There are many points regarding the proposed medical mart that still don't make sense for me, so I want to post this quick note...
1) At some level, the proposal is an effort to shift some marketing infrastructure, and perhaps some inventory control, expenses of some private companies to the public sector. So what are the current costs for those activities by the affected private sector and why don't we start with that as an amount that the private sector should be required to start with in estimating ways of allocating burdens? Otherwise, this isn't a partnership, it's a bail-out.
2) Given the power of the Internet, marketing, display and consumer product education are a significant (sometimes even exclusive) online activity. It's being presented as an indispensable truth that a physical space is needed to make these presentations of, often, large and expensive medical expensive equipment. If we accept this point for argument's sake, why can't the physical space be met by the "wealth" of abandoned buildings in the target zone, with a substantial retrofit? The plan could even include a vertical mall like Breuer Tower. I would like to hear discussion about why well-coordinated/linked, rehabbed spaces couldn't meet the demand proposed for the medical mart.
Also on this point, see the article below about how enclosed shopping malls are financially struggling and no longer on the design plans of developers:
The Death Of The American Mall (But Not Suburban Shopping) Enclosed Malls Are Fast Becoming Relics, But New Generation Centers Just Look Different
The mall is a beloved and reviled American artifact, and if current trends continue that's exactly what it will be: An artifact. The enclosed mall, as a drive-up full-service shopping super center, is a symbol of suburbia — of teenage time-wasting, over consumption and parking paranoia. It is the symbol of decaying main streets, urban exodus and the paving of the American landscape. Many of the nation's 2,000 malls are dead or dying. Only three have been built since 2005. And no plans are on the drawing board for more.
For the full article, see:
http://www.thedailygreen.com/2007/07/16/the-death-of-the-american-mall-but-not-suburban-shopping/3881/ [1]
Links:
[1] http://www.thedailygreen.com/2007/07/16/the-death-of-the-american-mall-but-not-suburban-shopping/3881/