If we can pick up here from where it left off a couple of months ago:
What you just said, three months ago tomorrow, is true of many, many towns and cities across the country, generally for one or two reasons, and sometimes both. In many cases, the local economic base simply dissolved. It left town, either to another part of the country or another part of the world. It makes no difference if it moved 100 miles away or 10,000 miles; same difference. For a local economy to thrive, there must be an economic base that generates revenue for the people that live there, and hopefully, year round. Anything from farming, mining or manufacturing will do. The mines may eventually work out (and no new administration will put more things in the ground to mine), the manufacturing can come and go but provided the land doesn't become too valuable to farm, at least that will remain. It would be idiotic for a country like ours to be importing food.
The other thing is that the economic model of a downtown shopping district has changed, primarily, I imagine, because of automobiles. Strictly speaking, I don't think that chain businesses can be blamed because there were chain stores downtown 70 years ago. They're at the mall now. I used to comment about the demise of small businesses and that being part of it but I'm less sure of that now. I thought about it one day and I realized that there are still small businesses everywhere and that is even in spite of on-line shopping.
Some places in the country are still experiencing growth, along with all the problems that come with it. But there are no new downtowns like there would have been a hundred years ago. Instead, it seems, there are new shopping centers (usually not malls) that almost pop up overnight with all the usual stores you've come to expect, mostly but not always chains. There will be a bank, a big box Lowes or Home Depot, a grocery store, perhaps a drug store, maybe a restaurant or two, and so on. And you'll have to drive at least five miles to get there. It's not Bedford Falls.
Returning to cars, ever more essential, I sometimes realize (and then try to forget) that the dream cars you wanted when you were in college, usually ones the frat boys were driving, are still your dream cars that you never had. Oh, other dream cars sometimes appear but you don't get them either before they go out of production. So you never really find out what it's like to own a dream car unless you're very lucky or, in a way, a little foolish. One thing you learn about having an older car is, you know why new cars sell so well.
What you just said, three months ago tomorrow, is true of many, many towns and cities across the country, generally for one or two reasons, and sometimes both. In many cases, the local economic base simply dissolved. It left town, either to another part of the country or another part of the world. It makes no difference if it moved 100 miles away or 10,000 miles; same difference. For a local economy to thrive, there must be an economic base that generates revenue for the people that live there, and hopefully, year round. Anything from farming, mining or manufacturing will do. The mines may eventually work out (and no new administration will put more things in the ground to mine), the manufacturing can come and go but provided the land doesn't become too valuable to farm, at least that will remain. It would be idiotic for a country like ours to be importing food.
The other thing is that the economic model of a downtown shopping district has changed, primarily, I imagine, because of automobiles. Strictly speaking, I don't think that chain businesses can be blamed because there were chain stores downtown 70 years ago. They're at the mall now. I used to comment about the demise of small businesses and that being part of it but I'm less sure of that now. I thought about it one day and I realized that there are still small businesses everywhere and that is even in spite of on-line shopping.
Some places in the country are still experiencing growth, along with all the problems that come with it. But there are no new downtowns like there would have been a hundred years ago. Instead, it seems, there are new shopping centers (usually not malls) that almost pop up overnight with all the usual stores you've come to expect, mostly but not always chains. There will be a bank, a big box Lowes or Home Depot, a grocery store, perhaps a drug store, maybe a restaurant or two, and so on. And you'll have to drive at least five miles to get there. It's not Bedford Falls.
Returning to cars, ever more essential, I sometimes realize (and then try to forget) that the dream cars you wanted when you were in college, usually ones the frat boys were driving, are still your dream cars that you never had. Oh, other dream cars sometimes appear but you don't get them either before they go out of production. So you never really find out what it's like to own a dream car unless you're very lucky or, in a way, a little foolish. One thing you learn about having an older car is, you know why new cars sell so well.
