Before I get started, I'll answer two questions that seem to come up a lot lately.
1) No, I haven't received any form of response from Tom Beaumont, or anyone at the Register, for that matter. I'm disappointed but not surprised.
2) No, still no takers on the Death Penalty Debate. The right(ish?) blogs I've been in touch with have had varying replies...Iowa Ennui doesn't actually favor capital punishment, while Brian from Iowa Voice emailed to let me know he doesn't have time right now, but maybe someday. Challenge still stands if anyone else wants to take me up on it.
Now, our feature presentation:
I've been to Jordan Creek Mall twice now, once shortly after it opened, and today. I really don't like it very much. I don't like crowds, unnecessary travel or urban sprawl, so really, the mall was more or less doomed before it opened for me.
They do, however, have a Scheel's, the only place I've ever been able to find my favorite kind of golf discs. And someone else in my apartment has a weakness for shoes. So today, when she was going out there, I rode along, to shop for discs and books.
While there, I saw a few things that made me laugh:
1) On the way into Scheel's, a couple in front of us stepped in front of three sets of doors, waiting for the automatic doors to swing open. (There are no automatic doors.) All three times, they stood in front of the door, easily within arm's reach of the door handle, but didn't enter: the door wasn't opening for them. As Laura and I walked in, they were searching for the button to press to open the handicapped door. I found this pretty typical: a function we're all capable of performing ourselves, but we refuse to do it because we're sure someone else should be.
2) A waiting line to get onto the up escalator, right next to an elevator and a completely vacant set of stairs.
3) A completely unwalkable "mall" community. Make no mistake, Jordan Creek Mall was built in a place where everyone will have to drive to get there, but even once you're there, you can't just park your car and walk. Case in point: the mall and DSW are about 4-5 blocks apart. One could walk there, in fact I did, but why? Isn't that what our SUV's are for?
I hate Jordan Creek Mall, but I think I hate the way it encourages people to act even more.
As an aside, I did pick up a copy of our Governor's favorite book, The World is Flat, today. Once I'm done reading it, we'll have one thing in common.
KL
2 comments:
If no supporters of the death penalty want to debate, you could respond to some of the various arguments posted on the internet. For example, you could choose one or more of these 17 arguments for the death penalty.
If you didn't like Jordan Creek (and I agree with your reasoning), you should drive down Mills Civic Parkway a little and check out the area near SuperTarget. It's nearly the exact opposite with small, walkable blocks and even housing in the middle. Its a much better example, in my humble opinion, of what a shopping district should look like.
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