THE FRESNAN

Twitter Threads: Fresno PD May Be Taking Cues From Organized Crime

We miss blogs and message boards. They were the place to have nice threaded conversations, until Facebook and Twitter came along. Problem with Twitter is good info/convos can go unnoticed if you weren't around at the exact time they're happening. So maybe we're starting a new feature here with "Twitter Threads". Or this may be the first and last. Anyhoo...

There was a good Twitter convo on Wednesday as some news leaked out that ... we'll let some dude's tweets explain:

Yes. It looks as if Fresno PD is "requesting" Tower businesses to "Pay us or else!" Which sounds like...

The Mob. It sounds like something the Mob would do. And something they sorta tried before and it didn't work so well.

Really though? Bravo, Fresno PD. Genius. You gave us a great idea to finally start making some money on The Fresnan. From now on, anytime a venue or band is mentioned in a post, they owe us $16.

That's right, The Bel-Tower, Audie's Olympic, Rademacher, Fierce Creatures, Fulton 55, Strange Vine and so on. Get ready to pay for publicity, bitches!!

Fulton Mall Moves Another Step Closer To Being Just Plain Old Fulton Street

We think this is bad. The PBID (it's like a board of people that own property in Downtown or something) voted to support tearing out the Fulton Mall and putting in some of that new fangled asphalt everyone talks about. This is bad, no? Seems like things are heading towards the City Of Fresno bringing back cars on the Fulton Mall. Art and uniqueness be damned.

Some folks say this will bring more people on the Fulton Mall ... actually it would just be Fulton. Yeah, that does sound right given Fresnans car driving ways. But then Fashion Fair and River Park do just fine without traffic. We're confused.

Maybe we should do a trial run and open up traffic to Manchester Center and see how that goes.

[Pic stolen from here]

Balls: Councilman Xiong Suggests Grounding Ghetto Bird

It's rare when somebody suggests cutting something involving the Fresno P.D. So we gotta at least give Blong Xiong some props for that - even if you don't agree with it. And hey, if you're going to start with something, grounding the annoying-ass Ghetto Bird is a pretty good place.

Remember Fresnans: It's always a mistake to read the comment section on FresnoBee.com or on any local news station's Facebook page (we forgot this before reading ABC 30's). They always read like if Ray Appleton had a show on Sirius.

UPDATE!: Here's what Councilman Xiong said today via ABC 30's Facebook page:

"Well, I'm sure you have all heard of my motions to reduce the Police Departments overtime costs and to ground the helicopter for 1 year. Those seemed to take the spot light. There were also cost savings from the City's Fire Department, Planning Department (DARM) and Employee Health and Welfare but those don't seem to get the attention of the media. My motions can save anywhere from $2-4 million of an almost $6 mil"

 

Following Up: Dudes With Hard Hats And Coveralls Are Doing SOMETHING At The Old Firestone Garage Building

You may remember, the City Of Fresno owned Old Firestone building, was recommended by the Historic Preservation Commission to be listed on the local register of historic resources. The Fresno City Council/ Redevelopment Agency, felt it would be better as an empty lot.

Well, Arhop noticed today some people doing work type stuff behind the gates:

Feels like, clear the building of asbestos or any cool stuff we could sell before we tear it down, kinda work. That would be more suck.

Shutdown: Dusty Buns Kicked Off The Streets... For Now

The City of Fresneck has told the Dusty Buns Bistro Bus to stay off Fresno streets. Reason: "The trend will grow & affect restaurants." Yet Dusty Buns is permitted, licensed, taxed and health coded.

But somehow, a taco truck parked in a parking lot or a lunch truck parked in the street in front of a construction site, doesn't. But a bistro truck parked along the street (not in front a restaurant) affects restaurants more.

Bistro trucks (like Dusty Buns) pretty much operate in most major cities. Most.

It may not be over though. Dusty B' is "...studying up new Food Truck permits, organized zones & appropriate regulations in SF. Let's hope our Growing City of FRESNO considers them." And, we hear they may have some support within Fresno's city workings.

Dusty has some tasty tasty food and adds some hipness to our city. Hope it works out. If not, Thursday night's on Wishon Row may never be the same.

The Safest Bet Ever: Fresno City Council Saying "Yes" To Demolishing A Corner In Downtown Fresno

Thursday the Fresno City Council will say "yes" or "no" to tearing down the old Firestone Garage (built in 1934) on the corner of Fulton & Stanislaus, along with additional buildings on Fulton, from 1502 to 1540.

