Inner City Blight in Amarillo

Lately, I have observed the exodus of businesses from the Olsen and Paramount area. Ruby T's and Michaels both have moved to other areas. Other businesses have closed and moved. More and more buildings and strip mall spaces are vacant along Olsen. As these businesses move out of the Olsen/Paramount area the same old thing is happening in Amarillo that city planners have struggled with for ages. This town is sprawling, sprawling, and sprawling with no fill in. People here want "new" and they replace with "new" leaving the old to rot. We have got to have some urban infill or we will end up a city that has at it's core, blighted areas for miles. Many of the core neighborhoods in Amarillo used to be lovely, family oriented, neat neighborhoods. I mean no disrespect to these areas at all, but the current shabbiness is sad and it has come about because neighborhood after neighborhood has been abandoned by those who are "moving up". This is what is happening to the Olsen/Paramount area. Frankly, I am getting tired of driving to the extreme southwest side of town for everything. I prefer Wolflin, Olsen, and Paramount because it is more central to Amarillo. I purposely look for businesses in the center of Amarillo to patronize. These businesses uproot and move to the edge of the sprawl to stay alive. If we patronize them, they can stay in business where they are and our city won't deteriorate at the core.