There probably isn't a town or city in Alabama that hasn't seen a business go under during the current "recession" (Do we need a harsher word to describe what we're going through? Something short of the "D" word? Somewhere between Recession and De--------?].
It's bad enough when big box retailers on high-traffic highways go under, or when entire malls like The Montgomery Mall in Montgomery and Century Plaza in Birmingham die, with one store after another going out of business. But in some of America's really big cities, stores are an integral part of the neighborhood, woven like gold thread into the makeup of the place. I grew up in New York City, in Queens, and just up the block were the candy store and the grocery store, the deli, the butcher shop (remember them anyone?) and the Pizza joint, some of them with apartments above them. 
This photo is from the 90's, but a few decades earlier, that block in Queens was where almost all of the family shopping was done, except for now and then excursions to the newly constructed shopping "centers". And now the "recession" is taking a toll on those storefronts in Queens and Manhattan and the rest of the city. The NY Times reports vacancy rates are climbing, and they quote one college professor who lives on an Upper East Side street in Manhattan where three stores have closed: "The fabric of the neighborhood is up for grabs right now." Nicely put. Because what kind of merchants fill storefronts helps paint the neighborhood. And the same is at least partly true of places like the Montgomery Mall and Century Plaza. Capitol City officials are working with the Mall's new owners to make the property viable again, perhaps with a mix of government office space and a little retail. No, there aren't people living on top of or even within arm's reach of the forlorn looking mall buildings, but we're all neighbors in a way. I hope the city will remember that in their quest to put the property to good use.
This photo is from the 90's, but a few decades earlier, that block in Queens was where almost all of the family shopping was done, except for now and then excursions to the newly constructed shopping "centers". And now the "recession" is taking a toll on those storefronts in Queens and Manhattan and the rest of the city. The NY Times reports vacancy rates are climbing, and they quote one college professor who lives on an Upper East Side street in Manhattan where three stores have closed: "The fabric of the neighborhood is up for grabs right now." Nicely put. Because what kind of merchants fill storefronts helps paint the neighborhood. And the same is at least partly true of places like the Montgomery Mall and Century Plaza. Capitol City officials are working with the Mall's new owners to make the property viable again, perhaps with a mix of government office space and a little retail. No, there aren't people living on top of or even within arm's reach of the forlorn looking mall buildings, but we're all neighbors in a way. I hope the city will remember that in their quest to put the property to good use. 
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