Last night, Friday at 8:30 pm, I found myself on Oakland Avenue, making a rather emergency trip to Pick-n-Save. Of course one soon becomes aware of the construction obstacles.
It seemed rather dark as I think of it. I suppose there weren't any lights on the east side of the street nor did I see any people on the sidewalks. The neon lights made it rather spooky.
I had to access Oakland by driving south to Capitol, then west to Oakland and north to Pick-n-Save. 'Plenty of parking spaces. Then going back, I drove north on Oakland until I could access an east-bound street. So now I was in Whitefish Bay driving east toward home and then another short distance south.
I didn't see one person on the sidewalks in this “walkable community.” Of course, there were several cars moving, so I was not the only one driving. At that moment, we could perhaps describe this part of Oakland Avenue, if not dead, rather dead in its social function. Should I have expected more?
Yes, I did. But this was perhaps because I didn't take into consideration the construction obstacles and the darkness of the street and that hour of the evening. But I know that the evolution of communities and their business districts take time as does the kind of reconstruction that is being undertaken here in Shorewood. But the impression it creates is significant and tends to linger.
And to this point, we saw some shots of Hillary, photographic shots, on Fox News the other night and someone said, “doesn't she look tired?” This reminded me of an expression that I also heard recently, that many white men did not want to watch her growing older during the next term or two.
It did have an impression and I suppose it will always come to mind now, even though the most important member of family believes that Hillary is quite photogenic when not shown on Fox. (One might say that McCain often looks tired, too, but we don't have to watch him grow old).
Will people passing through our business district during this cosmetic reconstruction forget the impression that this inconvenience creates in our minds and later on, we'll not be so impressed with the cosmetic surgery, with the older impressions coming through?
It seems that living in a place during remodeling is part of living, so whenever it occurs, it needs to be organized to at least suit the dwellers as much as suit those engaged in the process of construction. However, today's contractual processes usually favor the contractor. So this is usually difficult. But many things are difficult.
Incidentally, many business districts seem spooky in the evening during this time of year.
