Author: Joseph Wingenfeld

I am an urbanist with a passion for neighborhood level initiatives including community development, business district planning, affordable housing creation, historic preservation, and improvement of the urban environment. Geographically, my experience and interest is "Rust Belt" oriented with a focus in cities across the Mid-West and East-coast with historically manufactured based economies.

Quartier des Spectacles- Montreal’s exciting Arts-based District

While Downtown encompasses the Quartier des Spectacles I didn’t include it in my Downtown review and kept it as  its own distinctive neighborhood. For the Downtown review I’m including everything south of City Councilors St. to Guy Street along with the Golden Square Mile neighborhood, considered by most standards to be part of Dwtn but also a bit autonomous . This stretches west to Mount Royal Park. The main spine of Downtown runs down Sherbrooke St. This formed the historic heart of Golden Square Mile where Montreal’s turn of the 19th century millionaires settled. Eventually all of the mansions on the northern stretch of Sherbrooke were replaced with post WWII skyscrapers creating a pretty bland and soulless American urban environment. But many mansions and historic structures were preserved in the southern half of Sherbrooke between Stanley and Guy street.

Saint-Catherine St is the great historic shopping district of Dwtn Montreal akin to Chicago’s Miracle Mile. It remains at a very human scaled with mostly historic commercial buildings remaining. Recent improvements have improved the urban form expanding the sidewalks and make the street even more human scaled. In the southern half of Dwtn Bishop, Rue de la Montagne, and especially Crescent, are three narrow east to west streets that preserve some of Montreal’s best late 19th century grand townhouse architecture. The northern half of Dwtn is mostly post WWII high-rises with the main exception of many historic buildings surrounding Phillips Square. West of Sherbrooke is a mostly residential neighborhood mixing historic and modern residences and institutional uses from McGill University.

Parts of Downtown are not the most exciting because of a large amount of bland high-rises, plenty of wide blocks, and a lack of premier park spaces. But because of its density, good urban planning, smart urban design decisions, good pedestrian activity and great remaining shopping  Downtown Montreal has been able to largely overcome these downsides. When adding the exciting Quartier des Spectacles I would still likely include Downtown Montreal as a top 10 Dwtn in North America. The height restriction creates an interesting uniformity to the highest skyscrapers in Montreal as none can exceed the height of Mount Royal (232 Meters). Overall I like this especially when viewed Dwtn from Mount Royal or from afar but it does create some blandness on the ground. Fortunately the new skyscrapers being  built are a lot more unique and creative.

Click to view my Quartier des Spectacles and Quartier de Latin Albums on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

  • Really nice mix of modern and historic architecture. Even some of the ugly brutalist buildings in the heart of the Quartier des Spectacles is soften by good urban design.
  • Great concentration of parks, plazas and theaters & cinemas. Quartier des Spectacles certainly does well in other cultural amenities.
  • Strong student presence with the University of Quebec in Montreal spread throughout in multiple places.
  • Two great urban pedestrian districts; St. Catherine’s that cuts through the heart of the district and Rue Denis also considered the Latin Quartier and biz heart of the University.
  • Good vibrancy and few surface parking lots.
  • Excellent bike infrastructure and access to several metro stations.
  • While not quite as great as Dwtn still great retail options including the Complexes Desjardins (Shopping Mall), several department stores, plenty of clothing stores, several supermarkets & drug stores, and plenty of other retails.”

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

  • Some grit in points especially along Ontario and some northern blocks of St. Catherine’s.
  • Plenty of cold 1960s and 1970 architecture but urban designers have done a great job at softening the building with quality streetscaping and plaza spaces in the heart of the district.”

Downtown Montreal, Quebec



While Downtown encompasses the Quartier des Spectacles I didn’t include it in my Downtown review and kept it as  its own distinctive neighborhood. For the Downtown review I’m including everything south of City Councilors St. to Guy Street along with the Golden Square Mile neighborhood, considered by most standards to be part of Dwtn but also a bit autonomous . This stretches west to Mount Royal Park. The main spine of Downtown runs down Sherbrooke St. This formed the historic heart of Golden Square Mile where Montreal’s turn of the 19th century millionaires settled. Eventually all of the mansions on the northern stretch of Sherbrooke were replaced with post WWII skyscrapers creating a pretty bland and soulless American urban environment. But many mansions and historic structures were preserved in the southern half of Sherbrooke between Stanley and Guy street.

