Fremont's Year-End City Council Priority Progress Report Now Available

FREMONT, CA — The city of Fremont has released its inaugural year-end Priority Progress Report highlighting how staff has focused its efforts on its three core priorities adopted by the council in 2022.

The priorities, according to a news release issued by the city, include enhancing public safety, increasing the vitality of commercial corridors, and combating homelessness, while ensuring financial health and sustainability remain the city’s core principle.

City Manager Karena Shackelford released the report which included several milestones reached by the city including the facilitation of multiple Fremont business expansions that ultimately result in increased tax revenues, the celebration of the grand opening of City Center Apartments, a city-funded affordable housing project serving unhoused individuals and the creation of a new Downtown Liaison position within the Fremont Police Department to address concerns and issues for Downtown businesses.

According to the report, the city also established a new Outdoor Commercial Patio Ordinance, providing businesses with a streamlined, low-cost process to permit their commercial spaces, used $21.8 million of one-time sales tax revenue as “seed money” for next Capital Improvement Program (CIP) process, which addresses a small portion of the city’s almost $1 billion backlog of maintenance/capital replacement and future capital needs and attracted new technology companies to the city including Applied Materials, Alexza Pharmaceuticals, and Personalis.

In addition to focusing on the city's financial health, Fremont also addressed homelessness by breaking ground on the 60-unit, city funded, affordable housing project Fremont Family apartments. The city is also nearing completion of two additional city-funded affordable housing projects which include units targeted to homeless individuals and families, the Doug Ford Senior Apartments and Granite Ridge Apartments.

"Four additional projects have started or are about to start construction, Osgood South, Osgood North, Family Apartments, and Bell Street Gardens," Shackelford said in her report. "Together, these projects will provide 556 affordable units, including 176 units serving extremely low income tenants."

Focusing on Public Safety, the city of Fremont passed a new street racing ordinance in 2022, added two new police officers, one property officer and one Animal Services supervisor along with creating a new detective position utilizing an existing staff position in response to the uptick of organized retail crime and Added a new Emergency Services Coordinator position.

"The city looks forward to continuing this work to improve our Fremont community in 2023," the city said in the news release.

To learn more and view all of the 2022 updates and achievements, read the Year End City Council Priority Progress Report here.