Comments for TheAnthroGuys

Comment on Can’t You Just Ask People? by Ethnographic Opportunity Analysis « TheAnthroGuys

Ethnographic Opportunity Analysis « TheAnthroGuys — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:27:53 +0000

[...] -Read: “Can’t You Just Ask People?” (Delcore) [...]

Comment on Fresno’s “Nouveaux Pauvre” by Tank Removal NJ

Tank Removal NJ — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 05:01:30 +0000

Thank goodness some bloggers can still write. My thanks for this piece..

Comment on The Fulton Corridor Charrette: Conspiracy or Crack-up? by Kathryn Barnes

Kathryn Barnes — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:41:19 +0000

I think that you have a very good point that the charrette was just a formality and not there to really get ideas from people. Who really knows though? It is hard to tell the true beliefs about the reasons for why things are done the way that they are. It seems that they really need to focus on the changes that they really do want to happen to the Fulton Mall. In my opinion, they need to make changes to the mall to make sure that it is going to keep going. Without changes, it could close within the next few years. It is important, like you said, that they need to figure out if they are willing to make changes to keep it open, or if they want to let it fall through and use the ideas to start up a new mall in a different location. With all of the ideas, they could come up with a better mall that could bring in more revenue and help with the economy. This could be true or they simply could make changes to the ways that the Fulton Mall functions. All in all the changes that they make could either help the mall or make no difference at all.

Comment on The Fulton Corridor Charrette: Conspiracy or Crack-up? by Kathryn Barnes

Kathryn Barnes — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:24:28 +0000

This article hit right on the money. I totally agree with you. When you were talking about taking the ideas of the people rather than the officials who were supposed to figure it out. I think that the reason that they did this was so that if the idea didn’t work, they were able to blame it on the people rather than have the blame on themselves. I think that this was bad on their part because they should take responsibility and figure out the correct way that the mall should run. It is a good idea to get the opinions of the people but in the end, these ideas should be considered and used to help figure out a definite fix to the apparent “problem”. If this is done, then the blame cannot go to anyone because the fault lies with reality, not the ideas. Not every idea will work, and the only way to figure out if it will work is to try it out.
In another idea that you had, I saw that you said that “culturally, Fresno is really all about cars, as transport, means of self-definition, status symbols”. This idea just stuck out to me. I personally think that it is sad that that is one thing that is used as a means of “self-definition”. I wish that this isn’t a reality, but I really think that you nailed it. If you don’t have a car, to society, it means that you are not wealthy. Depending on what car you drive also shows you which economic class you are a part of. It is hard to fight the fact that our society uses material items to judge the economic status of people.

Comment on Fulton Mall’s Perception Problem by Lauren G

Lauren G — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:36:38 +0000

If you were to approach me and ask me how many people I thought were regulars at the Fulton mall, I would have guessed no more than 200 daily, including the population of homeless that make their beds on the benches. I can say though, in my adult years, I have never purposefully taken a trip to the Fulton Mall. As a former employee of the Downtown Fresno area, I worked at venues such as Hero’s Sports Bar on Inyo and VanNess as well as in the 600 Club of Chukchansi Park. We all heard the ideas brewing of the efforts to revamp downtown. They brought a club to Chukchansi Park, Hero’s Sports Bar turned into nightlife, etc. Fulton Mall, from what I heard, was also in the mix to be redone and spruced up. However, over the 3 years I worked downtown, many of the days I worked, I would walk through the Fulton Mall. I may be biased, but all I saw were people walking into the Park. I rarely saw individuals going into the stores or walking around with shopping bags. I remember as a kid, my older sister was getting married and we bought her dress from Luftenburg’s in the Fulton Mall, which seemed much more populated than in recent years. After reading the research done, I am very happy to see that I am sadly mistaken on my guess of people that frequent the mall. My times of walking through were clearly congested with baseball goers. I am happy to see the photos showing proof that Fulton Mall can still carry its own and provide a vital heartbeat to the dowtown area. After all, the first Hero’s (there is now a second one by a different owner) closed down and the club at Chukchansi Park stopped operating. This proves Fulton Mall can weather the storm. Despite the number of commuters, including myself, that walked through the mall, the number of pedestrians is clearly higher than many of us expected. It would be nice to see the supporters of Dowtown Fresno really do something with the mall in terms of a make-over, but keeping Fresno’s history intact. My grandmother used to work at the old Gottschalk’s building downtown and often told me what a scene the Fulton Mall used to be. It was busy, full of life, and bustling with shoppers moreso than commuters. This only reminds me of Fashion Fair. If we could get the Mall back to what it used to be in its Golden Years, I think we would see a new Downtown alltogether and hopefully the numbers would rise from 4000. All in all, Fulton Mall has so much potential clearly many Fresnans do not see.It is actually a beautiful space with interesting architecture, sculptures, and even a stream running through it. Playing up on its attributes would likely enhance and invite more people to the area, increasing the numbers of pedestrians that passed through. Additionally, there may be potential for commuters to swing in and shop on their lunch breaks or do a little shopping before heading home. I appreciate the research done to prove to me as well as many others that Fulton Mall does not in fact have tumbleweeds rolling through it and that there is still a pulse in the downtown Fresno shopping district.

