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Fresno has been an emerging tech center since the early 70s. Every five years or so an article appears somewhere about tech growth in Fresno. For some reason it just never takes off beyond some tech company locating something down there that doesn't hire people for technologically-related positions, but rather companies take advantage of the low rate of pay.
They all have deadly fog, awful climate, no urban center, and unbreathable air?
Different cities have different issues. You'll find fog in many places. Awful climate? Perhaps compared to coastal California, but not to the nation as a whole. Hot summers is usually the trade off for mid winters. Almost every city that developed after automobiles has no real urban center.
Anyhow, Fresno isn't that attractive compared to coastal regions so people hate on it. But compared to the nation as a whole its pretty average.
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.
Its best to look at a heat index, rather then raw temps. Perhaps I'm just more use to dry heat, but when living in other states with high humidity I found anything over 90 degrees to be horrid. Your body's ability to cool itself off via sweating just doesn't work in high humidity...you just get wet. Here you can go biking when its 85 no problem, there you'll come home soaked in sweat...
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.
You're being anything but realistic and your stereotypes and generalizations don't hold water. All I can say is they're typical of many people from the coast. I may be a San Franciscan born and raised but I have a set of grandparents, two aunts and five cousins living in Fresno that we visited often while I was growing up. They're not "garbage people". They are/were wonderful people with good jobs and nice homes. And no, they aren't the exception - there are lots of people like them in the Fresno area. I suppose by your narrow definition my two years of living in Fresno qualify me for "garbage" status as well.
Fresno has been an emerging tech center since the early 70s. Every five years or so an article appears somewhere about tech growth in Fresno. For some reason it just never takes off beyond some tech company locating something down there that doesn't hire people for technologically-related positions, but rather companies take advantage of the low rate of pay.
Fresno doesn't see the bigger tech companies moving in/out for lower costs like in Sacramento. But it has been slow and steady tech growth in smaller companies here.
Porter on that survey pinpointed job growth in the analytical instruments industry for Fresno, but there has been growth in other tech positions.
Decipher was just in the news, it does online surveys for companies like eBay and Whole Foods. They are adding roughly 20-40 more jobs here (to their company's total of 100 employees) the next 6 months instead of in their LA and Portland offices. Some jobs are account managers but I know they are filling positions like programmers in that number.
Fresno firm adding tech jobs - Business - fresnobee.com (http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/04/26/2365437/fresno-firm-adding-tech-jobs.html - broken link)
And there are other small tech companies adding tech positions that I know about.
Supposedly Fresno State is adding 2 more computer science professors next year, even during the cuts to CSU budgets.
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Originally Posted by user_id
Its best to look at a heat index, rather then raw temps. Perhaps I'm just more use to dry heat, but when living in other states with high humidity I found anything over 90 degrees to be horrid. Your body's ability to cool itself off via sweating just doesn't work in high humidity...you just get wet. Here you can go biking when its 85 no problem, there you'll come home soaked in sweat.. .
I've experienced that humidity too and will take 100 degrees in Fresno over 90 degrees in high humidity anytime. I still remember a business trip to the south. I took a morning shower and got dressed to go to the client. I stepped outside the hotel at 7:30am and the humidity made me feel like I had just finished a gym workout instead of just having showered. Yuck.
When I google "Fresno" it usually brings up forums like this one and people are on there talking about how much they hate Fresno. I just wanna know why YOU hate Fresno...
Well, because I have seen and worked in Fresno. It ranks with such towns like Bakersfield, Hemet and Lake Elsinore.
That is just normal growth you are seeing. It isn't any indication of specialization or of Fresno becoming a tech center. Universities hire additional professors all the time. In most cities these kind of things appear in a small article in the business section. It Fresno they are front page news. This boasting about not so unique events are part of the reason people in other parts of the West just shake their heads when someone mentions Fresno.
