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Fresno Leaders Expect Fulton Mall Work Soon, Despite Delay

Joe Moore
Valley Public Radio

Fresno City leaders say construction could start on the project to turn the Fulton Mall into a street as early as this summer. Opponents of the project say they are not giving up the fight.

The city had expected to break ground on the project this month.

City Manager Bruce Rudd says they won’t make that goal, but they will begin work soon.

“We are hoping to have this go out to bid within the next 60-to-90 days. It will probably be on the street for sixty days. And hopefully back before the council in August to award a contract,” Rudd said.

But opponents of the project say there is no way that state and federal lawsuits and other hurdles will be overcome by the time the city hopes to break ground.

Attorney Sara Hedgpeth-Harris says they will ask the court to block any attempt by the city to begin work before the cases are resolved.

Harris says the cases will take at least six more months.

“We are going to have to seek a preliminary injunction to prevent them from doing that. Because if we win and they have already demolished the mall than we are without a remedy,” Hedgepeth-Harris said.

Fulton Mall project leaders say studies testing the structural integrity of the buildings along the mall are currently underway.

Jeffrey Hess is a reporter and Morning Edition news host for Valley Public Radio. Jeffrey was born and raised in a small town in rural southeast Ohio. After graduating from Otterbein University in Columbus, Ohio with a communications degree, Jeffrey embarked on a radio career. After brief stops at stations in Ohio and Texas, and not so brief stops in Florida and Mississippi, Jeffrey and his new wife Shivon are happy to be part Valley Public Radio.
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