Tag: revitalize

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Walmart and McDonalds – the Clovis way of life?

On By jamesinclair

Clovis is Fresno’s smaller, richer and more suburban neighbor. It plays a role common in metropolitan areas around the country – the Pasadena to Los Angeles, or the Cambridge to Boston for example. The cities share a common border but the demographics and income levels don’t quite match up.

To differentiate itself, Clovis positions itself as the more traditional and rural alternative to “big city Fresno.”  Downtown Clovis is called “Old Town”, and two decades ago the entire district was re-themed in an old-west motif that works quite well on the single or two-story century-old buildings. Along with the annual rodeo, the farmer’s markets and other activities, Clovis tries to preserve what they tout is their “way of life”. The recent centennial for example was branded as “Celebrating the Clovis Way of Life for 100 Years.” Click to read more!

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Thoughts from the Clovis Shaw planning meeting

On By jamesinclair

The subject of my last post was about the city of Clovis holding three planning meetings concerning Shae Ave.

I attended the second meeting, held in the afternoon. The meeting was not well publicized, as there was no notice (that I could see) in the paper. On the website, the information was listed, but the way the site is set up makes it hard to find.

Apparently, the expectation was that only business owners would attend, because the first question asked was which business each member of the audience owns. I assume they sent out flyers to each business on the corridor.

Now when I say audience, I mean a grand total of six members of the public, less than the 7 members of the city that were on-hand. The lack of outreach and the lack of response is somewhat typical of planning here, both in Clovis and in Fresno. The local population is not very engaged with how the city is being planned, which is partially why there are so many ways in which the planning is poor. According to the city staff, the morning meeting had more people, but that’s not saying much. I think that the lack of engagement by the community is taken by the city as a sign that everyone approves of how things have been done. As I’ll get to later, according to one of the planners, that’s sort of how the council sees it. Click to read more!

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Clovis holding Shaw Avenue planning meetings

On By jamesinclair

I am writing a full post about the problems facing Shaw Avenue, but I am posting the details of the meeting now as a heads up. Look for the full post later tonight.

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The City of Clovis has identified a two-and-a-half-mile stretch of Shaw Avenue as a focus area for long term planning and reinvestment.

The City of Clovis is preparing a focused land use planning, regulatory, and financing effort to re-imagine and revitalize the corridor from SR-168 to Clovis Avenue.

The City of Clovis invites you to attend any of the three workshops being held on January 25-26, 2012, to help reimage, revitalize, and recreate Shaw Avenue. Click to read more!