Whether it's a fake river or a real trolley system, none of it can work without a residential community of sufficient size in the downtown. I'm completely dismayed at this continuing series of proposals for grandiose and cosmetic projects costing millions of dollars when most of the buildings are still vacant. Put the government money into low, mid and upper income housing rehab and development and let the retailers come to be near their customers on their own dime.

I live downtown. This would make the "street" people less and less of an issue as the area becomes more and more populated with "normal" people.

There but for fortune... go any of us.
Orange bear should check out Matthew 25.31

i have never seen a "street person" in a parking garage in fresno.
i have never had a "street person" downtown demand money from me, and i go there regularly enough.
i have had a few ask, but none got freaked out or went ahole on me when i turned them down. nor did any accuse me of racism for turning them down.
there are registered sex offenders within a 2 mile radius of most every neighborhood of fresno. check the megan's law website if you want to know the closest one for your house.
for the sake of clarification, "A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or slows down the flow, often creating a reservoir, lake or impoundments," (wikipedia). "Damn' is commonly nowadays known as a very mildly profane word and used while cursing or swearing in North America," (wikipedia).

I am a Reedley-ite who travels ALL OVER Central California. I'm curious, theValleyisforLovers, what do you think about the revitalization that's taking place in Hanford? It is way ahead of Fresno's efforts and your experience of 5 years ago. The Metro 4 downtown has been revitalized, across the street is Fatte Albert's pizza. They have the BEST pizza, by the way. Might remind you of some SLO pizza places.

Also, the Thursday Night Marketplace is a great place to people watch. Should you check it out, let me know your impressions.

We share some interests. Where we differ is, I am more interested in promoting the small town charm of the smaller towns across CenCal. Agri-tourism is blossoming and linking a lot of them that way.

Check out www.cencalfocus.com to see if this is an effort you might see yourself joining.

As neighbors who enjoyed the 2 screens/cheap prices at the theater on Dakota (north end Manchester Center) we were sorry to see it go. When discussion came up about the new multiplex Jayne attended a meeting and was told by corporate reps that there would be at least one screen dedicated to art films. So here we are.
I will drive around it to downtown any time.

Being that I hail from Kingsburg, and went to high school in Reedley with many people that come from around the south valley (especially), I found that people will travel quite a ways just to go to the movie theatre. At least that was the case when I was in high school, about 5 or 6 years ago. Yes, there is a theatre in Selma (10 min drive) and there is one in Dinuba as well with stadium seating and significantly cheaper prices (10-15 min drive) and I suppose we could consider the theatres in Visalia (25 min drive) and Hanford (20-25 min drive)....but all of us, no matter which small town we lived in, would make the approximately 30 minute trek to Edwards at Riverpark just about every single weekend. There are so many things that made it worth the drive, including the surrounding variety of restaurants and shops within walking distance of the theatre--but the main draw for us non-Fresnans was this: it was SO cool to just hang out there and be seen! If we could create once again a place for people to hang and market it as the 'cool' gathering spot (or watering hole? as some might understand it to be) for everyone, then the drive will absolutely not matter. And as for braving downtown and its perceived 'scariness'? The small town people do it for Grizzlies games, for concerts, for Fresno State games (when they were at Selland Arena) and I tell you that if just a few key people deem it to be a 'cool' hangout, then the crowds will flock from the South Valley.

I never took a marketing class in college, but I really think, sadly enough, that it might be that simple.

One more comment: a key component of thriving public spaces are the people watchers. I myself love the art of watching people interact. If something like this downtown movie theatre ever does open, maybe a group of us should commit to bringing out our lawn chairs and start some people watching. If anything, we'll be entertained, and people's perception of safety downtown just might increase with all of those eyes on the street. Anyone up for some good entertainment? (Can you tell I am from a small town? You wouldn't believe the things we had to come up with to make life fun for ourselves.)

Yes, AMC was the company in question. Signature came in before the downtown deal closed (a deal that had been in the works for several years prior), and pushed their thing through at the last minute.

as best as i remember, it was a magic johnson theater that was intended for downtown. and, i remember there being a lot of talk about a 6 mile radius for first run theaters. don't know if that was some an industry rule, or just some sort of competitive guideline. regardless, i always thought it strange that there have been many theaters in fresno that would have been within 6 miles of each other without a problem.

But wasn't that downtown theater deal being headed by AMC Theaters — the one that Magic Johnson chairs? And if I remember correctly, one of their things is locating in areas that need revitalization.
Funny how you can probably go through years of public records and elected official decisions and see just how much they've failed downtown.

The city council is downtown's worst enemy. Where was Perea when Edwards was being built? I'd like to know his position then and how he voted.

And isn't Fresno large enough to support three multi-screen theatres? Surely the people that I have meet at River Park that have traveled from Fowler and Selma to watch a movie would prefer a shorter drive to downtown Fresno than a drive to River Park.

I should watch myself, I might not know what I am getting myself into.

Back in 1999, downtown Fresno was slated to get a major multi-screen movie theatre and entertainment development, on the mall. A company was lined up, plans were in the works, etc. Then Manchester Center came along and lobbied the council that they needed a multiplex more than downtown. The market wasn't big enough to support both theatres, so it was either one or the other. It came down to a tug of war between Henry Perea Sr. who wanted the Manchester theatre and Dan Ronquillo, who said the Manchester plan would kill the downtown plan. Perea was quoted in The Bee as saying that "one area (downtown) should not be favored over another." Perea won, Signature Theatres opened the next year at Manchester and downtown is still without a movie theatre. Funny how Manchester, which was the first real threat to downtown, and started the retail exodus (Sears used to be downtown, they were the first big store to leave), managed some 40 years later to do the same thing all over again.

Movie theatre downtown? Absolutely. I think the Crest theatre is the absolute prime location. Just off the Fulton Mall, a [somewhat] link to the Broadway/Cultural Arts District, a great adaptive reuse project....

You know, I heard the City of Lemoore Redevelopment Agency used some of their funds to build a movie theatre in their downtown as part of their revitalization process. From what I hear from the one person I do know that lives in Lemoore [but believe me, she's quite credible], it's been a success. It makes me, and many others I have talked to, think this: if Lemoore is making things happen with the small pool of resources they have, what is our Redevelopment Agency doing with the quite large amount of resources they have? Sure, we hear about the top secret Forest City plan from time to time, and can drive through Chinatown to see the vast improvements that those neat Chinese looking benches and trash cans have made on those streets, but what really is going on in the offices of the Redevelopment Agency? Techically, the RDA is the lead agency of downtown revitalization, since I believe every single square inch of downtown lies within a redevelopment area, thus qualifying for a certain amount of funding. Where is all of that money?

Rhetorical question? Maybe. Maybe not.

Many of us over at fresnofusion.com agree that downtown needs an anchor to be the centerpiece of the revitalization efforts. Chris Shackelford, GM of the Downtown Club, said that something like a movie theatre would allow downtown businesses the opportunity to stay open later to earn the new customers entertainment dollars.