Downtown Renewal and Revitalization

By Randy Reed

Healthy Downtown areas provide communities with a strong sense of "place". Fresno needs leaders who understand the importance of our Downtown core the the quality of life of our city and who are willing to invest for the future.

To further stimulate downtown activity, we must strongly promote Fresno's enhanced convention facilities. More convention business will stimulate the development of restaurants, shops and entertainment venues in the downtown. We must also actively encourage and support quality "Destination Downtown" events to draw the public downtown. We should continue building upon the successful promotional model of the Fresno Millennium Celebration, which demonstrated clearly that Fresno can provide an enjoyable downtown experience for visitors.

Our community needs leaders who believe in Downtown and who are committed to it's success. With effective public-private partnerships and sustained focus, we can create a healthy downtown that embraces mixed-use, including office, specialty retail, entertainment/dining and residential components.