Brand on Autry's ideas
Mayor Autry has a good heart and the best of intentions to make Fresno a better city. Grand visions and dreams do not make a better city. You need well defined, achievable goals, a specific long term plan to achieve those goals and a confirmed financing source. Mayor Autry’s idea of a downtown lake or a trolley car system between the Tower District and downtown are grand visions but they are premature. First of all, we do not have the financial resources to pay for these types of costly items. A second issue to consider is the water shortage we have. The revitalization of downtown will follow a pattern with building blocks put together in sequence. There will be a proper time for a downtown waterway when the right building blocks of commercial, retail, and residential development are in place.
The current makeup of Fulton Mall will never succeed. Small Ma and Pa business and some government buildings is not enough to regenerate interest in downtown and the mall. The current property owners do not take care of their property. The recently discussed Fulton Mall Improvement District where the city loans money to property owners is a potential solution to improving the appearance of the Fulton Mall. Each owner would repay the loan through assessments against their properties. The improvement district concept could also be expanded to include the entire downtown area. This is, however, not enough for the Fulton Mall. To attract people downtown you need a regional attraction like a major retailer or factory outlet store. I do not believe in destroying historic buildings. We need to maintain an historic image of downtown preserving the original architecture.
As I mentioned earlier, the right building blocks of commercial, retail and residential components must be developed to insure the success of downtown. The residential component is critical to make downtown a vibrant 24 hour part of our city and not an abandoned area after 5:00 PM.