How exciting!  This morning, I attended the opening ceremonies for the Big Fresno Fair's. This year, the Fair is celebrating its 125th Anniversary.  It was a beautiful morning and the crowds were out early to start soaking up the fun.  The fair does so much for our community and it's wonderful to see so many folks enjoying the exhibits, rides, and my favorite -- fair food!  I admit to having some delicious fried mushrooms from Chicken Charlie's for my late morning snack...give 'em a try. Thanks to all of the fair workers who make the Fair a success every year and for all of those who work behind the scenes all year long to make it happen.

Strengthening neighborhoods is a cornerstone of my campaign. That’s why I was in one of Fresno’s most crime-challenged areas today to help residents there launch a “Band of Neighbors” alert network. It's the neighborhood of El Dorado Park, which residents are working together to make safer for their families.

They heard about a service called “Band of Neighbors” which was developed by local entrepreneur Bob Hayden, with support from the Central Valley Business Incubator. The system allows neighborhood residents to quickly share urgent information with each other via cell phone. For instance, if one neighbor sees suspicious activity, they can call the Band of Neighbors service and a warning is quickly sent to all the Band of Neighbors users in their network.

Cost was preventing the El Dorado residents from being able to launch a Band of Neighbors network. So, I decided to reach out to the local business community to help underwrite the service for them. Sam Geil, President of Geil Enterprises, Inc. stepped forward immediately. The residents of El Dorado Park now have use the latest high-tech tool for keeping their neighborhood safer for their families.

These are the kinds of partnerships that I believe can help us transform disadvantaged neighborhoods and make them safer and stronger. That will benefit not only those who live there, but our city as a whole.

I was really pleased to announce this week that Assemblymembers Mike Villines and Juan Arambula endorsed my candidacy for mayor.  Focusing on solving Fresno's problems - not on partisan politics - is what this campaign is all about.  It is time to move Fresno forward, and Mike and Juan certainly agree with that.  Mike and Juan will join me on Friday, August 29 at 7:30 p.m. at Pardini's for a fundraising event celebrating Fresno's future.  For more information on this event, please contact Christa at christa@ashley4mayor.com or (559) 392-8454.  Sponsorships are still available.  Hope to see you there!

Well, it’s “back to school” week in Fresno so that means that summer is winding down, vacations are over and everything is getting back into full swing. While I’ve stayed very busy with the campaign, my family and I also enjoyed spending some relaxing time together. I hope you were able to do the same thing.

It was encouraging to hear last week about the improvements in student performance in the Fresno Unified School District. For the third straight year, Fresno Unified students scored better on Math and English Language tests that the year before. Much more work remains to be done, of course, to ensure students in Fresno – no matter what part of the city they live in – are learning the skills they need to succeed.

I was also very pleased that Fresno Unified and the City of Fresno held a joint meeting recently. While it was an overdue discussion, it was an important first step in building a working relationship that can benefit both in a variety of ways – including saving taxpayer dollars. As Mayor, I’d have similar discussions with all of our local school districts, from Central Unified to West Fresno.

The days of individual organizations working in silos – disengaged from each other – has to end if Fresno is going to be the top tier city it needs to become.