The large number of vacant storefronts could be seen as spaces of possibility, not an inevitably, not something with which we must all live.
Doing does more than complaining.
Some are doing.
This week, though billed as a temporary move, several storefronts got activated. Others open with less attention.
Downtown’s vacancies do not represent how the entire city is faring. The neighborhoods have fairly thriving corridors, but to see that, some would have to step outside of their comfort zones. They would have to get past their prejudices and their often misplaced fears.
Someone recently bemoaned the quiet of a Sunday in Downtown, using the absence of cars as proof that all had gone to pot. On that day, there were festivals happening in different pockets of Downtown, something one might see if he parked the car and walked around.
Park the car. Take a walk. Look around.
When we interact with the world — that’s the ground below and sky above and space around — we do not need to rely on Starbucks’ drink specials to inform us when the seasons have changed.
In Your Neighborhood is a weekly photo series spotlighting a different section of Hartford. Photos are taken while walking or cycling.
