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The trick is to convert former office buildings into apartments/condos. Another thing my town did right is build parking garages that are free evenings and weekends. It's very helpful for someone from the burbs to know they can park near the stores, restaurants, and activities.
Or we as a nation could build public transpiration and not turn our downtowns in to slaves of cars.
I haven't been to any major Downtowns in quite a while, but from what I'm hearing most Downtowns today exist for two purposes. A place for people to protest and a place for homeless camps.
I think Downtowns have been dying since probably the 1960s. I remember going to many Downtown Areas in the 1970s and being awestruck by how vibrant they were. Wall to wall people everywhere shopping and working. Department stores and storefronts selling everything imaginable. By the 1990s the crowds had thinned way down and the department stores and store fronts were all gone. The only thing left was giant skyscraper office buildings with homeless camped outside them.
I haven't been to any major Downtowns in quite a while, but from what I'm hearing most Downtowns today exist for two purposes. A place for people to protest and a place for homeless camps.
I think Downtowns have been dying since probably the 1960s. I remember going to many Downtown Areas in the 1970s and being awestruck by how vibrant they were. Wall to wall people everywhere shopping and working. Department stores and storefronts selling everything imaginable. By the 1990s the crowds had thinned way down and the department stores and store fronts were all gone. The only thing left was giant skyscraper office buildings with homeless camped outside them.
You sound like my uncle who hasn’t been to Manhattan since 1985 and assumes it’s the same or worse as it was back then.
You sound like my uncle who hasn’t been to Manhattan since 1985 and assumes it’s the same or worse as it was back then.
It hasn't been that long. I have only been retired and out of the cities for the last eight years. I traveled and visited a lot of cities from the late 1970s to the late 1990s and witnessed the decline in Downtowns. Sometimes the best way to see change is when you go back to revisit a place after 20 years. When I did that I saw most of the vibrancy was gone from downtowns. Downtowns that were once filled with department stores and bright lights of movie theaters are just shells of their former selves. Restaurants and bars are about the only business that seem to have survived in downtowns and you can find these anywhere. You don't need to go downtown to find those.
Just search this forum for "Downtown" and the city of your choice. I bet the search results will be 99% negative. For example this thread.
It hasn't been that long. I have only been retired and out of the cities for the last eight years. I traveled and visited a lot of cities from the late 1970s to the late 1990s and witnessed the decline in Downtowns. Sometimes the best way to see change is when you go back to revisit a place after 20 years. When I did that I saw most of the vibrancy was gone from downtowns. Downtowns that were once filled with department stores and bright lights of movie theaters are just shells of their former selves. Restaurants and bars are about the only business that seem to have survived in downtowns and you can find these anywhere. You don't need to go downtown to find those.
Just search this forum for "Downtown" and the city of your choice. I bet the search results will be 99% negative. For example this thread.
My experience is the opposite. Compared to 20+ years ago, most cities' downtowns are more vibrant, have much larger populations, are cleaner. I'm sure there are some exceptions. If given the options to live in Manhattan in 2003 or 2023, I'm picking 2023. I'd say the same for Philadelphia, DC, Boston, Chicago, LA. I don't have enough experience with Denver (the thread you linked) to know.
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