Urban renewal — it'll be worth the pain

It's time for a new orientation.

If you live, work or play downtown, you know too well what that means. The few remaining stores at the ZCMI Center are preparing to close. Time to tear down the old to bring in the new.

But those of us who spend a good part of our week in the central business district will have to cope with a lot of changes. Where will we get lunch? Where will we run those lunchtime errands? Is traffic going to be an issue during the construction phase? This urban renewal is long overdue, and it will be worth it in the end. It's the middle part that could drone on a bit.

Walking through the remnants of our downtown malls feels a bit like walking through a ghost town. The post office is gone. The few remaining stores have signs that say "Store closing," "Everything must go" or "Going out of business." As much as I like a bargain, I haven't much appetite for buying the remnants of a small business at pennies on the dollar. Sure, it's better that these merchants eke what they can while they can, but it's always felt a little predatory from the purchasing side of things. These aren't just shops, they're people's dreams.

As for the big chain stores, there's much less guilt about scoring a good price on a piece of clothing or an item of jewelry. If we don't buy it, they'll pack it up and consolidate the inventory elsewhere or send it to the outlet malls. But as the clothes on the racks dwindle, so do the jobs of many longtime employees. Some will be absorbed in other stores of the same chain. The economy is very good so there are job openings aplenty. Hopefully, everyone who wants to work will land somewhere they want to be.

What can I say? The older I get, the harder it is to adjust to change.

But change we will, because once the buildings topple downtown, we'll have to extend our reach and vision a little bit. Downtown isn't (nor was it ever) confined to a couple of malls on Main Street. But for people who work in these blocks, it sure seemed that way. Going to The Gateway or to even 300 South on the lunch hour seemed to us a serious commitment of time. In time, going there will seem natural. It's all a matter of familiarity, I suppose.

The way I figure it, there's no point in getting our undies in a bunch about it. Think about all we've survived up to this point — the construction of TRAX (and the university spur) and the rebuilding of Interstate 15. Those of us who braved the "luge run" certainly can handle construction of City Creek Center.