Saint-Catherine St is the great historic shopping district of Dwtn Montreal akin to Chicago’s Miracle Mile. It remains at a very human scaled with mostly historic commercial buildings remaining. Recent improvements have improved the urban form expanding the sidewalks and make the street even more human scaled. In the southern half of Dwtn Bishop, Rue de la Montagne, and especially Crescent, are three narrow east to west streets that preserve some of Montreal’s best late 19th century grand townhouse architecture. The northern half of Dwtn is mostly post WWII high-rises with the main exception of many historic buildings surrounding Phillips Square. West of Sherbrooke is a mostly residential neighborhood mixing historic and modern residences and institutional uses from McGill University.

Parts of Downtown are not the most exciting because of a large amount of bland high-rises, plenty of wide blocks, and a lack of premier park spaces. But because of its density, good urban planning, smart urban design decisions, good pedestrian activity and great remaining shopping  Downtown Montreal has been able to largely overcome these downsides. When adding the exciting Quartier des Spectacles I would still likely include Downtown Montreal as a top 10 Dwtn in North America. The height restriction creates an interesting uniformity to the highest skyscrapers in Montreal as none can exceed the height of Mount Royal (232 Meters). Overall I like this especially when viewed Dwtn from Mount Royal or from afar but it does create some blandness on the ground. Fortunately the new skyscrapers being  built are a lot more unique and creative.

Click here to view my Montreal Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

 * Some major Dwtn landmarks include Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Sun Life Bldg.,
* Several attractive parks and plazas including Phillips Square, Dorchester Square,  and Place du Canada. But not including Mount Royal.
* Excellent public transit access including 6 subway stops. Same with the dedicated bike lane network Dwtn where most are separated by barriers. Feeds into an incredible bike network across the City and Metro. The dedicated bike station system is also one of the best (if not best) in North America.
* Decent bike canopy.
* Generally solid pedestrian activity especially along Saint-Catherine (Canada’s business commercial avenue) and the more historic and mixed-use sections of Dwtn.
* Solid cultural amenities of a Dwtn but with several movie theaters including several indie theaters and a cineplex
* Very good retail amenities Dwtn including a couple supermarkets and lots of ethnic groceries, plenty of drug stores, a great array of clothing stores concentrated along St. Catherine St., several shopping malls including the extensive Eaton Mall and the underground City (the largest underground shopping mall in the world. This comes with many department stores. Other retail amenities are pretty standard for a Dwtn.
* Good pedestrian activity in much of Dwtn but still plenty of dead spaces.
* Lots of residential options Dwtn, generally expensive but not terrible. Solid density with about 20K per square mile living in the greater Dwtn area.
* Lots of universities studies thanks to McGill, the University of Quebec in Montreal and many other smaller colleges.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Limited modern ADA curbs.
* Plenty of modern single use skyscrapers from the 1960s-2000 in the northern and eastern edges of Dwtn which creates some dead spaces.
* No extraordinary parks spaces in Dwtn Montreal as found in other great North American cities like Chicago, NYC, or  Boston.
* Several wide autocentric streets run through dwtn still. Thankfully the highway in the Center City Montreal is underground in Dwtn. 

Montreal’s Cite Multimedia District- a Former Industrial Area Repurposed into a Dense Mixed-use Neighborhood

The neighborhood’s name is derived from the name of the government-subsidized office complex built in its core. Cite Multimedia is the result of a vast real-estate project launched by the Quebec government in the late 1990s which redeveloped abandoned 19th century industrial buildings into a tech and design cluster. A decade later condos and apartment buildings became the main redevelopment use of the neighborhood as surface parking lots and light industrial buildings were repurposed. Cite Multimedia is similar to other American neighborhoods located close to the Downtown areas that gradually redevelopment old warehouses and industrial spaces. Some good examples include Pittsburgh’s Strip District or Denver’s Union Station neighborhood. Cite Multimedia doesn’t have the most sense of place as its a rather gradual and haphazard redevelopment of available warehouses and industrial space, but it is surrounded by some great neighborhoods including Vieux Montreal to the north, Downtown to the western and Griffintown to the south. Cite Multimedia is also a very mixed-use district in its own right with quality bike infrastructure and public transit access. The only real room for improvement is redeveloping the final surface parking lots that remain.

