Why do you hate Fresno? (Sacramento, Bakersfield: crime rates, hotel, house)

[michcoop99]

I have never lived in Fresno, but I like it. My whole family lives there and I always wonder why it has a bad rap. I think there are three types of people who dislike it:

1) People who have never really been there, but claim to have been or stopped for gas on their way to Yosemite. These same people ususally lump it in with Bakersfield or Stockton, they read the paper about the air pollution and just like to hate it.

2) Californians who refuse to believe there is anything good that is not on the coast. People who love L.A. and S.F. - they seem to have some serious problems with inland cities. Again, they probably haven't spent a heck of a lot of time in Fresno. Plus, these cities tend to be very liberal, and Fresno is not, so they just don't get it. Fresno reminds me more of a midwest city rather than a California city (Fresno people will hate this, because many of them actually think they live on the coast)...

3) People who grew up and lived in a bad part of Fresno or just did not have a good experience, or were bored. Now they live elsewhere (of course, somewhere more exciting), are in their twenties and love to bash Fresno. However, once they reach their thirties, have a few kids and just want an easy life where houses are cheap and people are still normal, they will move back to Fresno with a new appreciation.

Overall, I like Fresno. It is not exciting, but it is decent looking, an easy life and close to great hiking. Plus, you can drive to the beach or L.A., which you can't say for midwest cities.

[e_cuyler]

I don't resemble any of the categories you mention, just a thirty-something guy who is tired of the place.

I try to call it as I see it with Fresno, though, a lot of the criticisms are unfounded or exaggerated. My wife [who grew up there] and I just find it a depressing place to live. Not everyone does, but the place just doesn't work for us. We are only now to where we are free of some of the responsibilities that required us to stay, but getting totally free of them is going to take a lot of time, work, and luck.

It's like a midwest city in the sense of its size, but it is not a major city in its state, and I think that is a lot of the problem. It's the California equivalent of a small rural town in the middle of nowhere, so a lot of the state money, businesses, and other opportunities go elsewhere. Don't know if that's something that can really be fixed.

[user_id]

Originally Posted by e_cuyler

It's the California equivalent of a small rural town in the middle of nowhere, so a lot of the state money, businesses, and other opportunities go elsewhere. Don't know if that's something that can really be fixed.

Huh? California has plenty of small rural towns in the middle of no-where, Fresno with a population of ~500,000 isn't one of them.

The story you are trying to paint in terms of state funds, business, etc conflicts with the rapid population growth. If businesses aren't coming/forming in Fresno what is everyone doing?

Anyhow, Fresno is a younger city than LA, San Fransisco, etc. Before the 70's or so it was primarily just an agricultural area, but since then its economy has grown and slowly diversified. It will take another 2~3 decades for it to resemble a more established city. But even today its a decent sized city. The state also recognizes that most future growth is going to occur in the central valley and other inland areas, the coasts are largely built-out.

[RabbitMage]

I just took a class on the history of Downtown Fresno. It's almost heartbreaking to see how beautiful it was, to see all of the amazing buildings that were knocked down and oftentimes just paved over. Some might say that's the cost of progress, but I've been to so many urban areas that have preserved their beautiful downtown districts. Even neighboring Clovis has their Old Town, where many of the original buildings are still standing.

It could be that I'm one of those twenty-something people who is tired of Fresno. Here are my chief complaints:

Pollution: it comes with living in a bowl. We have some of the worst pollution in the state, to the point where the air is unbreathable in the summer. We have days where schools can't let the kids play outside because the air is too bad. I will not return to Fresno to raise my family because I'd feel irresponsible raising my kids in that kind of pollution. Plus my own health suffers here. I have asthma and a variety of allergies. Including dust. Being allergic to dust in Fresno is like being allergic to snow in Aspen.

Weather: It's been amazingly mild this year, but that isn't always the case. Winter lasts about three months, during which the ground is soggy in that suck-your-shoes-off-your-feet kind of way. We only average about 11 inches of rain a year, but in the winter, streets flood. Then there's a fog. I suppose once you're used to it, it isn't bad. The fog here is unreal, though, and occasionally leads to things like 90-car pileups on the freeway. We have around a month each of spring and fall. The rest of the time is summer. Days over 100 degrees are common, and days over 110 degrees certainly aren't unheard of. Couple this with the yellow-gray polluted air, and it's insufferable.

You have to have a car: I mean, I suppose you don't have to. People manage. But compared to other large California cities, public transit in Fresno is a joke. We have the FAX buses, which overlap with Clovis' Roundup buses in some areas. But they don't run especially late. The routes are limited. Last time I was without a car they'd cut back on services so buses were incredibly crowded, and some only ran every half-hour. Going from my house to the college, which took 15 minutes if I drove myself, took an hour and a half by bus. Biking may be possible, but Fresno drivers are also terrible and not very aware of people on bikes. Plus there's that whole fog/unbearable summer thing.

Sprawl: Tying in with the transit issue, poor planning let the city sprawl out of control. There is not a strong urban/downtown area for people to go or live in and no efficient way to get from one place to the next. There are a few places downtown, then there's the Tower District, Fashion Fair mall, Manchester Center (which is a joke these days), Sierra Vista Mall, and River Park. All spread around at opposite ends of town.

