George,

Part of the reason the downtown mall has been such a success is due to the gamble people like Mary Ann and Bill Elwood and Mitch and Betty VanYahres took early on, buying storefront property on the mall and making beautiful apartments upstairs, bringing upper story residents back downtown. A successful downtown has people there everyday--not just during banking and office hours. Look how many real folks live there now!

Mary Hill Caperton (electronic mail, June 27, 2006)