Fresno Famous

I feel somewhat vindicated.

For only being a mild to moderate user of this site, I've taken a lot of crap from certain individuals within the Famous world for saying, among other things, that Fresno is dying, that there are a LOT of problems with the city, that major changes need to be made in order for businesses to survive here, and that there are REASONS people leave Fresno for other cities.

Having said that, I actually was truly saddened when I spoke with the staff at Upstairs Downtown yesterday, and they informed me that they would be closing their doors for good at the end of this month. It is a fabulous restaurant in a unique location with wonderful atmosphere and better food and service than most of the 5-star restaurants I used to frequent on the east coast.

Now, before we start the management-bashing that typically follows these kinds of posts (and there have a been a lot of them in the past few months), yes, the management could have taken more interest in advertising, marketing and otherwise increasing their business through conventional means. And, yes, the price point was a little high for the Fresno market. But they did have quite a loyal word-of-mouth clientéle, most of whom stayed faithful through the frequent changes in operating hours.

But at the same time, I'm starting to see a pattern here. Entrepreneurial business people decide to take a risk by investing in downtown Fresno, but Fresno doesn't return the favor. After months or years of losing money or barely breaking even, they are forced to close their doors. (See also: Koffeeheads, Fagan's, and Old Fresno Hofbrau.)

I think what has happened is that in the interest of trying to make Fresno better, we've deluded ourselves into believing that it's better than it actually is. When I say that I think there are serious problems that have to be addressed, everyone rushes to tell me all the things that are wonderful about Fresno. But rarely will anyone admit a problem and then engage in discussion about how to fix it. I understand that for a very long time, complaining about Fresno was very much in vogue. But I'm afraid we have swung to the other extreme, and neither mindset is productive.

There are a lot of problems with Fresno. There are a lot of good things about Fresno. Why can't we admit both of these things and then proceed to have a realistic discussion about how to make Fresno better?