The organizers of last weekend's Billion Dollar Tour in downtown Fresno need a lesson in truth in advertising. The "billion dollars" in the title -- the value of construction projects completed, under way or contracted in recent years -- is an understatement. It's actually more like $1.6 billion. But I guess that doesn't sing as a marketing device.
Whatever. I rode one of the Fresno Area Express buses around downtown on Saturday, curious to see what sort of turnout the tour would draw. It turned out to be around 900 people. I thought that was pretty good, and so did the organizers. I hope everyone of those riders went home and told a dozen other people about what's going on in downtown Fresno.
There's plenty to talk about. A few people I rode with were old enough to remember coming downtown years ago, when it was the commercial and entertainment hub of the region. Most hadn't been downtown in a very long time. And in most cases they were surprised to see the new buildings all over the place.
All this attention to downtown Fresno is welcome. There's a lot of misinformation out there. There are way too many people who rattle off a practiced litany of reasons why they don't like downtown -- it's dirty, dangerous, drug-infested, too many homeless people -- and in nearly the same breath brag about how they haven't been downtown in 10, 20, 30 years. Ignorance somehow confers expertise.
In fact, things never got as bad in downtown Fresno as they did in other cities. Tens of thousands of people work downtown every day. Many of the fine old buildings still stand, though much has been lost to misguided redevelopment efforts of an earlier time. There are a few new residences downtown. That's an important part of renewal -- people who live downtown rather than simply commute in and out.
The big projects on display during last Saturday's tour are important, too. So are the small things. And it's important not to get so wrapped up in the big stuff that we ignore the small details.
It's great, for instance, that we have a beautiful ballpark downtown. It would be nice to see a little money spent on sprucing up building facades and better signs directing people around downtown. The new federal courthouse is stunning. It would be nice to have a couple of little pocket parks here and there.
And we've got to do more for the core of downtown, the Fulton Mall. The buildings there are perfect for the sort of downtown development that has worked so well in so many other cities: retail and office space on the ground floor; apartments, lofts and condos above.
Downtown Fresno needs a property-based business investment district, or PBID. That's a mechanism that has raised millions for such smaller projects in cities across the country. Sacramento established the first downtown PBID in California. It places small assessments on each commercial property, and raises about $1.4 million annually for the Downtown Sacramento Partnership. A version for Fresno is in the works.
One of the virtues of PBIDs is that they are intended to supplement, not replace, public expenditures for infrastructure improvements. Cities have successfully used PBIDs to fund such things as better signs, new or restored facades and aggressive marketing campaigns. Those small things are, in the long run, every bit as important as the big-ticket projects.
Another thing Fresno needs to do is to focus on the Fulton Mall proper, and several large old buildings that languish as their speculator-owners wait for the values to rise. If ever there were a good use for the controversial tool of eminent domain, that's it. Instead of targeting small, locally owned businesses that have managed to stay afloat through the bad times, level the cannons at the big guys, and force them to do something with their buildings or surrender them to someone who will.
The organizers of the Billion Dollar Tour are already talking about doing it again, perhaps next year. That's good. Better advertising in advance might drive even larger crowds to see what's happening downtown. And that will help spread the word: Downtown Fresno is coming back. Get on board.
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