Paul Crawford Award Winner 2016: City of Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin – California Agency Award

On behalf of the Congress for the New Urbanism California Chapter, we wish to congratulate Mayor Ashley Swearengin on winning our 2016 CNU – California Agency Award. We truly admire her dedication and results in making better places, policies, and plans for the citizens of Fresno. This award honors Ms. Swearengin’s pragmatic land use and economic leadership and we look forward to what she will accomplish leading California into the 21st century.

Selected Mayor of Fresno in 2008, Ashley Swearengin is a dynamic leader whose focus on building coalitions of experienced and capable experts to solve problems in honest and thoughtful ways. We admire her efforts to bring new life, transit and walkability to downtown and beyond. With this award, we applaud her outstanding Restore Fresno initiatives and leadership to update the city’s General Plan and citywide Development Code via an innovative Implementation & Infill Development Task Force, as well as her efforts to build upon the downtown Specific Plan, introduce Bus Rapid Transit, and her Strong Cities, Strong Communities program.

Mayor Swearengin was named one of California’s top 10 mayors by Capitol Weekly, a Sacramento-based publication covering California government and politics and was identified by the Brookings Institution as a member of the “Pragmatic Caucus.” She is a board member of the California League of Cities, chair of the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, and at the national level, Mayor Swearengin serves on the leadership team of the U.S. Conference of Mayors as a member of its Executive Committee.