Awareness, Blogroll, T.O.D.

We’re number four!

Contributed by Wad on August 5th, 2007 at 1:30 am

[tags]los angeles, downtown los angeles, long beach, paul shigley[/tags]

Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles skyline
Credit: latca via Flickr (Creative Commons license)

Metro’s librarian, who also maintains Los Angeles Transportation Headlines, found a July 18 blog entry from Paul Shigley, editor of the California Policy & Development Report. He ranked California’s best and worst big-city downtowns, on the entry of the same name. Most Angelenos would click on the link and expect to find Los Angeles ranked somewhere high on the worst side. But, no! Los Angeles ranked fourth-best. Two other Southern California cities beat L.A. out. San Diego tied for first, and Long Beach is third.

Regarding Los Angeles, Shigley said, “Yes, downtown L.A. has been on the comeback for, oh, 50 years. It’s still very much a work in progress and it’s not necessarily an inviting place after hours. But while the redevelopment work continues, a lively, incredibly international community has taken over much of downtown.” And for Long Beach, Shigley said, “For decades, downtown Long Beach was simply a place with potential. … But much of this has started to change in recent years. … There may be no West Coast downtown that is a more enjoyable place to be a pedestrian.”

Only one big city, defined by Shigley as having a population of 300,000 or more, made the worst list: Fresno. Shigley said, “It’s really not even close. Bakersfield, Oakland and Anaheim all have less-than-ideal downtowns, but none of those districts is as desperate, depressing and even threatening as downtown Fresno. The hideous 1970s office buildings are the least of the problems in Fresno’s core.”

After the jump, click on a city to take a Flickr tour of what these downtowns look like.

Best

  1. San Francisco (17,954 photos)
  2. San Diego (tied for first) (10,697 photos)
  3. Long Beach (837 photos)
  4. Los Angeles (36,707 photos!)

Worst

  1. Fresno (1,479 photos)
  2. Dishonorable mentions of Bakersfield, Anaheim and Oakland
Email It
Blog > Blogroll > Blog article: We’re number four! | MetroRiderLA

Discussion

Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Please keep discussions civil: exercise Troll Controll.

There are 3 Responses to “We’re number four!”:

  1. defined by Shigley as having a population of 300,000 or more, made the worst list: Fresno. Shigley said, “It’s really not even close. Bakersfield…

    Typical Shigley. BKfield dunna got 300k peeps.

    Comment by Rob Dawg on August 5th, 2007 at 11:10 am »Reply« resta suma

  2. Hmm… maybe I missed the meat that explains these rankings.

    Or maybe these cities look different if you have true state-wide perspective. I haven’t spent much time in Fresno.

    Long Beach has a pretty nice downtown, but all the problems it identifies are still there, including a cancerous mall with a Wal-Mart. It’s a city with great, but still unrealized, potential.

    I think the assessment of downtown LA is fair.

    But I would really ask people, can you consider a downtown revitalized if most city-dwellers never go there? Only San Francisco (maybe San Diego–dunno) would retain its rank.

    Oh, and according to wikipedia (not the best source, admittedly), Bakersfield has over 320,000 people.

    Comment by raphaelmazor on August 6th, 2007 at 10:01 am »Reply« resta suma

  3. Fresno is made all the more tragic because it has some great buildings and architecture.

    Of course, San Diego’s downtown looked pretty much the same before 1990.

    Comment by Tim on August 6th, 2007 at 12:27 pm »Reply« resta suma