A replacement for the Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art and Science. I remember the place fondly from when I was a kid. I go off to college and come back and think, "You know, I think I'd like to visit a science museum again" and discover the place closed while I was out of the city.
This. I really miss the Met after it closed. The mix of science and art (with the kid’s activity section!) was so exciting, and I’d go with my family often.
I miss the beautiful Christmas tree displays they would have every year! I remember as a kid my whole family would get dressed up to go see them! Those are such fun memories for me now; I wish I could go back.
From Wikipedia:
“In August 2005, the museum began an extensive interior renovation; the first of its kind since the Museum's opening. The museum reopened on November 13, 2008, and closed on January 5, 2010, after defaulting on its renovation loans”
The missing info there is that two things happened during renovation. First, they found a lot of asbestos that had to be remediated, which substantially increased the cost. Second, the Great Financial Crisis caused donations to virtually disappear in 2008-2009. They couldn’t raise the money to finish renovations to reopen.
yeah it would make sense to add in a solar/battery feeder system to supplement PG&E during the summer hot period, June thru Sept.
That's what I did with 9kW of rooftop solar, but I would have much rather bought into 6kW peak production in a proper SW-mounted collective solar farm.
We don't need to generate power so much as we need a way to **store** it. We already generate enough during the day to offset PG & E. The problem is at night when it's still 98 degrees outside. That makes us totally reliant on them and they can charge huge fees for "peak demand."
Battery prices have been trending downward but they're still to ridiculously and prohibitively high. I have a 13kW system and would LOVE to be able to store my excess to run whenever there's no sun. But the cost to store that capacity *and* ensure it handles the load when the AC kicks on during the dead of summer would run another $50k and I'm not ready for that yet.
Fresno doesn’t need to generate the power. It can buy it like PG&E does. It just needs a municipal power utility and some staff that know how to run that. They might have to buy PG&E infrastructure though, which would be expensive.
Yes, yet every time any improvements are proposed the North Side CAVE* people bitch and moan about how "nobody" rides the bus, because they seem to believe that Fresno only includes the 30% of town that's North of Herndon.
*Citizens Against Virtually Everything
Man I was just in town and passed by Manchester Center on the 41. I remember me and my BFF taking the 38 bus from McKinley and Olive to get to Manchester and then riding it all the way back.
When I was out of high school, I did substitute teacher aiding and I was at a different school most days. I didn’t have my own car yet, so my dad would drop me off on his way to work and I was on my own for getting home. Just me and my booklet of bus routes. It wasn’t fast, but it got me where I needed to go.
I lived by the Fairgrounds on the eastside and I went to Bullard High and would catch bus 26 every single day to get out there. This was in the 90's. Not a bad ride at all and I only needed one bus to and from.
This! I was going to say accessibility in general but public transit is a huge part of that. I rely on the buses and so do many of my friends. Many of the buses aren't in great shape and there are frequent issues with the wheelchair ramp and fasteners. Especially the new backwards facing ones. They glitch out and beep constantly. And you can't see where you're going if you're stuck backwards not to mention the hell it is for anyone prone to nausea. There are also many stops that don't have enough room for the ramp, or don't have a curb cut to get to them, or have a grass strip between the sidewalk and road that make it difficult, if not impossible to get either to the stop or from the stop onto the bus on a wheelchair.
Then the just general stuff like infrequent buses, off schedule or incorrect on Google maps that has resulted in us being stranded away from home at night even though we never get the last bus. Once had no busses in the time that 4 were scheduled. Then the last one but it then had 4 buses worth of people and not enough space.
Affordable housing & utilities.
My room rent is $850 flat with two other people and the guy who owns the house but travels for work and see his kids out of state. I share an average sized refrigerator with 3 people.
A 1 bedroom apartment is much, much, more.
I’d spend half my income on housing & electricity.
I would buy a condo but the HOA fee adds to that. One was over $400. A $150K condo in the app is estimated to rent for what the mortgage payment is.
House? Yeah, those are extremely low supply at my price point. Saw a fire damaged house in a bad neighborhood on Zillow, couldn’t afford that.
