Fresno City Council takes aims at vacant buildings in Tower

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno City Council is looking to swap boarded-up windows and for lease signs successful the Tower District and Downtown for unfastened signs and concern logos.

To motivate businesses to determination in, they're aiming the spot owners with a caller aviator program.

The solution brought guardant by Council members Annalisa Perea and Miguel Arias would unit those owners to renovate their properties oregon merchantability to idiosyncratic who will.

"We person a past successful the Tower District of vacant buildings that spell untouched twelvemonth aft twelvemonth and truthful that typically attracts a batch of nuisance to the area, a batch of vagrancy," said Perea.

Business owners are hopeful that a much beauteous Tower District would recharge the area.

"I bash deliberation it would pull much if they were much vibrant and possibly much beingness astir here, I deliberation it would pull radical to come," said Juliana Neri, The District Hair Lounge Owner.

The Tower District Business Association sent a connection to Action News that work successful part:

"Far excessively often, neglected and poorly maintained properties undermine assemblage pride, deter investment, and make nationalist information concerns. This ordinance represents a indispensable measurement toward shared work and revitalization."

Council and locals alike are hopeful this determination volition forestall crimes, similar the smashed windows astatine Component Coffee implicit the weekend.

"It's a small spot similar the breached model theory," said Perea. "We privation to marque definite that visibly the Tower District looks large due to the fact that different we're attracting much and much blight to the area."

Property owners person 120 days from boarding up their gathering to get it acceptable for rental.

The solution is retroactive, truthful immoderate businesses already successful disrepair person 120 days to get up to code.

If they don't, owners volition look fines.

Perea said they are besides looking astatine incentives to get spot owners to merchantability and businesses to unfastened up shops successful Tower.

This is simply a aviator programme for now, and it's acceptable for 18 months. If the aviator programme is successful, City Council volition look astatine making this a citywide, imperishable ordinance.

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