With luck, these events will turn out to be the necessary catalyst for the sustained transformation of downtown, which would very much please this newspaper and the many other persons who have, for decades, campaigned for the revitalisation of the old section of the city.

Indeed, as Dennis Morrison, the economist and contributor to this newspaper has observed, given its contribution to the national product, if the people who the merchants and local government officials hope to entice to today's shopping event were downtown habitués, that part of the capital wouldn't have been allowed to become what it is today. That is, hard, gritty, crime-infested; a place that non-residents tend to flee at dusk.

Inflation

Mr Morrison should understand these things. For more than two decades he has kept up an almost fortnightly shopping ritual to Coronation Market, maintaining an extensive database of price movements that is a rough proxy for food inflation.

More generally, Mr Morrison estimates that about $70 billion in goods and services will be exchanged in the downtown Kingston market area/business district in 2009.

"That is a lot of money, which would usually carry a fair bit of economic clout," commented Mr Morrison.

Except that this kind of economic disaggregation is not usually at the forefront of analyses of the state of downtown. Moreover, those who spend the bulk of the cash don't usually have the voice to demand a better space within which to transact business or even to live. Indeed, as Mrs Vaz will have noticed, while $1,500 will go a long way at Coronation Market, it comes with a willingness to endure a dusty, unkempt and a sometimes rancid environment.

Powerlessness

But the state of Coronation, or the chaotic crush of the many bustling street markets of downtown, is merely symptomatic of our confused perceptions and approach to downtown, since the big trek uptown began over 40 years ago. Public policy accommodated the drift, but from time to time, feels compelled to propose a fix. Change, however, is usually constrained by a sense of transience on the part of some of the downtown actors, and a feeling of powerlessness by the others - those who actually live there.

Maybe the new voices in favour of downtown will help to break the old cycle of talk, plans and hibernation. Indeed, the downtown project would be given a fillip if Prime Minister Golding demands the urgent implementation of his directive that no more government agencies leave downtown and for others to return.

It is estimated that the Government has 130,000 square feet of idle office space downtown, yet faces an annual bill of $1.2 billion for offices in New Kingston and elsewhere uptown. Mr Golding does not have to wait for his proposed downtown foreign ministry and embassy row before the rejuvenation of downtown can start. It makes sense, economic and otherwise, to just begin.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.