Fresno Famous

The great downtown of Fresno is practically death; no people in the streets, not many shops and commerce, few restaurants and bars, and a dark, low traffic. This is the result of the great project of the creation of an artistic pedestrian downtown, where people where going to be able to feel free to walk in the full road and do shopping. It was believed that with this new modality and the remodeling of old buildings would make the city more fun and elegant. However it became less functional and the idea of turning downtown Fresno into a sophisticated and modern became a dream for all citizens.

The fact is that the real effect was the opposite, with the streets closed to the traffic and only for pedestrians, people generally stopped going to downtown. Now the parking lots where far from the stores, restaurants and offices, making it impossible for people to arrive on time or reachable by car. As fewer people started to go downtown, investors and people who lived in the city began to leave as a consequence of the lack of people. What people really want to see in the street is more people, lights, commerce’s, cars activity in general, movement.

The trend now is revitalize downtown Fresno, in fact there are some people really passionate heading this movement, attracting investors to buy old buildings and transforming them into new and amazing lofts and offices, promoting downtown as a real sophisticated urban life style. Private initiative is already in place, but it requires government support to remove the pedestrian streets and allow traffic to circulate again trough the main roads, giving life back to downtown by making it easier for people to drive through. Bringing the people back and allowing commerce’s and restaurants to success again, Fresno downtown could become in the real dream of a modern and sophisticated urban environment.