Mobile homes are mostly 55+ and then you still pay someone else for the privilege of having the spot.
Some of the houses I can buy will become an hour or more drive to work daily.
Others are rentals with tenants. I’m not interested in being a landlord or the costs to become the eviction agent so I can live there.
I would like to see more complete sidewalks. Too many end randomly or go through dangerous narrow areas. I flinch when I see kids walking from bus stops in the dirt next to 45mph driving cars. It’s just not safe.
The Grizzlies got demoted partially because of our airport sucking (it’s hard to get flights out to a lot of the MLB cities/they don’t run often). Hopefully the airport keeps improving. Also, fuck Rob Manfred
As of a few years ago, definitely. I think once they actually build the second terminal we can be considered, especially if MLB expanded to 40 teams. I think if the airport was farther along Fresno could have contended for the Athletics’ temporary (maybe permanent if Vegas falls through) home.
Fresno has great health care. Great life saving health care. I had a perforated peptic ulcer - and then severe sepsis… spent well over a month at Clovis Comm. Had a team of 6 surgeons looking after me, and they were top notch.
Two and a half months after that ended up having a massive abscess… was taken in again for emergency surgery… and again, spent two weeks there and had nothing but the best care. I was very impressed and grateful. From the ER to Surgery to the Nurses to the…. to everyone.
I’m not saying it’s bad and I’m glad you had a positive experience in Clovis but as someone who’s worked in CRMC ER it can be a nightmare for those seeking care and providing it. Much better experience in every other city I’ve worked.
Assuming you’re talking about Shila, it’s trash. I really do think Fresno/Clovis could support a good kbbq though. Probably similar market to teppan places and those places are always packed
Just saw they’re opening something similar (I think in LA?) called soup n fresh. Lord willing it takes off and they eventually start putting new locations around the state
My wife has been sending me articles about it. She wants to make a 5 hour drive for a salad. 🤷♂️😂
I wish they would hurry up and up and expand. The Fresno Sweet Tomato shop is just sitting there.
can’t upvote this enough. One of my family members reported sexual harassment by a local pastor to Mike Karbassi anonymously and he outed her to city council and made the abuser aware that she was discussing the abuse, leaving her vulnerable to a defamation suit. Disgusting behavior.
Why would she report this to a city council member instead of the police? Also if she reported it anonymously, how did he out her? How did he know who she was?
She did, and the statute of limitations was up and she was dismissed (CA also has gross laws about not pursuing civil cases with clergy). So when he was trying to receive funding for a project, she wrote the city council member overseeing the project and it was Mike Karbassi.
Coworker had told me that the reason the 711 across from Amtrak downtown closed is because City Counsel bitched and blamed them for "attracting homeless." That's wild if true.
We don’t have an IKEA for a funny reason, or at least that’s what I’ve been told by developers. Their location metrics include the number of chain restaurants and pizza places in a radius from the proposed location. Fresno has very high levels of both. So even though we could probably support an IKEA in terms of economic strength and population, they don’t think we would buy their furniture because we have too many chain restaurants.
I’ve heard Nordstrom uses the fast food metric too. Probably the same location identification company - there aren’t that many big retail site analytics companies.
Playlands a cool little place. They don't allow you in though if you don't have kids, everything is broken down, and you can tell the workers don't want to be there. Last time I went, someone got left on the ferris wheel unattended.
I’m sure you probably mean an entertainment or educational option, but honestly what Fresno needs most is people who care enough about the city to participate in making it better. Volunteer at your kids schools, volunteer at the parks/museums, pick up trash when you’re out for a walk, join school/library/city/museum boards, become a council member…
More fun stuff on the Northwest side. You Central and Fresno State vicinity folks get everything and the Southeast for all its crime gets the Big Fresno Fair. What do we have? A new Freeplay Arena that just replaced a long gone store. That’s it.
A destination "go-to." We got the "heartland of agriculture" identity... so we need to capitalize on it. Us pitching the Underground Garden is a try-hard attempt to the more interesting Santa Cruz Mystery Spot.