Being on the top ten list of anything doesn't mean a whole lot. The fact of the matter is using the bus in Fresno involves the ultimate test of patience standing on a hot exposed bus stop along some main drag through Fresno with cars speeding past you. When, or if, the bus finally arrives you get to sit next to the great uncivilized and unwashed masses that ride the bus in Fresno. Wanna learn the latest gang signs? Take the Abbey/Blackstone route. The transit agency there deals with one county, two cities, and loops through a few places adjacent to the city limits, like Malaga. Geographically, the distances aren't that great. Just comparing it to the Sacramento Metro area, there are four counties, 12 incorporated cities, and another 10 or so unincorporated communities in the metro area and I have no idea how many transit agencies. There is the difference between the complexity of transit in an multi-county, multi-city metro area and a standalone metro area like Fresno-Clovis.
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.
I've lived in Fresno my whole life (am currently 22) and agree completely with every point. I'd add a lack of community as people are always too busy to be friendly. Silly people. I'd love a close-knit community that believes in saying hello to strangers.
I do love how people that drive through on the 99 and stop for a bit tend to feel the need to judge the entire city based primarily on that one aspect. Drive the 41 and you can get a much better feel of the city as I know it.
As far as the claims about crime go I can understand this to a point, but I've never been a victim myself (hopefully I didn't just jinx myself!). There are parts around downtown Fresno that I wouldn't stray around in at night (China Town for example...and yes, contrary to popular belief, we do have a China Town). This of course goes along with RabbitMage's point about our downtown being neglected. haha now that I think about it I remember my cousin from up in Roseville (Sacramento) asked me if I was scared living in Fresno because she thought it was like Compton. I just laughed.......
As Michcoop99 did mention this is a rather conservative area. It doesn't affect my life often, but I do tend to feel a little frightened as I am extremely liberal.
On the other hand if anyone mentions ethnicity as a problem for Fresno ("white trash and Mexican gang members"- thank you, Oerdin) think of it as a positive: It's simply cultural diversity. I love how diverse this area is and was so used to everyone being different that I had culture shock when I went to a place that was mainly all whites for the first time...something about it just wasn't right haha I actually felt weirded out and I'm a white boy!
All in all.....stay for a while, but bring a mask or you'll feel like you're living in a smoggy flower.
If anyone has any questions about Fresno or badgers feel free to say hi.
Sorry to have rambled a bit
On the plus side we're spoiled by deliciously fresh fruit
I do love how people that drive through on the 99 and stop for a bit tend to feel the need to judge the entire city based primarily on that one aspect. Drive the 41 and you can get a much better feel of the city as I know it.
Using an article before a highway designation comes from Southern California. I never heard anyone use "the ##" in Fresno unless they were from Southern California.
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As far as the claims about crime go I can understand this to a point, but I've never been a victim myself (hopefully I didn't just jinx myself!). There are parts around downtown Fresno that I wouldn't stray around in at night (China Town for example...and yes, contrary to popular belief, we do have a China Town). This of course goes along with RabbitMage's point about our downtown being neglected. haha now that I think about it I remember my cousin from up in Roseville (Sacramento) asked me if I was scared living in Fresno because she thought it was like Compton. I just laughed.......
I know someone who was carjacked at First & Shaw for a car stereo. Although this kind of thing isn't limited to Fresno, it is random and unfortunately it doesn't always end with the theft of a car or items in the car. It really is no laughing matter.
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On the other hand if anyone mentions ethnicity as a problem for Fresno ("white trash and Mexican gang members"- thank you, Oerdin) think of it as a positive: It's simply cultural diversity.
There is a real problem when people look at poverty and criminals as diversity when it is a symptom of other problems that aren't being dealt with in a constructive manner. The "progressive" mentality of passing these problems off as cultural diversity is a codeword meaning society should tolerate anything, and as a result, many of these problems have gotten worse over the years.
There is a real problem when people look at poverty and criminals as diversity when it is a symptom of other problems that aren't being dealt with in a constructive manner. The "progressive" mentality of passing these problems off as cultural diversity is a codeword meaning society should tolerate anything, and as a result, many of these problems have gotten worse over the years.
Gotten worse? The crime rates in Fresno have been decreasing over the last decade.
There is no city in the US with 500,000 or more people that lacks crime or "bad areas".
The people that think Fresno is "like Compton" are sheltered suburbanites that only know the city from listing to rap... these people will think any large city is the ghetto.... The murder rate in Fresno is about the same as San Fransisco, yet nobody refers to San Fransisco as "like Compton".
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haha I actually felt weirded out and I'm a white boy!