Click here to view my Cite Multimedi album on my Flickr Page

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great access to Vieux Montreal and Dwtn Montreal.
* Excellent Density.
* Infill is generally quality urban form.
* Lots of diverse condo and rental options.
* Goo access to the Square Victoria-OACI Subway station.
* Excellent Promenade park along Autoroute 10, the southern edge of the neighborhood. Also a wonderful promenade along the Vieux Port and seperated two-way bike path.
* Good array of food and beverage bizs especially along the northern border (McGill Ave). Not many other cultural amenities in the neighborhood but plenty in neighboring Vieaux Montreal.
* Good retail amenities here including lot of remaining warehouse type stores (camera store, wholesalers, office supply, computer stores, etc.), several specialty grocery stores, several gyms and dessert stores,.
* Good array of dedicated bike lanes.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Not much sense of place. Cite Multimedia feels mostly like a place to live in a high density urban neighborhood to live or good to work close to Vieux Montreal.
* Crime is pretty low and limited blight.
* Decent amount of quality historic buildings remain in the neighborhood.
* Generally good sidewalks but half the curb cuts are not up to modern ADA standards.
* Still some surface parking lots. 

Downtown Visalia, CA

The Heart of Dwtn lies between West and Bridge Street. From north to south Dwtn is located roughly between I-198 and Oak Ave, which also has a railroad located on it. Between Main St and I-198 are larger regional attractions including a hospital, convention center and hotel. Downtown Visalia benefits from being the county seat of Tulare and this has brought a good number of government jobs and regional amenities (aka convention center, major hospital and a large Dwtn hotel). Main St is the west-to-east heart of Dwtn containing several well preserved historic blocks filled with many food and beverage business and local shops. This is where the majority of Dwtn’s historic buildings have been preserved. Court St is the 2nd best urban street dwtn running north to south. The edges of Dwtn Visalia become rather auto centric filled with numerous surface lots and car friendly buildings. What Dwtn Visalia needs most to become a solid urban neighborhood is simply more people. Apartments and condos are rare here and Dwtn feels very much just a place to work and hang out. 

Click here to view my Downtown Visalia album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good sidewalk infrastructure and decent ADA curb cuts.
* In tact commercial district along Main Street stretching for several blocks with mostly 1-2 story buildings. Church and Court (running north to south)also have good urban fabric too.
* Decent concentration of historic stock along Main St. Historic stock becomes very scattered outside of Main Street.
* Several dedicated bike lanes running through Dwtn connecting to a good sized bike system across Visalia.
* Solid food and beverage bizs but also several night clubs, a couple art galleries and local museums, and a historic and new movie theater.
* Great local shopping options including tons of boutiques & clothing stores, plenty of banks, plenty of dessert shops, and other amenities. Also a major hospital, convention center, city hall, and other government bldgs are located dwtn.
* Solid public transit access.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Outside of Main St especially on Dwtn’s western, eastern, and northern edges the fabric loosens and many surface parking lots and autocentric uses spring up.
* Lots of bland modern infill from the 1960s-1990s. But of it at least has good urban massing albeit not always good urban form.
* Missing important neighborhood amenities such as a supermarket, hardware store,
* Limited population.

Downtown Ventura, CA- An attractie seaside California Community with a very walkable Historic Downtown Core

My evaluation area includes the heart of Dwtn Ventura and some surrounded streets that have a pretty high level of urbanism and connect well to Downtown. My western boundary is Ventura Ave., Chrisman/Sanjon is my eastern boundary, Poli St to the north and Ventura Freeway/the railroad tracks to the south. The area East of Dwtn Ventura also hosts pretty good urbanism with mostly pre-WWII housing and semi-urban commercial districts. This however felt like a distinct neighborhood from Dwtn.

