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Originally Posted by the urban politician
^ This idea that a bunch of city planners are going to save the Mag Mile is flawed, IMO
Mag Mile’s challenges have absolutely nothing to do with its street and sidewalk design. Let’s not blow taxpayer money away on such major redesigns when we know that the real issue is changing consumer behavior.
We don’t need another State St Ped mall disaster
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Fair enough, but the idea that consumers are going to save the Mag Mile is flawed, IMO.
Retail at the scale it would take to make the Mag Mile a destination is dead. We know this. The writing has been on the wall for over a decade. There are only so many giant Starbucks that can fit in a 5 block stretch. There are two viable options from where we sit right now--completely redesign the street to become a draw to the central tourist area of the city or allow it to devolve into just another retail strip of Kohl's, Homegoods and Target. The middle path barely exists now, let alone in 10 years; and as you said yourself, the real premium shopping is centralizing around Rush/Oak.
People don't want to Instagram themselves in front of Chicago's biggest discount baby clothing store or whatever, and Instagram is what drives tourism now. Make the Mag Mile actually feel magnificent.