For some time, Calwa has been going through some changes. With their fight against Highway 99, the lack of sidewalk safety, and bad air quality, there are no shortage of community concerns.
By Aileen Guzman
But those are just the (negative) headlines — at least from the outside. What do the people who live in and love the neighborhood have to say about it? What’s the story they tell about Calwa?
In late April, Flourishing Fresno held a small tabling inside Birreria El Taco Solito for residents of Calwa to come and express their concerns and wishes for their neighborhood.
A few members of the community were more than willing to share their thoughts.
The event took place on April 28th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and questions such as what defines your community and what’s something underappreciated in your neighborhood were among the many other questions that were asked.
This tabling event and working with Friends of Calwa and Calwa residents has been a semester-long collaboration.
Mario Namdo, 56, who has been working in construction, has been living in Calwa for 26 years. In an interview with Namdo, he mentioned his thoughts based on the improvements of Calwa and the Central Valley. Some of his concerns involved the trash and broken sidewalks.
“For the most part, I think it’s pretty calm here, but if I wanted to see some change. It would have to be with the trash that gets thrown on the ground,” said Namdo. “When it all piles up, there is a bad smell in the air and it can’t be good for us to breathe it in.”
In the small corner of E. Jensen Ave and S. 10th St. a small grocery store called Jeylla Miscellaneous is located. Selling groceries and other necessities, the owner Anna Leon, 50, discussed what kind of improvements she would like to see in her city.
Leon has had her business in Calwa for 23 years, she mentioned it being calm and quiet, but still felt like there were areas that needed improvement, such as changes in alcohol consumption, gang activity, sidewalks, and homelessness.
“I’d like to see more parks and diversity. The area is fine, but sometimes we have people who have been consuming too much alcohol walking up and down the strip, and then we have people sleeping on the streets,” said Leon.
Madeline Vasquez, 27, has been living in Calwa her whole life.
Over the past 27 years, Vasquez mentioned wanting to see closer stores. The strip in Calwa was a hot spot for its residents. It is the area in which they can all walk up and down to either enjoy delicious food or do some shopping.
During the interview with Vasquez, she mentioned the things that were underappreciated in her neighborhood.
“Tagging, graffiti, some sidewalks. I think it’s mostly on 9th Street. There’s not a lot of sidewalks so sometimes I’ll see moms and their babies with a stroller walking on the streets,” Vasquez mentioned.
On May 8th, Fox26 News reported on Fresno County granting Calwa a seven million grant to repair its streets and sidewalks. In the article, they quoted Chairmen Quintero mentioning the purpose and improvement of helping the students from Calwa Elementary, residents traveling from work, and providing a ‘safer means of traveling through the community .’
Jovita Cancino, 22, had just moved to Calwa about a year ago. Some of her more recent concerns involved the lack of parks that were in the small city. As previously mentioned by other Calwa residents, Cancino also wanted to see a change in the homeless population within Calwa.
“I would like to see a change in homelessness,” said Cancino. “More affordable housing, and maybe lower rent.”
Back in 2022, a spike was seen in the homeless population. Although they may have been seen living on the streets less. There was still a portion of them being housed in hotels. The homeless crisis seemed to rise into parts of the central valley both of them being in Fresno – Madera county.
During the final interview, a member of Friends of Calwa, Milena Alvarez,22, came by to speak to Flourishing Fresno. During our conversation, she mentioned wanting to see more walkable sidewalks, fixed streets, and affordable housing. During the interview, Alvarez mentioned the word ‘unity’ to best describe her neighborhood.
Over the past few months Calwa has been fighting for the expansion of Highway 99, with the unity of its residents, they have now been able to express their concerns and wishes to place a stop to the highway expansion.
“I would say a word that best describes Calwa would be unity,” said Alvarez.
Although the fight continues to go on with CalTran, the unity of these residents has made an impact on their community. With a grant given to fix their streets and sidewalks. These residents have proven that their voice matters and that change is possible.
If residents wish to reach out and express their concerns for the Calwa neighborhood, they can reach out to…
Yana Garcia, Secretary for Environmental Protection at (916) 323-2514.
Friends of Calwa (559) 374-6922
Building Healthy Communities (559) 256-8722
Flourishing Fresno 