Apparently the City Of Fresno (owners of said block) thinks that maybe MAYBE a developer will be interested in doing something on the lot if it was empty. Nevermind that there are plenty of empty lots scattered all over downtown, sitting around attracting jack shit. The city thinks taking down something unique, something that can never be duplicated, is a no-brainer. This is something Fresno has done dipshitedly (it's totally a word) throughout history, with no signs of changing its ways.

Oh wait, but they still have to vote on it. Well, with the same council that voted yes for more sprawl a few weeks back, the odds are 1 to 5 they're saying yes to demolition.

*For details on the building and backstory of the vote download: this pdf file.

[Photo stolen from Andrew Ranta]

Oh Boy You Done Fucked Up Now, Fresno City Council

The Fresno City Council approved the first phase of the El Paseo thingy out near Herndon and Golden State.

Dudes. How the? ... what the frig? So Thursday night, Fresno found out that four council members have their heads up their asses. Two of them can at least vote wisely... once. And one of them has better things to be doing than voting on important Fresno issues (Xiong didn't show for the vote).

So, as if we've learned nothing, Fresno sprawl continues on. Up next: More empty storefronts on West Shaw.

The council should've listened to smarter people:

-Fresno Famous
-Beehive
-Bill McEwen

What He Said: BMac Pretty Much Tells The Fresno City Council To Go Privitize Their Ass

With Mayor Swear and the City Council privatizing part of Fresno's garbage service, it makes you wonder: What's next? If you're a city worker, your freaking job might be next (unless you're in the Sacred Cow Sector like the Fresno PD).

The Fresno Bee's Bill McEwen says it best "So why stop with the rank and file? Why not "privatize" the City Council?"

That's what we're saying, Bill. Nice one.

You've opened the door, council, time to set an example. We hear Kerman's City Council works hella cheap. Fresno could save some serious cash and just use them. Or, even cheaper, maybe the council could just work as a non-profit. You know, like you forced our Film Commishioner to do.

For The Civic Minded Fresnan: Tell Fresno Big Wigs Today You Still Want Cool Shit To Happen Downtown

 

Who the hell doesn't like a good budget workshop!? Usually that's, like, a solid Friday night for us. But the City Of Fresno likes to have their budget themed parties in the middle of the day on a Thursday. Whatever. In fact, they're having one today. And Creative Fresno is encouraging Downtown Fresno supportors to head on down to City Hall today and remind the Fresno Big Wigs to keep the focus on Downtown:

"Many of you might remember back in the early days of Creative Fresno how this organization really championed the City of Fresno putting solid long-term strategic planning into our downtown. From the downtown Blenders, to FUSE, to this organization's involvement in various downtown initiatives, Creative Fresno has always believed in downtown.  The Creative Economy Council original report and subsequent Report Cards, including the most recently released, the Sophomore Report Card, highlight the challenges and successes seen in the past few years. Many of us feel that really positive things, such as the PBID and specific plans, are great steps in the right direction. But we still have so much work to do on downtown.

This Thursday, the Fresno City Council will be holding a budget workshop at 1:30 at City Hall regarding the Downtown and Community Revitalization Department. If you can, swing by and remind our City Councilmembers that we need to stay focused on downtown and invest in the DCR.

If you can't make it in person, please go to www.fresno.gov and send an email to your councilmember -- or to all the councilmembers. Let your voice be heard."

Budget Meeting: Downtown and Community Revitalization Department
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Scheduled time: 1:30 p.m.
Fresno City Hall
Council Chambers

*[photo stolen from here]

Battles!: Save The Fulton Mall Fresnans vs. Traffic The Fulton Mall Fresnans

 

Tonight. From 5 to 8. Two rival Fresno gangs (Save The Fulton Mall Gang and Fulton Mall Traffic Gang) will be locked into one room (probably not locked) at the Downtown Holiday Inn, to finally end the debate for good (nothing will be decided). End the debate of whether or not the mall should be pulled out so cars can drive down the Fulton Mall.

Yeah, okay, so the debate won't end after Monday's meeting (it's really a workshop and less of a debate). But both groups will surely be there and they don't seem to like each other that much and they're going to be forced to "workshop" together. Should be fun. Speaking of fun or whatever, did you see the meeting/workshop on Saturday that kicked off this whole week of Fulton Corridor Plan talk stuff? It turned into a Social Studies class out of nowhere. Seriously, we took this class at City, like, twice. James Collier did a nice live blog post of the whole thing, if you haven't seen. They made people do stuff (HA ha).

