03-09-10 The First Full Meeting for the Downtown Plans!!!

I was out of the door by 4:30 for a nice jog con el perro Ellis.



6:30 I attended the Mayor's Fresno/Clovis Prayer Breakfast which was held at the Radisson.


9:30 The Mayor held a meeting with a variety of people in the construction, development, nonprofit housing industry and with partners like Flood Control, the Air District and PG&E.


The topic of the meeting was the kick-off of the PIPES (process improvement and permit enhancement strategy). This was a result of a year of analysis about all of the places where businesses get stuck in the system at City Hall. There has been a new website, which allows people to track their projects. There is now a streamlined application, so only the information needed to make a good decision is required, not every detail. And the best part is that downtown projects are the highest priority and always start out with the four department directors: Planning, Public Works, Public Utilities and me. This gets them on the right track from the beginning.
11:00 the Mayor held a press conference to roll out the changes that are being made.

12:15 Lunch at Austins (formerly Heroes). A wide variety of City leaders met to discuss a downtown signage program. Wayfinding is a common program in downtowns. My focus would be to direct people to parking near the Fulton Mall, which is our priority area for revitalization. We have parking, but it is not attractive or easy to identify. Rates are another topic completely.

1:30 The planning team came into town and we had a meeting to go through the agendas and presentations for the evening's meetings.


2:00 Stefanos Polyzoides, David Sargent and Juan Gomez-Novy, Wilma Quan and I met with the Mayor for her stakeholder interview. There will be a series of interviews with neighbors, business owners, property owners, community leaders and others that will be incorporated into the early drafts of the plan.


4:00 The Downtown Neighborhoods Community Plan was held in the ground floor of the San Joaquin Light and Power Building, a.k.a The Grand. This was the first meeting of this group of stakeholders. All plans in Fresno have 21-member advisory committees. 18 members are appointed by the city council representatives. Since this plan covers three districts, the appointments were proportional. Perea and Dages each appointed 5, Sterling 8, and the Mayor has 3 at-large appointments.


The meeting started with welcomes and introductions. One of the City Attorneys gave an overview of open meeting laws, conflict of interest, and the bylaws. Next, Stefanos gave an overview of the planning process. The Community advisory Committee gave input and asked questions. participants from the public gave their thoughts and ideas.


7:00 The Fulton Corridor Specific Plan meetings started. Same location, but a separate committee of 21. This committee had all 18 members appointed by Sterling, because the boundaries are all in her district. The Mayor appointed the 3 at-large.

The format for this meeting was pretty much the same. Both meetings had 50+ audience members. All commissioners were in attendance. The input was very good as were the questions and dialogue. We'll have to make some adjustments for the layout and acoustics.

We're off and running. This will be the time to make real change in the direction that Fresno heads into the future, toward sustainable, urban planning that supports a higher quality of life. The magnetic pull of the city center will continue to grow and strengthen. Now I know that we are not anywhere near our goals but I do know that we are headed in the right direction. For now, that is what counts.