Fresno Famous

I grew up there.

I lived in Fresno for about 20 years, a lot of people really would like to blame the Republicans or whoever for it's destruction, but really it's the lack of ANY entertainment (with the Save Mart center as the exception) or ANYTHING to even do besides that. I go back and visit about once a year to visit my friends. Most of them are now college grads, with jobs paying lower than what I make (I now live in Utah). I think also the crime, heat, and general attitude makes the place suck. And as for "reviving" downtown, after a while there's a certain amount of time the time of death needs to be announced. It's dead, it's in a poorly mapped out area, it's in an even poorer part of town (the Fulton mall is populated with the homeless, which is right next to the court house, and police dept btw). It's also filled with 2nd hand "vintage" shops, pawn shops, and GASP charity run/ welfare-esqe sevices. Which brings in more homeless and lower income people to line up in that area every morning.
I know this for a fact, from being the child of a down on the luck disable mother. And for some reason, people keep wanting to pump more money into this area, without considering the reasons WHY no one wants to go down there. They keep thinking maybe some more shops, more money. Last business I saw downtown a few yrs back was a tea shop. I have no idea if it's still there.

And then there's the air, which just sucks. I have no "hometown spirit" it was busted a cap in it by the Bulldog gang, or maybe another offshoot of the Bulldogs...

SLC, much prettier and 100x better and I've only been here for 3 1/2 yrs

Criticism

If you just pass through a city going north, probably on 99, then how the hell are you going to determine how great a city is (regarding Visalia, Fresno and Madera)?

Right on

Right on, right on, right on, right on, etc..

Republican

Fresno is a very Republican town, Sacramento is not. Republicans want a bigger screen TV in their McMansion with a bigger SUV parked out front. They don't care about Arts or Culture. They don't care if a museum stays in businesss, so long as there are 50 screens showing the latest action flick at the mall.

That is the difference between Fresno and Sacramento.

Another reason...

That's another good reason why Fresno really needs to TRY and revitalize its downtown area.

Sac and Fresno are not

Sac and Fresno are not really similar in size. Maybe if you're talking about pop in the city limits, but what really matters is pop in the metro area. Fresno's metro area is 1 million, Sac is DOUBLE that.

Does this really suprise

Does this really suprise anyone?

I mentioned the new campaign tag line to people who have never been to Fresno other than passing through enroute to Sacto or points further north.

Their reaction can be summerized in one of two statements I heard depending on your perspective;

"Fresno is world class? Then Madera must be slightly better than medeocre."

-or-

"resno is world class? Then Visalia must be Valhalla."

Fresno's identity started screwed the proverbial pooch when Mayor Dan Whitehurst went on the Late Night with David Letterman Show in the early 1980's when Fresno was tagged with it's first national polled negative identity crisis (outside of the SJV anyway). Letterman gave only a token bit of interest with the 2 mins Mayor Dan had at the end of the show.

Fresno has never recovered. in 1985 the city welcomed with open arms the CBS-TV serial production of "FRESNO!", as in that serial that gave us the now immortal line from it's first episode "You call these grapes, they taste like FRESNO!" after a Spanish explorer sampled the local fare.

People remember lines like that, not "Be World-Class. Be Fresno" .

No, it's going to take much more than $1.2 mil to even start erasing the follies of the Fresno's past.

Oh BTW if you are in the media or bloggersphere and have lived IN Fresno for 5 or more years, you need to sit down and STFU about writing if Fresno sucks or not. Just because you heard it sucks or you had a bad day on Blackstone one when traveling through doesn't give you license to speak about what it's reakky like to live (here).

Revitalize

Fresno---no matter how much it wants to be or whats to think it is---is not "world class". Yes, it is sort of trapped between "world class" cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles. However, its NOT either of those cities and never will be. Fresno is decidedly "Fresno" whatever that means.

I do think city planners have continually messed things up by giving the OK for new subdivisions and strip malls further and further out into the areas that were formerly farm lands and letting the center of town whither and rot and die. That's such a shame.

I really think a viable downtown COULD happen in Fresno. I'm just not sure how to make it happen. I keep comparing Fresno with Sacramento. Population-wise, Fresno is bigger...but Sacramento's downtown is vibrant and alive and there are wonderful neighborhoods that feature great shops and restaurants. While its true that Sacramento has a river, I don't think the proposed "Lake Fresno" (or whatever it was) is necessarily the answer. Sac also has the state capitol and all that goes on with it.

A lot of people in Sacramento commute from neighboring towns and there is bad traffic congestion at times throughout the day. The commuter rail system has helped--and could work here. I'm not sure what it is that makes Sacramento work so well and Fresno NOT work (at least in the eyes of those who continually drag it through the mud). Sacramento has tourist attractions (Old Town, train museum, American River, Capitol building, etc.)---is that what we're lacking?

I'm not slamming Fresno and not praising Sacramento as a paradise. To me, they just seem comparable in size and the weather is similar. I was just making an observation.