Fresno (pronounced /ˈfrɛznoʊ/, FREZ-noe) is a city in California, USA, the county seat of Fresno County. As of February 27, 2009, the population was estimated at 500,017, making it the fifth largest city in California and the 36th largest in the nation. Fresno is located in the center of the wide San Joaquin Valley of Central California, approximately 200 miles (322 km) north of Los Angeles and 170 miles (274 km) south of the state capital, Sacramento. The city is part of the Fresno-Clovis metropolitan area, which, with a population of 1,002,046, is the second largest metropolitan area in the Central Valley after Sacramento. The name Fresno is the Spanish language word for the ash tree and an ash leaf is featured on its flag. It is prominently featured in Cajas de Carton, a short story by famed author Francisco Jimenez.
Government
Fresno has a modified strong-mayor form of local government and seven City Council members (Legislative branch) elected for no more than two 4-year terms. The City council and the mayor are nonpartisan, not affiliated with any political party. Alan Autry was first elected in November 2000, reelected on March 2, 2004, and served until January 2009. Ashley Swearengin was sworn in as Mayor on January 6, 2009.
Prior to 1901, Fresno was governed by a board of trustees.
October 27, 1895-1901 C.J. Craycroft
April 15, 1889-unknown A.J. Pedlar
October 31, 1887-April 15, 1889 A.M. Clark
April 25, 1887-October 31, 1887 W.L. Graves
October 27, 1885-April 25, 1887 William Faymonville
City Council
City council is made up of seven members, elected by district:
District 1 (west-central) - Blong Xiong
District 2 (northwest) - Andreas Borgeas
District 3 (southwest) - Cynthia Sterling (Council President)
District 4 (east-central) - Larry Westerlund
District 5 (southeast) - Mike Dages
District 6 (northeast) - Lee Brand
District 7 (central) - Henry T. Perea
Courts
Fresno is the county seat of Fresno County. It maintains the main courthouse in the county for criminal and some civil court cases. There is also a satellite court house that was recently built and judges were moved to the new courthouse to help alleviate some of the overcrowding in the main courthouse.
The United States District Court, Eastern District of California, has one of its six divisions based in the Robert E. Coyle Courthouse. The new courthouse replaced the outdated B.F. Sisk Federal Building in 2006. The Sisk building did not have enough space for the growing Fresno Division and it is currently undergoing renovation for future use.
Fresno is also the seat of the Fifth Appellate District of the State of California Court of Appeal where a new courthouse was build in the old Armenian Town section of downtown Fresno in 2007 across from Selland Arena and the Fresno Convention Center.
The Fifth District Court of Appeal Courthouse is named after the distinguished George N. Zenovich, the former Senator and Associate Justice of the Fifth District.
Politics
The city of Fresno is closely split between Democrats and Republicans. Mirroring the nationwide vote, George Bush won 48.41% of the vote in 2000 and 51.77% in 2004, while Barack Obama won with 50.0% in 2008.
