for Showers" that raised funds to buy a shower trailer for homeless people. He said he would support converting vacant buildings into short-term housing for this population.

That housing should also provide "humanitarian services," he said, and help homeless people attain jobs with resume writing workshops, free haircuts and therapy.