The Chairman of the Downtown Commission spoke out against the razing of the downtown Mall structure. Now, his complaint was that the decision was made in a vacuum and not a public arena. According to him , the community did not have the opportunity to comment on the proposal before it was decided that this is what is going to happen. His points are well taken given that he is chair of the dontown commission, so, if anyone should be informed about plans, it certainly should include him.
My objection to the plan is that it makes no sense to invest in the construction of condo developments in the downtown when there is no support from the public and the private interest in trying to keep the mall. Yes, downtowns are changing and the typical historic land developments may not be the most lucrative today, however, we , the public, want to see our downtown thrive and make it. The Mall for those of us who remember, and it was not that long ago, was a thriving mall, a beautiful place to visit and shop. It began to die, when we put our investments elswhere, outside of the central city, and those decisions resulted in the the untimely death of the City Center Mall.
The plan, if approved after being challenged is to raze the building and develop a park. That sounds nice, but we have nice parks in our downtown area and I am not convinced that is the best and most appropriate use of the land. We need to be more visionary and think about what is really needed need in the downtown area that will draw and attract people to want to live there. Yet another park is not the answer. Thanks, Bill, for speaking up. DispatchPolitics : Plan for mall's razing argued Columbus Dispatch Politics