That is the motto of the people that want to keep the Bannister Mall area free from redevelopment. Instead they want to reopen the mall because it is vital to the "black community". Hasn't that mall been in the black community for the past several years? Haven't the businesses surrounding it been in the black community as well?
So what is going to change? The stores closed, people stopped shopping in the violent and deadly Bannister Mall and blight happened. What has changed? Nothing.
I am not even in favor of putting the soccer complex and future development there. The area around it is not capable of supporting retail and office space. Any TIF money granted would be a waste of money. Instead why not use that money and drive the crime out of the area first and then build. There is a reason that the Town Center Plaza, Zona Rosa, Village West and other developers opened where they did. The ignorant leaders of this Bannister Mall group need to figure this out.