With the arrival of Spanish missionaries in 1782, Mission San Buenaventura was established by Junípero Serra, giving the city its name. Following the Mexican secularization of the Californian missions a small community arose. Following the American Conquest of California, San Buenaventura eventually incorporated as a city in 1866. The 1920s brought a major oil boom, which along with the post–World War II economic expansion, significantly developed and expanded Ventura. Population steadily grew in the turn of the 20th century reaching 1,300 in 1880, 2,500 in 1900, and 4K in 1920. Population exploded after 1920 reaching 13K in 1940, 30K in 1960, 73K in 1980 and now sits at 110K.

Thanks to Ventura’s decent pre WWII population it hosts an excellent historic core with great urbanism along several blocks of Main Street between Juniper St and Fir St. East of here Main st continues as more of a mixed-use area with lots of residential development. Some decent urban form along Santa Clara and less so along E. Thomas Blvd, which doubles as a state highway 101. Unfortunately a highway separates Dwtn from its waterfront making the connectivity less than ideal. East of Fir St is a solid mixed-use turn of the century walkable residential area with attractive California historic housing. Some nice mixed-use development along Front St, which doubles as a historic wharf district. For Dwtn Ventura to become a top urban district is needs to fill in its remaining surface parking lots and underutilized auto centric spots. It also needs better urban density and a lot more affordable housing. 

Click here to view my Flickr Album

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Solid public transit access.
* Consistent sidewalks access. ADA curbs cuts are great in the heart of Dwtn and along Main St but get less consistent on the surrounding residential streets.
* Excellent urban form and streetscaping along the core of Dwtn Ventura along several blocks of Main St. Lots of mix use fabric beyond this but a decent amount of auto centric form mixed in.
* While there are no dedicated bike stations here, a great system of dedicated bike lanes dwtn connecting to the rest of the City.
* Solid racial and economic diversity but not a ton of families with children and median age skews high.
* Excellent historic architecture here.
* High level of pedestrian activity Dwtn especially along Main St.
* One of the safest communities in California apparently. Blight is almost non existent.
* Excellent cultural amenities including a plethora of food & beverage bizs, plenty of art galleries and night clubs, a historic cinema, a live music venue, a performing arts theater, a couple local museums and lots of historic sites including the Mission Basilica San Buenaventura.
* Good park amenities including convenient access to the Beach, the Ventura Botanical Gardens, the excellent plaza park, several attractive plaza spaces, and good access to the Seaside Wilderness Park located just southwest of Dwtn.
* Great retail amenities too including a supermarket and lots of smaller grocerias and gourmet grocery stores, a couple drug stores, tons of local boutiques, gift shops & clothing’s stores, a hardware store, lots of antique and thrift shops, several bank branches, tons of dessert joints & gyms, plenty of salons, a couple book stores and florists, a dwtn post office/public library, several medical offices, & plenty of churches.
* Public Elementary, middle and high school all located in the Dwtn area with pretty good ratings.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Urban density is pretty mediocre.
* Ventura is very far removed from any major Dwtn area in the LA Metro. The closest probably being Santa Monica about 75 minutes away. But Ventura is at least the County seat of which brings a decent amount of Dwtn amenities.
* Good amount of rental product, just very expensive. 1 beds lease anywhere between -3K, 2-beds lease between 2.5K-4K. Limited 3 & 4 bed product and what does exist is very expensive single family homes.
* For sale housing is pretty diverse but even more expensive than rentals. 1-bed condos sell btwn 600k-800K, 2-beds btwn 650K-1 M, 3 & 4 beds range between 800K-2 M.
* So so  tree canopy.

Downtown Fresno, CA

Downtown Fresno is historically quite large and well built in places. Between the 1880s and World War II, Downtown flourished, filled with extensive streetcar lines, several lavish buildings and a vibrant main street along Fulton Street. But Downtown Freson was hit hard with the twin enemies of suburban flight and urban renewal. A cool modernist Downtown complex was created in the 1960s but this was only after serious destruction of the Dwtn fabric, which exceeded well beyond the current footprint. The Fulton Mall was created in 1964 closing traffic as a way to compete with new suburban shopping malls. Sadly like most such attempts in American it failed and by the 1980s, most storefronts on the mall were empty. Cars were not reintroduced on Fulton until 2017  Interesting the public art and fountains built on the mall were kept and relocated to the sidewalks.

