City strives to accelerate growth of downtown Fresno, reduce crime

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- City leaders will be giving an update on the State of Downtown Fresno at Warner's Theatre on Friday night.

The event serves as an opportunity to bring the community together to celebrate downtown and look at what's to come for this next year.

The State of Downtown also highlights the progress made, including new businesses and crime reduction.

For two and a half years, Shep's Club Coffee Shop has been helping the people of downtown Fresno fuel up at the start of their day.

Manager Jessica Knotts says traffic has picked up steadily as new people and new businesses come downtown.

"I love this area, I love the people, I love the customers, but there's a lot of crime that seems to be centered around homelessness and addiction," said Knotts

Knotts says that contributes to challenges as they open shop for the day.

"We had our tips stolen off of our counter here. We clean up feces they sleep inside of our structure area," explained Knotts. "It's a constant lookout. There's no security, there are no police that are roaming the streets at that time, and there is an overabundance of homelessness and drug addiction in the area. So, it gets scary in the morning."

The City of Fresno, Downtown Partnership, and Fresno Police are working to bring more peace of mind to business owners in the area by coordinating private security and police patrols so there is a 24-hour presence.

"It's going to be a continual effort. Just like when we had 650 people living on our freeways--it took a lot of work, but now we're homeless-free on our freeways, we have to do the same thing downtown, and we will," said Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer.

The Downtown Ambassador program is entering its second week -- comprised of 30 youth job corps members clearing trash and welcoming visitors.

There's also a move to bring more business and housing to "accelerate downtown."

'Whether you're a business owner the downtown partnership, or government offices we want people to get excited about downtown but more importantly to accelerate the growth downtown," said Dyer.

According to Fresno Police, theft and robberies in its Southwest Fresno district -- which includes downtown -- are down year-over-year.

The Downtown Fresno Partnership also says progress to bring more people to the heart of the city is already being made.

Something that will be highlighted in the state of downtown.

"We're seeing a downtown that people are packing. There's a huge demand for a vibrant urban center not just for Fresnans but for this entire central valley." said Elliott Balch, the CEO of Downtown Fresno Partnership.

Balch says over the last year, downtown brought in about a dozen new businesses.

There are also 24 downtown restaurants and breweries to stay open during event evenings -- including when the Grizzlies are playing.

"We've seen foot traffic counts go up the number of smart phones go up were number three in the nation in terms of how many people are coming to downtown Fresno than before and through the pandemic," Balch said.

The program begins at 5:30 pm Friday and concludes with a walk-able Loteria event taking people to various downtown businesses.

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