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.