Progress and Decline, you can't have one without the other, at least not these days. While the areas around Downtown , except the City Market area, are in various stages of decline, decay, and stagnation, Downtown is a work in the name of progress. I'm just going to come out and own up to the strong bias I have against the current transformation, I don't like it, and I never will. Now in my own long winded and convoluted way here is why.
The "brains" behind this supposed revitalization have a targeted demographic. Twenty to Thirty somethings and out of towners, period, that is it. I understand the desire to attract tourists, but the other group, well that's where my preconceived notions and bias come in. This is where I get to play the curmudgeon, the out of touch middle aged prick in the mud. If the Power and Light district were a Tenderloin District strip joint, then the barker at the door, luring in the unsuspecting hayseeds, would be
KC Ink. This insipid waste of ink and trees is everything that is a wrong with Urban revitalization and the hoards of Sex in the City / Abercrombie posers that they target. The Star canned a bunch of real writers and kept Muffy and company. And it is within that douche-a-graphic that the brains behind the P&l district have doubled down on. The problem with resting all of your hopes in one group is that it won't work in the long run. Half of them will move on to greener pastures, the other half will go broke buying 300 dollar shoes and 100 dollar facials, and that's just the guys. Now maybe that's an unfair stereotype, maybe I'm shooting all the pups because one has fleas. I base my judgement on the Power and Light media pimp, KC Ink. If you want to change the message, better get a different, less nauseating messenger.
Now before anyone gets their Jimmy Choos all scuffed up, let me just say that not everyone who sets foot in the P&L district is an Uber Douche. I will even concede that as a 49 year old dinosaur I may be completely out of touch. Maybe the future is 8 dollar beer, Red Bull, 16 dollar hamburgers, and tight fitting jackets with too short sleeves. Let's hope that's the case, otherwise the P&L district will turn out to be nothing more than a parasite, sucking the livelihood out of long established businesses, before it fails. I don't hope it fails, but I believe it will.
Progress isn't measured by how many overpriced venues we can cram in to a few square blocks. Progress is measured by productivity and longevity. The West Bottoms was productive for a long time. Cash flowed out of the West Bottoms. Eventually as with all things, the Bottoms finally outlived it's usefulness. Sad but it happens. Now it's the P&L district and the Downtown renaissance, that the city has put all it's hopes in. I could be wrong (not really), but I don't think this city will be better off because of the P&L district. Long established businesses are failing because of it, and that ain't exactly progress. Put simply, there aren't enough consumers to support the old and the new. Eventually, in the economy we face, the P&L district will flounder and fail to live up to the Great Expectations and hype. At least that's what I Frink.
