Ok, so all these new developments going up in downtown Halifax are including street-level retail space, which is great. Good design principles in action. But guess what? We have a ton of retail space downtown already, and lots of it is SITTING EMPTY! I'm no expert, but it seems to me that unless someone decides to actually do something about the underlying causes of this — high rents, high taxes, lack of initiatives to put gov't facilities downtown, perceived lack of parking, red tape, lack of a strong vision and plan for downtown by the powers that be — all this nice, new downtown retail space could be destined to stay empty. Will someone in a position of power and leadership please DO something? —Lover o' Downtown