Fresno city council tackles Running Horse issues

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By Adam Sexton

Story Published: Jul 31, 2007 at 10:02 PM EST

Story Updated: Aug 1, 2007 at 2:12 AM EST

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The Running Horse saga continues to play out behind the scenes, even with Donald Trump temporarily out of the action.

Today the Fresno city council took on two Running Horse related issues:

First, council members pushed back a performance review for the executive director of the redevelopment agency, Marlene Murphey.

As the Trump organization left town last week it lobbed accusations of incompetence in the direction of the RDA, saying it was not made clear that lands around the Running Horse property are ineligible for redevelopment funding.

Tuesday morning the council postponed Murphey's performance review until August 21st, in order to give her a chance to write a self-evaluation.

While that issue is on the sidelines, the city will be reaching out to owners of property the original Running Horse developers failed to secure.

In closed session, the council directed city manager Andy Souza to open negotiations with these seven landowners, which include five private citizens, a business, the Fresno irrigation district, and the State of California.

Souza says this is not the beginning of an eminent domain process.

The first step for the city is to get an appraiser to determine fair market value for the properties and then begin speaking with landowners.

The city is looking at a total of about 35 acres.

The idea is to secure the properties and then sell them to Donald Trump or whoever ends up developing the Running Horse property.

As far as what would allow the city to make progress where the Trumps have encountered obstinence, it's the threat of eminent domain - even though the city says it doesn't want to use that power.

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