Comment on No New Normal, Says McCracken by LeahW.

LeahW. — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:10:31 +0000

McCraken’s statement that Americans will shortly return to their original shopping habits shortly after or during the “repression” is most surely proven correct. Businesses have had to change their marketing strategies to continue to keep sales up during this recession, and it shows to be successful. Every business advertises “sales” and 0% financing options to draw in buyers and it works! The American public is in more debt now than it ever has been and there is no end in site. In my experience with the people in my life the recession has increased the spending habits of some while increasing that of others. Due to the fact that people like construction workers are out of jobs, they have lowered their prices and started doing more work on the side. This would result in an increase in remodeling as Susan has done.
Susan is choosing to spend her money as she wishes and more power to her. We don’t work so that we can have money sit in a bank for our entire lives; we are supposed to enjoy it. I liked McCraken’s anthropological approach to Susan’s character. He did not judge her actions but rather took a step back and saw her view of the situation. Susan seems like that type of person who likes to surround herself around company and objects, they make her feel comforted. She likes to have an open area so that she doesn’t miss out on any of the conversation or action, which I why she remodeled. We should thank Susan instead of judging her. She is not just sitting on her money but rather investing it into the economy that is in the middle of crisis. The more money that can be out flowed to the economy the better the economy will become. People like Susan are the ones that are continuing to give us all jobs and supporting our economy. Without spenders there is no need for producers, the cycle needs both to work.
In general the recession has affected many people and their spending habits for a period of time. Like McCraken states as soon as the immediate crisis is over the public will return to their original shopping habits. If the recession hasn’t personally affected you and your family’s income than it is more than likely that your spending habits have not changed at all even though you are aware of the condition of the economy. McCracken brings valid arguments for American and their shopping habits that really interested me thank you for sharing this article.

Leah

Comment on Fulton Mall’s Perception Problem by Louis Gennuso

Louis Gennuso — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:56:33 +0000

Fulton Mall is run-down, dirty, and overrun with the homeless. The “perception” of Fulton Mall is reality. The high traffic volume is attributed to government office employees, jury duty and the homeless. Being down there recently for jury duty I did notice how many people were down there walking around, many elderly people just getting out side, many jurors eating lunch, lawyers scrambling around trying to get to court, but very few people shopping. I witnessed virtually no one walking around with bags of purchased goods like you would at Fashion Fair Mall. The attempt at revitalization has already occurred with the baseball stadium, as nice as it is promoters cannot even attract enough bodies to sell out a game because the area is so run down and off the beaten path. There was an alleged attempt to bring a Bass Pro Shop to Fulton but it fell through for whatever reason. For Fulton Mall to come back to life it will need to start with a big-name anchor store that is the only show in town. Bass Pro Shop would have accomplished that. It would have attracted new money from not only Fresno and Clovis but outlying towns as well because of its uniqueness. It would have allowed local businesses to open eventually and would slowly drive out the “swap meet” and downtown could once again be desirable. But for now, it is just a shell of a mall surrounded by bad neighborhoods.

