The Lowdown on Downtowns

I stumbled across this article about Redding's downtown today and was quite impressed with some of its points:

http://donigreenberg.com/2009/03/19/downtowns-by-paul-shigley/

Paul Shigley is someone whose writing I already follow via the California Planning & Development Report website, at least his "Daily Shig" blog, and his work with planning guru Bill Fulton (whose Guide to California Planning is indispensable for planning professionals/planning geeks--Shigley co-wrote the latest edition.) Although the article focuses on Redding and Pasadena, there are lessons Sacramento could learn from the example of Pasadena, just as Redding should--and Redding could learn from us. The "Qualities of a Great Downtown" includes lots of examples Sacramento could use--such as, while downtowns should have bread and circuses, they shouldn't be all bread and circuses.