Wow! With a big “thank you” to Allyson Lawless. I got introduced to “The Newburyport Local Business Wiki ” which is administered by Gene Volovich.

This site is really, really brand new, in fact it looks like it is still “under construction.”

However, it has a very interesting link to an article on www.slate.com, by Andrew Blum called “The Mall Goes Undercover, It Now Looks Like A City Street,” posted on April 6, 2005.

Here is an excerpt from the first paragraph of Mr. Blum’s article:

“Like insecure teenagers, malls keep changing their style. They are ripping away their roofs and drywalled corridors; adding open-air plazas, sidewalks, and street-side parking; and rechristening themselves “lifestyle centers.” This new look may remind you of something: a vibrant urban street. Yet, while these new malls may appear to be public space, they’re not public at all—at least if you want to do anything but shop. They represent a bait-and-switch routine on the part of developers, one that exchanges the public realm for the commercial one. They’re also enormously successful—by the most recent count, there are about 130 lifestyle centers scattered around the country.”

I find one of the most unnerving lines in that paragraph is “They represent a bait-and-switch routine on the part of developers, one that exchanges the public realm for the commercial one.”

And if Allyson Lawless and Gene Volovich are right, it does sound exactly the kind of thing that Stephen Karp might have in mind for Newburyport, MA. And I gotta tell you, that makes me feel a little ill.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport