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Mike Harris Newsletter — October 19, 2026
📞 On Call with Mike Harris | District 3 | October 19, 2026
Hello, Merced,
Four million dollars. That is roughly what Congressman Adam Gray handed this city on Tuesday, split between flood protection along Bear Creek and the rebuild of a battered stretch of Childs Avenue. Not one dime of it came out of your pocket, which is precisely the playbook I have been preaching since before I ever took this seat: go get the money that is already out there.
And the week is not easing up. Today is the last day to register to vote, the council is back in the chamber at 6 p.m. tonight, and the public art report I told you I was watching for has officially landed on the agenda. Grab a coffee and let's walk through it.
🗳️ The Final Stretch to Nov. 3
🔹 Registration closes today, so handle it before dinner. Election Day is two weeks from tomorrow, and today, Monday, Oct. 19, is the deadline to register or update your registration for this election. Moved? Changed your name? New voter at your table? Two minutes online settles it. Miss today and conditional in-person registration is still possible, but why add an errand to your November. Drop box locations, vote centers, and everything else live on the county's election page.
👉 Register or update your registration
👉 Visit the county's Nov. 3 election page
🔹 My pick in District 6: John Bliss. I made it official on Instagram this weekend. District 6 is not our district, but every vote cast on that dais reaches every street in this city, downtown included, and I believe John has what it takes to serve Merced well. Whoever earns your support, in that race and every other: get that ballot turned in on or before Nov. 3.
🔹 Two reads before you fill in a bubble. The Merced County Times published a Friday piece giving Measure B's opponents the floor. Community organizer LaTanya Ri'Chard calls the measure "a blank check," and advocates argue a general tax with no end date should have been a special tax earmarked for south Merced, housing, and basic infrastructure. My yes is already on the record, and so is my standing rule: read the strongest case against your position before you vote. The Merced FOCUS also broke down the three Merced College trustee seats on this ballot and what each candidate is running on. Those trustees steer the college that just planted a flag in South Merced, so do not skip that page of the ballot.
👉 Read the Times piece on the Measure B opposition
👉 Read the FOCUS college board breakdown
🚨 Public Safety
🔹 Bear Creek flood protection just landed $3.15 million in federal funding. On Tuesday, Oct. 13, Congressman Adam Gray joined city officials along the Bear Creek bike path near the Rotary Scout Hut to announce a $3,150,000 federal grant for the first phase of a project to improve flood protection, upgrade infrastructure, and restore habitat along the creek. It stacks on top of $6 million Gray secured during his Assembly years and another $5 million from Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria. The same visit brought $850,000 for the Childs Avenue Project: roughly 2,000 feet of rebuilt roadway near Canal Street, plus new sidewalks, storm drainage, street lights, bike paths, and pedestrian crossings.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Our neighborhoods south of Bear Creek remember 2023. Pair this with the vegetation clearing agreement the council signed two weeks ago and the creek is finally getting layered defense: clear the channel now, harden it for the decades ahead.
→ 💬 My take: This is the model I ran on. Outside dollars doing work our general fund could never carry alone, and the clearest argument yet for a full-time grant writer at City Hall. My thanks to Congressman Gray for delivering, and to city staff for the unglamorous paperwork that wins awards like these.
🔹 Tonight's safety docket: transparency, sidearms, and the fire fleet. Chief Stanfield presents the annual AB 481 report on the police department's military-grade equipment, paired with a crime statistics update (K.1). The council also weighs replacing 120 police service pistols for standardization, at just over $106,000 (J.4), and a three-year agreement for fire department vehicle upfitting and repair (J.6).
→ 💬 My take: I spent years in local law enforcement, and I will say it plainly: reports like K.1 are where public trust gets built, one honest number at a time. If you have a question about how our city polices, tonight's microphone is open for exactly that.
👉 Read tonight's agenda packet (PDF)
💼 Economic Development
🔹 The downtown rail station fight has moved into a courtroom. The Merced FOCUS reported Friday that the Community Alliance for a Sustainable Economy filed suit in Sacramento Superior Court on Oct. 8, seeking to stop the High-Speed Rail Authority from pursuing the proposed station site near Highway 99 and East Mission Avenue. The suit argues state law directs the initial segment to run from downtown Merced to Bakersfield and accuses the Authority of sidestepping the Legislature, including through a recent environmental review exemption. The Authority declined to comment on the pending case.
