“All gone. Everything has gone vertical. The grocery stores have either parking garages, underground parking or parking on street level and the store on the second level. The spaciousness is gone. Where you not long ago had single story commercial buildings set back 50 feet or more from the street, you now have four and five story buildings hard up against the sidewalk. We went from open, livable, breathable spaces to the confinements of Manhattan.”
None of that has happened in the Midwest. For the most part malls were killed by unwanted clientele whose shoplifting and fighting sealed their fate.
“None of that has happened in the Midwest.”
It’s even happening in the once-low Coeur d’Alene, Idaho (where I spend the summer). The City council approved a NINETEEN story mixed use building right down on Front Street blocking views of the lake, the downtown, and the gorgeous Tubbs Hill. The town used to be predominantly 2 and 3 story commercial buildings from the beginning of the 20th century, but the developers got their mitts on city hall and started building 10 story buildings all over town. They used to be at the edges of town to preserve the central district and views, but now they have doubled the height and are building right down by the lake.
It’s a frigging disaster from which there is no turning back. People just don’t want to preserve the heritage and history of a town.