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Whitehurst Appetizers Ideas to stimulate discussion.
Billion Dollar Makeover Through an assessment district or other mechanism, raise enough money to do parks, squares, fountains, median landscaping, public art, traffic calming and other techniques for making Fresno more attractive.
Downtown Campus (Ratkovich Plan) Build on the UCSF and Community Medical Center presence downtown by attracting other higher education programs: UC Merced, Fresno State, Fresno City College, San Joaquin College of Law, Alliant University, etc. Start working now on a full UC medical school. Convert buildings to student and faculty housing. Develop shared facilities among the institutions (classrooms, library, fitness center, etc.). There are good models for downtown campuses as magnets for revitalization: Savannah College of Art and Design, http://www.scad.edu/about/index.cfm and Academy of Art University in San Francisco, http://www.academyart.edu/. There are also models for shared resources among neighboring schools: The Claremont Colleges: Harvard/ MIT/Tufts/Boston U, etc.
Branson West About 15 years ago a promoter looked at buying or leasing the Crest, Wilson, Warnor’s, Hardy’s, Memorial Auditorium, Casablanca, Rainbow Ballroom. The idea was to book musical acts from Los Angeles and to have a constant offering of live music. Branson became a major destination by offering a cluster of music venues at affordable prices. Fresno would have the advantage of existing buildings that could be acquired and adapted at a fairly low cost, plus the proximity to entertainers and audiences. http://www.bransontourismcenter.com/
Sell/Lease Fulton Mall Turn the public space (mall, parking structures and city-owned properties) over to a private developer/mixed-use center operator. Acquire other properties in the downtown area, including the air space over existing properties. Let a strong forprofit company run downtown as a competitive mixed-use center.
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