The area between Tuolumne Street and Divisadero St has been rebranded as the Mural District and is now the best residential area of Dwtn with significant infill development mostly concentrated on Broadway and Fulton.  The Arts side of the district is still very nascent. There is the Arte Americas and several murals but not much else. The Brewery District, which surrounds the Ballpark is an up and coming food & beverage district with most of the activities businesses lining Fulton. Some nice historic residential blocks near the modern City Hall Bldg and the Fresno Catholic Cathedral. Chinatown is technically part of Dwtn but I excluded it from this evaluation as its on the other side of the railroad tracks and largely abandonded. The rest of Downtown is mostly underutilized or dead space with parking lots, warehouse buildings, or government office buildings. Dwtn is starting to see some buzz and redevelopment interest. Thankfully it has some strong assets like Fulton St and many historic buildings to build momentum. The sky is the limit it seems for Downtown as there are so many surface parking lots, underutilized warehouses, and vacant historic buildings to revitalize.

Click here to view my Downtown Fresno Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Solid density for an urban area.
* Generally good sidewalks and ADA curbs but some ADA curb dead spots.
* Decent public transit in Fresno especially Dwtn and neighborhoods north of Dwtn and to a lesser extent east of it. Public transit access drops off quickly once you reach the suburbs.
* Generally a well connected grid dwtn but plenty of wide streets and serious inner-belt highways.
* No dedicated bike stations but a solid bike lane system Dwtn and especially across the City of Fresno.
* Good racial diversity living Dwtn.
* Good cultural & regional amenities including several museums, a minor league ballpark, a hockey arena and event center. Also a great concentration of governmental offices and a major dwtn public library.
* Decent but not great array of food & beverage amenities, several art galleries, live music venues, and night clubs, a couple gorgeous historic theaters and a modern performing arts theater.
* Good number of elementary and middle schools in the Dwtn and surrounding areas, mixed ratings however.
* So nice historic architecture especially concentrated along Fulton Street, the historic main street of Dwtn. Van Ness also hosts a good amount of historic fabric. This comes with the caveat that much of this fabric is pretty blighted and underinvested. Some historic residential area surrounding St. John’s Cathedral.
* Thanks to the City Government Complexes, decent pedestrian activity on Fulton and Civic heart of Dwtn.
* No data on # of workers in Dwtn Fresno, but it appears to be decent with all the governmental jobs.
* Decent retail Dwtn with a supermarket, a CVS, several banks, decent # of boutiques & clothing stores, the Mammoth Mall (collection of antique & resale shops), and unique stores mostly concentrated along Fulton. Also plenty of salons & barber shops, several dessert joints, a major hospital & lots of surrounding medical offices, and plenty of churches.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* 1/3 of the residents living Dwtn are in poverty. Some higher incomes but not enough to create meaningful economic diversity.
* I don’t consider Dwtn Fresno dangerous but I wouldn’t consider it safe either with its high vacancy rate, large dead spaces, and medium sized homeless population.
* Not the most vertical or concentrated skyline but some unique antique towers that make the skyline somewhat interesting.
* Pretty limited rental inventory and very cheap for a Dwtn. 1-beds lease for generally in the low 1Ks, 2-beds in the mid 1Ks, a handful of 3-beds leasing around 2K.
* For sale product is also rather limited and affordable. Most for sale housing is located in Villa Borgata Condos. Some 1 bed condos that sell in the 100Ks, 2-bed inventory sells in the 200Ks, limited 3 & 4 bed inventory sell in the 200Ks & 300Ks.
* College presence is very limited in Dwtn Fresno to maybe a couple hundred students. Closest college is Fresno City College located 2 miles north of Dwtn with an enrollment of 15K.
* Modern in-fill is a mixed bag. Some really interesting and relatively urban 60s infill in the City-Government complex and surrounding blocks but also plenty of unattractive rather autocentric infill. Some decent infill in the Mural District.
* Good urban form along Fulton and parts of Van Ness but lots of dead and semi-dead spaces and surface parking lots throughout Dwtn.
* Courthouse Park is an impressive Civic Heart and Government mall but not much else Parkwise in Dwtn Fresno.

