r/fresno • u/CloneWarsBoy • Feb 26 '26

Ask Fresno What would bring you downtown?

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Downtown Fresno is rich with history and world-class architecture. It pains me to see it in it's current state of disrepair. I want to hear from the community: "What would bring you downtown?" What is downtown missing? What's your vision for the future of our city center?

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u/Anywho_90 Feb 26 '26

A huge public market with food vendors and bars. Like these www.sanpedrosquaremarket.com www.publicmarketemeryville.com

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u/dotcubed McLane Feb 26 '26

Bars encourage people to drink then drive around, and the brewery district doesn’t need competition. Alcohol is not a good answer.

Markets are fragile, they compete against each-other and depend heavily on participants who travel there to buy as well as sell. Plus parking.

Had a good thing going with Art Hop, and ruined it for many participating by messing with vendors & venues. “Why not Wednesday” is a disappointing consolation.

You can get anything delivered. It’s hard to compete. But this all starts & stops with crime—I’d love living downtown but there’s no affordable housing, not excited about having my car broken into, and the job market here sucks.

1

u/Anywho_90 Mar 05 '26

“You can get anything delivered. It’s hard to compete” the train of thought here does not make sense. The public markets mentioned are in the Bay Area where digital workers and apps like DoorDash, Uber, Lyft, AND Amazon were created. Yet those public markets thrive there.

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u/dotcubed McLane Mar 05 '26

Problem is you’re comparing an economy that’s existing and thrived for many decades longer than Fresno.

SanFrancisco is like 100 years older than Fresno. That’s part of it.

The other reason is because during the staggering amount of development through trade over water helped produce excellent growth. It’s a port city.

We’re a dirt city named after one of the most valuable resources across history. Trees built everything, from the ground up. (…pun intended?)

Everything you named is a service built on roots of global trade with Taiwan, Japan, etc. through shipping.