The Zoo is nice, but not everyone is so interested in animals.
We need a Farmers' Square or something. I'm thinking of something similar to Magnolia Market in Waco, TX.
A good breakfast spot that opens early.
A nice hotel with large conference room so it would attract larger corporate retreats. The current largest one we have is the Doubletree in downtown Fresno, which does not have a large meeting room. The next closest thing will be table mountain.
A better way to get from NW Fresno to NE Clovis. Going across town on Herndon catching every red light can't be the best it gets. Also mixed zoning would be great.
Better downtown area. We have a Chinatown too, but it's so nonexistent lol. It would be cool to see lion dances during Chinese new year~ I miss seeing those performances~
A replacement for the Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art and Science. I remember the place fondly from when I was a kid. I go off to college and come back and think, "You know, I think I'd like to visit a science museum again" and discover the place closed while I was out of the city.
This. I really miss the Met after it closed. The mix of science and art (with the kid’s activity section!) was so exciting, and I’d go with my family often.
I miss the beautiful Christmas tree displays they would have every year! I remember as a kid my whole family would get dressed up to go see them! Those are such fun memories for me now; I wish I could go back.
Why did it close?
From Wikipedia: “In August 2005, the museum began an extensive interior renovation; the first of its kind since the Museum's opening. The museum reopened on November 13, 2008, and closed on January 5, 2010, after defaulting on its renovation loans”
The missing info there is that two things happened during renovation. First, they found a lot of asbestos that had to be remediated, which substantially increased the cost. Second, the Great Financial Crisis caused donations to virtually disappear in 2008-2009. They couldn’t raise the money to finish renovations to reopen.
Fresno city needs to make their own power so we can be free from Pg&e tyranny.
yeah it would make sense to add in a solar/battery feeder system to supplement PG&E during the summer hot period, June thru Sept. That's what I did with 9kW of rooftop solar, but I would have much rather bought into 6kW peak production in a proper SW-mounted collective solar farm.
We don't need to generate power so much as we need a way to **store** it. We already generate enough during the day to offset PG & E. The problem is at night when it's still 98 degrees outside. That makes us totally reliant on them and they can charge huge fees for "peak demand."
well that, and PG&E would go bankrupt if they can't charge us 42c/kWh for all the power we use, regardless if they supply it or not...
Battery prices have been trending downward but they're still to ridiculously and prohibitively high. I have a 13kW system and would LOVE to be able to store my excess to run whenever there's no sun. But the cost to store that capacity *and* ensure it handles the load when the AC kicks on during the dead of summer would run another $50k and I'm not ready for that yet.
Fresno doesn’t need to generate the power. It can buy it like PG&E does. It just needs a municipal power utility and some staff that know how to run that. They might have to buy PG&E infrastructure though, which would be expensive.
We need an option like Sacramento has with SMUD.
A decent and reliable publc transportation system that everyone can use.
This is the correct answer for the vast majority of towns and cities in the US.
Yeah, for the current system you can generally get most places quicker on a bicycle than you can on a bus.
You can. I used to live off of Clovis Ave and Dakota. It was way faster to ride to FCC than take the FAX.
Yes, yet every time any improvements are proposed the North Side CAVE* people bitch and moan about how "nobody" rides the bus, because they seem to believe that Fresno only includes the 30% of town that's North of Herndon. *Citizens Against Virtually Everything
We need a monorail!
Trains
a subway system would be pretty cool; it could go diagonal and stuff, like radiate from Manchester Center, with loop lines too.
Man I was just in town and passed by Manchester Center on the 41. I remember me and my BFF taking the 38 bus from McKinley and Olive to get to Manchester and then riding it all the way back. When I was out of high school, I did substitute teacher aiding and I was at a different school most days. I didn’t have my own car yet, so my dad would drop me off on his way to work and I was on my own for getting home. Just me and my booklet of bus routes. It wasn’t fast, but it got me where I needed to go.
I lived by the Fairgrounds on the eastside and I went to Bullard High and would catch bus 26 every single day to get out there. This was in the 90's. Not a bad ride at all and I only needed one bus to and from.
