Downtowns near and far

Congratulations to blogger Gordon Young and his blog, Flint Expatriates, both being the subject of a story in today's Flint Journal.

Young is just two years older than my brother and one year younger than my youngest sister, so I know that Flint was already in its downward spiral when he was growing up. I'm sure, though, that he has heard from his parents how it was in the 60s and early 70s, when he was just a mite.

The downfall of downtown was the Genesee Valley Mall, or Genesee Valley Center as I guess it is now known.

Years ago, a friend of ours from Flint came to visit us when we lived in Boston. We took him to Downtown Crossing, and he commented how weird it was not to be inside (as in, a mall).

I can't shop extensively in malls - I get 'mall head.'

As Tom Salemi writes about in this post from today, our downtown (in Newburyport) has a nice hum. But it's the hum of tourists bustling about. We've got a lot of well-off people who shop elsewhere, it would seem.

I don't agree that there is nothing downtown for residents, although there could be more. As I have said before, last December I bought most of my holiday gifts from downtown shops. Admittedly, two of them are gone now ... (Hog on Ice and Mary Jane).

But I also don't get Tom's comparison with Malden. Malden's 'downtown' is basically one street that dead ends at the (new-ish) municipal complex. I suspect that Malden's downtown was ruined not by the nearby Square One Mall, but by extension of the Orange Line - 20 minutes or so into Boston, from Malden Center.

There are still a few 'mom and pop' type places there, in the neighborhoods. But with the arrival of a Super Stop & Shop, a Staples, a Target, and other big box businesses, residents of Malden can get anything they need within the confines of the city limits (or next door in Everett, as the case may be).

If they want that small town feel, they can pop west into Medford, where my sister and brother-in-law are living until they can move into their 'new' house in Malden. It's like a Chicago neighborhood there.

A downtown should serve primarily its resident population. On one hand, I see the need for A-frame signs, for example.

On the other hand, if residents were patronizing these businesses with any regularity, the businesses wouldn't need signs with the primary intent of telling tourists where they are located (Licorice & Sloe, which features musical acts, being a possible exception).

On the third hand (I have one of those), if rents weren't so high, then perhaps prices for goods wouldn't be so high ...