Fresno Mayor Autry to Eat Crow at 10 AM on Tuesday

by Bruce Rudd

Mon, Jun 9, 2008 9:30PM

A courtroom appearance by Mayor Alan Autry could make or break the settlement between the City of Fresno and the homeless.

Just last week, Fresno agreed to pay more than two million dollars to people living in a downtown camp.

The city cleaned up the area where the homeless were staying and threw away their personal possessions.

A judge ordered Autry to his courtroom Tuesday morning because of a statement issued last week from the City and a quote from Mayor Autry after it was announced.

The city has agreed to pay $400,000 in damages to the homeless and $1 million to social programs as well as $800,000 in attorney's fees.

The city calls the attorney’s fees exorbitant and the judge took exception to the statements made by the mayor.

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The federal judge who approved a settlement to pay Fresno's homeless $2.3 million issued an order for Mayor Autry and other city officials to appear in court Tuesday morning. In the order, Judge Oliver Wanger stated that statements made by the Mayor and City Council member Mike Dages indicate the city is not a willing participant in the settlement, and wants to hear why he should not rescind his preliminary approval of the deal, and let the homeless lawsuit go to trial.
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In his order, Judge Wanger appeared angered by statements made by Mayor Autry that the court and the ACLU were exploiting the homeless.
He also appeared concerned that Council member Dages stated he did not like the settlement.

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