Here's a monument to all the worst of modern urban planning, brought to you by the City of Reno, Nevada.

The Mapes was blown up in January 2000. As of June 2001, some 18 months later, what you see behind the orange fence is all that's left of the 1947 art deco Mapes Hotel. The building was taken down so something really fabulous could be built to revitalize the once glorious downtown Reno. Never mind that the Mapes was on the National Register of Historic Places, and was quite fabulous in its own right. But the 'group of seven', in its infinite and all-knowing wisdom, chose to replace the wonderful Mapes with a parking lot, just as we predicted in this space back in January 2000. We'll go so far as to predict that in the years ahead it will still be a parking lot, although we anticipate the city will tire of the blowing dust and will pave it over.

Smooth move, Councilpersons Rigdon, Herndon, Newberg, Doyle, Aiazzi, Hascheff, and Mayor Griffin.

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