“Curating a town as one might an art collection — or in latter days, a party or store — is not a lonely pursuit,” as the New York Times is reporting this morning. “Wealthy individuals like Mr. Resnick, well-funded nonprofits and even corporations like Walmart have begun buying deserted American main streets, hoping to reinvent them with a fresh aesthetic.
“The people behind these ventures frequently install their friends and acquaintances in storefronts, while attempting to preserve (or exploit, depending whom you ask) local history. The practice is rarely free of conflict, even when developers have the best intentions.
“’Everybody in this country says Main Street America is dead. It’s a bad investment,’ Mr. Resnick said. ‘I’m trying to recapture what I had as a kid. Everything was alive, every store was open.’
The complete article is here.
Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report 