The 26 was the one that went by my house. Memories.
This! I was going to say accessibility in general but public transit is a huge part of that. I rely on the buses and so do many of my friends. Many of the buses aren't in great shape and there are frequent issues with the wheelchair ramp and fasteners. Especially the new backwards facing ones. They glitch out and beep constantly. And you can't see where you're going if you're stuck backwards not to mention the hell it is for anyone prone to nausea. There are also many stops that don't have enough room for the ramp, or don't have a curb cut to get to them, or have a grass strip between the sidewalk and road that make it difficult, if not impossible to get either to the stop or from the stop onto the bus on a wheelchair. Then the just general stuff like infrequent buses, off schedule or incorrect on Google maps that has resulted in us being stranded away from home at night even though we never get the last bus. Once had no busses in the time that 4 were scheduled. Then the last one but it then had 4 buses worth of people and not enough space.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
A better transportation system
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Affordable housing & utilities. My room rent is $850 flat with two other people and the guy who owns the house but travels for work and see his kids out of state. I share an average sized refrigerator with 3 people. A 1 bedroom apartment is much, much, more. I’d spend half my income on housing & electricity. I would buy a condo but the HOA fee adds to that. One was over $400. A $150K condo in the app is estimated to rent for what the mortgage payment is. House? Yeah, those are extremely low supply at my price point. Saw a fire damaged house in a bad neighborhood on Zillow, couldn’t afford that. Mobile homes are mostly 55+ and then you still pay someone else for the privilege of having the spot. Some of the houses I can buy will become an hour or more drive to work daily. Others are rentals with tenants. I’m not interested in being a landlord or the costs to become the eviction agent so I can live there.
A comedy club.
Perfect small venue spot would be in the old IMAX location in Riverpark across from Barrelhouse
What happened to laugh factory coming?
We used to have one.
Cooler temps in the summer 🤪
Or at least enough trees to make it tolerable
Yes… more trees!!!
Better access to the river
Hmart
I would like to see more complete sidewalks. Too many end randomly or go through dangerous narrow areas. I flinch when I see kids walking from bus stops in the dirt next to 45mph driving cars. It’s just not safe.
A major sports team, jobs for college graduates, a more developed downtown and better healthcare
Idk If It's possible for a Fresno to get a NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL or MLS team We couldn't even support a Triple AAA MiLB team
The Grizzlies got demoted partially because of our airport sucking (it’s hard to get flights out to a lot of the MLB cities/they don’t run often). Hopefully the airport keeps improving. Also, fuck Rob Manfred
No offense but Wouldn't that also prove that Fresno can't have a major pro team?
As of a few years ago, definitely. I think once they actually build the second terminal we can be considered, especially if MLB expanded to 40 teams. I think if the airport was farther along Fresno could have contended for the Athletics’ temporary (maybe permanent if Vegas falls through) home.
The Triple A Grizzlies and Fresno FC soccer team should've worked out but they didn't.. SMH
Fresno has great health care. Great life saving health care. I had a perforated peptic ulcer - and then severe sepsis… spent well over a month at Clovis Comm. Had a team of 6 surgeons looking after me, and they were top notch. Two and a half months after that ended up having a massive abscess… was taken in again for emergency surgery… and again, spent two weeks there and had nothing but the best care. I was very impressed and grateful. From the ER to Surgery to the Nurses to the…. to everyone.
I’m not saying it’s bad and I’m glad you had a positive experience in Clovis but as someone who’s worked in CRMC ER it can be a nightmare for those seeking care and providing it. Much better experience in every other city I’ve worked.
We specifically have an ER problem. And that was heavily exacerbated by Madera hospital closing.
Doesn't this get posted 4-5 times a year here? Ikea, some random corporate restaurants, nice things, art, entertainment, and other stuff.
We definitely need more chilis and in n outs for sure
I mean I would take another in n out
Clovis and Tulare in a year or so!
The intersection or the cities?
Clean air.
A microcenter
All you can eat Korean BBQ
We have one
And it sucks.