Clovis, CA- Exploding Fresno Suburb with a well Invested and Urban Downtown

I drew the Urban Area of Clovis pretty tight to its Dwtn core as suburban development begins pretty quickly. I used Sierra Ave. as the northern border, Clovis Ave as the eastern, 8th St. as the southern, and Minnewanna Ave as the western.

Clovis was established in 1890 as a freight stop for the San Joaquin Valley Railroad by a group of Fresno businessmen. Clovis was officially incorporated as a city in 1912. The City’s population hit just over 1,000 residents in 1920 and was pretty stagnant through the early 20th century, only reaching 2,750 residents by 1950. In the Post War period, Clovis exploded into Fresno’s largest suburb as it now has a population of 120K. Clovis is one of Metro Fresno’s most in demand suburbs apparent with its quality schools, stable housing stock, and explosive growth. Thanks to its wealth, the City has been able to invest significantly into its downtown area creating an walkable main street but almost entirely with modern infill. Generally I believe the City has succeeded in this endeavor as the architecture and urban form of its in-fill is to a pretty high urban standard. Dwtn Clovis, however, still needs a lot more mixed-use bldgs and density. Other areas for improvement include better public transit access, development of its surface parking lots, more park amenities, more rentals, and some key retail amenities (i.e. a dwtn supermarket, drug store, and medical offices). 

Click here to view my Clovis Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Several quality urban commercial streets including several blocks of 5th St., Clovis Ave., and Polansky Ave. These blocks also have excellent streetscaping.
* Sidewalks and ADA curbs are generally good but several streets are missing sidewalks and ADA curbs in this evaluation area.
* Excellent dedicated bike/recreational path passing through the center of Dwtn. Also a good bike lanes on Sierra St as well and good connected system across all of Clovis.
* Good diversity indicators especially racial.
* Overall a very safe community.
* Most of the dwtn architecture is actually in-fill and quality urban in-fill.
* Some good historic architecture in the residential areas but nothing too exciting.
* Decent pedestrian activity especially in the core of Dwtn.
* Clovis seems to have a pretty good buzz across the region.
* Excellent schools in Clovis but only a handful are walkable and in the Dwtn core including 2 elementary schools and a middle school.
* Pretty good for sale diversity with 2-beds selling btwn 200K-400K, 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 300K-700K albeit with limited 4-bed product in the dwtn area.
* Good cultural amenities including plenty of food & beverage businesses, several local history museum, several night clubs, a performing arts theater, and some live music venues.
* Good retail amenities including several banks, lots of boutiques and clothing stores, lots of gift shops & antique stores, a few floral shops, toy stores & book stores, several dessert stores & gyms, a local post office & public library, and several churches.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:
* Density is pretty low for an urban area.
* Public transit access is very limited in Clovis.
* Transit to Dwtn is pretty terrible taking about 1 hour only on peak times. But a driving commute is only 15-20 mins.
* Decent amount of surface parking but generally behind building that are front the street. The surface parking in the center of the main square is the most unfortunate.
* Northern couple blocks of Clovis Ave are pretty auto centric.
* Some rentals available usually moderately priced.
* Missing amenities dwtn include a supermarket, drug store, no hardware stores, and few medical offices.
* Parks are limited a quality plaza, medium sized parks, and a recreational bike trail.

Reedley, CA- Self Proclaimed “World’s Fruit Basket” and a Fresno Exurb

I included only the original square laid out probably at the town’s beginnings. Dwtn Reedley is bound by North Ave, East Ave, Dinuba, and Reed Ave. This area was developed before WWII and contains the best urban form in Reedley. There are a couple of pre-WWII streets outside of the square but development quickly becomes car centric albeit with decent density and generally decent sidewalks (thank you California Growth Boundaries).Reedley’s chief economic source is fruit production leading to the self proclamation as the “The World’s Fruit Basket.” Reedley was settled shortly after the American Civil War Union with the town quickly becoming the center of the San Joaquin Valley’s booming wheat industry.  Since the 1940s, Reedley has seen a large increase in its Hispanic and Latino immigrant population .Population wise was pretty small during the 19th century and reached 2,500 residents in 1920 and grew to 4K by 1950. The City has continued to grow thanks to suburban sprawl and know sits at 25K.

