From the beginning

A Blog, whoda thunk?

I have seen and heard so many things of late that makes me stop and say, "C'mon, really? Some of these situations need to be aired, hence the creation of this verbal dumping ground. It won't be too deep, but just may call attention to some of the daily blab. Join if you like.

What gets me started is that my hometown, for decades, has tried to preserve the intgrity of the downtown business district and keeping shop owners from moving to the outskirts of town. It's a cool little downtown with a whole lotta history, historic buildings and opportunity for the right ambitions.

Over the years a mall has been built (which now is pretty well vacant) and the entrance to our fair city, off the free-way,  way out and away from the downtown business district has attracted commerce to locate in this "northern corridor". (That in and of itself is not a bad thing, mind you.)

Unfortunately over the years, the downtown has floundered and most of the retail has closed or moved away. Space now sits empty. It's a ghost town. With the exception of a few hearty businesses, this is a blighted, neglected area. City "fellows" have long since ignored or come up with half-hearted attempts to revive this historic and potentially active area of commerce. 

But what got my goat is that the liquor store, located in the downtown district, needed an upgrade. (An old building, needing expensive repairs.) This business by far, attracts a "fair" amount of traffic from locals and from visitors in need of adult libation. It really is a nice draw into the downtown.

Well, the "municipality" has decided to spend about $2-2.5 million on relocating this business, get this, to the "northern corridor".... Far away from the downtown. (Article reference: http://fairmontsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/502138.html?nav=5003

It never fails to amaze me, with so much “flapping of the gums” over the years, of trying to revitalize the downtown and to keep it alive and prospering; you would allow something like this to take place - relocating the liquor store to the "northern retail corridor". 

The liquor store attracts traffic DOWNTOWN - why on earth would you want people to go away from where you need traffic the most?

There is so much quality, empty retail space downtown that would provide more than ample square footage for a beautiful, up-to-date beverage and liquor emporium. Parking is available on and off street in many areas of the downtown, attached to or around good, viable retail space.

I would venture that 2 million dollars could be better spent rehabbing an existing property downtown, rather than building a new generic box on the "northern corridor". There are some really beautiful historic buildings that would work very nicely for this project.

C'mon, Really?