FRESNO, Calif. – Mithradad Behbehani says his city is always changing.
Public spaces are evolving. The skyline is shifting. New buildings are coming together piece by piece. In Fresno, he says, the beauty is often in the details.
“I have tons of memories watching the Hotel Fresno become a place where people live now,” said Behbehani, who grew up in the city. “When I graduated high school, we would just drive around. I lived down there, we’d look at the construction, and then we’d come back and say, ‘Oh, it’s more complete now.’”
Downtown Fresno was always familiar to him because his family owned a business nearby. Eating, walking around and sightseeing all became daily rituals.
And, he says, looking back, a common thread connecting all of that made the daily routines meaningful.
“Fresno has some of the warmest and kindest people in the entire state of California,” he told KVPR in a survey.
Behbehani was one of a few dozen people who responded to a recent KVPR survey that asked: What’s good about your city – and what’s bad about it?
Our findings showed current and former residents have varied views about their city, but all seem to – or at least try to – find the good in it.
The bad? High costs of living, like rent and utility payments, and wages that cannot keep up.
But there’s plenty to like about Fresno, too.
“The wonderful autumn and spring weather and the friendly people,” one person said.
Other responses included that people in “Central California can visit other cities and parks and not drive far,” and “local produce and proximity.”
Ronald J. Martin, 77, agrees proximity is a key strength of living in Fresno.
"It's nice to be close to the national parks and go there once in a while," Martin said.
And it’s true: Yosemite National Park – one of the country’s most visited parks – is just an hour and a half from downtown Fresno.
And downtown Fresno, Martin, adds, “is a beautiful place. It's well taken care of.”
That may be the case these days. But downtown Fresno has had its share of rough years. The city has continually worked to revitalize the district – which has struggled to generate activity since northward sprawl began.
The city’s current mayor, Jerry Dyer, is laying the groundwork to eventually move thousands of people downtown.
April Henry, 55, says she appreciates the accessibility of fun things to do in Fresno – like the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.
"[It's a] nice fun outing at a really pretty reasonable price for families to be able to go to," Henry said.
She told KVPR that even her son’s girlfriend, who is from San Diego, said she prefers Fresno’s zoo over the internationally renowned one in her hometown because Fresno’s feels more connected to the community.
"[At the San Diego Zoo] you can't really get up close and personal and feed the giraffes," Henry said.
Other survey respondents also honed in on something else that is visible in Fresno: its diversity. We’re talking about diversity of people, but also businesses and food. The city boasts countless options from family-owned taco shops and bakeries to Asian markets.“You can pretty much choose any culture of food on any Friday night and find it somewhere within the city, which I think is really great,” Henry said. “It's got a great potluck.”
According to the most recent U.S. Census survey, more than half of Fresno residents identify as Latino, while 32% identify as white, 15% as Asian, and 7% as Black.
And for all who have called Fresno home in the past decades, they understand one thing that has made it sometimes difficult to make it: the economy. The costs of housing and transportation are among the obstacles that can hold people back.
The city is currently also grappling with plans to continue expanding – and that has set up a battle between residents who want officials to improve existing communities rather than building new ones.
And more economic investment is always a good thing for the city, say residents. Behbehani has one idea.
“We've seen amazing progress, but...turning our city into a more bikeable place, I think, it can improve the health of our community,” he said.
