Fresno Famous

Please do nothing. My anxiety has been rising over the past few months as I sensed the desperation in your administration. More than six years of your administration have already crept by, and now you realize that the Tale of Two Cities wasn't a clever campaign slogan, it was a book written by Dickens.

Downtown Fresno, and its surrounding environs, are no better today than they were when you stepped into office. The Jefferson and Lowell neighborhoods have the highest police calls for service in the city. Nothing has changed.

The Fulton Mall is just as dead on a Saturday night as it was when you took over.

Your newest project to lunge at is a river. I defy you to show us one fake river that has revitalized a downtown in the U.S. I can show you hundreds, if not thousands that have revitalized without a fake river. Yet you want to spend $1.1 million for an Environmental Impact Report?

What could $1.1 million buy in proven revitalization tools?

Most cities have facade improvement grants (even Orange Cove). At $25,000 per grant, you could fix 44 storefront facades on the Fulton mall. This would bring back the historic look of downtown, adding to our authenticity. Uncovering the facades also uncovers second story windows, in essence, doubling the square footage of stores. Second floors could then be used for lofts or offices.

Instead of spending millions on an unproven public works project, you could invest $75,000 in a Property Based Improvement District, which would, in turn, generate millions of dollars of private investment. Hundreds of cities use this type of district, but not Fresno.

Or you could put your millions into a Public Market, in the run down Gottshalks building, which could feature Valley produce, and valley ethnic foods. Public markets are in or are being built in all of the cool cities. Why? They support local growers and support healthy foods. They generate foot traffic 7 days a week.

You could invest your money into a signage program that would guide people to and around downtown. Wastonville has a good one, I'm sure that they would lend their expertise. This couldn't cost more than a couple of hundred thousands.

What if you broke the $1.1 million into eleven $100,000 grants? You could give a grant to the first eleven ethnic restaurants to open on the mall. The grant could be used for tenant improvements or equipment. No two restaurants could represent the same ethnicity. They'd also have to commit to staying open until 8 or 9 o'clock. Give then room on the mall for outdoor dining.

Put the $1.1 million into creating weekly downtown festivals on the mall. With that kind of seed capital, and the money that festivals could generate, this would generate foot traffic forever. The Creative Economy Council recommended festivals downtown every weekend, alternating agricultural and ethnic festivals, along with music and art fests.

The only things stopping you from doing the right things downtown, are your lack of knowledge about downtown revitalization and you inability to hire people with downtown revitalization knowledge or experience. So please, rather than wasting money or saddling us with another failed "this will fix downtown" project, please do nothing.