By Bill McEwen / The Fresno Bee
05/27/07 06:04:24

It's time to confront reality.

Downtown Fresno is dead, it's never coming back and our leaders should stop pouring taxpayer money into a sinkhole.

The overwhelming majority of Fresnans don't care about downtown. It's too brown, too black, too yellow or too icky for suburban psyches.

Parking is expensive and a hassle. If you're lucky enough to find a parking spot, you end up with a ticket -- or getting hit for change by panhandlers.

People go downtown because they have to, not because they want to.

Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) during the University Lecture Series

"Did you read that in the Fresno Bee?
Do you find the Bee to be a reliable news source?"

In response to a question from a young reader about an article she read in the Bee (http://www.fresnobee.com/221/story/37351.html)

"I tried to explain that to the Fresno Bee, but they didn't seem to understand. But, you know Bees."

Did anyone else read this article? (http://www.fresnobee.com/170/story/37322.html) It was the front page of the Business section. Take a look at the article. Essentially it is an article that tells us how lucky we are to have high-end retailers in Fresno. Three reasons are given for this. 1) it improves the image of Fresno. 2) it will draw more business to Fresno because, 3) it raises the quality of life, which new businesses are interested in when they are looking for a new home.

The two articles below appeared in The Undercurrent (March issue) and the Fresno Bee, Vision section (Sunday, March 4) respectively. The graphic that appeared with the Fresno Bee article, nearly half a page (by SW Parra) shows the globe, space in the background. There is a giant Chinese arrow/missile that has crashed into NY City. (see image at http://www.fresnobee.com/286/story/33188.html) The Bee article isn't as outlandish as the graphic, considering that the article is about China's new ability to shootdown satellites, but the graphic shows a Chinese arrow/missile crashing into NY City.

So we are thinking of adding the Bee on our list of emails that to which we send all of our top secret info. That way they wouldn't have to wait to see what were doing before they...well...there is no other way to say it--copy us.