Welcome to The Dark Side of White Flint, an ongoing series about the not-so-wonnerful,
wonnerful, wonnerful side of urbanizing the suburbs of Montgomery County.
In the game of musical chairs at White Flint Mall, the music has stopped, and everyone has lost. The mall has removed all benches and chairs, leaving nowhere for mall patrons to sit. One elderly person seeking relief was propped up on a marble shelf.
Wikipedia has a couple of relevant notes on Musical Chairs that might apply to White Flint Mall and the area's future. "The player who is left without a chair is eliminated from the game." It is the paying customer who has been eliminated at the mall, first by the closure of virtually all stores and restaurants, and now through the final indignity of having no place to rest. That also reflects the risk the mall's owners are taking, in driving away a huge customer base who will have gone elsewhere (downtown Bethesda, Westfield Montgomery Mall, Pike & Rose and Rio/Washingtonian Center, to name a few) long before any new "town center" opens on the current mall's property. "Playing musical chairs...can also refer to a condition where people have to expend time searching for a resource, such as having to travel from gasoline station to gasoline station when there is a shortage." Sounds like White Flint and downtown Bethesda after all of the gas stations have been redeveloped into luxury condos.
NOTE: Please do not steal these pictures and post them elsewhere without getting my permission first. All photos ©2014 Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row
In other White Flint Mall news, no, the horses outside of P.F. Chang's were not vandalized. Rather, they have been turned pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. They are using the hashtag #PaintPFChangsPink.
No comments:
Post a Comment