Outer neighborhoods may make up the vital limbs and organs of a city, but the heart is downtown. And no one can function at their best with a weak heart. Bob Nance, Community and Economic Development project manager for the city of Visalia, said balanced development is one of the city's keys to keeping downtown alive. The Visalia City Council decided long ago to keep downtown at the geographic center of the city, he said. The streets are narrow and lined with trees.
Drivers move slowly and park diagonally along curbs.
But downtown Visalia isn't just about good looks. It's about money, it's about people, it's about activity. Nance said the city was fortunate in that it never lost key downtown businesses to the suburbs. Beauty salons, drug stores and clothing shops have been part of downtown for years. So when Starbucks, the pricey sporting goods store Turtle Mountain and a microbrewery company started looking for store locations, Visalia didn't have to bend over backward with tax breaks to attract those upscale businesses downtown.