In the late 1980's, some developers constructed one of these fake "town centers" in Reston, Virginia (a suburb of DC). What had previously been open fields and stands of fairly old trees became a bulldozed, paved-over cluster of buildings with a completely fake pseudo-urban density. There, in the middle of nowhere (at the time) arose this "downtown" sort of thing, surrounded by an enormous parking lot. Nothing else was around it. Its "Main Street" didn't go anywhere but from one side of the encircling parking lot to the other.

It looked and felt like a movie set, with all the inauthenticity that implies.

I realize the Northshore Town Center will connect to both Northshore Drive and Pellissippi, so it might end up being something other than an oversized Potemkin village. It just seems like a waste of both land and investment capital to bulldoze a few hundred acres and build up an area of town that doesn't really seem to need it all that much. I drive down Northshore basically every day, and I don't recall ever thinking to myself, "Gee, I don't think Farragut has nearly enough commercial, retail, or residential development."

When was the last time anything new and substantial was built east of Papermill Drive (not counting TDOT projects)? When was the last time anyone saw a bulldozer in Knoxville east of Bearden Hill?

I realize that gobs of money have been plowed into downtown redevelopment, and (if the existing neighborhoods are respected) I think the South Knox Waterfront development could be a grand thing indeed. However, these are very recent reversals of the westward push that's been happening for almost four decades now. Why do we need more of the same?

I'm certainly not anti-development per se, but I do think we could do a lot better as a community in encouraging a more effective balance of development and investment spread across different voting precincts, as well as reusing previously developed land. If developers can convert Potomac Yards from a Superfund site into the hottest real estate in the DC area, then the same could surely be done with the Coster Shop property (which is about a tenth the size of Potomac Yards). Bulldozing stands of trees and flattening hilltops just doesn't seem necessary.

--Socialist With A Gold Card

Yes, it's a real ad; it ran in Vancouver. GM pulled it and apologized after the Canadian Urban Transport Association raised a big stink.

Some allege that GM has been waging war on public transportation for nigh on 80 years. Opinions vary, though.