→ 💬 My take: A month ago this was a strongly worded letter. Now it is a filing with a case number. No part of Merced has more riding on a downtown station than District 3, and my position has not moved an inch: the station belongs where the law and decades of planning put it. We are still awaiting a formal answer to the joint City-County letter, and the moment I know more, you will too.
🔹 Tonight: a Main Street property, a college-town land deal, and the art report. Three agenda items with District 3 fingerprints all over them. J.1 asks whether staff can negotiate selling city-owned 626 W. Main Street to a private buyer, and I want underused downtown square footage back on the tax rolls and full of customers. J.2 opens a conversation with the county Office of Education about a joint powers authority to fund infrastructure for the Virginia Smith Trust development project. And K.2 is the one I flagged last week: a full report on the city's public art program, how it is funded, how it has grown, and how artists get chosen for projects like the two $10,000 murals. The council also considers adopting a ten-year Parks, Recreation, and Open Space master plan (J.3).
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Murals, parks, and a working Main Street are not decoration. They are the college-town economy I keep pushing for, and tonight shapes how all three get paid for over the next decade.
🩺 Healthcare
🔹 Medicare's annual enrollment window opened Thursday. From Oct. 15 through Dec. 7, anyone on Medicare can join, switch, or drop Advantage and Part D drug plans for the coming year. Here is the plain-English version from someone squarely in that age bracket himself: plans quietly change their premiums, doctor networks, and drug lists every single year, so the plan that fit you in 2026 can cost you real money in 2027. Dig out the Annual Notice of Change your plan mailed you and actually read it, or sit down with a family member who will. One caution while you are at it: Medicare does not call people out of the blue, so treat any unsolicited "Medicare" phone call as the scam it almost certainly is.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: I spent a career in emergency medicine, and the hardest calls often trace back to care someone skipped because the coverage math stopped working. An hour of homework now buys a healthier year.
👉 Compare plans on Medicare.gov
📅 Meetings & Community Events
🔹 City Council: tonight, Monday, Oct. 19, 6 p.m., Council Chamber, Merced Civic Center, 678 W. 18th St., second floor. The evening opens with a Hispanic Heritage Month proclamation received by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a fitting bookend to a month of celebrations. Next regular meeting: Monday, Nov. 2.
👉 View agendas, minutes, and video
🔹 Planning Commission: Wednesday, Oct. 21, 6 p.m., Council Chambers, Merced Civic Center. Housing, growth, and land use start in that room long before they reach the council. Public seats are always open.
🔹 Commission corner, same chamber all week: Regional Airport Authority meets Tuesday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m.; Recreation and Parks Commission meets Monday, Oct. 26 at 5:30 p.m.; and the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission meets Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 3 p.m. With a ten-year parks plan up tonight, that Rec and Parks session is a timely one to watch.
🔹 Merced Certified Farmers' Market: Saturday, Oct. 24, morning, downtown Merced. Every Saturday, rain or shine, and the squash table is peak October right now.
🔹 Distinguished Climate Speakers Series: Monday, Oct. 26, 3 to 5 p.m., Lakireddy Ballroom, UC Merced. One more nudge on climate scientist Jonathan Foley. World-class speakers ten minutes from Main Street is a perk this college town should use.
🔹 Day of Unity: Wednesday, Oct. 28, 5 to 8 p.m., 514 W. Main St. An evening of community right on our Main Street, and a street full of neighbors is my favorite kind of crowded.
🔹 Monster Mash Dash and Zombie Zoom Fun Run: Saturday, Oct. 31, 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Lake Yosemite, 5714 N. Lake Road. Burn off the candy before the candy, in costume, at the lake. Halloween does not get more Merced than that.
🔹 Save the date: the 22nd Annual Veterans Day Parade, Wednesday, Nov. 11, downtown. The street closure for Main Street and Bob Hart Square is on tonight's consent calendar. This Air Force vet circles that date every year, and I hope you will too.
📢 Stay Connected with Merced
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👉 Sign up for Subscribe Merced
☎️ The Direct Line
Today is a civic doubleheader: square away your voter registration before the deadline, then join us in the chamber at 6 or stream it from the couch. If a ballot question has you stuck, or an agenda item tonight touches your block, pick up the phone. It rings in my pocket, not in some office.
My number is (209) 385-6203. You can also reply to this email or write me at HarrisM@cityofmerced.gov. And if a neighbor could use this rundown, forward it along.
Enjoy the week, Merced.
Mike Harris
Councilmember, City of Merced
