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Mike Harris Newsletter — September 7, 2026
📞 On Call with Mike Harris | District 3 | September 7, 2026
Happy Labor Day, Merced,
City offices are closed today, and I hope your biggest decision is what goes on the grill. Before the day gets away from us, take one minute with me to appreciate the people whose work keeps this city upright: the crews patching pavement in triple-digit heat, the dispatchers answering 911 at 3 a.m., the folks stocking shelves before sunrise. I wore a working uniform of one kind or another for most of my life, and this holiday always lands a little personally.
Tomorrow, though, we are back at it. The council returns to the chamber Tuesday night, and this time I have an item of my own on the agenda: a conversation about parking structures. The full agenda posted Wednesday, September is officially Pedestrian Safety Month, and The Merced FOCUS published two pieces this week worth your time. Here we go.
🚨 Public Safety
🔹 September is Pedestrian Safety Month. On Monday, Aug. 31, Merced PD kicked off a month-long reminder for drivers to slow down and stay alert for people on foot. The numbers behind it are sobering: in 2024, 1,090 people were struck and killed while walking in California, about 28 percent of all traffic deaths statewide. As Sgt. Jacob Fister put it, "Everyone, regardless of how they travel, deserves to arrive at their destination safely."
→ ⚡ Why this matters: District 3 is the most walkable part of Merced, and that is exactly the point. Main Street, the farmers market, kids crossing to school south of Bear Creek: our neighborhoods live on foot traffic. Slow down at crosswalks, marked or not, and put the phone away. Nobody's text is worth a neighbor's life.
👉 Read the Police Department's safety reminder
🔹 Two traffic-safety grants land on Tuesday's consent calendar. The council will consider accepting $238,199.99 from the CHP's Cannabis Tax Fund Grant Program for impaired-driving checkpoints, saturation patrols, and equipment, including a patrol truck and motorcycle, plus a California Office of Traffic Safety award with up to $98,900 authorized to run the operations behind campaigns like the one above. You know my refrain: this is the grants-first playbook. Enforcement on our streets, funded with state dollars instead of your general fund. I will vote yes without losing sleep.
💼 Economic Development
🔹 High-Speed Rail: the letter is getting traction. Last week I walked you through the joint City-County letter to the Rail Authority. On Wednesday, The Merced FOCUS dug into it, and the reporting adds useful detail: local leaders want the full mitigation plan finished before the Authority makes any final station decision, and the remedies on the table include widening Highway 99 through Merced and Atwater and settling exactly how a station would connect to Amtrak and ACE service. The message from Merced's leadership is that any new location must be "negotiated, funded, and approved together." That is the right posture, and I am holding to it. If this issue matters to you, the community's monthly meeting on Sept. 15 is listed below.
👉 Read The Merced FOCUS coverage
🔹 A quiet $50 million item you should know about. Also Tuesday: authorization to accept up to $50,000,000 in State Revolving Fund loan proceeds to help finance improvements at our wastewater treatment plant. Not glamorous, but here is the plain English: SRF loans are some of the lowest-cost financing available for this work, and a city cannot recruit employers or build housing without utility capacity underneath it. Growth runs on pipes before it runs on ribbon cuttings.
🩺 Healthcare
🔹 The Valley's promotoras deserve a spotlight. On Friday, Sept. 4, The Merced FOCUS published a feature on promotoras de salud, the community health workers who help neighbors navigate a cancer diagnosis, find a clinic, get food on the table, or connect with counseling. California counted more than 8,700 community health workers as of 2023, and much of their work happens in living rooms, churches, and grocery store aisles rather than offices. One Dos Palos mother profiled in the piece spent years pressing for clean drinking water at her kids' school until funding for a purification system came through.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Trusted guides upstream mean fewer preventable emergencies downstream, fewer 911 calls, and less strain on the ambulances and ERs this city depends on. And when the barrier is mental health, exactly the root issue I keep raising on homelessness, a familiar face who knows the system is often what gets someone to say yes to help. This is prevention that pays for itself.
👉 Read the FOCUS feature on promotoras
🔹 Taking care of the people who take care of you. Two more consent items Tuesday deserve a mention. First, a contract at $141,697 per year, $467,600 total, for annual health, wellness, and fitness evaluations, the kind of preventive medicine that keeps the people who serve this city ready for the job. Second, a three-year agreement with Forensic Nurse Specialists of Northern California to provide specialized SART exams through July 2029. That second one is hard to talk about, and that is exactly why it matters: survivors of sexual assault in our community deserve expert, compassionate care from the very first hour. I am glad to see both on the agenda.
📅 Meetings & Community Events
🔹 City Council meeting: Tuesday, Sept. 8, 6 p.m. Council Chamber, Merced Civic Center, 678 W. 18th St., second floor, with a closed session starting at 5 p.m. Beyond my parking item, Mayor Serratto has asked for a discussion of flood control efforts, and the council will take up this year's Community Funding recommendations for local organizations. Come speak, or watch from home.
👉 View agendas, minutes, and video
🔹 Planning Commission: Wednesday, Sept. 9, 6 p.m. Council Chambers, Merced Civic Center. The agenda includes a public hearing on a conditional use permit for a proposed convenience store and car wash seeking alcohol and tobacco sales near a public park, plus election of a new commission chair and vice-chair. Decisions like these shape neighborhoods one corner at a time, and public seats are always open.
🔹 High-Speed Rail Community Action Meeting: Tuesday, Sept. 15, 6 p.m. The community-organized monthly meeting for residents following the station discussion. Registration is required, and the location is provided when you sign up.
🔹 Merced Certified Farmers' Market: Saturday, Sept. 12, morning, downtown Merced. The holiday leftovers will be gone by then. Restock the kitchen, bring a bag, and say hello to the growers who keep this tradition going every single Saturday.
📣 Stay Connected with Merced
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👉 Sign up for Subscribe Merced
☎️ The Direct Line
This week I want your parking stories. Where do you circle the block downtown? What would make you park once and stay all evening? A garage is a multimillion-dollar decision, and I would rather start with your experience than a consultant's slide deck. Bring it to the microphone Tuesday night, or bring it straight to me.
My number is (209) 385-6203. You can also reply to this email or write me at HarrisM@cityofmerced.gov. If a neighbor would find this useful, pass it along.
Enjoy the rest of the holiday, and I will see you Tuesday night, Merced.
