Portland

1. Buy Fred Meyer.
2. Tear it down
3. Build 600-900 sq ft apartments in 6+1 with businesses on the bottom Euro style over every square inch of the land up to the sidewalks leaving only small amounts of underground parking, including serious off street protected bike storage for the tenants
4. Wonder why we haven't been doing that everywhere, especially right by a MAX stop, for goodness' sake.

Crazy? Nope. It works time and again around the world. Fewer cars and more pedestrian design keeps being better than wasting space to accommodate cars everywhere.

I think we need a city leadership with some real "vision" which is now a possibility for the first time in a long time with the new charter allowing better representation at the top level. Near the end of the article, they briefly mention the idea of the City purchasing the Fred Meyer building, which could be the start of a way out, but it would take drive, patience, and vision to actually come to a solution. I'm picturing some sort of redevelopment that takes advantage of the proximity to public transit.

I think the bad news is that there's no simple solution to restoring Gateway, and the neighborhood is suffering from so many of the same problems we see elsewhere in the city. It's going to take a lot more than shuffling tax dollars around and trying to "gentrify" the area to bring the city to a high standard of living.

Put in a Hong Phat. Problem solved.