![]() He recognized patterns in Fresno that could impede its future success. Like many born and raised in the valley, Balch left for college and returned with a broadened perspective, he said. He managed Fresno’s downtown revitalization efforts from 2009 to 2014, during former Mayor Ashley Swearingen’s administration. Community members say the proposed city budget won’t invest enough in Fresno’s poor neighborhoods.ĬalMatters spoke to Elliott Balch, who recently left the Central Valley Community Foundation to become CEO of the Downtown Fresno Partnership, a business improvement district. Local leaders also have a broader five-year plan called Rebuild Fresno. The goal is to attract housing development for 10,000 more residents downtown. This new proposed investment would tackle several projects city leaders say are necessary to spur a renaissance in downtown housing development.Ībout $70 million is earmarked for new parking structures and spots, while the rest would pay for sidewalk improvements, green spaces, new water and sewer systems and other investments. Newsom’s administration has long identified Fresno as an anchor to Central Valley’s economy and thus important to California’s future. A Los Angeles Times report pointed out both Central Valley cities experienced population growth, often from more expensive California cities. ![]() ![]() While city centers in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento were still struggling to regain their pre-pandemic bustle, Fresno and Bakersfield’s foot traffic rebounded above 2019 levels, the study shows. Fresno is one of five US cities whose downtown foot traffic rebounded since the pandemic, according to a recent University of Toronto study that periodically compared cell phone data to track foot traffic from 2019 to February 2023. ![]()
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