Went in and visited Jerry and Tom at the Sole Shop this morning. How refreshing. People who are actually willing to express opinions, exchange ideas, gossip, and roll their eyes at the decisions the powers that be are making.

Jerry Opie was my neighbor for 20 years, and I didn't realize how much I missed bouncing ideas off of him. He was always willing to talk over the events downtown. When I started, I was starry eyed and optimistic and thought many of the things downtowners were doing were just great! Jerry was a little more experienced and jaundiced about it.

And more often than not, he was right.

Thing is, Jerry knew all the old merchants, he knows the history of most of the buildings. That history is being lost, forever. I've taken to encouraging him to write it down, but I know he won't. Any reporters who want to get a unvarnished history of downtown over the last 30 years or more, could learn a lot from Jerry. I can't vouch for everything he says, but it rings true.

For instance, he was telling me how the Mirror Pond parking lot was created by Wall Street merchants such as Wetle and Olsen. They bought the property for free parking, and then handed it over to the city. Wonder if the original contract has any provisions about keeping it free?

Anyway, just about everyone downtown has been there for five minutes, or so it seems. No one has a clue -- nor do they care -- about the history of the place. But I think the free exchange of information is one of the more important aspects of business. I feel kind of sorry for most merchants because they are so guarded, so frightened, they don't seem to want to know about anything but what's right in front of them. They don't care about 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, nor do they care about 10 years from now. Yet, so many of the things we are going through right now, have already happened before.

Free parking downtown was a response to the exodus of customers to the malls.

Interesting that we would be willing to revoke that now.