The Fulton Mall is maybe the most polarizing (whatever that means) issue in Fresno (well, outside of the debate: Which is better teppanyaki: Yoshino's or Edo-Ya?). It should be a fun night of talking about the mall, even if we're all sick to FUCKING DEATH OF TALKING ABOUT IT.

Focused On Fresno: Anti Blong Xiong, Edition

So, um, good job getting those "No Blong Xiong" posters up so high on various poles in Councilman Xiong's District 1, whoever you are. Too bad we don't know what you were talking about. And it's been a while since the election thingy. So...

Get them the fuck down.

Focused On Fresno: Code Enforcement Edition

Do you know that you're looking at something illegal? The fliers in the picture, that is. Pretty much every flier on a pole, or fence, or whatever, is against City of Fresno codes. But really, who has time to enforce such little things? Right? There can't be money in the city's budget right now for somebody to check on fliers local bands post on telephone poles, can there?

Apparently there is, as Fresno's Down Word found out. They got a notice in the mail from the city of Fresno stating they had 48 hours to take down all their fliers or they would be fined several hundred dollars. Stupid considering all the other codes the city should be enforcing but don't really seem to do. We can think of a lot of blight in our neighborhood that are code violations yet these things never go away - and yes, we've reported them.

Add to that: political signs are legal within three months of an election. So a band trying to promote a show a couple weeks away is doing something illegal but a politician doing the same thing is perfectly fine.

Hey City of Fresno, political signs: WAY more annoying than band fliers.

Catching Up: Fresno Did Everything But Get A Blackstone Hooker For The High Spped Rail Chairman

Ya probably saw, but last week, Fresno Works really pulled out the Fresno carpet for the High Speed Rail Dude, Curt Pringle, in an attempt to convince him Fresno is where California's High Speed Rail yard needs to go.

As we learned from a Fresno Bee article by Paula Lloyd, Mayor Swearengin's group hosted a lunch at the 600 Club in Curt's honor. Then they hopped in the Ghetto Bird in the middle of the Chuck and flew off to tour Fresno from the air. (Hopefully they didn't catch a glimpse of anybody's backyard crops.) Then they landed at Ratcliffe to tour FCC's tech department, got back on the helicopter, flew over Fresno State then landed back downtown at Community.

This Business Street video has some footage:

Pretty sweet. Maybe the whole Fresno wanting its Google Fiber campaign trained the city on how to woo stuff. Too bad Geno's isn't located by the proposed rail yard otherwise the Mayor could have taken Curt there and said "Every rail yard worker will get to eat these sandwiches everyday if you come here!"

Stupid or Awesome?: Fancher Creek Town Center

Last week, the Fresno City Council said yes to the Fancher Creek Town Center. This will be a large development with a mix of retail and housing and will be located near Clovis and Kings Canyon. There will be living spaces atop retail spaces, a movie theater, all kinds of crazy shit.

Sounds pretty awesome, especially to the Sunnyside area folks.

But wait, maybe you haven't heard how it's being described, "... it will rival North Fresno's River Park." Yeah, pretty sick of anything new being described as "Like River Park in ___."

Plus, isn't building huge centers on the edge of town, like River Park, exactly the kinda thing that Fresno needs to avoid doing in the future? Hasn't River Park been around for like ten years or something and they still haven't been able to lease all their spots out? Aren't we trying to get something like this in Downtown Fresno? Isn't Sierra Vista Mall and its newish and not real busy outdoor section only a few miles down the street from Fancher Creek?

But not one council member voted no. Guess when you see potential tax revenue, you kinda forget your plans for Fresno building in and not out.

But hey, who are we to stop the Sunnyside area from gettin' theirs!? They deserve something special. Maybe it is awesome. But then why does it feel so stupid?

[Fancher drawing stolen from Fresno city website]

Bloggiest Moment OTW: Fresno Needs Some Willie

While this was hardly the most active posting on Fresno's internets this week, it was the most grassrootsiest. That, we like. Have you heard about the campaign to bring Farm Aid to Fresno? Mike Oz has and posted about it over at the Beehive this week.

While you can argue with the numbers, we don't think you can argue with the message that the little Valley farmer isn't exactly kicking ass, especially not in our Valley. Nor can you argue that if you're going to put on a Farm Aid every year, it's fuck_ing ridic_u_lous that it hasn't been brought to the Central Valley yet.

This well done video will explain:

The Chuck is sittin' there waiting for ya, Willie.