Death of the Mall (again)

In the New York Times, yesterday.

...There are roughly 1,500 malls in the United States, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, many of them ailing, some of them being converted into office buildings, and others closing their doors for good.
...
We have changed, not the mall.
...
The economic crisis has caused shoppers to go into an essentials-only mode. But the mall has never trafficked in essentials. You can’t, for instance, fill a prescription at the Mall of America, because it doesn’t have a pharmacy. You can, however, buy a vanilla hazelnut fragrance candle in the shape of a miniature cooking skillet. Or a $13 baseball hat that looks as though it’s made of cheddar cheese. A store called Corda-Roy’s sells a variety of bean bags that convert into beds. Magnet Max sells a battery-operated guinea pig that runs continuously on a spinning exercise wheel.

And, as ever, the Mall of America is filled with I-dare-you combinations of fast food and entertainment. You can nibble on a carton of Long John Silver’s buttered lobster bites, then ride the SpongeBob SquarePants roller coaster. You can grab an A & W Coney cheese dog and barbecue fries and then take a virtual submarine ride. You can treat yourself to Mama’s Cinnamon Bread Pudding at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and try the flight simulator at A.C.E.S.
...
“There are days now when I make $160 and think I had a good day,” says Mark Classen, co-owner of Just Dogs! Gourmet, a store in the mall that sells, among other items, signs that say “My Labrador retriever is smarter than your honor roll student” and dog treats shaped like fire hydrants.
....
.. a kiosk that sells hermit crabs as recession-friendly pets.

13th and Pleasant

13th and Republic Streets. Vacant lots in foreground, rehabs in distance:

 

Higher Efficiency is not Sustainability

I hope this is not too off-subject or obtuse, but I think there is an important point to be made about striving to be "green" through better technology:

...while the products are getting better, we’re still using more energy and other resources in order to use those products... we’re going further in the hole all the time.

...Driving a car that is 10% more efficient uses the same amount of gas as driving 10% less. The yellow line on the graph shows the effect of the increased efficiency. The dilemma is obvious: even though the increased efficiency makes a big impact, the line is still rising, which means we’ll still be burning more gas.

...ask 20 friends how many miles they drive each year. Then, ask them each to tell you, out of all those miles, how many of them they drive because they want to, and how many they drive because they have to. I suspect that most people will tell you they drive a lot more miles because they have to rather than because they want to.

Doing something because we have to reduces our freedom, because we don't have a choice. Doing something because we want to is one good definition of freedom. Living in a place where you can get to all the daily necessities of life by walking, biking or driving gives you much more freedom than living in a place where your only choice is driving. - Steve Mouzon, The Original Green

Urban Prankster

A interesting site I just ran across.