The story is repeated across the United States, and I suppose probably elsewhere. Once-thriving downtown shopping districts have fallen on hard times while the suburban malls continue to expand. These areas were once home to unique and unusual shops (certainly including a number of good places for trannies to buy clothes), but now they are partially empty. What can we do about these perpetually blighted neighborhoods?

Salt Lake City has fought downtown blight, mostly unsuccessfully, since the 1970's. I am curious - how are other cities doing? Is this problem common outside of the United States?

Heather H.

P.S. I wrote a lengthy article about this, mostly related to local issues in Salt Lake City, and posted it on my website. It is located here:

http://gendersociety.com/membersites/personal/heatherh/politics_070703.html

Heather:

I can tell you what NOT to do in your downtown area.

Don't put in a casino! And don't make the main street a pedestrian walkway, either. They did that here...and it hasn't helped. (In fact the walkway has been yanked out and Main Street is one way to traffic after 20 years.) All the casino has done is taken money from folks and added to the coffers of a little porn shop a block away.

I mourn the loss of the mom and pop stores, and the little quirky businesses, and that little coffee shop with the really good pastrami sandwich.

Face the truth, hon...we prefer malls. The bigger they are, the better. Better yet, we just loooove Wal-Mart. I confess to doing my shopping at the mall and/or Wal-Mart. I can find things I can find no place else...and they are usually affordable. They are usually safer, have plenty of parking, and are climate controlled.

And really...I live downtown, but work on the east side of town. Why the heck would I want to go shopping downtown? There is not enough parking (and when there is, it is 25 cents for 15 minutes), half of the businesses are closed on the weekends (no business poeple on Saturdays, dear), and frankly, they still have this attitude of, "We are downtown and so I can charge you more for shopping here". FEH! Who needs it?

Sorry--Can't say I totally agree with you here. Better to just close off the downtown areas in some cities on the weekends.

Luv 'n hugs,

Jayne Sakura
"Almost-Angel, T-Girl Genius, and Ultra-Flirt"

Salt Lake City made a HUGE mistake with Main Street. It sold one block of the street to the Mormon Church so that they could connect Temple Square with their administrative block. They closed the street and put in a pedestrian plaza. The city retained a public access easement but allowed the Mormon Church to control speech on the easement. Naturally, many lawsuits and a lot of public acrimony resulted. The federal courts ruled the easement restrictions unconstitutional. The city, then, voted to trade the easement away in return for some worthless land on the west side of town. So now a major portion of Main Street is closed to traffic, and public pedestrian access is not even guaranteed anymore. These idiots that the stupid voters elected to the city council certainly made a mess.

The story is not over yet; lawsuits challenging the legality of the easement trade are virtually certain.

This may well be the worst Main Street fiasco in the country. Not only did the city create a traffic mess in the most congested part of town but it also set back the always-strained relations between Mormons and non-Mormons back at least 40 years. (This brings up another can of worms - where does one draw the line on allowing cities and other government entities to sell off public spaces? I believed Salt Lake City crossed that line on the Main Street sale.)

At least a casino is highly unlikely; the Mormon Church would never allow that. I have to agree with them on that issue - a casino in downtown Salt Lake City would be a disaster. (But I think there should be casinos elsewhere in Utah - we are stupid to send all that tax money to Nevada.)

You bring up some good points about the downtown businesses. As I mentioned on my website, the downtown area gives the impression that it is unwelcoming - they do all they can to make it difficult to go there. I believe they could do something to improve the access and parking situations, especially in Salt Lake City where all the streets are very wide. With a good density of shops, the downtown blocks would be like a large outdoor mall (with far more unique shops than one would find in a typical mall), much like San Diego's successfully-redeveloped Gaslamp District. San Diego and a few other cities have proven that it can be done - other cities need to learn from their successes.

I go to the malls and big box stores all the time, just like most people (although not Wal-Mart - they made me mad) but I would go downtown more if the city made it easier and attracted more businesses.

Heather H.