Downtown’s Doldrums
Something happened to me this morning during one of my long walks, and I think it exemplifies the trouble Fresno city officials will have in trying to bring downtown back to life.
It was a cool, sunny day, and I was dressed in a sweatshirt, long pants and tennis shoes as I made my way through the area just north of downtown between Divisadero and Olive and Broadway and Van Ness. That’s one of the oldest sections of Fresno, and I always like walking through older sections because they have character and history.
On this particular morning, I had started at Divisadero and made my way north to Olive and the Tower District. I turned east and then headed back toward downtown along College Avenue. Near the corner of Belmont and Van Ness, I noticed a truck with two people sitting in chairs alongside it.
As I approached, one of them asked me if I wanted a burrito. Turns out they were part of a church or charitable group that was handing out food to the poor and to the homeless. Apparently, I looked the part.
Of course, I declined. But as I walked away, I realized what had happened. Those folks at the truck assumed — because I was not dressed in my Sunday best — that I must have been poor and/or homeless. After all — and here’s the part to really think about — who else would be walking in that part of town at that time of day?
And that, my friends, is one of the very big problems downtown Fresno has. The neighborhood I was in is less than a mile from downtown, but it’s a world away from Herndon Avenue. Some of the old homes in my walking area have been beautifully kept up, especially several of the old two-story mansions along Van Ness south of Belmont. But most of the homes are in need of serious help, and some look dreadful. And, yes, you can find homeless people without too much of a search.
But it’s not just the reality of the “old” that permeates that area — it’s the perception that almost everyone in North Fresno has that anything south of Shaw is either unsafe or undesirable. If that were not the perception, downtown would be bustling, and there would be no need to tear out the Fulton Mall and re-open Fulton Street. That project is a desperate effort to “throw something on the wall and hope it sticks,” but no one really believes it will do what needs to happen.
What needs to take place downtown is for all those great retail stores of the past — Penney’s, Gottschalks, Roos/Atkins, Montgomery Ward, Walter Smith, Berkeley’s, Harry Coffee’s — to resurrect themselves and move back to Fulton, where they used to be. But that won’t happen, of course, because — even if many of those stores had not gone out of business — Fresno residents have already voted with their cars to move north and shop north. Downtown’s days as a retail center are over, and unfortunately what replaced all those wonderful outlets were stores with less-expensive products and shoppers who have little or no money.
As I have written before, I invite you to walk the length of the Fulton Mall — which I did again this afternoon — and tell me, with a straight face, that you believe re-opening Fulton Street is going lead to a complete make-over of downtown. Tell me that you honestly think re-opening Fulton will cause those inexpensive stores with the iron bars in the front windows to go away. Tell me that re-opening Fulton will fill all those now-empty high-rises with offices occupied once again by doctors and dentists and lawyers and CPA’s — – just like they were in the “old days” before the mall went in and before the City Council destroyed downtown by approving Fashion Fair.
Don’t get me wrong. I was born in Fresno and have lived here for much, but not all, of my life. I want nothing but the best for downtown because I remember when it was vibrant and exciting. I think what the Assemi family has done — building numerous lofts and apartments in and near downtown — is fabulous. I think tearing out the mall and re-opening Fulton is, indeed, necessary.
But none of that is sufficient to restore downtown. I’m not sure anything can be done to restore it, but I think anyone who has ideas about how to do so should be encouraged to bring money to the table and given the okay to try.
But remember — a “new” Fulton and some new lofts/apartments won’t change the perception those in the far north end of town — the “money” end — have. And that perception is that anyone in a sweatshirt who is walking in or near downtown on a weekday must be homeless or poor.