3 /5 Tom Johnson: This is your typical strip mall full of chain stores. There arent many cafes or places to sit here. For example, if you get some food at Safeway and want to eat it outside, beyond a couple of tiny tables inside Safeway there arent any places to eat or sit. It would be better if there were some picnic tables outside or something under umbrellas. Theres a nearby park, but its kind of overrun with homelessness issues.
I wish these strip malls did not fill the landscape. Theyre designed for people to drive in, buy something, and get out. Theres no opportunity for strolling and window shopping or enjoying the area. The strip mall is a depressing blight on the landscape that leaves little for people to care about. James Kuntsler was right on target in his descriptions of these places in his book *The Geography of Nowhere*. This is a nowhere place. It looks like any other strip mall, so you feel nothing toward it and are only too eager to get what you came for and leave. They could correct this by adding a few more cafes with outdoor seating here, as well as some benches and maybe a fountain and art sculptures.