Lots to like about Reedley with an intact historic main street, lots of shops, quality schools, affordable housing, and a high level of safety. But like other small towns in the Central Valley its density is quite level, its public transit access is poor, and rentals are very limited.

Click here to view my Reedley, CA Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good sidewalks and consistent ADA curbs throughout Reedley including the residential streets.
* Nice historic architecture in the residential areas and dwtn but nothing spectacular.
* Good dedicated bike lane running through the center of Reedley.
* Good income diversity and generational diversity with a large number of families with children.
* Overall a very safe community.
* Good array of well rated walkable schools.
* G Street is a lengthy main street with pretty good urban form and streetscaping. 11th has a couple blocks of urban commercial fabric but becomes semi-autocentric a couple blocks from G Street.
* For sale housing is generally affordable with 2-beds that sell btwn 175K & 335K, and 3 & 4 beds selling btwn 200K-400K. Not too much variety however.
* Good parks spaces in dwtn Reedley including a recreation trail running down its center, a couple small parks and the multi-faceted Muller Park which includes a skate park, community center and much else.
* Solid cultural amenities including plenty of food & beverage businesses, a local history museum, and a local performing arts theater.
* Good retail amenities as well including a couple supermarkets & grocerias, a dollar store, a drug store, several boutiques & gift stores, lots of antiques & furniture stores, plenty of banks, a book store, a hardware store, lots of salons & barber shops, several gyms & dessert stops, a local post office & public library,  tons of churches, and a couple medical centers.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Below average density for an urban area.
* Public transit access to rather poor. Takes 1.5 hours to take the bus to Dwtn. One can still drive to Dwtn in 35 minutes.
* Limited racial diversity as Reedley is about 80% Hispanic.
* Modern in fill is limited but what does exist is pretty auto centric.
* Rentals are very limited.

Kingsburg, CA- A Fresno exurb known for its Sweedish History and former headquarters of Sun Maid Growers

Kingsburg was established as a railroad town just after the Civil war as a stop on the Central Pacific Railroad. Soon after Swedish natives settled in the railroad town called at time “Kings River Switch”. By 1921, ninety-four percent of the population within a three-mile radius of Kingsburg was Swedish-American,  easily giving the community the nickname of “Little Sweden”. The town has built on this legacy as many of the town’s  retail businesses are designed in Swedish architecture along with main street’s streetscaping and the water tower designed as an antique Swedish coffee pot. Kingsburg not surprisingly also hosts one of the largest Swedish Festivals in the Country. Grape and raison productions is equally a part of the town’s history as most of the fields around Kingsburg are grape vineyards. Kingsburg was the headquarters of Sun-Maid Growers of California for a long time before it moved to Fresno.

The town took awhile to grow as it remained very small throughout the 19th century. By 1900 it reached 500 souls, by 1920 1,300 and 2,300 in 1950. Kingsburg is still growing thanks to mostly suburban expansion and now sits at 12K residents. But Kingsburg thanks to its strong identity has invested heavily in its Downtown and boasts many health shops and restaurants with quality urban form and streetscaping. The town also has good suburban amenities (i.e. quality schools, safety, and good parks) and thanks too its Central Californian locations homes are moderately priced. For this to be a great urban suburb Kingsburg needs a lot more density and vibrancy. Rentals are very sparse. There is also horrible public transit and limited bike infrastructure. I’d also like to see some more cultural amenities like a theater or art gallery.

