[Leica] the new normal

[Mark Kronquist]

Happy St Patrick’s Day! There is no corned beef or cabbage to be found in the bare markets and the one Guinness came from my fridge. 

How long before it makes economic sense to import beer from Ireland again? Did it ever?

Portland and the suburbs, including Stayton, were built on Flavortainment. What flavor is in people’s mouths now?

I spent many years working as a City Councilor, Planning Commissioner, Parks Board Member, Vice Chair of the Parks Board and School Board Liaison doing what I could to serve brilliant, determined business people who wanted to pursue their now shuttered and perhaps shattered dreams. Tonight, I look out my door. Mick and Mom's is having a last call party. Snow Peak Brewery right next door is closed. The new high end pub that was scheduled to open today probably never will. The food carts are gone. The cafes and coffee shops shut, many for good. The curtain has come down on the promising little theater that opened to rave reviews in December. There are no stars on the silver screen of the Star theater. The Moose and Elk lodges are empty perhaps to return to pasture. As Alice Cooper said, School’s Out for the Summer…in mid March…the library, pool and city offices are closed. 

The street lights light empty streets and highlight the possible death of a downtown renascence.

How long will the lights stay on if there are, as the Imperial College study predicts, two million deaths in the US before August?

 How many downtowns across America and the world are experiencing the same thing? Is this the new normal?

> On Mar 17, 2020, at 7:42 PM, Marty Deveney via LUG <lug at leica-users.org> wrote:
> 
> PS-I am very serious about you assembling these into a book
>> 
> 
> Seconded!  Out-stan-ding!
> 
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