Comment on Fulton Mall’s Perception Problem by Louis Gennuso

Louis Gennuso — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:38:24 +0000

@Kenneth: No true entrepreneur would dare open a new business down there. In order for it to work it will take a big box store like the alleged Bass Pro Shop that was going to move down there but the city nixed it. It would have to be a store like that, new to Fresno, only show in town, if you want something you have to go to Fulton to get it from Bass Pro Shop or whatever other store. It would attract new money, and allow smaller, locally owned stores to open down there. Without a solid anchor store, Fulton Mall will continue to be a shell of a mall that is more of a second rate swap-meet than a mall. There are quality renovations starting downtown like the Iron Bird Lofts which will attract hip, young people to living downtown. The problem is hip, young people are the ones that like downtown already and it does not necessarily bring in new wallets to the Mall. Until there are more adequate living spaces downtown and /or something to travel to Fulton Mall for, it will continue to be an afterthought.

Comment on Fulton Mall’s Perception Problem by Martha T.

Martha T. — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 20:49:23 +0000

I am very happy to hear that the Fulton Mall is not as much as a “ghost town” as people believe. The fact that only one person overestimated the number of pedestrians walking past the clock tower is really surprising to me, I didn’t realize there was such a stigma against the Fulton Mall. I hope the results of this study are widely circulated to begin changing the public’s perception of the Fulton Mall/downtown Fresno. I think that downtown has a lot of potential, it really seems like there are thriving businesses there; such as Kiku Floral and COIL Yoga Studio that are doing well. If the misconceptions about downtown were broken down, then maybe business owners wouldn’t be so hesitant to open up shop there.

There should be more publicity overall downtown to work on this. Fresno Magazine often covers and reviews businesses in the area, such as Revive, a raw, yummy, vegetarian restaurant. More events (especially properly publicized events) also draw people in the area where they can see what downtown is really like. Also, once they’re there, they are more likely to patronize the local businesses. ArtHop is a great such event, where around 80 venues are open monthly displaying local artist’s work. This is a win-win for the Fresno Community. It brings people to the downtown area, and it helps local artists by getting their work and their names out there. A lot of the art is usually for sale as well. The farmers market, which accounted for a number of the pedestrians counted on Wednesday, is also a great event. There should be farmers markets on the weekends, when more people could attend on a non-work day (if there aren’t already).

I ran the Two Cities Marathon and Half (I did the half) this year and I liked that packet and bib pickup was at Chukchansi Park because it brought at least 6,000 runners into the area. I think it’s quite possible that some of those runners had never been downtown before (the race took place in North Fresno/Clovis). The last time I ran that race two years ago the pickup location was in North Fresno at a school near several neighborhoods and few businesses. I don’t know if the placement at Chukchansi Park was a consumerism stimulant strategy but I’m sure it drummed up business downtown at least a bit. The California Classic race (coming up in May) is also a great event that begins downtown and goes through the Tower District and the Chaffee Zoo. There is also a cycling race, drawing more than one type of athlete (and their friends/families to cheer them on!) to the area.

I hope that the completion of the new lofts being built down the street from the Iron Bird Lofts will further increase the numbers in the Fulton Mall. If more people live downtown, more consumerism will result. Especially since 1/3 of the surveyed pedestrians reside in one of the three closest zip codes.

Finally, I think that more studies, utilizing the free labor provided by students seems like a great way to get the word out about downtown. If more studies were conducted, it would shed light on the reality of Fulton Mall and the rest of downtown.
-Martha T.

Comment on Fulton Mall’s Perception Problem by LeahW.

LeahW. — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:50:30 +0000

This was very informative and interesting. I myself have never visited Fulton Mall and considered it to be a dead zone. I had no idea the volume of people that were visiting the mall and the surrounding areas. It is also interesting that most people visiting the mall were there during the noon hr. This might be due to business men/women taking their lunch etc. In addition I was surprised that the numbers of people present during the weekdays were higher than those present on the weekend. This survey is a great start to really analyzing the need of the Fulton Mall. It would further more be interesting to analyze the gross profit of the Fulton mall on all those days with respect to the amount of visitors. In addition I beleive that it would be not worthy to analyze the age range of the people visiting the mall. Are there more teens and young adults? Are there more Mother’s with their children? Are there more senior citizens visiting the mall? These are all the questions I was asking myself while reading this survey.

The Fulton Mall appears to not only be a place where we can conduct our shopping but also a place that people come to get out of the rain and cold weather as well as to walk around and possibly get out of the house with their children etc. After seeing the numbers and reading this article it is easy to say that the Fulton Mall see’s it’s fair share of people and that it is not in fact a dead zone but rather a place that sees a good quantity of traffic throughout the work week and weekend.