I spotted these two amigos on the side of a fast food place in town. They are just a block or two away from the frantic redevelopment project. Just behind this spot there's a crane and a behemouth block-long three story retail/condo complex. The banks of the Fox River are being blanketed with someone's idea of what we need to revitalize the town.
The problem is that the development of nearby Randall Road has sucked all the business from the downtown area. I will admit that some of the properties were sorely in need of help - such as the building that housed a downtrodden residential hotel and crummy sports bar. But developers seem to create their next project in that fashion. Put a swanky shopping center a few miles from the older downtown and when business falls off in that location they convince the city fathers that the downtown needs to be redeveloped.
The saddest thing is to see places that have been in business for many, many years dropping like flies. They are replaced with more "tony" enterprises with prices and attitude to match. All of a sudden you feel uncomfortable and a stranger in your own community.
6 comments:
I hear you loud and clear. And what is frustrating is that one store in particular, put several fabric stores out of business...and now they are dropping the fabric from their own store. Frustrating...
Tis is a great photoblog, showing a rural ambiance that is so similar to others everywhere in the world.
I will be happy to link this blog onto mine.
You can be certain that this kine of wall art will not be tolerated in the new world economic order (unless, of course, it shows some golden arches or such in the background). So very much is lost when we get swallowed by the mass consumer culture.
As always Zanne, you are so right. And as Pablo says, this 'new world order' has already crept across the pond. Am reading 'Tescopoly' by Andrew Simms where the author describes this particular supermarket phenomena to an 'invasive species' overcoming native eco-systems. Tesco is our WalMart, and soon to be yours by all accounts. Bev.
Amen, sister. I just drove down Randall Road last weekend, and was shocked to see that it has basically become one very long strip mall. Nothing unique. Nothing original. Just one big box store or restaurant after another for miles and miles. Personally, I think we can probably live without a Home Depot and a Wal-Mart or Target every 2 miles.
Thanks for posting thiss
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