I live in a suburb of Salt Lake City called Holladay, it sits on the east bench, my view every morning are these towering-massive mountains that I often take for granted. This area which is on the "east side" and is often looked as the snooty side of the tracks, has charm and a small town feel and has the makings of a quaint little village. Then the economy went to shits and my little village went down face first. What use to be a mall down the street from my house is now an empty hole with a sad little Macy's standing solo, the plans to knock down the mall and rebuild a new high end luxurious shopping experience, failed miserably. Holladay City still avoids the real question of why construction, without secured funding, was allowed in the first place. Meanwhile, local merchants have to figure out how to keep their businesses alive in an area that has now turned into a ghost town.
Holladay's "place to go" has now turned into the city's "area to avoid," with gapping holes, large dirt piles and clouds of dust, many customers are now avoiding what was once the city's main retail area. The huge holes have caused major chains to leave the area and now local retailers, who don't have the ability to relocate as easily as the big chains, are worried about their own survival. Alberstson's shut down, then Blockbuster shut down, The TGIF where I celebrated my 15th birthday, GONE, and it was like, oh wow, The whole area now just looks dead. For us who love and appreciate this area, it has been a very depressing thing to watch. I have hopes that the construction on this development will continue in the next year and that my hood gets back to being the envy of the other suburbs, until then, I will wait patiently and enjoy my shopping on the exit of 10600 South.
