Idiot California pooliticians

There must be some kind of cosmic, even telepathic, communications link between the political overseers of the Central Valley's two largest cities, Fresno and Sacramento, when it comes to managing their equally troubled downtown business districts.
And so far, it's not benefiting either.
Nearly a half-century ago, Fresno's political and business leaders became concerned that the development of suburban shopping malls would threaten what had been the city's thriving downtown and responded by taking cars off Fulton Street, its chief retail thoroughfare, and converting it into a pedestrian mall.
A few years later, Sacramento followed suit, barring automotive traffic on its K Street, just north of the state Capitol, and building a series of concrete fountains that were supposed to evoke water tumbling from the Sierra into the Valley and lure pedestrians into the mall's stores.
Sacramento's fountains were dubbed "tank traps" by their detractors, and neither city experienced the commercial resurgence it had sought. In fact, the conversions may have hastened the departure of department stores and other retail businesses as their malls became often-empty hangouts for panhandlers.
Sacramento eventually tore out the fountains, ran trolley cars down K Street, and sank untold millions of tax dollars into subsidies for restaurants, theaters and other facilities that, city leaders hoped, would make it an entertainment destination -- with scant success. And it tried to persuade voters to provide money for a downtown basketball arena, to no avail.


Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/11/06/2605094/sacramento-fresno-a-tale-of-2.html#ixzz1d21rFaDO