Or, we could just ignore economic realities!

There's a huge piece of prime real estate which needs a few million to get renovated, and apparently the developer, Tim Hill, is asking for a CBID (Central Business Improvement District) grant. Granted, he's just wanting $400,000 over three years, and the cost to renovate this space is estimated (by Hatcher-Hill, it seems) to be $8.6 million dollars.

And what awesome stuff is planned for this prime real estate? Why, Knoxville's answer to everything: More of the same.

More retail. Granted, if it is a small mall, like the Smoky Mountain Mall in Gatlinburg, that would be kind of cool.

Oh, and apparently he wants to put a basement bowling alley there. Also, that sounds kinda neat.

It just seems like we could do something... different. Instead of more of the same. But why, you ask?

Well, maybe because if we build too many retail joints downtown, we pin our hopes on the strength of the future consumer-powered economy. I'm not sure if people are seeing what's happening in Europe, or just imagining there's not a major reckoning coming in a few years.

Anyway, I get why we do this. It's a safe bet (until the next recession!). I just wish Knoxville had the ambition to do something really amazing, not just more of the same with a vanilla twist.