Brick Controversy

Here in Charlottesville we have something called the Downtown Mall. This was once East Main Street, a two-lane street lined with shops and restaraunts. Very classic Americana Main Street.

I think it was 1979 (I could be wrong) when business was slumping on East Main Street and doing better in the new mall built on the Rt. 29 side of town. This new mall was a typical urban sprawl type development centered around the automobile.

So the city was faced with a problem: Main Street was obviously failing and many of the businesses on East Main were very close to closing down. So what to do?

Answer? Brick the street in, add some fountains, and turn the entire length of East Main into a pedestrian mall. Roll the clock forward thirty years and it is a model for urban renewal that has been emulated by Portland, Raleigh, and others. It's especially beautiful in the spring and early summer when the trees are in bloom, shading the patio dining areas for the various restaraunts. People fill the Mall most of these idyllic days and the vibe is very relaxed.

Also add thirty years of wear on the bricks. Toss in there obnoxiously drunk college girls snapping off the heels on their $200 ho-heels in between bricks and you have a call to action. Rebrick the Downtown Mall! Price tag? Nine million dollars.

At first I was pretty outraged. Nine million dollars!? Are you freakin' kidding me? In these hard financial times you're going to spend nine million tax payer dollars on rebricking a mall that doesn't really need it? I mean, there were some cracks and some bricks did need to be replaced, yes, but the whole mall didn't need to be rebricked.

Now I'm actually in favor of the idea. I was running an errand on the Mall the other day and I saw some construction workers on break. They were sitting around eating food from one of the restaraunts. One walked out of the CVS packing a pack of cigarettes against his palm.
Then it hit me: this is exactly the wrong time to can such a project. It has already been paid for. Who knows if this construction company has another gig lined up? These are guys who are gainfully employed on a project that reinvests in a community asset.

And they're doing it smarter this time. I'm no bricklayer or mason, but supposedly the method of bricking the Mall this time will be different. It is supposed to last much longer than the original method used.

But, in typical Charlottesville fashion, people have their panties all in a bunch. They fought the original idea of transforming East Main Street back in 1979. Now the Downtown Mall is credited with saving Charlottesville's downtown area and is the major social and commercial venue in the city proper. People mocked the city councilman who championed the 250 Bypass. Anyone who knows Charlottesville can imagine what a nightmare crosstown traffic would be if it weren't for the 250 Bypass.

Calm down people. It's an upgrade to a vital city resource and it's providing jobs in tough times.