Click here to view my Kingsburg, CA album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good sidewalk infrastructure except the northern and eastern edges of the neighborhood.
* ADA infrastructure good in the commercial district but spotty in residential streets.
* Wonderfully maintained historic district in the commercial area. Surrounding pre WW II homes are nice but nothing spectacular.
* Solid street connectivity.
* Good array of public schools and most of them are walkable.
* For sale housing is very moderately priced for CA standards. 2-beds sell btwn 200K-400K, and 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 300K & 600K.
* Good tree canopy.
* A couple very attractive medium sized parks located in the core of Kingsburg.
*This is a very safe community with really no blight.
* Very strong sense of place with a well defined main street and very cohesive Swedish theme. In some ways the Dwtn feels like a Swedish theme-park! The landmark water tower certainly also helps create a sense of place here.
* Good massing in Dwtn especially along Draper. Some vacant lots/parking lots on the side street and Sierra St is rather auto centric. Excellent streetscaping Dwtn.
* Good cultural amenities including many restaurants, several bars, a brewery, a couple cafes, and a train depot museum.
* Good retail amenities as well including 2 supermarkets, a family dollar, a couple banks & drug stores, several gifts stores & boutiques, a couple antiques, a record store, hardware store, lots of dessert joints and a couple gyms. Dwtn also has a Post Office & public library, tons of churches and several medical offices and centers.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Density is very suburban
* Public transit is very limited running 3 times a day. It does provide a connection to Downtown and couple other exurb Fresno suburbs.
* Connection to Dwtn is ok via driving (30 mins).
* Bike infrastructure is almost non-existent in the Kingsburg.
* Rentals are basically non-existent.
* Modern in-fill is limited with a couple good in-fill bldgs dwtn but mostly auto centric strip along Sierra St.
* Missing several important amenities including art galleries, theaters & cinemas, any live music venues, 

Fresno High- An attractive 1920s-1950s Urban Neighborhood on Fresno’s Northside

The official geography of Fresno High is quite large. I reduced my evaluation area for Fresno High to include the best urban parts of the neighborhood closest to the Tower District. My evaluation bounds Fresno High by Shields Ave to the North, McKinley Ave to the south, Fruit Ave to the west and the railroad tracks to the east.

Fresno High is most know for its attractive 1920s-1950s single family homes that range from small bungalows and small cottages to larger Tudors, Spanish Revival and grand formal mansions. The best urbanism is its south eastern edge where it touches the Tower District and Fresno High School is located. Here there is a 2-block commercial district along Van Ness/ Echo Ave. The eastern edge of Fresno High contains a good mix of attractive single family homes (especially along Van Ness), duplexes, and small apartment buildings. Shields Ave is the other commercial district in Fresno High and hosts some neighborhood amenities but is rather auto centric. The western half of the neighborhood contains attractive 30s-50s modest bungalows, cottages, and ranch homes with limited access to walkable amenities.

Fresno High also has good transit access, bike infrastructure, safety, tree canopy and moderately priced homes. For it to become a great urban district it needs to densify and promote mixed-use development along Shields Ave, create dedicated affordable housing, and increase its walkable neighborhood amenities.

Click here to view my Fresno High Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Good sidewalk infrastructure. About 40% of curb cuts are up to ADA standards.
* Solid public transit access and an easy 20 minute bus ride to Dwtn.
* Great street connectivity. Also several dedicated bike lanes running all directions.
* Great economic diversity and solid racial diversity.
* Overall a pretty safe district.
* Attractive 1920s-1940 architecture especially along Van Ness and several blocks around it. Some good mid century commercial along a couple blocks of Van Ness but also some unattractive auto centric commercial along Shields.
* Good tree canopy.
* Pretty good access to schools including 2 high schools and 3 elementary schools. Mixed ratings though.
* Some cultural and retail amenities especially concentrated along the N Van Ness Blvd/ N Echo Ave including a coffee shops, a couple restaurants, a record shop, Ice Cream shop, a couple salons, and a couple art galleries.
* Other neighborhood amenities outside of the Van Ness/Echo Node include a couple museums and the performing arts of Fresno City College, a hardware store, a couple dessert joints & gyms, and some churches.
* Better variety with for-sale homes. Some 1-bed sf homes that sell btwn 150K-300K, 2-beds sell btwn 175K-430K, 3 & 4 beds sell btwn 300K-800K.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Urban density is below average.
* No biking sharing system in the neighborhood.
* Some pedestrian activity around the commercial node on Van Ness, otherwise streets are pretty quiet.
* Missing several important neighborhood amenities… supermarket, drug store, banks, bars, public library & post office, and medical offices.. Decent access to neighborhoods amenities to those living on the southern edge of Fresno High to Olive Street in Tower District.
* Some rentals are the eastern edge of Fresno High. They generally lease in the low 1Ks. 2 & 3 beds are bit more spreadsheet. 2-beds lease in the mid 1Ks and 3 beds around 2K.
* Limited dedicated affordable housing.