We're dying.

I drive by the mall on Industrial and I see an empty Inudstrial complex on my left and an empty mall on my right. I walk down the hallway of the mall and I see stores that have one or two people in them. I drive down the streets of our city and I see more houses for sale each day. 1,550 Jobs, 50 Jobs, 10 Jobs. More than headlines, these start to seem like body counts. Left behind are the hopes and dreams of families as they are uprooted and shifted out of our town. The sound of a Tornado siren echoing throught the empty store fronts of our strip malls and bouncing off the closed doors of the busineses going out of business or already gone. Our city is dying. I am not a pessimist, I was having a talk with an older gentleman, who was telling me this lament has been spoken every ten years sinces the sixties. He told me that the city was still here, that should silence all the doubters. I think he is wrong. The city may never die, I think we are to big for that that. But it is dying. Who will save it? Not our city leaders. Not our elected politicians who continue to drive our tax rates up, while increasing the debt that we bear. Who? Sadly I don't know the answer. i hope someone does.