Editor's Notes

Note from the Editor | May 29, 2014

Nick Meyer |

By Eau Claire standards there seems to be quite a bit of change happening with our built environment these days. The much-discussed Woo’s Pagoda on Hastings Way, along with the former Wendy’s across the road, have come down to make way for new construction. The current post office building is slated to tumble later this year after the post office moves into the old Charly’s Market, and two new buildings, an office and apartments, are currently going up nearby next to Phoenix Park. The old Kline building on North Barstow has been completely gutted to the point that it has no roof or floors remaining, and it awaits demolition with the rest of that block this summer, making way for the new mixed-use building of the Confluence Project. Interior demolition has begun at both downtown hotels as those projects begin to gear up this summer, and major street work has begun on Menomonie Street and will soon start on Brackett Avenue. There are of course more examples, but even just this list shows there is change in the air. Such change is often met with one of two reactions. One is through a positive lens of progress, the other through a lens of loss or nostalgia. Each perspective has its biases, and neither is necessarily right or wrong. Of course it’s likely that each lens is appropriate at different times. But I can say I’d rather be in a community where such a debate can be had than in one where nothing ever changes. And I think most of these moves are steps in the right direction.