Seventh Blog Post

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 business and property owners in every possible way, at every possible time. The people who should be allowed to make the decisions Downtown are the ones who get to lay in the bed they make—those with skin in the game.

There’s a wisdom to the chaotic but smart approach advocated by Strong Towns.

Wanna see something cool?

Take a look at these posters along the building that once housed the Nita shops. Wanna see how long they've been going at this “rebranding Downtown” thing for?

See that Twitter logo?

That’s how long.

Jig’s up, fellas. Time for a new tactic.