Fresno on Foot

No pictures today; my feet hurt and I’m all pictured out. I suppose I should admit that I’m having some misgivings about continuing this blog. I have no desire to be any sort of “activist.” I have no interest in stirring pots, rousing rabble, beating any form of alarmist drum, or engaging in any form of crusade. And I’m failing to see how this is providing anything of value to anybody’s life in any way. I don’t want the burden of always having to explain the “urbanist” perspective (especially when there is already a wealth of material on the web if you just step away from the social media), I don’t want the “bad feelings” that come from seeking and finding empty lots, crumbling buildings, and wasteful parking lots, and I don’t want the fights that come from people misinterpreting what I say. I don’t want to be in “debate mode” all the time. I just want to live my life in peace with everybody else, in a town that’s prosperous and in which I can participate in said prosperity as ...

I think the Downtown Fresno Partnership made a mistake in its attempt to “rebrand” the old Fulton Mall as some sort of upscale entertainment and dining district—something it’s clearly not . What’s particularly egregious is that what it is is in many ways so much better than that: a blank slate, ready for your masterpiece. Or at least, it could be, if only City Hall got the hell out of the way. If the municipal government can’t fix what ails Downtown (and make no mistake: They can’t ), they should consider primum non nocere —“first, do no harm” and let property and business owners make more of their own decisions without their benevolent interference. The problem with trying to force something or someone into being something that it isn’t is you end up destroying the good of what’s already there. Downtown has suffered enough under the thumb of decades of the well-meaning, unilateral, and costly visions of a small handful of people who think they know better than bu...

Pictures on top, story on bottom. According to some people I met from the old country, if your father’s father was Armenian, then you are Armenian. By that standard, I am Armenian. Oh, I feel more American than I do anything else. And to tell you the truth, I never spent much time with other Armenians, and I never felt like I belonged much to the diaspora…or any group, really. I’ve always considered myself the perennial outsider. But there’s always been a small sense of…not exactly belonging , but connectedness with my ancestral heritage. And, although I’m only a quarter by blood, the fact remains that the blood is there…and there are those to whom it is blood enough . But discounting my Armenian heritage, there’s something about Fresno’s Little Armenia that saddens me, as a human…and as a Fresnan. Take these beautiful, old, relocated, and abandoned houses. These structures used to house humans—real, living, breathing, bleeding, laughing, cryi...

This is a picture of Valparaiso Cafe and Roastery , which is on 744 “P” Street in Downtown Fresno, in the Warehouse Row office complex. They’re open weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., the coffee is piping hot, they serve food, it's reasonably priced, and it’s quite good. If you live, work, or play downtown (and you should be doing all three), this is definitely a place to check out. Read on for a personal story.
 EDITING ALERT: I used Lightroom CC’s “auto” lens correction feature on this one. Something funny happened to me last night. After nearly (or maybe over; I haven’t kept track) a year of having left social media, I decided to create another Facebook account. As a marketer (albeit not a terribly successful or good one), I figured I needed to be “where the people are” in order to promote myself as a graphics designer, and, I suppose now, a blogger. It didn’t take me long to realize the people have all gone elsewhere. There are a few hangers-on and loyalis...

Back when I was still on Facebook, a common excuse for people not going downtown was the “lack of parking.” They would tell me “there’s not enough parking.”  “There’s not enough parking.”  “There’s not enough parking.”  “There’s not enough parking.”  “There’s not enough parking.”  “There’s not enough parking.”  “There’s not enough parking.”  “There’s not enough parking.”  “There’s not enough parking.”  “There’s not enough parking.”

When I left the house this morning, I left with a specific agenda. I decided to photograph empty lots. All of these lots have the following three things in common: All are (presumably) privately owned lots located in Downtown Fresno, as defined by the following boundaries: South of Divisadero Street. West of Highway 41. North/East (both technically apply) of Highway 99. None of them are being put to any productive use (one has a couple trailers hanging out). Not a single “for sale” sign was to be found among them. There are plenty more than these, but I stopped at ten on purpose. If I were a betting man, I would assume they’re being held by land speculators, people who have correctly surmised that, due to existing taxation laws, financing structures, and land use regulations (among other factors), they have far more incentive to simply hold land and wait for prices to go up than do anything with it. This is not their fault; nobody can be...

These pictures are definitely telling a story, even if it doesn’t lend itself well to words. No words I can add would do justice here…so I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Doesn’t mean I won’t say something , though. It may be a gloomy day, but it’s always refreshing to see someone willing relinquish the reins of power. Congratulations to Mayor Brand for his decision not to run for a second term. I wish him well in all future endeavors, and promise to virulently oppose whoever succeeds him in his role.

First Post This is the first post of “Fresno on Foot.” Through this blog, I aim to capture, through the magic of photography, the beauty and the ugly of Fresno as it can only be experienced on foot. I may or may not, as time goes on, add bicycle and transit to my list of transportation methods, but for the time being, all of my photos will be taken on foot. You may ask yourself “why do this?” The simple answer is “it matters.” The second part of the simple answer is that people are either too distracted by their phones or going too fast in their cars (or, sadly, both) to open their eyes and see the world around them. Ultimately, this blog is for you, the modern American consumer: I offer you my eyes so they can be yours. There’s more to it than that; I am definitely starting this blog with a specific agenda, and at that an urbanist, localist, incrementalist one. I’m heavily influenced by the Strong Towns movement. I’m likewise suspicious of the pursuit of economic growth as an en...