"Where's a poor person going to go?"

Good question. Answer: The hell away from the Uptown crowd’s next redevelopment scheme.

Very interesting that the plan to buy up and close down neighborhood stores in Belmont has received this much attention. Guess what is going on is just a little too obvious and flimsy, the targeted community a little too vulnerable.

But no one has seems to see the big picture. Yet.

Just look at a map and note how 277 rings Uptown. City planners have long ached to find a way to leap over the 277 “belt” and build out high-density, high-tax revenue, urban development. The South Blvd. light rail line is supposed to do that down South Blvd.

And guess where the South Blvd. line’s Northeast extension is supposed to run? Try right through the middle of Belmont.

The proposed $750 million — in CATS dollars, so figure one billion US — Northeast line would run mere blocks from the neighborhood stores targeted for removal. Hee Bok Park’s Downtown Convenience Store? Ten blocks down 18th Street from the Northeast line. The L.K. Farrar grocery? Seven blocks. Seigle Ave. and the $27 million the city is spending to upgrade that area? Five blocks.

The Northeast line’s 16th Street station is also slated by CATS to be an “urban” station, as opposed to a less dense neighborhood or community station. This certainly indicates that the current mix of older bungalows, duplexes, and some commerical will have to change.

Or be changed.