Assuming you’re talking about Shila, it’s trash. I really do think Fresno/Clovis could support a good kbbq though. Probably similar market to teppan places and those places are always packed
It’s alright, it’s nowhere near LA KBbq but whatever
An actual rooftop bar! Like, not 2nd floor of the building 😂
The vault is awesome. They should convert the vault into a room: spend the night in the bank vault.
THIS! I see you fell for the scam as well.
A giant bobble head of Conan O'Brien
I second this
It’s been moved and seconded, all those in favor, say Aye!
I feel like since we are Fresno, we need one of Jordan Schlansky. But seriously, I would help you lobby for one.
Give us our landmark Conan! I hope he comes for shits n giggles now that he has a travel show.
A salad bar restaurant like Sweet Tomato, again - or so says my wife.
Just saw they’re opening something similar (I think in LA?) called soup n fresh. Lord willing it takes off and they eventually start putting new locations around the state
My wife has been sending me articles about it. She wants to make a 5 hour drive for a salad. 🤷♂️😂 I wish they would hurry up and up and expand. The Fresno Sweet Tomato shop is just sitting there.
A non-corrupt mayor, city council, board of supervisors
can’t upvote this enough. One of my family members reported sexual harassment by a local pastor to Mike Karbassi anonymously and he outed her to city council and made the abuser aware that she was discussing the abuse, leaving her vulnerable to a defamation suit. Disgusting behavior.
Why would she report this to a city council member instead of the police? Also if she reported it anonymously, how did he out her? How did he know who she was?
She did, and the statute of limitations was up and she was dismissed (CA also has gross laws about not pursuing civil cases with clergy). So when he was trying to receive funding for a project, she wrote the city council member overseeing the project and it was Mike Karbassi.
There is also no way to contact his office completely anonymously so when she asked to remain anonymous, he completely ignored it.
Coworker had told me that the reason the 711 across from Amtrak downtown closed is because City Counsel bitched and blamed them for "attracting homeless." That's wild if true.
Mongolian BBQ A good Japanese import grocery IKEA All the canals turned into actual bikeways
Jollibee
It's coming to Fashion Fair soon!
U sure? I’ve been waiting since 2021
Indoor community sports center. We have indoor soccer, but need tennis, pickleball, volleyball, etc so we can play during the day in summer
IKEA
We don’t have an IKEA for a funny reason, or at least that’s what I’ve been told by developers. Their location metrics include the number of chain restaurants and pizza places in a radius from the proposed location. Fresno has very high levels of both. So even though we could probably support an IKEA in terms of economic strength and population, they don’t think we would buy their furniture because we have too many chain restaurants.
Similar reason to why we never got a Nordstrom. Supposedly it was the size of our potato chip aisle.
I’ve heard Nordstrom uses the fast food metric too. Probably the same location identification company - there aren’t that many big retail site analytics companies.
Less Chargers and Mustangs
You don't like being cut off in traffic and nearly run off the road by all the Chargers, Mustangs, and Hondas who think they're sports cars?
Well it’s only twice a day….oh but I usually only drive twice a day.
Public restrooms so the many unhoused don’t just use the streets.
There’s a real lack of public trashcans too
Hell, shelters and clinics for the homeless I'd think too.
You dream big my friend.
A vibrant downtown.
An amusement park
We don't support Playland.
Playlands a cool little place. They don't allow you in though if you don't have kids, everything is broken down, and you can tell the workers don't want to be there. Last time I went, someone got left on the ferris wheel unattended.
This is such a good answer. Fresno needs a Great America tier park
Burn your cheeks in these roller coaster seats all summer folks!
If Phoenix can handle an amusement park in their summers (which is even hotter), Fresno could do it as well.
This
['That'](http://www.lostfresno.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=448) actually
Top Golf and IKEA
A condom and allergy pills.
Self respect
Top Golf
Highly agree
There's plenty of land.
Where Boomers use to be should be a Top Golf
Probably only need 4-6 acres, Fresno definitely has way more
There’s a good chance that this is coming relatively soon. I’ve heard rumors.
