Fresno mayor's plan to make the city more business-friendly

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Business growth and job creation remain atop Mayor Lee Brand's agenda Thursday he introduced a team made up of councilmembers and local business leaders who will serve on what's being called 'Business Friendly Fresno 2.0'.

This committee will be responsible to figure out what the city can do better to attract and retain businesses.

"My goal is to make Fresno the most business-friendly city in the state of California in the United States and business-friendly for every size of business, from the ma and pa to the Amazons," said Brand.

He acknowledges some of the biggest complaints from business owners that the city does not make it easy for employers to build or expand.

This new committee will oversee the evaluation of permits and planning processes at Fresno City Hall.

"Whether is a single family home developer an industrial developer or a guy that simply wants his church open on Sunday. We're here to make that job easier. We want to create jobs. We want people to be successful," said Brand.

This is a decades-old issue for the city and past mayors have all tried without much success to expedite the building process.

Mayor Brand believes he can fix the problem and get rid of all the red tape but stopped short of announcing a deadline for the change.

"There's no quick fixes you have to do it right it's a problem that took many years to develop it can't be cured overnight but I do believe we can find a solution given enough time," said Brand.