Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
The small cities can't resist it... the short term bump in tax revenue, part time jobs and "status" is too hard to say no to, even though it inevitably comes back to bite you when Main Street hollows out a few years later.
Selkirk, Manitoba is a classic case of always chasing rainbows. There is a 1920s small town main drag, right nearby is a 1960s more car-centric strip where there are parking lots in front of the stores, then way out on the edge of town is the newer power centre with massive parking lots. Guess which of those is struggling and which is thriving.
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Being from SW MB, Brandon is the poster child for destroying its downtown. Back when dinosaurs roamed the plains the downtown was the place to be with the Wheat City arena downtown. The Fair Grounds were on the southern periphery of the city. Then the province built the Keystone Centre at the fair grounds, then further south the Brandon Shoppers mall was built where the old Imperial Oil Storage area was located. As a result the downtown started to stagnate and then the final nail was the building of the Corral Power Centre on the fucking Assiniboine Flood Plain! Brandon's downtown has/had some good bones but I think its too far gone for recovery.