EXCERPT…
“Over the past five decades, retailing in urban neighborhoods has hollowed out, leaving most cities and inner-ring suburbs with too little to support healthy neighborhoods and strong communities. The results are apparent to anyone living in or visiting a 21st century city: commercial streets with deteriorating buildings, empty storefronts or marginal month-to-month tenants, an undersupply of essential goods and services, social problems, poor pedestrian environments and amenities, and untended streets and sidewalks.”