Win passes to the Fresno Art Museum
Here is your chance to win passes to the Fresno Art Museum,... Enter Now
Are you kidding me: The future of Fulton is cars?
- Feb 06 2013
- 5
Here's one that screams Fresno.
A front-page story in the daily paper under the tag "state of downtown" with a headline that reads "CARS URGED FOR FULTON."
And my stomach drops.
The story is a recap of the Mayor's annual State of Downtown breakfast, which was held Tuesday morning and was by most accounts (I wasn't there, but I knew plenty of people who were and was following along on Twitter) a success. The event got front-page and editorial coverage and all kinds of Twitter/Facebook love. For someone who cares about downtown in a real way (I live/work/play there), this is a net positive. The more people talk about downtown and realize we need to face its issues, the better.
That said: Is this where we are at? Is the major component of the future success of downtown cars? Or, quoting from the story: "Cars, cars, cars. 'Cars animate a place,' Beer said" (Beer is an urban planner and the event's keynote speaker).
The story is no doubt skewed for readers (gotta sell those papers), but this makes me want to pull out my f'in hair.
Look, I won't argue the economics. I have heard the spiel and seen the stats and I trust that the mayor (and the Downtown Partnership and others) are super smart (smarter than me) and they have Fresno (and downtown's) best interests at heart.
And yes, Fresno is car centric to the max. It would be naive to ignore that.
Therein lies the problem.
I want to be naive. I want downtown to be the one place that stands against the status quo, that really works to guide the city toward a new way of thinking (and living), instead of capitulating to what we know works. Otherwise we get another River Park (or, to a lesser, though more acceptable extent, the Tower District).
Stories like this hurt my heart. Sure, this might be exactly what we need to bring downtown (and Fresno in general) to economic stability. But will it make it a place I want to live?
5 Comment(s) for "Are you kidding me: The future of Fulton is cars?"
Openning The Mall will help some of the issues with downtown but it certainly won't be the panacea people will come to expect. I've run my business out of downtown for 13 years and bought a building in the Cultural Arts/Mural District roughly 6 years ago so I'm pretty comitted, but I can say that things have changed very slowly and are far from being great. IBC can't sustain even with experienced an operator, The Downtown Club takes a hit. It's not the land of milk and honey. Yes there are small patches of hope, Fresno Brewing, Zamora Taqueria, to name a couple, but those are small moral victories.
Downtown is probably still a generation away from really working due to the avergage Fresnan's current tastes/preferences (read Riverpark/Yardhouse) and I hope I'm wrong with that figure. Changing that takes time, in addtion to updating zoning laws, attracting additional developers, slowing sprawl which competes with downtown so projects down here can pencil. Most real estate developers can't make their projects work downtown, where land prices have been high, rents low, ammenties are sparse so they build somewhere else.
You and I like The Mall the way it is and would use it in either form, but we're the small minority. We need more Kool-Aid drinkers who understand, unique spaces and things make a place, not big box stores and chains..........
I don't think opening the Fulton Mall to auto traffic is the answer to saving downtown. Fresno has moved north. Period. An open road on Fulton is not going to change that. Why not revamp the mall, make it a place that is a "must-see" place that is unique (forget trying to bring back the big store chains that once ruled down there--put in more artisans, unique housing, spiff up the art aspect, add some museums, theaters, etc. There's no reason (other than funding, drive and imagination) why the Fulton Mall can't be something like other big towns have that draw in tourists (it's 5 am and although I know what I'm trying to say, none of the names of the places I'm thinking of is coming to mind...). I don't think Fresno will ever be a tourist destination---but the mall could be made into a great place anyone would be proud to take visitors. Make the mall a neat, fun place---and fix the parking.
Well, the key piece to what Mr. Beer said that was omitted from that quote in the story was;
'Cars animate a place, because you know what's in cars?' and then he waited a second for everyone with a brain to catch up and finish the sentence. People! People animate a downtown.
His message wasn't to bring cars back to Fulton, it was to bring life back. If people can't see the shops as they drive by, they'll never get out and shop, eat and spend time and money downtown.
You are right on with that final assessment.
And really, my problem is not whether traffic gets reintroduced to this particular stretch of the city. My problem is a mentality that accepts and even propagates the status quo (in this case car culture). How can we ever become a more sustainable city (more density, better public transportation) with this focus on cars?
The Mall is so different from other parts of the city and is cool just the way it is. But, we have an army of desperate people in desperate situations. Some of them own businesses on the mall and they want the street restored because they think it will be good for business. I tend to agree with them, having talked to Kendall when he was doing Milano Pizza on the Mall a few years ago.
Mr. Beer makes sense to me, but I can see the other side, too. The photo of the cupola from the old Fresno court house crashing down comes to mind. Once you tear it out it can't be reversed. But, whatever they decide to do with the Mall, I'll be ok. Life will go on. There will always be some good, some bad and some in between.