Site Presented By
Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Jay Bee
Published Letters: 55 Editor's Choice: 5
Mr. Gruen was largely misunderstood. His rather grand ideas for enclosed shopping spaces were, in the end, almost always eviscerated by developers looking to maximize short-term profits. The average mall was so bland by the time the bean counters finished with it that it bore little to no resemblance to the European piazzas he had dreamed to replace (he was an Austrian, after all). He himself came to speak poorly of malls by his later days.
Of course, even Gruen completely misunderstood just how destructive the private automobile would be. His firm drafted numerous redevelopment plans for struggling downtowns in the 1960's. Two I can think of off of the top of my head, Buffalo, NY and Portland, ME, resulted in highway-type roads that obliterated park space and neighborhoods alike. Of course, the displaced were usually poor, and, ironically (given Gruen's status) immigrants themselves.
We are now seeing a return to more "traditional" styles of retail and commercial development, especially in higher income bracket zip codes that support the construction of expensive structured (and therefore, unseen) parking. The collapse of the mall and the move to big boxes, which eschewed any attempt to create public space, has just proven to be too much for a significant segment of the market.
In the end, these new developments are as much a reflection of the increasing income stratification that is emblematic of the times. The well-to-do need not fear seeing the Wal-Mart crowd at these places, as those in lower incomes cannot afford such largess.
Indeed Nate very quickly and effectively posted this phenomenon; when a career is on the line, legislators tend to vote for whatever seems safe.
But Nate has a very different take on the situation than Salon, Daily Kos, and the other bastions of the Internet Left:
"...the schadenfreude of certain liberals on this issue is absolutely obnoxious. A lot of people are going to be hurt by this, and not just those in the investor class. I tend to see this more as a failure of our democracy than a reaffirmation of it. The congressmen who are retiring this year -- and who therefore can perhaps be described as the most neutral arbiters of the public good -- voted overwhelmingly for this measure."
Framed in this light, it is a different situation altogether.
Yes, we are delighting in watching banks squirm, but those same banks hold my mortgage, my car loan, and provide lending ability for everything from new construction to bonding for roadway infrastructure. Do we want a better bill? Yes, but if both sides continue in their refusal to compromise, we could continue down this path until the market implosion becomes a runaway train destined to land in the valley of a next Depression.
And while I am at it, how many who peruse this site have benefitted from the lending largesse? I got a home some years back with little in the way of a down payment, and and delighting in my ability to fix it up. A tighter credit market would have excluded me from home ownership.
I am embarrassed to see the Left engage in the same Us-versus-Them BS that the Right is so well known for. Take a page from Barack Obama and knock it off.
Is not the Muslim population comparable to the Jewish population at this point in the US? And yet, the political elite all fall to their knees to speak of the wonders of Israel, while using the idea of being a Muslim to discredit a presidential candidate.
Don't get me wrong - if Clinton's arguments get Obama the White House, then it must be done, but I have to wonder if there will be a day, and one soon, where maligning the Muslim voters in this country will be a mistake. Where I live in Maine, I can all but guarantee there will be more Muslims casting ballots than Jews. An engaged Muslim population is our best bulwark against terrorist insurgencies, but we sure as hell aren't doing a good job of it.
(As an aside, I hope this comment doesn't get me barred from the annual Hanukkah party on my street!)
How about NO government-sanctioned marriage, and civil unions for benefit purposes? Leave marriage for churches to fight about - the Episcopal Church alone is a fair amount of entertainment.
Priuses and any other cars continue to facilitate sprawl. We need trains like mad. I live in Maine, which is littered with the bones of former rail lines. The state and local groups are trying to resuscitate some of these, but Uncle Sam could make a real difference.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
