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Now That Fulton Street Is Open, What's Next?

Thousands gathered this weekend for a festival to mark the reopening of six blocks of Fulton Street that once made up the pedestrian-only Fulton Mall. The multi-million dollar reconstruction project was one of the most controversial in recent local memory, with critics on all sides. Some claim the new street won’t help revitalize the area, at the same time as others say it will cause gentrification, driving away existing businesses that cater to the largely Latino shoppers who never left downtown.

In our latest episode of Valley Edition we hear from nine different people from a variety of backgrounds on  their hopes and fears about the project, all with an eye to the future. Our team speaks with vendors, art experts and even someone who lives on the Fulton Mall. To listen to those stories click play above. 

Community voices:
Joyce Aiken - original Fulton Mall mosaic artist
Terence Frazier - Fresno housing developer, with plans for a new building on Fulton Street
Ashley Werner - with the social justice organization Leadership Counsel 
Raul DeAlba - longtime Fulton Mall business owner
Desirae Washington - new business owner, with plans for another store on Fulton Street
Jesus Diaz - six years owning a business on Fulton
Michael Cruz - President of Tioga Sequoia Brewing
Jordan Gustafson - resident of the Pacific Southwest Building lofts
Sandra Celedon - Fresno native, Fulton Mall shopper, community activist

 

Joe Moore is the President and General Manager of KVPR / Valley Public Radio. He has led the station through major programming changes, the launch of KVPR Classical and the COVID-19 pandemic. Under his leadership the station was named California Non-Profit of the Year by Senator Melissa Hurtado (2019), and won a National Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting (2022).
Ezra David Romero is an award-winning radio reporter and producer. His stories have run on Morning Edition, Morning Edition Saturday, Morning Edition Sunday, All Things Considered, Here & Now, The Salt, Latino USA, KQED, KALW, Harvest Public Radio, etc.
Kerry Klein is an award-winning reporter whose coverage of public health, air pollution, drinking water access and wildfires in the San Joaquin Valley has been featured on NPR, KQED, Science Friday and Kaiser Health News. Her work has earned numerous regional Edward R. Murrow and Golden Mike Awards and has been recognized by the Association of Health Care Journalists and Society of Environmental Journalists. Her podcast Escape From Mammoth Pool was named a podcast “listeners couldn’t get enough of in 2021” by the radio aggregator NPR One.
Jeffrey Hess is a reporter and Morning Edition news host for Valley Public Radio. Jeffrey was born and raised in a small town in rural southeast Ohio. After graduating from Otterbein University in Columbus, Ohio with a communications degree, Jeffrey embarked on a radio career. After brief stops at stations in Ohio and Texas, and not so brief stops in Florida and Mississippi, Jeffrey and his new wife Shivon are happy to be part Valley Public Radio.
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