Unemployment: This is a recent problem that might actually be resolved in the foreseeable future, but Fresno currently has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. It's nice that Fresno is affordable but if you can't get a job, it doesn't matter.

I agree with the posters that said Fresno has the drawbacks of a small town and a big city. That's a very accurate way to put it.

The best thing about Fresno is that it's close to things that aren't Fresno. That isn't much of a compliment.

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by e_cuyler

I don't resemble any of the categories you mention, just a thirty-something guy who is tired of the place.

I try to call it as I see it with Fresno, though, a lot of the criticisms are unfounded or exaggerated. My wife [who grew up there] and I just find it a depressing place to live. Not everyone does, but the place just doesn't work for us. We are only now to where we are free of some of the responsibilities that required us to stay, but getting totally free of them is going to take a lot of time, work, and luck.

It's like a midwest city in the sense of its size, but it is not a major city in its state, and I think that is a lot of the problem. It's the California equivalent of a small rural town in the middle of nowhere, so a lot of the state money, businesses, and other opportunities go elsewhere. Don't know if that's something that can really be fixed.

I grew up in Santa Cruz and Northern California, but I have a number of family memebers who lived in or still live in Fresno. And we rarely visited them--as they always came out to the coast to visit us. But we drove through Fresno on our way to somewhere else... I always pictured Fresno as being further south than it actually is rather than a few hours east of Santa Cruz.

Fresno just doesn't have much of a positive image or any image in the popular mindset of California. Unless you're going to the southern Sierra there's little reason that you'd end driving through there unless you had specific reason to go to Fresno. It's the biggest city in the US not on an interstate highway. You get there and there isn't much of a downtown or skyline--the Tower District is the cooler neighborhood and that's pretty small as well. It's hot as hell in the summer time and the mountains are close by but it takes some time to get to the coast. But you could say the same for Sacramento and that's bigger and the capital---along with being closer to Tahoe. But there are nice suburban neighborhoods in Fresno--and the closer you get towards the mountains, you've got a nice set of options for daytrips.

Now my family members who grew up in Fresno all have nostalgic memories of growing up there--however except for my aunt not one stayed there after graduating high school or college. But there's sort of a shared connection between former Fresnans... Fresno is kind of the Rodney Dangerfield of California cities.

[Oerdin]

Mostly because it's a crap hole, which looks like a crap hole, which is filled with white trash and Mexican gang members, because it seems like every girl gets knocked up by 16 there, because the schools suck, because the weather sucks, because the job scene sucks, because (let's be realistic) no one but garbage people live there so why would any employer want to relocate there? In short, Fresno just sucks.

[Capt. Dan]

Originally Posted by Oerdin

Mostly because it's a crap hole, which looks like a crap hole, which is filled with white trash and Mexican gang members, because it seems like every girl gets knocked up by 16 there, because the schools suck, because the weather sucks, because the job scene sucks, because (let's be realistic) no one but garbage people live there so why would any employer want to relocate there? In short, Fresno just sucks.

Yes. But how do you feel about Fresno????????????

[user_id]

Seems like a lot of "the grass is greener on the other side" sentiments here. The criticism given for Fresno are true of the majority of cities of its same size across the country, not to mention the other larger cities in California.

[RabbitMage]

They all have deadly fog, awful climate, no urban center, and unbreathable air?

[FresnoFacts]

I'm a native Californian (family arrived at the end of the Gold Rush) who moved to Fresno from the coast a couple of decades ago for a job.

I long ago left that job but stayed here. Why, I put down roots and created the life I wanted rather than waiting for it to happen elsewhere.

I lived in some of those so-called better cities in my 20's and spent lots of time in others over the years. I am a realist, there are pros and cons about life here. But there are pros and cons about life everywhere.

Some complaints about Fresno are because people compare it to much larger cities. Other complaints are no different than life in other areas. And in fact many of those same complaints are worse in other cities.

Amenities? Fresno should be compared to similar sized areas like Dayton, Omaha, Tulsa, etc. not larger areas like the Bay Area or SoCal. It would be hard for any midsized area to compare to an LA or Chicago or Dallas, etc.

But the types and amount of amenities here compares favorably to cities of a similiar size. But then those other cities aren't in California which adds more for Fresno.

Jobs? That hopefully is improving. Harvard's Michael Porter just named Fresno an emerging tech center.
http://fresnobeehive.com/assets_c/2011/05/Wired_Fresno-47699.html

Transit? Again the comparison needs to be to comparable sized areas not larger places like the Bay Area. Other midsized regions have transit choices and schedules similiar to here.

The Brookings Institution named Fresno one of the 10 best cities for transit coverage, with a higher percentage of both residential and job areas close to transit than most US areas.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/05/the-10-best-and-10-worst-cities-for-public-transportation/238985/

Weather? Fresno has temps over 100 degrees for about 35 days per year. Compare that to places like Phoenix that go over 100 degrees for 90 to 100 days per year.

Fog? Fresno has 35 days per year of thick fog. But other areas deal with months of snow and ice (I've been in cars skidding on freeway ice in other cities, more fightening to me than fog). Fog causing accident pileups? Happens in Virginia and Kansas and other areas.
http://www2.tricities.com/news/2010/...o-c-ar-657408/
http://www.kmbc.com/r/22254164/detail.html (broken link)

Is it a perfect life here, no. But I created a life I like and enjoy. I'll take life here over life in most other areas of the US.