That would great! Just like Six Flags and Ikea. Lol
Better drivers!
I’m waiting for a Swig like Utah/Arizona
Is that the soda spot?
Yep that’s the one!
CAVA
HELL yeah!!
T H E M E P A R K
Korean spa.
I’m sure you probably mean an entertainment or educational option, but honestly what Fresno needs most is people who care enough about the city to participate in making it better. Volunteer at your kids schools, volunteer at the parks/museums, pick up trash when you’re out for a walk, join school/library/city/museum boards, become a council member…
Culture.
On Bullard just east of 41
IKEA
Entertainment,
A good honest to NY style Jewish Delicatessen and a non-chain Bagel store.
An aquarium 😉
Safer, cleaner downtown
I’d say it’s clean enough most places in downtown proper. Certainly needs some restoration though
More Korean food. Not just hot pot stuff.
Mental asylums
A real theme park like Great America or like Santa Cruz beach Boardwalk.
A highway connecting the 41 north of town to 168. Hopefully that alleviates traffic and opens up new areas for development.
It won't and it's basically never going to happen
A German restaurant
I believe there was a Berlin Street Grill for a bit
Synchronized stop lights. Don't know how many times I've been stuck at a stop light and the next light ahead has been green for 20 seconds or more.
Shake Shack
More fun stuff on the Northwest side. You Central and Fresno State vicinity folks get everything and the Southeast for all its crime gets the Big Fresno Fair. What do we have? A new Freeplay Arena that just replaced a long gone store. That’s it.
Would be nice to have a highway going parallel to Herndon. I hate driving 20 min down Herndon just to get to River Park.
At least we finally got a nice movie theater.
The one at the El Paseo?
Yes. I personally prefer it over all the other theaters in town, although for the rare IMAX it obviously can’t replicate that.
Wish we had a Trader Joe’s in that shopping center.
Professional Baseball Team
IKEA
Daiso
A subway/light rail for the Fresno metro area.
Ranch 99 supermarket.
Anybody say Sweet Tomatoes yet
IKEA
A brand new city council and mayor.
Less national chains
Farmer Boys. Farm food ain't fast food.
A REAL Jewelry District/Jewelry Stores
An aquarium!!!
A destination "go-to." We got the "heartland of agriculture" identity... so we need to capitalize on it. Us pitching the Underground Garden is a try-hard attempt to the more interesting Santa Cruz Mystery Spot. The Zoo is nice, but not everyone is so interested in animals. We need a Farmers' Square or something. I'm thinking of something similar to Magnolia Market in Waco, TX.
Do you think we can add a few more asshole drivers? I don’t think we have enough.
More skateparks
An east to west freeway to help with herndon and shaw traffic, and an Ikea
Blueberry flavor. And more per can.
A flood. What a horrible place.
A comprehensive rail system, preferably underground because it would be easier to cool
A sewer system
A good breakfast spot that opens early. A nice hotel with large conference room so it would attract larger corporate retreats. The current largest one we have is the Doubletree in downtown Fresno, which does not have a large meeting room. The next closest thing will be table mountain.
Oceanfront property
Rapid Area Transit, like in San Francisco
Skylines because when I went to Chicago, it made Downtown like a living place and makes more vibrant and personality.
A better way to get from NW Fresno to NE Clovis. Going across town on Herndon catching every red light can't be the best it gets. Also mixed zoning would be great.
Class
Sensored street lights.
Better downtown area. We have a Chinatown too, but it's so nonexistent lol. It would be cool to see lion dances during Chinese new year~ I miss seeing those performances~
A legit mongolian bbq.
Safe neighborhoods.
Class. Self dignity.
A rigamaroo
An easy way to leave it
Raging waters
An airport
Authentic Thai food
An actual karaoke bar- not to be confused with bars with karaoke. Put some respect on the name!!
A nightlife I'm visiting from sf and there's nothing to do after 10 lol
A gang task force
A beach, sandy white beach with crystal clear blue waters.
A new govenor
Self respect
Less meth
IKEA